The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment Thursday on a waiver request by the 5G Automotive Association to deploy cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in the upper 20 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. The band is allocated to dedicated short-range communications. In October, an NCTA-led coalition urged the FCC to take a fresh look (see 1810160061). Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to do that (see 1811140061). Technology companies led by Qualcomm and automakers led by Ford put increasing focus on C-V2X as an alternative to DSRC (see 1803140055). The OET notice asks more narrowly for comment on the 5GAA petition. “5GAA claims that operating C-V2X in this band is consistent with the purpose and policy of allocating the 5.9 GHz band for short-range Intelligent Transportation System services, with ‘significant performance advantages ... when measured against DSRC,’” OET said in docket 18-357. “5GAA proposes conditions applicable to all operations under its requested waiver that it claims would ‘ensure that C-V2X will not have any larger potential for interference than DSRC operations currently permitted under the FCC Rules.’” Comments are due Jan. 11, replies Jan. 28. Michael Calabrese, director of New America's Wireless Future Program, told us the FCC shouldn’t rewrite the rules for the band by waiver. “We agree with Commissioners [Mike] O’Rielly and [Jessica] Rosenworcel that it is time for a broader rulemaking that takes a fresh look at how much spectrum is required for auto safety and whether that allocation should be in this band or somewhere else,” Calabrese said. “Times have changed. The 5.9 GHz band is a roadblock in the middle of the potential Wi-Fi superhighway that is needed to make America’s 5G wireless ecosystem the most accessible and affordable.” C-2VX “represents the next evolution in connected car technology and the first step towards leveraging 5G to increase safety on America’s roads,” said Sean Conway of Wilkinson Barker, counsel to 5GAA. “While industry stakeholders continue to discuss proposals for modernizing the rules for connected car technologies, this waiver request initiates the process by which the FCC can grant approval for near-term deployments.”

A final rule establishing the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics is scheduled to take effect Friday, says that day's Federal Register. The FCC said in October the office will open by year’s end with Giulia McHenry, now chief economist in the Office of Strategic Planning, as acting chief (see 1810250027). Commissioners approved the office in January over dissents by Jessica Rosenworcel and then-member Mignon Clyburn (see 1801300026). “The Office will be charged with ensuring that economic analysis is deeply and consistently incorporated into the agency’s regular operations, and will support work across the FCC and throughout the decision-making process,” the notice said. Revised 3.5 GHz band citizens broadband radio service regulations take effect Jan. 7 under a rule for Friday's FR (timetable), excluding three parts still needing Office of Management and Budget approval. Commissioners adopted a CBRS order Oct. 23 changing the size of priority access license areas from census tracts to counties, extending license terms to 10 years and making them renewable, putting in place end-of-term performance requirements, and allowing partitioning and disaggregation of PALs (see 1810230037). Revised wireless handset hearing-aid compatibility disclosure requirements also take effect Jan. 7 under a rule for Friday's FR (timetable). An HAC order adopted Nov. 15 replaces annual service provider reporting with certification and enhanced website disclosure duties (see 1811150033).

NCTA suggested the FCC link Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability protection to its draft order to create a reassigned phone number database to combat illegal robocalls, scheduled for a vote at Wednesday's commissioners' meeting. There should be "a safe harbor from TCPA liability for callers that make use of the reassigned numbers database contemplated in the draft," filed the group on meeting an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, posted Wednesday in docket 17-59. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly voiced interest Tuesday in addressing TCPA liability and suggested changes could be made to the draft (see 1812040034). NCTA recommended language to provide a TCPA safe harbor "for callers that consult the reassigned numbers database within 31 days prior to calling and do not have actual knowledge that the number has been reassigned or that their consent to call the number has been revoked." It said there's "broad support" for "such a safe harbor because it would increase the incentive of callers to use the database and thereby reduce the number of calls made to reassigned numbers." The American Cable Association, CTIA, NTCA and USTelecom encouraged the FCC "to address TCPA liability issues promptly and provide a safe harbor for callers" using the database. They suggested "modest modifications" to the draft, including giving the North American Numbering Council at least nine months, instead of six, to issue recommendations for implementing and operating the database and devising fees. They asked the FCC to clarify that NANC "should consider minimizing the burdens on reporting providers as one of its primary goals" and to "build in processes to ensure" the group "can leverage expert and stakeholder input." There should be some flexibility for voice providers on complying with a proposed "45-day minimum aging period" before a permanently disconnected number can be reassigned, they added.

Comments are due Dec. 18, replies Dec. 26 on TracFone's petition asking the FCC to direct Universal Service Administrative Co. to make changes to the Lifeline national verifier (NV), said a Wireline Bureau notice Tuesday in docket 11-42. On behalf of its Assurance Wireless affiliate, Sprint asked the FCC to push back USAC Jan. 2 and Jan. 30 deadlines -- to Feb. 14 and March 16 -- for submitting "reverification information for certain customers affected by the launch of the [NV] in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming." Providers weren't advised until Nov. 16 of "availability of the final report listing the subscribers for whom updated documentation was required, and the type of additional documentation being requested," Sprint said. If the FCC decides to eliminate a streamlined eligible telecom carrier designation process, Comcast urged adoption of "guidelines and constraints" to ensure states don't "impose disparate and potentially costly obligations" inconsistent with federal criteria and policies, particularly on services and providers not otherwise under state regulation, it filed on meeting an adviser to Chairman Ajit Pai.

