Bidding in the FCC’s AWS-3 auction was at $44.14 billion after 103 bidding rounds Tuesday. With bidding slowing, the FCC moved to Stage Three of the auction after bidding round 97. That means a bidder must be active on at least 98 percent of its current bidding eligibility in each round, the FCC explained. “If a bidder's provisionally winning bids do not satisfy the required activity level and the bidder does not place any additional bids, the FCC Auction System will automatically apply an activity rule waiver on the bidder's behalf.” The change could limit or eliminate a bidder’s ability to place additional bids in the auction. The last major FCC auction, the 700 MHz auction in 2008, lasted 38 bidding days and 261 rounds.
Thirty-eight state and territorial attorneys general urged the FTC Monday to prohibit the use of pre-acquired account information in its planned update of its telemarketing sales rule (TSR). The FTC sought comment in August on an update of the TSR and sought comment on whether to revise the TSR’s pre-acquired account information provision to reflect the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (see 1410080043). Prohibiting the use of pre-acquired information will ensure a consumer has consented to a transaction, the AGs said in a joint filing via the National Association of Attorneys General. They urged the FTC to better address negative option telemarketing because that type of telemarketing often leads to “outright deception” and confusion. The FTC should also require telemarketers to create and maintain records and ban the use of money transfers and certain other payment methods, the AGs said.
The FCC plans outreach meetings for broadcasters in about 50 markets to explain the upcoming incentive auction and answer questions, said the Incentive Auction Task Force in a blog post Thursday. The meetings are in cities as big as New York and as small as Ohio's Lima and Youngstown. Lima is a city of 38,771 with two licensed TV stations. The task force plans town hall meetings and individual follow-up meetings with broadcasters that express an interest in selling their license, it said. The meetings are to start in January and wrap up in April.
Younger U.S. consumers have shown more confidence in the security of mobile payments than the baby boom generation, a GfK report said. The generation known as millennials (defined in the report as generations Y and Z, ages 18-34) is twice as likely as older adults to view such payments as faster, easier or more efficient than other types of transactions, GfK said Thursday. At 67 percent, members of Generation Y (ages 24-34) reported being worried about the security of personal information when making mobile payments, the report said. Personal information, technology quality and other factors are likely holding mobile payment from full potential, it said. About 80 percent of mobile payers use their smartphones to make payments, 58 percent use tablets and 38 percent use both methods, it said.
Pricing estimates by market for the reverse portion of the incentive auction contained in information packages released by the FCC Wednesday are a major step toward getting broadcasters to participate and are likely to encourage those who hadn’t before considered selling their spectrum, said broadcast officials in interviews. The information packages, assembled by the FCC with the help of investment firm Greenhill & Co., were sent out in hard copy and electronic form Wednesday. The information is at www.FCC.gov/LEARN.
An FCC Further NPRM on inmate calling circulated Thursday, as expected (CD Sept 25 p1). An inmate advocacy group that’s been pushing for reforms praised the action it called a “step forward” and “great opportunity” to further bring down the costs of inmate phone calls. But a jail association said the fees have a useful purpose. The FNPRM circulated by Chairman Tom Wheeler proposes to make permanent the FCC interim cap on interstate inmate calling rates, impose caps on intrastate rates, get rid of commissions paid to correctional facilities and cap such ancillary charges as transactions fees.
Sixty percent of U.S. consumers expect to have experienced a house that speaks or reads to them by 2025, said a study on the impact of technology commissioned by Intel’s McAfee. Seventy-seven percent of consumers think the most common device in 11 years will be a smart watch, and 70 percent believe overall wearable devices will be common personal accessories. Seventy-two percent of consumers expect connected kitchen appliances will be a household item by 2015, six in 10 expect their refrigerators to automatically add food to a running grocery list when items are running low, and 84 percent believe their home security systems will be connected to their mobile devices, McAfee said. Almost 70 percent of respondents expressed concern over the state of cybersecurity in 2025, with identity theft, monetary theft and fraud the leading issues. By 2025, 38 percent of U.S. consumers expect to unlock their mobile device by eye scan followed by a thumbprint, McAfee said. On mobile pay, a third of consumers believe they'll be able to pay for items using their fingerprint, while 22 percent expected to use their mobile device. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they planned to still pay by credit or debit card. The online survey was done Aug. 1-12 by MSI Research among 1,507 U.S. citizens ages 21-65, split evenly by age and gender.
The FCC threatened the success of the incentive auction by creating a reserve trigger and violated its congressional mandate to protect broadcasters with its repacking plan, said multiple petitions for reconsideration of the incentive auction order by wireless carriers, broadcast affiliates, low-power TV stations and others.
As pro-Communications Act Title II advocates said their online protest triggered nearly 40,000 phone calls to Congress, the White House and the FCC by noon Wednesday saying paid prioritization would slow the Internet, free market-group American Commitment said it was countering the effort by asking more than 2 million people by social media this week to sign a petition opposing federal intervention in the Internet. The FCC meanwhile hasn’t made any decisions on how wireless will be treated on net neutrality. (See separate report above in this issue.)
Capitol Hill Democrats upped pressure on the FCC to form strong net neutrality rules, some backing a basis in Title II authority while others focused on banning paid prioritization. Congressional Republicans and industry associations have resisted Title II reclassification of broadband. They want the FCC to base any rules on Communications Act Section 706. Some pro-net neutrality allies are holding symbolic protests seeking Title II rules Wednesday. (See separate report below in this issue.)