An expected Republican rollback of telecom regulation and further industry consolidation are among factors Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts see influencing the communications sector in 2017. The rollback of the FCC net neutrality and broadband reclassification order "would be positive for all telecom and cable fixed and wireless broadband providers including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Charter, Sprint, T-Mobile, CenturyLink, Frontier, Windstream and Cincinnati Bell," they wrote investors Tuesday. But they said the biggest factor affecting industry valuations was "the rate at which the market believes video is migrating to broadband (OTT) and specifically to mobile broadband." Another significant factor is "the interplay of fiscal forces on interest rates, taxes and the dollar," they said, suggesting AT&T "is poised to be among the biggest beneficiaries of corporate tax reform." The analysts said Commissioner Ajit Pai is likely to become acting chairman and "at a minimum refuse to enforce rules he opposes and possibly go further and officially forbear from all aspects of Title 2 price and other regulation of broadband." Some sort of bipartisan compromise could be attempted to codify net neutrality principles, "but to what degree they ban services like 'paid prioritization,' 'zero rating' and other related services remains a very open question with positive optionality for carriers," they wrote. In the incentive auction, the analysts said the most they expect industry to bid collectively is $20 billion, with cable, and particularly Comcast, the biggest swing factor. They believe AT&T buying Time Warner will likely win approval. But "the market is vastly over-reacting" to the prospect of a Sprint/T-Mobile materializing, though odds of regulatory approval under the Republicans would be better than they were under the Democrats, they wrote: And 5G fixed wireless broadband is coming, with Verizon having the most aggressive deployment schedule.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's long-anticipated draft "Version 1.1" (v1.1) update to the Cybersecurity Framework, released at our deadline Tuesday, includes a new section on developing effective cybersecurity metrics. NIST has been considering potential updates to its existing 2014 framework in response to comments last year from stakeholders who encouraged the agency not to pursue a major revamp of the document (see 1602240065). NIST's framework “can be used as the basis for comprehensive measurement” of the efficacy of cyber risk management practices, the draft said. The framework's implementation tiers and categories are themselves metrics, NIST said. Any metrics on cyber risk management “should be designed with business requirements and operating expense in mind,” the agency said. “The expense of a measurement system may increase as the accuracy of measurement increases. To mitigate undue cost to the organization, the accuracy and expense of a system need only match the required measurement accuracy of the corresponding business objective.” NIST included the metrics section in the draft “to get the conversation started,” said Framework Program Manager Matthew Barrett in a news release. “Measurements will be critical to ensure that cybersecurity receives proper consideration in a larger enterprise risk management discussion.” V 1.1 also includes additional information on managing cyber supply chain risks and clarifications of framework terms. NIST said it's collecting stakeholder feedback on the v1.1 draft through April 10.

The Stage 4 forward auction is expected to start Jan. 18, the Incentive Auction Task Force said Wednesday in an announcement on the incentive auction Public Reporting System. The Stage 4 reverse auction is expected to end Friday, and the IATF will announce the official start of the forward auction and bidding schedule on Jan. 17, but bidders should be ready to begin bidding Jan. 18, the IATF said.

Eliminating a requirement that broadcasters keep a hard copy correspondence file will be the focus of the first FCC commissioners' meeting after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a release Tuesday on the tentative agenda for the Jan. 31 meeting. Current Chairman Tom Wheeler indicated he will resign Jan. 20, meaning an interim chair, expected to be Commissioner Ajit Pai, likely will conduct the meeting. The so-far sole agenda item is based on a May NPRM that was unanimously supported by all five commissioners and was inspired by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, Wheeler said then (see 1605250054). The requirement that broadcasters keep a publicly accessible hard copy file in their station is a security risk, O'Rielly said. Along with eliminating the broadcast rule, the NPRM also proposed a similar requirement for cable headend information. Since the NPRM was issued, the proposal to eliminate the hard copy file was the focus of a heated exchange of filings (see 1611180060) between NAB and public interest groups Free Press and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. The public interest groups said eliminating the hard file disadvantages those without access to broadband, and NAB said in support of the proposal that the public rarely if ever requests such files.

Comments are due March 10 at NTIA on proposed broadband information collection, said a notice in Monday's Federal Register, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act. "NTIA proposes to add 58 questions to the U.S. Census Bureau's November 2017 Current Population Survey (CPS) to gather reliable data on broadband (also known as high-speed Internet) use by U.S. households through the Computer and Internet Use Supplement," said the notice. NTIA said it's working with Congress, the FCC, other agencies, state and local governments and the private sector to develop and promote policies fostering broadband deployment and adoption. "Collecting current, systematic, and comprehensive information on broadband use and non-use by U.S. households is critical to enabling policymakers to gauge progress made to date, and also to identify specific areas and demographic groups in which broadband adoption is a concern with a specificity that permits carefully targeted and cost-effective responses," the notice said. The agency also released a blog post about the survey.

