The FCC should let only projects with technologies offering real broadband participate in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the Utilities Technology Council said in meetings with aides to the five commissioners. UTC suggested “requiring the use of licensed spectrum for projects that propose to provide broadband speeds of 100 Mbps or greater, or alternatively providing a weighting factor in favor of projects that use licensed spectrum,” in 19-126, posted Tuesday. “Not only will that help to ensure that wireless broadband networks will actually provide the speeds that they propose to offer, but it will also help to provide customers with the quality of service that they need for reliability. It will also promote better coverage into areas compared to unlicensed wireless technologies.” UTC wants the FCC to introduce new challenge procedures to help counter misrepresentations in broadband deployment data that have kept some utilities from accessing rural broadband funds, it said: "The participants emphasized that they do not want to delay RDOF, but they nevertheless urged the Commission to develop a better challenge process."

Duke Energy officials met aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the utility’s push to facilitate 5G using streetlights. “We presented some of the differences between distribution poles and streetlights from a practical, structural and legal perspective,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. “Most streetlights cannot support small cells without replacement of the existing structure” and “come in many different varieties to suit the needs and preferences of the lighting customer,” the company said. Regulating collocation of wireless facilities on street lamps -- “especially in the manner distribution pole attachments are currently regulated -- would hinder industry and Commission objectives by suppressing the innovation and collaboration necessary to meet those objectives,” Duke said.

DOJ's defense of T-Mobile's buy of Sprint “unnecessarily and without legal basis seeks to undermine the states’ important and independent role in enforcing antitrust laws,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) wrote Monday in a letter (in Pacer) to Judge Victor Marrero at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ferguson joined state plaintiffs objecting to the DOJ and the FCC urging deference to their conditional OKs (see 2001090023). Ferguson, from T-Mobile’s home state, isn't one of the states suing. “The Statement’s comments on state merger enforcement bears a far closer resemblance to a defense of DOJ’s settlement with the Defendants than sound competition policy,” the AG wrote. “Co-enforcement is woven into the fabric of the nation’s antitrust laws, and diminishing the role of the states in merger enforcement both overlooks the law and is shortsighted.” Ferguson disagreed with Justice that anticompetitive effects in local markets can’t stop a national transaction. “The Washington state AG misreads the Antitrust Division’s Statement of Interest," a DOJ spokesperson emailed Tuesday. "The Antitrust Division expressly noted that states have an independent role in antitrust enforcement. It explained, however, that the court should not issue a nationwide injunction that would undo the substantial pro-consumer benefits of this merger given the remedies secured by the Antitrust Division and the FCC." T-Mobile and Sprint responded (in Pacer) Monday to state objections to the U.S. statement. “Plaintiffs both misstate their legal burden and mischaracterize the nature of the federal review and the importance of a uniform, national antitrust policy,” the carriers said. The deal “will have unambiguous competitive effects,” said economists who asked (in Pacer) to submit an amici brief. “DOJ proposes to permit this merger subject only to a complex and ultimately unworkable set of conditions on the conduct of the merged company and an entirely new outside party,” wrote seven economists including New York University’s Lawrence White and Nicholas Economides and Northeastern University's John Kwoka. “This is not a substitute for the actions necessary to preserve competition in mobile wireless service.” Closing statements at the SDNY trial start Wednesday at 10 a.m. in lower Manhattan.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology OK'd updated CommScope and Google deployment and coverage plans for environmental sensing capability in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. The companies jointly provide ESC services, said Monday's public notice. Approval follows consultation with DOD and NTIA. Dynamic protection areas covered are East DPAs 2, 3 and 12-26, East Mayport and East Pascagoula Port in Florida and West Alameda, California.

Online spending in the U.S. grew 13 percent to a record $142.5 billion in November and December, Adobe posted Monday. Smartphones drove 84 percent of the e-commerce growth. With smartphones a constant companion, consumers can make a purchase at the moment they think of it, an always-on, always-connected trend that will continue, said analyst Jason Woosley. Still, completing the buying process on smartphones lags desktop PC purchasing, blogged Giselle Abramovich, at three vs. 5.9 checkouts per 100 visits. Smartphones have higher cart abandonment rates at 50 percent vs. 33 percent on a desktop, she said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance told members Monday they should ignore letters that look like they are from the FCC but are really from a company, Federal License Management. EWA posted a typical letter. “The letter certainly wants to look official, but as we have alerted you in the past, ‘Federal License Management’ is not affiliated in any manner with the Federal Government, and most certainly, has nothing to do” with the FCC, EWA said: “If you or your customers recently received an ‘ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATE -- MODIFICATION NOTICE’ from the ‘Office of Compliance Administration’ referencing a call sign and listing potential amendments, you should seek satisfaction by throwing the letter away. The FCC does not issue such nonsensical communications and does not have an Office of Compliance Administration.” Federal License Management didn't comment.

West Virginia Public Service Commission staff recommended OK'ing T-Mobile buying Sprint, in a Thursday memo in docket 19-1230-C-PC. Staff noted West Virginia isn’t one of several states challenging the deal. T-Mobile, Sprint and Dish applied Dec. 30 for West Virginia commission clearance.

Parts of the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band rules rewrite that were put on hold for OMB approval (see 1910240026) are now effective because the FCC got OMB OK, said Friday's Federal Register.

Smartphones get their own subcategory and note in the 2022 edition of the harmonized system of tariffs for internationally traded goods, the World Customs Organization said Wednesday. The change for smartphones will “clarify and confirm the current heading classification of these multifunctional devices,” it said. The WCO also said “flat panel display modules will be classified as a product in their own right," simplifying "by removing the need to identify final use.”

North Dakota may go ahead with its 700 MHz regional plan, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said on docket 02-378 and in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Region 32’s 700 MHz Regional Planning Committee submitted the public safety plan last May for general use spectrum in the 769-775/799-805 MHz band. After receiving no comments, the bureau concluded the plan “complies with FCC rules and policies.”