The FCC released an order Thursday extending by 90 days the time frame for the collecting speed test data for the Mobility Fund Phase II challenge process. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel partially dissented. Commissioners approved the order Dec. 13. The FCC didn’t comment on why it took three weeks for the order to be released. The FCC is investigating whether top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps (see 1812070048). A wireless carrier official said the order follows an August NPRM and was needed because the FCC earlier extended the challenge process window. The change allows challengers’ speed test data “collected on or after” Feb. 27, and through the entire 240-day challenge window, “to be submitted and considered with a challenge,” the order said: “Similarly, we extend by at least 90 days the timeframe for the collection of information to respond to a challenge.” Rosenworcel said the FCC’s wireless coverage maps are a “mess” and the situation is “unacceptable.” The FCC “lacks the data it should have about precisely where broadband service is and is not in communities across the country,” Rosenworcel said. “Our broadband maps are woefully inaccurate. They overstate coverage and signal strength in rural communities and understate where universal service support is needed to ensure that remote areas are not left behind.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said that four months after the FCC extended the challenge process, “we are no closer to determining which unserved areas will be eligible for MF-II support.” The FCC investigation means even more uncertainty, he said. “While I support this item’s effort to harmonize the timeframe for the collection of speed test data with the extended challenge window, our underlying mapping problems remain and, as a result, most of this item seems untimely or moot.”

RM Broadcasting should register as a foreign agent and may not be accurately representing its control over the content on WZHF(AM) Capitol Heights, Maryland, by Russian government-controlled news agency Rossiya Segodnya, said DOJ in filings (in Pacer) in Florida federal court Monday. WZHF broadcasts content provided by Russian radio service Sputnik. Justice has called for RM to register as a foreign agent since 2017, and RM sued DOJ over the matter in October. RM is a broker of broadcast time on WZHF and doesn’t have any control over content, said Nicole Waid, RM’s attorney with FisherBroyles, in an interview. “The allegation that RM Broadcasting engages in the ‘business of leasing broadcast airtime’ is vague and may not fully characterize the nature of RM Broadcasting's relationship” with FCC licensees, DOJ said. FCC records show WZHF is licensed to Way Broadcasting, and Waid said Way is an entirely separate company from RM. Wednesday, Way, DOJ and Rossiya Segedonya didn’t comment. “The relationship between RM Broadcasting and Rossiya Segodnya is strictly an arms-length commercial business transaction” and doesn’t involve “an agency relationship,” RM said in its complaint. Reston Translator, a broadcaster retransmitting Sputnik, reluctantly registered as a foreign agent in 2017 after similar DOJ demands (see [Ref:1712040054]). Registering as a foreign agent would allow DOJ more scrutiny of RM’s activities and make it harder for the company to do business, Waid said: “There are ramifications to registering as a foreign agent.”

The FCC extended USF operating expense relief to Mescalero Apache Telecom, finding the tribal carrier's broadband deployment level fell below a 90 percent threshold set in April (see 1804050028). Mescalero argued the percentage of housing units in its study area capable of getting 10/1 Mbps connectivity was 88.97 percent at best, noted a 4-0 commission order in Wednesday's Daily Digest approving the carrier's petition for reconsideration (see 1805310032): "We agree that Mescalero Apache fell below the 90% benchmark and should be granted relief, including the same retroactive relief granted to other carriers in the [April] Order." Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who had pushed for the 90 percent cutoff to better target relief, said he voted to grant the petition "with real trepidation regarding the precedent we set and the incentives we create." Mescalero "may be able to demonstrate that its deployment is barely under the applicable threshold, but I still struggle to make sense of why this carrier is deserving or in need of a waiver for additional opex funding," he said. The order "highlights the problem of relying on Form 477 data for purposes of providing USF subsidies -- a use for which the data was never originally intended," he said: The FCC allows Mescalero "to mount its own informal challenge, unencumbered by objective challenge process parameters. ... [T]his ad hoc approach is not sufficiently transparent, leaves too much up to discretion, and is a poor substitute for a thorough comment opportunity." The "Form 477 Data problem is very real, and we don’t help matters by foregoing a meaningful challenge process for purposes of convenience," he added. Chairman Ajit Pai had said he would seek to extend opex relief to more tribal carriers, including Mescalero and Sacred Wind Communications (see 1810050044), but a circulated draft addressed only Mescalero's petition (see 1811130063). The FCC didn't comment Wednesday on Sacred Wind's petition.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hailed apparent end Wednesday of the push for the Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval aimed at reversing rescission of commission 2015 net neutrality rules. The House held a brief pro forma session Wednesday but conducted no business amid the ongoing partial government shutdown (see 1901020048), ending the final full day of the 115th Congress. The House is expected to hold a final pro forma session at 11 a.m. Thursday, just before the formal start of the 116th Congress. Incoming House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., this Congress pushed strongly for the CRA measure (see 1811290042). “I’m pleased that a strong bipartisan majority” in the House “declined to reinstate heavy-handed Internet regulation," Pai said. Recent reports from the Fiber Broadband Association and Ookla showed “broadband speeds are up” and “fiber was made available to more new homes in 2018 than in any previous year.” A discharge petition to force a vote had support from 182 House members, below the required 218. The Senate passed the measure in May, 52-47 (see 1805160064). Incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., is planning a net neutrality hearing for early this year (see 1812310008). Fight for the Future, a booster of the CRA measure, acknowledged Wednesday the “clock has run out” but Deputy Director Evan Greer said the larger net neutrality effort isn't finished. “We used the CRA as a powerful tool to get lawmakers on the record,” Greer said. “If House leadership had allowed a vote on the CRA, we likely would have won that too. Instead, we used a discharge petition to get a record number of lawmakers publicly in support of strong net neutrality protections.” House Democratic leaders proposed expanding legislative days members can execute a discharge petition as part of the chamber's rules package for next Congress. The House is to vote on the rules Thursday, in the new Congress. A federal court named a panel with two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee to review the FCC net neutrality rollback order (see 1901020040).

