FCC Chairman Ajit Pai "demanded" industry "adopt a robust call authentication system to combat illegal caller ID spoofing" and launch it no later than 2019. “Combatting illegal robocalls is our top consumer priority," he said Monday on letters to 14 telecom and internet voice providers. Call authentication is "the best way to ensure that consumers can answer their phones with confidence," he said. "By this time next year, I expect that consumers will begin to see this on their phones. Carriers need to continue working together to make this happen and I am calling on those falling behind to catch up. ... If it does not appear that this system is on track to get up and running next year, then we will take action to make sure that it does.” In May, Pai welcomed a North American Numbering Council report recommending industry quickly establish governing and policy authorities for implementing a Shaken/Stir (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) framework, with some providers expected to adopt the protocols within a year (see 1805140028). Some then made announcements. Pai's letters Monday asked providers that apparently haven't established concrete Shaken/Stir implementation plans to do so without delay, with questions about their efforts: CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Frontier Communications, Sprint, TDS, U.S. Cellular and Vonage. He asked other providers for Shaken/Stir implementation timelines and details: AT&T, Bandwidth.com, Comcast, Cox Communications, Google, T-Mobile and Verizon. USTelecom leads the Industry Traceback Group working to fight robocalls via "consumer tools, new technologies, traceback efforts and law enforcement," an association spokesperson responded. "The SHAKEN/STIR standard is an important tool" in the industrywide "toolkit to combat illegal robocalls and identify the sources of untrustworthy communications," he emailed. “NCTA members are actively participating in the development and implementation of the Shaken/Stir protocol,” said a spokesperson. "The wireless industry is fully committed to protecting consumers and will continue to work closely with the FCC, FTC, law enforcement and other stakeholders to combat the problem, including developing and deploying call authentication tools as quickly as possible," said CTIA Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann.

The Supreme Court declined to review the prior FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Justices 4-3 denied cert petitions appealing affirmation of the Communications Act Title II order, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh not participating, said the order list Monday deciding Daniel Berninger et al. v. FCC, No. 17-498. It noted Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would grant the petitions, vacate the D.C. Circuit's judgment and remand to that court with instructions to dismiss the cases as moot under U.S. v. Munsingwear. The solicitor general, backed by ISPs, had urged justices to take that course, given the current FCC's order undoing Title II net neutrality regulation, which is being challenged in the D.C. Circuit (see 1810030036). ISP groups and some others Monday said they weren't surprised by cert denial. “Once the current FCC repealed the 2015 Order, almost all parties -- including NCTA -- agreed that the case was moot," said NCTA: "Today’s decision is not an indication of the Court’s views on the merits but simply reflects the fact that there was nothing left for the Court to rule on.” Net neutrality advocate Andrew Schwartzman emailed, "This was the likely outcome and doesn't change things much, if at all. However, had the court vacated the 2016 DC Circuit opinion, it would have precluded the petitioners in the current DC Circuit case from relying on the earlier decision as precedent." The current order "remains the law of the land and is essential to an open internet," said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter. CEO Matt Polka said the American Cable Association will continue "to defend the [current] order in federal court and fight impermissible interference with the national regime by the states." Unless Congress legislates, "the ping-pong match over the FCC's authority will continue," said TechFreedom President Berin Szoka. The group noted three Republican appointees would have vacated the 2015 order; Kavanaugh dissented from the D.C. Circuit affirmation while on that court; and Roberts was recused, "apparently because of prior" cable stock holdings. “Although the current FCC repealed [the] net neutrality rules in 2017 in a fit of partisan overreach ... we will continue to fight until net neutrality is once again the law of the land," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted: " It wasn't enough for this @FCC to roll back #NetNeutrality. It actually petitioned the Supreme Court to erase history and wipe out an earlier court decision upholding open internet policies. But today the Supreme Court refused to do so." Free Press and Public Knowledge welcomed the decision (here and here).

The FCC should fully fund model-based and cost-based rate-of-return USF mechanisms before considering a second Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM) offer with new demands, said WTA in meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Friday in docket 10-90 (here, here). The RLEC group also discussed "implementation and technical and economic feasibility of potential changes to associated broadband build-out obligations" and "potential impact of the growth of Customer Broadband Only Line ('CBOL') services upon cost-based RoR budgets and budget control." Hargray Communications urged adoption of consensus RoR budget hike proposals from NTCA, USTelecom, ITTA and WTA (see 1810010045). "Current funding uncertainty is deterring investment" that could help close the digital divide, it said on a discussion with bureau staffers. It opposed "arbitrary reductions" in support for seven years, "the term of many commercial loans."

