The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) won't be ready to support recent improvements to wireless emergency alerts by Monday, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said. In April, the commission reminded carriers (see this publication, May 1) that revised rules for wireless emergency alerts, approved in 2016 (see 1609290060), were to take effect May 1. That notice said IPAWS expected to be ready to support the new features on June 10. IPAWS recently notified the FCC it won’t meet that deadline, the notice said. One of the features is the ability to conduct state or local tests. “Until such time as IPAWS will support and deploy the State/Local WEA Test option, alert originators may not conduct an end-to-end WEA test to the public without first obtaining a waiver of the Commission’s rules,” Friday's publican notice said: “The Bureau will issue a Public Notice announcing when IPAWS is available to fully support these WEA enhancements and providing further guidance on their use.”

The 2019 regulatory fee NPRM doesn’t provide sufficient explanation for the hikes it proposes, commented NAB, Nexstar and Gray Television, posted in docket 19-105 Friday. The agency proposes “extraordinary” fee increases for radio stations while providing “little or no explanation” for why, said NAB. The NPRM “spends a mere four words” explaining why it proposes increasing the fees for TV satellite stations, said Gray and Nexstar. “The proposed elimination of a separate flat fee for satellite stations is unjustified as a matter of policy, would be arbitrary and capricious if implemented, and has been insufficiently noticed to regulates.” The FCC has a “checkered history” of not explaining regulatory fee changes, NAB said. Expand the base of contributors to regulatory fees beyond only FCC license holders, it said. Ray Baum’s Act eliminates a reference to licensees from the agency’s regulatory fee authority, the association said. “Unlicensed spectrum users and their advocates” have “placed significant demands on limited Commission resources,” NAB said. “As it stands now, radio and TV stations are paying for the FCC staff to handle this work.” Marantha Broadcasting said the FCC proposal to base regulatory fees for broadcasters on population served rather than designated market area will disadvantage VHF stations, which must rely on heightened power to overcome interference: “In many cases these fees are being disproportionally assessed on parties who can least afford them.” Waive the regulatory fees of radio broadcasters assisted through its incubator program, commented the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. The fees could “render it more difficult for incubated entities to thrive under the program,” they said. Reallocate the distribution of fees between submarine cables and other international bearer circuits to put more of the burden on the cables, asked CenturyLink. Adjust the fees “to better align the fees imposed with the statutory requirement that such fees be ‘related to the benefits provided to the payor of the fee by the Commission’s activities,’” the telco said.

The FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment has the final meeting under the current charter June 24 at 10 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, said a public notice Thursday. The charter expires July 5, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said he will recharter the committee, an FCC spokesperson told us. The meeting will feature reports on each working group’s work under the current charter, plus reports on the committee’s March diversity symposium, the adoption of broadband in underserved communities, and a best practices guide for diversity in tech hiring.

The FCC continues to examine how it can work across the federal government to help support public health, said Chairman Ajit Pai after the commissioners' meeting (see 1906060056) Thursday. He said the agency wants to look at available broadband maps to see where additional deployments could help address the opioid crisis, for example. The commission wants to work more closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs and state and local organizations around the country to bring telehealth to areas like the U.S. Virgin Islands that are underserved by traditional health centers, Pai told us in Q&A.

The FCC rush to roll out the Lifeline national verifier is leading to mass de-enrollments in two states, said Q Link Wireless. Slow its Lifeline national verifier rollout until an application programming interface (API) is ready, the Lifeline provider said in a Monday meeting with the Wireline Bureau, per a filing in docket 09-197 posted Thursday. “The unabated string of National Verifier hard launches and the recent start of mass de-enrollments for those who have yet to pass reverification is alarming,” it said. “Q Link alone has had thousands of subscribers de-enrolled in Colorado and Utah, many, if not all, of whom appear to be eligible.” The company is glad Universal Service Administrative Co. is developing an API for machine-to-machine communication, but “Q Link and the rural and suburban customers it serves lack an alternative way for enrollment and verification information from online consumers to be transmitted to USAC,” the provider said. “With each successive hard launch, more online consumers in rural and suburban areas lack an effective way to enroll (or re-enroll) in Lifeline.” The FCC “could prevent this problem from getting worse by not proceeding to hard launch in any more states pending completion of the API and securing adequate database access (i.e., SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] and Medicaid at a minimum),” it said. “Suspending hard launches and reverifications would allow USAC to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure systems are working properly before disconnecting consumers.” The FCC inspector general's most recent improper payments report found 18.5 percent ($227 million) of Lifeline payments in 2017 were improper, a spokesperson said. "The FCC began rolling out the National Eligibility Verifier in 2018, and it is critical that we continue this rollout to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse."