Incoming White House aides of President-elect Donald Trump’s pending administration attempted Sunday and Monday to redirect the focus on U.S. intelligence agencies’ report on Russia’s hacking of IT systems associated with the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The office of the Director of National Intelligence Friday released an unclassified version of the agencies' report, which said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacks as part of “an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at” the U.S. presidential election that “aspired to help” Trump’s electoral chances (see 1701060060). Trump “is not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular hacking campaign,” but similar incidents happen “every election period,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Fox News Sunday. “We also have a problem when [the DNC] allows foreign governments into their system with hardly any defenses or training. That's a huge story, and that's what people aren’t talking about as well.” Incoming Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway told USA Today Monday it’s “curious and a bit humorous” that congressional Democrats are pushing for an independent bipartisan joint House-Senate commission to do an 18-month investigation into Russia’s election-related hacks. There’s already a “great deal of information out there” on the hacks and it’s “very ironic that the uptick in and the hue-and-cry of 'investigation' and 'information' has occurred after the election results are in,” Conway said. Trump will attempt to “make sure that our actions are proportionate to what occurred, based on what we know” about the hacks, Conway said. President Barack Obama’s announced retaliatory actions against Russia (see 1612290040) were a “disproportionate response,” she said.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., queried the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority about the security of WMATA's online communication systems, after a November ransomware attack on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “While early reports indicate that the attack on SFMTA may have been opportunistic rather than targeted, I am concerned that WMATA may represent a particularly enticing target for more advanced threats, given its importance to the region and the number of federal agencies that rely on the system to transport their workforces each day,” Warner wrote in a Monday letter to WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld. Warner also asked WMATA to update him on efforts to deploy wireless communication systems including a public Wi-Fi network, and first-responder interoperability concerns raised by a fatal smoke incident near the L’Enfant Plaza rail station in January 2015. "We have received the senator's letter and will provide a timely response," a WMATA spokeswoman said.

The FCC's tentative agenda for the Jan. 31 commissioners' meeting is due out Tuesday and it could be relatively modest, industry contacts told us. Chairmen generally don't load up the January meeting with major actions unless there's some compelling reason, some said Monday. "Because of the timing, it’s customary for votes at the January meeting to be light and for reports to dominate the agenda. And now you have the transition complexity," said Wilkinson Barker communications lawyer Rosemary Harold. The meeting will be the first under Republican control, following the swearing-in of Donald Trump as president Jan. 20, and with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler planning to depart by then, GOP Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly will constitute the majority. "I think it’s going to be tough for them to put out a very aggressive [tentative] agenda for the 31st because who’s going to be chairman?" said another industry representative. "I don’t think Pai or O’Rielly want to look like they’ve been entrusted with the job. I think it’s going to be Pai, but I think he has to be careful about that.” Pai is expected to be named at least interim chairman, but Trump could nominate somebody else for permanent chairman. The industry representative said Trump shouldn't feel pressured to name the permanent chairman, given the 2-1 majority, unless he's eager to name somebody else to the commission, perhaps paired with recently departed Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who has the backing of key senators for re-appointment.

D-Link is pushing back against an FTC complaint that the company's wireless routers and internet cameras were vulnerable to hackers, putting privacy at risk. In a Thursday news release, D-Link Chief Information Security Officer William Brown called the complaint "unwarranted" and said the company "will vigorously defend the security and integrity of our routers and IP cameras." In a Q&A on its website, the company said it has "a robust range of procedures to address potential security issues" in IoT devices. The company said "the complaint does not allege any breach of a D-Link Systems device. Instead, the FTC speculates that consumers were placed 'at risk' to be hacked, but fails to allege, as it must, that actual consumers suffered or are likely to suffer actual substantial injuries." The FTC voted 2-1 -- with Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen voting no -- to file the complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said an agency news release. The FTC said the California-based subsidiary of D-Link, which is headquartered in Taiwan, "failed to take steps to address well-known and easily preventable security flaws," including: "hard-coded" login credentials; a software flaw called "command injection" that could be exploited by hackers; "mishandling" a private key code; and leaving user logins unsecured on mobile devices. An FTC spokesman said Friday that Ohlhausen didn't provide further comment on her no vote.

The FCC Wireless Bureau OK’d two wireless spectrum assignments Friday. In one order, the bureau greenlighted an AT&T and North Dakota Network application to assign one lower 700MHz C-Block license covering part of a North Dakota local market. In another order, the bureau approved an application by Bluesky and Club 42 to assign to Bluesky a lower 700 MHz B-Block license and a lower 700 MHz E-Block license covering American Samoa. The bureau said both applications serve the public interest with low risk of competitive harm. Also Friday, the Wireline Bureau OK’d Crown Castle’s plan to buy assets including FPL FiberNet from NextEra Energy, said a public notice. Crown Castle last month sought approval for the $1.5 billion fiber-services provider takeover (see 1611220043). Granting the application serves the public interest, the bureau said.