Frontier Communications promotes AJ Burton to vice president-federal regulatory affairs, succeeding Mike Saperstein, hired (see 1803220014) by USTelecom, effective April 9 ... FirstNet Association begins, led by Al Gillespie, past president, International Association of Fire Chiefs; Ray Flynn, retired assistant sheriff, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; and Richard Mirgon, past president, APCO ... StreamSearch Live hires Marty Lafferty, ex-Telecommunications Industry Association, as chief content officer ... Ex-aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Denzel Singletary hired by eBay, joins Government Relations team to lead Small Business Ambassador Network.
The Entertainment Software Association challenged FCC repeal of net neutrality regulation. ESA filed a motion Wednesday to intervene against the commission's order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Mozilla v. FCC, et al., No. 18-1051. "Consumers deserve rules of the road that prevent blocking, throttling and other restrictive conduct -- and enable the great online experiences," said Stan Pierre-Louis, ESA general counsel. Others filing to intervene, on different sides, this week were: the American Cable Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, CTIA, Internet Association, Leonid Goldstein, NARUC, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, NCTA and USTelecom.
The Maryland House passed a combined net neutrality and ISP privacy bill designed to counter recent actions by national Republicans. The House voted 86-46 on party lines Wednesday to send HB-1654 to the Senate after amending the bill Tuesday to cover government-provided broadband (see 1804030053). If it survives the state's Senate and GOP governor, it would revive FCC privacy rules for ISPs that were repealed by Congress in 2015 and prohibit state contracts with ISPs that violate net neutrality rules like those the commission rescinded in December. In Alaska, industry is arguing against net neutrality mandates.
A source at Facebook said Tuesday the company is in touch with lawmakers but wouldn't confirm that CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to testify before Congress, as reported by multiple outlets after the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
USTelecom will “aggressively challenge” state and municipal net neutrality efforts that are inconsistent with the FCC’s December order, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said Monday. Many expect industry lawsuits challenging state actions including a Washington state law and five gubernatorial executive orders (see 1803230041). Acknowledging litigation is likely, a Massachusetts Senate special committee said Monday “there are strong arguments to support state action in this area and the uncertainty of the Federal legal landscape should not prevent states from acting.” Democratic lawmakers in Colorado and Baltimore also unveiled proposals.
The FCC is eyeing rural call completion and rural business data service (BDS) actions among others at its April 17 commissioners' meeting. A rural call completion item would set new rules seeking to improve long-distance provider monitoring of "intermediate providers" while easing reporting requirements, and seek comment on a recently enacted rural call law, blogged Chairman Ajit Pai Monday. The item combines an order and Further NPRM, said an agency official. Pai said a separate NPRM would look to offer BDS "inventive regulation" to rural telcos receiving model-based Connect America Fund broadband-oriented support.
The FCC will consider an NPRM at its April 17 meeting proposing to bar the use of money in any of the four USF programs to buy equipment or services from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or the communications supply chain. The NPRM appears mainly aimed at Chinese wireless equipment makers Huawei and ZTE, industry experts said. The biggest potential negative could be for smaller carriers, who sometimes find they must rely on Huawei as a low-cost handset provider for markets some larger companies don’t want to serve, industry officials said.
The FCC and FTC took a deep dive on illegal robocalls during a joint forum at FCC headquarters Friday, a day after FCC members approved creating at least one reassigned numbers database to help businesses avoid calling reassigned numbers (see 1803220028). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the fight against unwanted robocalls requires that his agency, the FTC and others work together. Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen agreed.
The FCC took USF actions and made proposals intended to help rural telcos provide broadband-oriented service and to improve high-cost subsidy program operations. Dissenting Democrats said their requests for changes to an NPRM went unheeded. Chairman Ajit Pai said the minority members waited too long to make their suggestions, a charge they denied. The commission Friday released two orders and a notice (here) that provide up to $545 million in additional support to rate-of-return carriers, flesh out expense and investment cost-recovery restrictions, and aim to examine the rural USF budget and a possible tribal broadband factor. The item appears largely consistent with a draft (see 1801160040 and 1801170048).
States with laws or executive orders on net neutrality to counter the FCC’s December recision order should expect lawsuits, law experts and others said in interviews. Suits seem more likely to come from industry than the FCC, but industry may wait for the right moment, they said. In two states that passed net neutrality bills, ILEC associations said they won’t sue.