The FCC opposed expediting argument about wireless infrastructure orders challenged by local governments at the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Cities asked the court last month to hold argument quickly on the small-cell and moratorium orders, and later have separate argument on the agency’s one-touch, make-ready ruling (see 1909250017). “These cases do not satisfy this Court’s standard under Ninth Circuit Rules 27-12 and 34-3 to expedite oral argument or to prioritize these cases over other pending cases, especially given the Tenth Circuit’s earlier order finding that Movants will not suffer irreparable harm during the time these cases are under review,” the FCC and DOJ motioned Friday (in Pacer). “Given the number and breadth of issues presented and the extensive briefing before the Court, we believe it best to schedule argument in the ordinary course to ensure that the argument panel has time to review those voluminous materials and ample opportunity to prepare prior to holding argument.” The request to have two arguments instead of one “appears to conflict” with the order consolidating the cases and assigned to the same panel, the agency said. “We understand that order to have contemplated that these cases be argued together.”

T-Mobile thinks moving programming transmissions from the C band to fiber is critical. It proposes an incentive auction. “The primary goal of this proceeding is clear” -- to lead on 5G -- so the U.S. must “make hundreds of megahertz of spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band available for terrestrial use,” said a filing in docket 18-122, posted Thursday on a series of FCC meetings: “An important component of maximizing the amount of C-band spectrum for 5G services includes the use of an alternative transport mechanism, such as fiber, to ensure the reliable delivery of the content currently carried by satellites using the spectrum.” The company opposes a plan by the C-Band Alliance, which isn't based on moving operations to fiber (see 1909180061). The carrier met with the leaders of the International Bureau, the offices of Economics and Analytics and of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staff. The Educational Media Foundation, meanwhile, told officials it makes significant use of the band to distribute programming to stations. Changing its operations to address reallocation “would impose significant cost on EMF,” the nonprofit said. EMF met with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel and aides to the other commissioners.

Those “behind the illegal effort to fake public opposition” to net neutrality should be held accountable, said Free Press Senior Director-Strategy and Communications Timothy Karr, after a Thursday report that two data firms working for industry group Broadband for America submitted millions of fraudulent FCC comments opposing Title II Communications Act net neutrality in 2017 (see 1812030034). “We can see the money trail that reportedly leads from the largest cable and phone companies through their front group Broadband for America and into the hands of those paid to defraud the public,” said Karr. “It’s not right that the agency is still not talking about this mess -- or fixing it,” tweeted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, calling “shameful” FCC “continued silence.” Rosenworcel urged the agency early last year to investigate fake filings (see 1801290054). "The Restoring Internet Freedom Order was based on a careful examination of the law and the facts, not substance-free form letters, such as the nearly 8 million identical one-sentence comments supporting Title II regulation that were tied to email addresses from FakeMailGenerator.com,” emailed an FCC spokesperson. BfA says it backs "Congress pursuing and enacting thoughtful, permanent and bipartisan legislation that enshrines the core principles of an open and inclusive internet." It didn't comment now.

The Wireline Bureau is taking comments through Oct. 31, replies Nov. 15, on Universal Service Administrative Co.'s drop-down menu options for FCC Form 470 applicants use to solicit bids from service providers for E-Rate eligible services, said a public notice on docket 13-184 and in Wednesday's Daily Digest. It seeks to improve the menu to address concerns about the current drop-down menu, reduce administrative burdens and minimize applicant confusion. Menu changes would be available in time for bidding on funding year 2021, the bureau said. It wants changes to be intuitive, technology neutral, searchable and compliant with the program's rules. Stakeholders wanted changes to the form in time for the FY 2020 bidding cycle (see 1808170022). In a letter in Wednesday's Daily Digest, Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens outlined guidance on how USAC should treat E-rate applications for which an applicant mistakenly selected a drop-down menu option on form 470 that didn't fully reflect the services for which it intended to seek bids: Don't "deny any remaining pending application or issue a commitment adjustment for any application solely because the applicant selected the 'Internet Access: ISP Service Only (No Transport Circuit Included)' drop-down menu option and subsequently selected on its FCC Form 471 a service that delivers Internet access to its premises."

Florida backs the T-Mobile/Sprint settlement with DOJ, the department said Wednesday. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) joins Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota in settling claims involving the deal, DOJ said. “Florida has been one of the states leading this investigation since the beginning, and I am pleased that they have chosen to join our settlement after completing their thorough review,” said DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim. Wednesday at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger denied as moot a motion by the group of state AGs challenging the deal. Deutsche Telekom voluntarily agreed Tuesday to comply with the AGs’ request that the court order it to re-review T-Mobile/Sprint documents that DT withheld as privileged (see 1910010066).

