The FCC has been too slow to address complaints AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are selling customers' real-time location data to bounty hunters (see 1901080046), Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Tuesday. Starks cited the dangers of the practice during a February news conference shortly after he took office (see 1902080056) and called for action in an opinion article in Tuesday's The New York Times. “Our location information isn’t supposed to be used without our knowledge and consent and no chain of handoffs or contracts can eliminate the wireless company’s obligations,” Starks wrote. “This is particularly true for the misuse and disclosure of GPS-based 911 location data -- which is squarely against FCC rules.” The FCC says it's investigating, he said: “But nearly a year after the news first broke, the commission has yet to issue an enforcement action or fine those responsible.” The FCC didn't comment.

Securus Technologies dropped its planned buy of Inmate Calling Solutions from TKC Holdings after encountering FCC concerns. Wright Petitioners, the Urban Justice Center's Corrections Accountability Project and others earlier urged the FCC to reject the deal, which would have combined two dominant players in prison calling (see 1807170054). Representatives from the two companies were at the FCC last week to discuss the transaction, with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff from the Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-193. On Tuesday, the two companies said in a filing not yet posted they're withdrawing their application. The companies didn’t comment. “Sometimes, David does in fact beat Goliath,” said Davina Sashkin, lawyer at Fletcher Heald. "Based on a record of nearly 1 million documents comprised of 7.7 million pages of information submitted by the applicants, as well as arguments and evidence submitted by criminal justice advocates, consumer groups, and other commenters, FCC staff concluded that this deal posed significant competitive concerns and would not be in the public interest," Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday evening. "I agree. I’m therefore pleased that the companies have determined that withdrawing their application is the best course.”

The FCC is starting a Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Job Skills and Training Opportunities Working Group as part of its Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. The working group is charged with “identifying any gaps in broadband infrastructure deployment skills that could inhibit the pace of fixed and mobile broadband deployment across the country and with recommending scalable solutions to bridge any skills gaps and attract more skilled professionals to join the broadband infrastructure deployment workforce,” said a Monday public notice. Nominations for membership are due April 15. Members will serve until March 1, 2021, and the time commitment expected is “substantial,” the FCC said.

T-Mobile said research it supported found most AT&T customers don’t believe claims that its 5G evolution, or 5GE, service is faster than 4G. T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint objected to the use of the term 5GE (see 1901080024), which AT&T defends (see 1901100018). “There’s nothing real about AT&T’s 5GE, except for the fact that it is really slower than T-Mobile’s very real 4G LTE network,” T-Mobile said Monday. “AT&T customers know something is up. We asked, and nearly 97 percent of the AT&T customers aware of 5GE … said it’s misleading, according to new research conducted with Civic Science. Maybe that’s because it is!” AT&T didn’t comment.

The Amateur Radio Safety Foundation seeking a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to discuss whether the FCC should grant HF data privileges to amateur radio operators. Foundation President Loring Kutchins fired back at Ted Rappaport, founding director of NYU Wireless at New York University School of Engineering, who recently urged the agency to reject the requested rule change (see 1903220039). Kutchins said the fight has damaged the ARRL, formerly the Amateur Radio Relay League. “The troubling result of this combative and untruthful public lobbying is the fracture of the US amateur radio community, and damage to the long-standing institution representing Amateur Radio in the USA,” Kutchins said. “Please grant our request to be heard. We hope it will end this contention, and to at last put the FCC in a position to act on long-pending proceedings.” The letter, posted Monday in RM-11828, said Pai also should invite other federal agencies, the ARRL and Rappaport to the meeting. Monday, Rappaport and the FCC didn't comment.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau asked for additional feedback on how well industry’s wireless resiliency cooperative framework is working, in light of seven hurricanes that hit the U.S. in 2017 and 2018. In November, the bureau sought information from seven top wireless carriers on how they are implementing the framework (see 1811060052). The companies replied that the framework has mostly worked well (see 1811270035). “The Bureau now seeks feedback on the implementation and effectiveness of each prong of the Framework, including the Signatories’ responses to the … Letters and how to best monitor and document its efficacy,” the bureau said Monday in docket 11-60. The bureau wants comment from “cross-sector stakeholders with on-the-ground experience during a disaster in which wireless providers utilized the Framework,” the public notice said: “We are interested in hearing from industry and government bodies at all levels, and particularly from consumers, including people with disabilities and those who may be disproportionately affected by communications outages.” Comments are due April 29, replies May 20. The FCC approved the framework in December 2016 (see 1612210008). The bureau sought more general comment last summer. New York City said a voluntary approach won’t ensure network resilience (see 1808030036). CTIA disagreed. The framework's five prongs are: reasonable roaming arrangements during disasters, mutual aid, enhancing municipal preparation and restoration, increasing consumer readiness, and improving public awareness and communications on service and restoration status.