VTDigger opposed AT&T's joining a case at the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals about the Vermont news publication’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit about FirstNet. The Department of Commerce last week asked the court to reject VTDigger’s appeal (see 1905290068). AT&T asked (in Pacer) Friday to submit an amicus brief “to address Plaintiffs’ claim that, under Section 208, DOC must prepare a ‘Privacy Impact Assessment’ for the Network. Given that AT&T -- not DOC or any other government agency -- will operate the Network and be responsible for handling any personal information transmitted or stored on the Network, AT&T is uniquely situated to help this Court understand the legal and practical implications of Plaintiffs’ Section 208 claim.” Section 208 requires such assessments only of government agencies, but AT&T is the one collecting information, the carrier said. The court can’t redress the claimed injury since AT&T isn’t a party to the case or a government agency, and “relief granted against DOC would be meaningless,” the carrier said. VTDigger said (in Pacer) Tuesday it plans to file an opposition brief because AT&T doesn’t meet the standard for an amicus curiae. The 2nd Circuit should hold the case in abeyance until it resolves AT&T’s motion to participate, then give VTDigger 14 days to file a reply to the Commerce Department brief, the publication said. The department requested (in Pacer) oral argument Wednesday.

FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes wrote the U.S.’s five largest wireless carriers Wednesday, asking about their plans to meet a Nov. 30 geotargeting deadline for wireless emergency alerts. The letters went to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. Commissioners approved 5-0 an order in January 2018 requiring that participating wireless providers deliver alerts to the target area specified by the alert originator with no more than a one-tenth of a mile overshoot (see 1801300027). The letters ask each carrier to “inform the Commission, in writing” of its progress by June 28. The alerts are a “critical tool for federal, state, and local officials warn the public about imminent threats, such tornadoes hurricanes, missing children,” the letters state.

DOJ initiated formal review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees Wednesday, as expected (see 1903010052), requesting comment through July 10. The review’s purpose “is to determine whether the decrees should be maintained in their current form, modified, or terminated,” Justice said. First issued in 1941, the ASCAP consent decree was last modified in 2001 and BMI in 1941. “It is important for the Division to reassess periodically whether these decrees continue to serve the American consumer and whether they should be changed to achieve greater efficiency and enhance competition in light of innovations in the industry,” Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said. DOJ included several questions in the solicitation: Do the decrees serve important competitive purposes, or are they no longer necessary? Do they effectively protect competition? What modifications would enhance competition and efficiency? Would termination serve the public interest? Would a delayed termination be more beneficial? Are “existing antitrust statutes and applicable case law sufficient to protect competition in the absence of the Consent Decrees”? ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews welcomed the news: “A more flexible framework with less government regulation will allow us to compete in a free market, which we believe is the best way for our music creators to be rewarded for the value of their music.” BMI looks “forward to working with the DOJ, licensees and our other music partners to help ensure a smooth process that safeguards a vibrant future for music.” NAB appreciates the “tone” of DOJ’s inquiry regarding the ongoing importance of the framework, CEO Gordon Smith said: “Absent broader legislative reforms, their preservation is essential to a fully functional music marketplace.” The “modification, elimination or even the possible sunset of the decrees at the present time would lead to chaos for the entire marketplace,” MIC Coalition said, noting the decrees have helped mitigate anticompetitive behavior.

Limiting what 833 toll-free numbers might end up in secondary markets and taking a different look at the data responsible organizations (RespOrgs) are supposed to provide about those secondary markets are among suggestions the telecom industry had in FCC docket 95-155 postings Tuesday. Rules authorizing the auction took effect last fall (see 1811260030) and replies are due Monday. Consider rules restricting from the secondary market any toll-free numbers that were obtained for free, even if they were obtained under competitive bidding processes, ATIS Systems SMS/800 Number Administration Committee asked, saying numbers in which there was only one bidder -- and thus free -- shouldn't be eligible for the secondary market. It said defaulted bids should be treated as if they hadn't been submitted, with the second-highest bidder awarded the number for the third-highest bid amount or, if there's no other bidder, for zero, instead of subsequent auction rounds. The group called "unnecessarily severe" the proposed penalty that not submitting secondary market data to Somos within 60 days would mean discontinued access to the toll-free database. Citing "ease of administration," CenturyLink said only contested numbers should be eligible for the secondary market and that possible RespOrg reporting penalties are too severe. It said requiring a bidder participate in the same way for all numbers instead of bidding on some directly and others through a RespOrg would promote auction process integrity. The proposed information-gathering burdens on RespOrgs "go well beyond their current capabilities" and need to be narrowed, Verizon said. It said the FCC should ensure financial burdens of such information gathering and reporting aren't excessive and protect proprietary business information -- such as toll-free number sales prices. A competitive auction of a few 833 numbers is a far more modest undertaking than a spectrum auction, so don't apply such spectrum auction rules on a blanket basis to the participants of the experimental toll-free auction, 1-800 Contacts commented. It said application procedures and qualification requirements must be "much less burdensome" so as not to preclude participation. It said problems include the common control restriction, which isn't needed "given the very minimal chance" of collusion by otherwise independent companies.

Telecom and other groups opposed AT&T proposal to operate using higher power limits in parts of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. They "express, in the strongest of terms, their policy, operational, and legal objections to AT&T’s proposed" Category C antenna, said Tuesday's letter in FCC docket 17-258. The change would let CBRS devices operate at a maximum effective isotropic radiated power of 62 dBm/10 MHz, 31 times maximum EIRP now, the letter said. “On the verge of Initial Commercial Deployments and General Authorized Access use of the band, AT&T’s ‘questions concerning whether the Commission would entertain’ such a proposal should be met with a resounding ‘NO.’” Altice USA, the American Petroleum Institute, Frontier, Motorola Solutions, Windstream and Wireless ISP Association protested the AT&T request. The company didn’t comment.