Parties disagreed on the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act's fallout for an FCC's rulemaking to protect the communications supply chain from national security threats. The Telecommunications Industry Association said NDAA Section 889 requires the commission to bar certain suppliers from participating in its funding programs. Huawei -- one of the targeted suppliers -- and others said the recently enacted provisions give the FCC no mandate to impose supplier restrictions on USF support. NCTA suggested the commission defer action and consult with other agencies. Comments were posted through Monday on a public notice (see 1810260044).

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., led filing Friday of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (S-3655) to combat illegal robocall scams. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is a co-sponsor. S-3655 would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The bill extends to three years the window for civil enforcement. The agency also would be required to begin a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers. S-3655 would require carriers adopt call authentication technologies that allow them to verify an incoming call is legitimate. “Existing civil penalty rules were designed to impose penalties on lawful telemarketers who make mistakes,” Thune said. “We need do more to separate enforcement of carelessness and other mistakes from more sinister actors.” S-3655 “emphasizes the importance of reintroducing trust to the caller ID framework, while strengthening the ability of industry traceback efforts, including those led by USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group,” said USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Kevin Rupy. Consumer Reports, Consumer Federation of America and the National Consumer Law Center backed the bill.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen repeatedly cited the need for “relentless resilience” Friday, lauding launch of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. President Donald Trump signed legislation Friday restructuring the National Protection and Programs Directorate into CISA, a new DHS agency.

The National Multifamily Housing Council lobbied FCC leadership, calling the apartment industry "very competitive," with "owners keenly aware" of the need to provide modern communications services for residents. "This debate is really about whether the commission should help a handful of potential competitors carve up the high end of the market," said NMHC on meetings with Chairman Ajit Pai, Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and aides, posted Tuesday in docket 17-91 (here, here and here). "Providers control the market. There is a lack of competition in the market today, but it is in the smaller, less lucrative buildings that competitive providers choose not to serve." NMHC backed a petition to pre-empt a San Francisco code that requires multi-tenant buildings let occupants request access to competing providers (see 1612150006). It opposed further FCC steps toward regulation from a multiple tenant environment inquiry (see 1706220036) and Article 8 of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's proposed Model State Act (see 1807270020), which it said "would force the rental apartment industry to subsidize" broadband deployment. In a USTelecom forbearance proceeding, Incompas pressed the FCC to keep discounted wholesale unbundled network elements, which it said facilitate fiber networks that assist 5G. An enhanced satellite image of San Francisco showing fiber deployments by Zayo in business districts and Sonic Telecom in residential areas -- with Sonic crediting UNEs "as a stepping stone" -- illustrates the potential for competitive "fiber rich networks for fronthauling of small cells in residential areas," wrote Incompas on meeting a Pai aide, in docket 18-141.

Broadband interests opposed requests of electric utilities and others to revisit an FCC August decision aimed at streamlining pole attachments and removing state and local barriers to broadband deployment, including moratoriums (see 1808020034). Telco, cable and fiber parties filed against a Coalition for Concerned Utilities (CCU) petition to reconsider pole-attachment rate and process changes in the order. Some also objected to the recon petitions of the Smart Communities and Special Districts Coalition (here), County Road Association of Michigan (here) and New York City (here) targeting a pre-emption declaratory ruling (the latter also targeted part of the pole order). Oppositions were posted through Tuesday in docket 17-84.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the mandate of a panel's partial reversal of an FCC order that largely deregulated business data service rates of price-cap incumbent telcos. An FCC motion to stay the mandate is granted until Nov. 12, 2019, said a court order (in Pacer) in Citizens Telecommunications v. FCC, No. 17-2296. The FCC argued the stay would avoid BDS market disruption while it considers the procedural reversal and remand of TDM interoffice transport pricing deregulation (see 1810100054), which it proposed to reinstate in a recent Further NPRM (see 1810230032). Incompas and Sprint opposed the motion while USTelecom, AT&T and CenturyLink backed it (see 1810220035).

Industry groups warned NTIA against pushing privacy policies that restrict data collection. Consumer groups argued for more FTC authority and higher standards on data collection consent. Friday was NTIA’s deadline for comment on the administration’s privacy principles effort. The agency will make them publicly available this week, so we asked stakeholders what they filed, and others released them. Some said they were working on them Friday, and others said they don't plan to file.

A USTelecom, ITTA and Wireless ISP Association petition for reconsideration of FCC staff-imposed broadband performance testing duties on Connect America Fund recipients (see 1809200035) got support from AT&T, Midcontinent Communications and Alaska Communications, plus some rural opposition. "Many of the Bureaus’ performance measurement decisions are counterproductive ... and were not subject to notice and comment," said AT&T, as comments were posted Wednesday and Thursday in docket 10-90. It urged the Wireline and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology to clarify CAF recipients may test to the nearest internet access point, and to harmonize latency and speed testing requirements and compliance. Midcontinent supported the entire petition, while Alaska Communications particularly backed requests that "speed testing should measure compliance only with the applicable minimum CAF-required speed" and for "reconsideration of the decision to exclude speed test results that substantially exceed the 'advertised speed.'" NTCA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Utilities Technology Council supported reducing some burdens, but not "changes that would reduce the rigor with which latency standards are ensured." They believe the order met Administrative Procedure Act notice requirements. ITTA backed NTCA and WTA applications for review to postpone the scheduled Q3 2019 launch of carrier testing. Adtran opposed a Hughes Network Systems recon petition and Hughes opposed a Viasat petition.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai likely faces a more complicated next two years than his first two, after Democrats retook the House (see 1811070054), if Pai stays through President Donald Trump's term. With some races still unsettled, Democrats hold a slim majority in the House and Pai will encounter the same dynamic as many predecessors after their parties lost control of the House, Senate or both. Most industry officials agreed FCC work likely will slow slightly on some of bigger, controversial items.

The FCC pressed small voice service providers to assist "efforts to trace scam robocalls that originate on or pass through their networks." Letters were sent to eight providers not participating in industry traceback efforts, the agency said Tuesday, a day after Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters demanding major voice providers adopt a call-authentication framework by 2019 to fight illegal caller ID spoofing and robocalling (see 1811050055). Separately, several backed IHS Markit asking urgent motor vehicle recall messages be exempted from Telephone Consumer Protection Act wireless calling restrictions (see 1810050005).