T-Mobile's plan for a C-band auction is superior to the C Band Alliance’s proposal, the carrier said. The 180 MHz of spectrum the CBA plan makes available isn’t adequate, agency General Counsel Thomas Johnson and others from his staff heard. “The auction structure would include not only satellite operators but also earth station registrants, which would foster competition and lead to a more efficient reallocation of the spectrum,” T-Mobile said in docket 18-122, posted Friday. “An incentive auction conducted for different geographic areas provides a market-based mechanism to determine the most appropriate balance of terrestrial versus satellite use of the C-band and provides flexibility for that use to vary geographically.” A CBA spokesperson said, "Our detailed response to the T-Mobile proposal is on file at the FCC."

Big tech companies -- which just a couple of years ago could do no wrong in Washington's and the public's eyes -- today are suffering from an unprecedented change of favor, NCTA CEO Michael Powell said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators that was to have been televised this weekend. The "shocking flip" since around the 2016 election is "the biggest whiplash I have ever seen in policy or public sentiment," Powell said. He said some of that reversal "is probably overdone, but all of it is overdue" since those companies have been allowed to become central in the economy without enough scrutiny. The backlash was inevitable and tech power will define antitrust issues for years to come, Powell said. It's a mistake to lump disparate companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook together given their very different businesses and approaches, and they have to be looked at case by case, he said. A breakup of any seems unlikely at least in the near future, given the legal hurdles and challenges of proving consumer harm when talking about what are often free services, he said. The tech giants' pushes into over-the-top video is leading to cord cutting at a 3-4 percent annual rate, though the legacy cable business "is not on the verge of collapse or vanishing," Powell said. But since the tech companies' primary businesses lie outside video, in areas like internet search or online retail, "They're not really our direct counterparts, they're radically different things" focused on data, he said. Long term, that means " a dramatic revolution" in how services are provided and it could be difficult to compete in some areas without access to that kind of data, Powell said. The Internet Association didn't comment Friday. Powell said all video providers need to be "harmonized" under an overall regulatory philosophy by Congress. He said the differing approaches and rules regimes for legacy providers and new competitors is "an accident of history," with the regulatory structure easily gamed against legacy providers. Asked if video is on the way out, Powell said "the centrality of internet is what's on its way in." And though the video part of the business is "in transition," the industry's 10G initiative (see 1901070048) "is a pretty big statement" of confidence in cable's longevity, he said.

Action is coming on the 5.9 GHz band, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly promised attendees at a Wi-Fi event Wednesday evening, hosted by the Wi-Fi Alliance and Broadcom. The band is allocated to dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology, which automakers have been slow to deploy and the commission since 2013 has been looking at sharing with Wi-Fi (see 1301160063). O’Rielly and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said last month they favor a broad-based Further NPRM looking at the future of the band (see 1902140057). Chairman Ajit Pai has declined to offer a timetable, saying the band raises some tough issues. “I don’t want to give anyone the impression that we’re abandoning 5.9,” O’Rielly said Wednesday. “That is a high priority for me. … We’re going to see something on 5.9 in the very near future.” O’Rielly said the FCC shouldn’t wait. “We can’t let the 75 MHz at 5.9 sit there and stagnate for another 20 years, counting on something that’s probably not coming,” he said. The FCC faces big challenges on unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band, the subject of a recent rulemaking (see 1903180047), O’Rielly warned. He said branding a new generation of technology as Wi-Fi 6 makes sense: “Simplifying that is very helpful to everybody.” Wi-Fi Caucus Chairs Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., stressed the importance of Wi-Fi in brief remarks. McNerney said getting the 6 GHz band reallocated for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed will require a “big lift,” but “that’s what tech lives for, is big lifts.” There are “big benefits” to Wi-Fi, McNerney said. “It’s going to connect people,” he said. “It’s going to make businesses thrive in my district. … It’s going to put students in touch with their educational material.” Latta said if people don’t have broadband and access to Wi-Fi, they’re “way behind … you’re not even in the game.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel are slated to testify at an April 3 House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the agency's FY 2020 budget request, the Appropriations Committee said Wednesday. President Donald Trump's administration proposed more than $335.6 million for the FCC and its Office of Inspector General, with $11 million allocated to OIG (see 1903180063). The hearing begins at 1:30 p.m. in 2362-A Rayburn. It will be Pai's first appearance at a House hearing since Democrats regained the majority in the chamber in January. House Democrats flagged more-critical FCC oversight as likely under their majority (see 1811140055). The House Communications Subcommittee “absolutely” wants to fulfill its promise for more regular FCC oversight hearings, but “it's just a matter of getting it in the queue” given Commerce Committee other priorities, subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told reporters Wednesday. Doyle wants get House passage of his Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) “out of the way” before he moves on to FCC oversight and other priorities. A House Commerce markup of the measure is expected next week, and House floor consideration the week of April 8 (see 1903180068 and 1903260064). “That's taken precedent” over FCC oversight and the 35-day partial government shutdown that ended in January (see 1901160031) is also continuing to “put us behind where we want to be,” Doyle said.