Most residential multi-tenant environments have more than one broadband provider, so the FCC should reject "baseless calls by some commenters for further regulation," NCTA replied as such filings posted through Tuesday on docket 17-142. Rules here should apply equally to all providers that service MTEs and in all parts of the MTE on a competitively and technologically neutral basis, NCTA added. "At most require that exclusive marketing agreements include a disclaimer that the agreement is not an exclusive access agreement," Verizon said. T-Mobile said the FCC should prohibit wireless carriers from signing restrictive arrangements with MTEs, and such protections should be extended anywhere "large numbers of wireless customers congregate," such as stadiums. Incompas called exclusive commercial arrangements "a pervasive problem that the commission must address."

President Donald Trump continued telecom and tech federal advisory committees through Sept. 30, 2021, Friday night via an executive order. They are the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, National Infrastructure Advisory Council, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Trump limited Federal Advisory Committee Act-authorized committees to 350 in a June EO and directed all departments and agencies eliminate superfluous agencies by Monday. Committees formed via the FCC and other independent regulatory agencies are unaffected (see 1906140067). CSMAC meets Tuesday, the first time since July 2018 (see 1909100033).

State attorneys general challenging T-Mobile buying Sprint seek a hearing on Deutsche Telekom's alleged “improper withholding of thousands of pages of responsive documents in discovery,” said a Monday letter (in Pacer) to Judge Robert Lehrburger at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. After T-Mobile parent DT withheld 38 percent of requested documents as privileged, AGs found “errors and oddities” in the company’s privilege log and raised them with the company, the states said. “The total page count of documents impacted by DT’s improper privilege invocations is currently 6,213.” Order DT to “re-review each entry on any previously issued log, produce any documents improperly withheld, and certify that an experienced attorney admitted to practice in the United States has considered the propriety of its privilege invocations,” the AGs asked. T-Mobile didn’t comment. Trial on the AGs challenge to the merger starts Dec. 9 (see 1909260046).

The FCC’s proposal for allowing cellular market area-level bidding in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service auction changed considerably from the original proposal by Chairman Ajit Pai, based on a side-by-side comparison. Commissioners approved a public notice 5-0 Thursday. Officials said then (see 1909260040) clarifying language was added at the request of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and questions at the request of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The issue has been important to smaller players who prefer county-level licenses. The rules would permit larger licenses if conditions are met in the 172 largest markets. “We clarify that under this proposal, prices ... would be determined on a county-by-county basis, consistent with the basic clock mechanism,” says language in a new paragraph: “Prices in a particular county would depend upon whether the aggregate demand for blocks in that county exceeds the supply, regardless of whether the demand comes from bidders bidding on a CMA level, on a county level, or both.” The draft says simply: “We seek comment on this proposal for CMA-level bidding generally and on the specific implementation procedures we propose.” The final version adds more than 100 words of questions. “We seek comment on how this proposal, including the proposed implementation procedures ... would affect auction participation by bidders that seek licenses for individual counties,” the notice now says: “We also seek comment on whether there are modifications that should be made to our proposal for CMA-level bidding that would assist auction participation by smaller entities interested in county-sized licenses.” The PN was in Monday's Daily Digest in docket 19-244.

Devote more attention to standardizing decision-making practices for cybersecurity policy, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Friday, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Rosenworcel urged the FCC to complete a rulemaking to ensure USF support for broadband deployment in rural areas isn't used to buy insecure network equipment, as she said the day before (see 1909260032). It would be a mistake to focus all cybersecurity concerns on Huawei 5G technology, she said: "The situation with this company is just a symptom of a larger problem -- and all of our activity so far is about treating the symptom, not the disease." The FCC should create policies to stimulate a broader market for 5G technology, she said, so "no one company can undermine our national security." If the FCC devotes more mid-band spectrum to 5G, she said, vendors would follow to expand the market for secure equipment. Rosenworcel warned secure U.S. networks could still connect to insecure networks abroad: "The FCC should start a proceeding to investigate the best practices carriers can employ to mitigate that risk. We need to research how we build secure networks that can withstand connection to equipment vulnerabilities around the world." She said her agency should "explore dedicated network segmentation, cross-layer security standards, the role of encryption, and routing validation." She said the FCC might ask licensees to use the NIST cybersecurity framework. Rosenworcel said cyber vulnerabilities multiply as the industry transitions to the IoT. The commissioner wants the FCC to use recent NIST draft security recommendations for IoT devices for use in updating FCC equipment authorization standards. "We should transform the Internet of Things into the Internet of Secure Things," she said.