A hostile work environment claim brought by an FCC staffer (see 1803260002) has been dropped after the agency and plaintiff Sharon Stewart settled, said a docket 15-cv-00057-CKK order (in Pacer) this month in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The settlement was expected (see 1811090004).

The government shutdown is forcing the FTC’s Premerger Notification Office (PNO) to operate with limited staff and it won't answer email or telephone inquiries on Hart-Scott-Rodino rules or filing procedures, the agency said in a plan that was set to go into effect midnight Friday (see 1812270042). The PNO and DOJ’s Premerger Office will operate during regular hours to receive HSR filings, FTC said, but early termination of waiting periods won't be granted during the closure. Online FTC services listed as inoperable during the work stoppage are the National Do Not Call Registry for consumers, the National Do Not Call Registry for telemarketers, the Consumer Sentinel Network for law enforcement, Complaint Assistant for filing consumer complaints, Identitytheft.gov for consumers reporting ID theft and Econsumer.gov for consumers reporting international complaints. Social media won't be updated, and all agency events are postponed until further notice, the FTC said.

TracFone told the FCC it's time to address problems with the Lifeline national verifier, in reply comments posted Thursday in docket 17-287 (see 1812200018). “Despite numerous efforts by TracFone and other Lifeline carriers to engage” with the Universal Service Administrative Co. “the rollout of the National Verifier remains haphazard and mired in confusion,” TracFone said. “Its decision-making process is opaque, with ensuing outcomes that reflect little, if any, input from the Lifeline community who are on the frontline serving millions of eligible customers each day.” The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, in its reply, said the FCC should pause use of the verifier until changes are made. “Lifeline service for residents of Tribal lands is critically important for their health, safety, and welfare,” it said.

The FCC should investigate a CenturyLink nationwide outage, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted after customers across the U.S. reported problems Thursday, including through Twitter and DownDetector.com. Reports to the latter website began in the early morning and spiked around noon. CenturyLink tweeted that its “network is experiencing a disruption affecting customer services,” that “some customers are currently unable to generate tickets through the CTL help portal," and CenturyLink is “working to restore services as quickly as possible.” A CenturyLink spokesperson gave the same statement. The Idaho Lottery tweeted that the outage threw off its game. The lottery can’t sell tickets or pay claims on winning tickets until the problem is resolved, it said: “As of 11:00 AM MT, we do not have a timeline on when service will be restored.” The outage affected the non-emergency number for police, fire and emergency medical services in Edina, tweeted the Minnesota city’s police department, among other customers complaining on Twitter. The FCC declined comment.

The FCC Wireline Bureau approved a temporary waiver the California Public Utilities Commission sought for Lifeline recertification and non-usage rules for subscribers in Butte County, California, affected by the Camp Fire. The CPUC last week asked the FCC to waive the rules from Nov. 1 to May 1, for 12,686 subscribers affected by the massive wildfire (see 1812200016). “Based on the record before us, we find that good cause exists to temporarily waive these rules and deadlines,” said a Wednesday order in docket 11-42.

Commissioners voted for the FCC to no longer be accounting authority of last resort for those customers in maritime mobile and maritime mobile-satellite radio services who haven't otherwise designated one. “The public interest would be better served by relying upon private accounting authorities,” said Friday's 4-0 order. “Such private authorities are certified under Part 3 of the Commission’s rules and operate under the Commission’s regulatory oversight.” The order instructs FCC staff to work with the Coast Guard and other federal agencies to announce this transition within 120 days. “We are providing a substantial transition period of up to one year following announcement” to complete the transition, the FCC said.