A CLE heard criticism of FCC broadband mapping inaccuracies and of an AT&T executive appearing to some to celebrate a municipal network's struggles. Many at Thursday's Wolters Kluwer event agreed the maps need improvement, including Mississippi Public Service Commission Chairman Brandon Presley (D). He has a related draft NARUC resolution (see 1810310035). "The maps are completely inaccurate" and some providers claim to have service in places where they don't, he said: "We’re finding problems throughout our district," which covers about a third of Mississippi. Best Best law firm's Gerard Lederer, who represents municipalities, said "we simply would like to have facts. ... We really need to know where to fill in the gaps. If you don’t have agreement on that, I’m not sure how you can pursue the goal" of universal-type availability. The FCC has defended its process, and declined to comment now. An Oct. 24 tweet from AT&T Mississippi President Mayo Flynt that "another one bites the dust" on Opelika, Alabama, selling its "broadband business for big loss" also drew scrutiny Wednesday. USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Diane Griffin Holland said that, speaking personally, "We should not necessarily poke fun at or have a visceral reaction where a municipality seeks to take the initiative to deploy broadband." She thinks public-private partnerships could "take sort of the best of both worlds" to perhaps get "us closer to ubiquitous deployment." Mayo was highlighting AT&T's long-held position that "government-owned networks typically fail at great cost to taxpayers,” a spokesman said. “A number of municipal broadband efforts have failed over the last several years, often at great cost to local taxpayers," a USTelecom spokesman also noted. The group's "position has long been that bringing broadband to unserved areas is essential to closing today’s digital divide," he said. "The best way for municipalities to aid in this effort is through lowering the barriers to private sector deployment and partnering with private companies." As government is funding some projects to fill in digital gaps, some sought higher speeds. Speeds of 10/1 Mbps downstream/upstream may not be sufficient, and the Utilities Technology Council seeks 25/3 or higher, said General Counsel Brett Kilbourne. Many customers of utilities in sparsely populated areas buy 50 Mbps and above, even when slower speeds are available, he said. "Folks in rural areas want high speeds just as much as folks in urban areas."

LAS VEGAS -- A key telecom challenge is to ensure regional and smaller providers can compete in a market dominated by large national players, Windstream CEO Tony Thomas said Wednesday. He said his company is the No. 5 fiber provider, with half a million locations on-net. "We can't be a national provider without some sort of basic, functioning wholesale market," he said, noting the need to serve business customers with scattered locations. He backed spectrum policies that do more to allow smaller bidders to compete with the big four national wireless carriers and voiced concern about large tech companies gobbling up upstarts.

LAS VEGAS -- CLEC executives at the Incompas Show mixed optimism and hope that the FCC won't grant a USTelecom bid for ILEC relief from wholesale duties to share networks with rivals. They told show attendees that competitor ability to lease access to discounted copper unbundled network elements (UNEs) of large incumbents encourages both sides to deploy fiber. Some cited the importance of maintaining "avoided-cost resale" requirements also targeted by a USTelecom forbearance petition.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai seeking a committee staff briefing on USTelecom's petition for incumbent telco relief from mandatory wholesale unbundling discounts, resale and other duties. Telco rivals, state regulators and consumer advocates say it would undermine competition (see 1808070024). Walden and Blackburn told Pai they also want the FCC to brief the committee on the agency's Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction. An FCC spokesman said the agency is working to set the briefing.

California agreed not to enforce its new net neutrality law (SB-822) while appeal of the FCC’s order rescinding the 2015 national rules is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and possibly the Supreme Court. The state agreed to delay enforcement in a pleading with the U.S. District Court for Eastern California. The state was scheduled to respond to the motion for a preliminary injunction Friday, but the parties informed the judge they had reached a deal. ISP groups (see 1810030036) and DOJ (see 1809210059) challenged the California law in cases before that district court.

Windstream said the FCC shouldn't move 8YY toll-free originating access fees to a bill-and-keep, no-payment regime over three years. That would be "a radical step" that provides a "windfall to large 8YY providers and shift costs to consumers," said the telco, noting "widespread existence of 8YY abuse" hasn't been demonstrated. The agency should either let 8YY revenue "decline on their own over time" or consider "a longer transition period," filed the carrier, on meetings CEO Tony Thomas had with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly, and aides to all four commissioners, posted Tuesday in docket 18-156. On the recent Connect America Fund Phase II auction, "Windstream highlighted its concerns around the ability of some of the winning bidders to fulfill their deployment obligations," saying "the weighting methodology applied to latency did not adequately reflect consumer differentiation between high-latency and low-latency services." It noted its continued support for the deal it reached with other USTelecom members on a proposal to delay ILEC forbearance relief from mandatory wholesale network unbundling discounts until February 2021.

The Wireless ISP Association said it strongly supports efforts to modernize FCC Form 477, but the rules should take into account wireless connections. “Allow fixed wireless providers to submit geospatial data that show coverage areas (i.e., polygons of coverage filed via shapefiles or rasters) as an alternative to reporting via census blocks, street addresses, road segments or geocoding,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-10. “Such geospatial data would provide more accurate deployment data for broadband services, especially in rural areas. ... Such data would also be a less burdensome reporting metric for WISPA’s members.” The American Cable Association said if the FCC revises the form, “reporting broadband deployment information on a street segment basis adequately balances competing interests. It will significantly improve the information that the Commission collects today on a census block basis by providing more granular data.” USTelecom proposed carriers “confidentially provide to the FCC all known addresses that they have in their databases -- both current and previous customer addresses so that the Commission could then take this data and eliminate duplicates, build on what is provided with publicly available parcel data, crowdsourcing, or some other governmental or commercially available source that meets their requirements for usability.”