The FCC's proposed communications market report is drumming up criticisms and fans. The agency on Wednesday also released a draft of appendices that includes data used in developing the report and some broadband speed data from years past. In a docket 18-231 posting Wednesday, New America's Open Technology Institute recapped a meeting with staffers in Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's office at which it said until the report fixes methodological flaws and flawed assumptions about competition, commissioners shouldn't adopt it. OTI said Form 477 data "is fundamentally insufficient" for measuring broadband marketplace competition as it overstates the availability of broadband service. The group said the report contains "misguided and vague assumptions" about broadband competition, such as its assertion markets with two providers are competitive. The American Cable Association called the draft "thorough and comprehensive," recommending tweaks including addition of emphasis the cable franchise rulemaking should result in more investment in broadband and other services provided over cable networks. ACA pushed for addition of language making clear vertically integrated MVPDs have incentive and ability to raise costs on rivals like small cable systems, and existing rules can't fix such behavior. Comcast said the report should add Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data about prevalence of U.S. households relying on smartphones or mobile devices for internet access and of wireless-only phone service. CTIA, recapping meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, lauded the report. The draft on the Dec. 12 agenda consolidates a variety of reports into one to fulfill Ray Baum's Act mandate (see 1811210032). In a public notice Wednesday about the report appendices, the agency said the broadband deployment data in the appendices reflect updated data received and processed after the release of the draft report, and that updated data will be used in preparing the final version. According to the broadband data, 94 percent of the U.S. has access to fixed 25 Mbps/3 Mbps speeds, 99.8 percent to mobile LTE 5 Mbps/1 Mbps speeds and 89 percent to mobile LTE 10 Mbps/3 Mbps speeds.

Consumers and industry benefit from economists "again hav[ing] a voice" at the FCC, American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar Mark Jamison blogged Tuesday. The role of economics dwindled in recent years, judging by the number of working papers and economic symposiums from the Office of Strategic Planning, he said. That decline in economic analysis shows up in the 2015 net neutrality order and 2016 set-top box proceeding, Jamison said. A paper in this month's Review of Industrial Organization by FCC economists about the role economic analysis played in the Communications Act Title II rollback, the "hedonic pricing model" in the international broadband data report and formation of the Office of Economics and Analytics is a signpost of returning "to the days when FCC economists made the regulatory community uncomfortable by pointing out where present practices and forward-looking economics are out of step," he said.

Communications regulators ought to follow prudence ascribed to President George H.W. Bush and show skepticism about pre-emptive regulation of new technologies, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at an International Institute of Communications event Tuesday, according to prepared remarks. "Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent." That's a catchphrase of Saturday Night Live cast member Dana Carvey in his Bush parody. Pai said an example of that prudent approach is the rulemaking launched in October about dealing with orbital debris (see 1811150028), plus work in the Americas to advance regional proposals for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hopes dig once to lay fiber conduits "becomes the law of the land," suggesting it's critical to increasing backhaul capacity to support 5G wireless. He said low-earth-orbit satellite constellations promise to expand rural broadband and lower latency. "Satellite innovation is really coming along well," he told a Geeks Without Frontiers conference Tuesday. The difficult broadband business case in high-cost areas is worsened by unnecessary rules, he said, vowing to continue deregulatory remedies: "We've made a lot of progress. There's still a ways to go." He said the Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction saved $3.5 billion, allocating $1.5 billion in broadband subsidies over 10 years for connecting over 700,000 locations estimated to need $5 billion. He plugged FCC "technological neutrality" letting wireless providers, electric utilities and Viasat be among new CAF recipients competing to serve rural customers. Pai highlighted other efforts to push broadband, including plans to auction 5 GHz of commercial spectrum over the next 18 months, and opening the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi use. The FCC is looking at unlicensed opportunities from low-band spectrum to the 95 GHz band, he said. Pai said there are "exciting times to come" in broadband-enabled "vertical" applications like teleheath, and IoT and artificial intelligence have potential upsides for healthcare.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson "suggested" he "would be supportive of approving" T-Mobile's planned buy of Sprint "with no conditions, but would not support one with conditions that empowered a new competitor like DISH or Cable," New Street Research analysts wrote investors Sunday, citing a discussion with him at an AT&T analyst day Thursday. The discussion took place after the webcast event, analyst Vivek Stalam told us Monday. Stephenson "noted that a large number of Democratic states’ attorneys general might oppose the deal or demand such a condition," the analysts wrote: "Interesting that he would express support in a way that would, if taken as evidence of the deal’s likely impact, undercut the odds of approval, but we don’t think the DOJ staff or others will take his comments as evidence. We do agree with him that the states’ attorneys general remain a risk but would add that some Republican states’ attorneys general, such as in Tennessee, are also apparently involved [in] state efforts to study and perhaps litigate to block the deal." AT&T didn't comment. The proposed transaction raises "considerable competitive harms ... with few, if any, countervailing, merger-related public interest benefits," filed the Communications Workers of America on meeting FCC staffers, including a 50-page presentation posted Monday in docket 18-197. CWA said the deal would result in "fewer jobs and higher prices" and "concentrate valuable spectrum in a combined T-Mobile/Sprint in almost two-thirds" of counties. T-Mobile and Sprint oppose a CWA motion seeking deal hearings at the New York Public Service Commission (see 1812030029).

Incoming Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) defeated Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) for the open seat of term-limited Gov. Rick Snyder (see 1811290035).