The FCC Friday released its competitive bidding NPRM, approved earlier in the week by commissioners (CD Oct 10 p1). Commissioners in statements released with the NPRM (http://bit.ly/1snehak) disagreed vehemently on whether the agency goes the wrong direction in the proposed rules. Commissioner Ajit Pai said the NPRM opens the door for designated entities to buy spectrum and then immediately lease it to others, while building nothing. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn responded that nothing in the law requires DEs to offer only facilities-based services.
Three Republican House Commerce Committee members pressed Congress to consider certain telecom priorities, seeing some promise for next year if not during the upcoming lame-duck session. Speaking during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, which was scheduled for telecast Saturday, they touted their own legislation in separate interviews and bashed the FCC for consideration of new net neutrality rules.
Whether and how ICANN upper management responds to widespread community concerns about the nonprofit’s proposed accountability process will likely determine the outcome of the ICANN 51 conference in Los Angeles this week, said stakeholders in interviews last week. “Expect a lot of discussion on ICANN’s accountability enhancement process,” said NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco. The conference was to begin Monday and end Thursday (http://bit.ly/1uEgdIC).
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is sticking with an earlier tentative conclusion that national carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile shouldn’t be able to make joint bids in the TV incentive auction, agency officials indicated Thursday. A rulemaking notice on the issue in general tracks the August proposal (CD Aug 4 p1), with a few additional questions posed and minor tweaks, agency officials said.
The White House announced its renomination of Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Wednesday, setting the stage for a Senate confirmation vote either in the lame-duck session or, more likely, next year, lobbyists told us. But if it’s pushed to next year, O'Rielly would require another White House renomination, a Senate Republican staffer cautioned, urging speedy action this year. The Senate won’t return until after the November elections.
Several Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee subcommittees said during a CSMAC meeting Thursday that they're moving closer to issuing final recommendations to CSMAC, but said further revisions are necessary. CSMAC Co-Chairman Larry Alder said it was important that CSMAC send “clear” recommendations to NTIA, while NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said the CSMAC recommendations would be important to guiding NTIA’s future spectrum work.
Inmate calling service providers battled over the impact of the ICS reforms being considered by the FCC. Securus said in a letter to the commission, made available to us Thursday, that rival Pay-Tel’s reform proposal “is simply an attempt to advance the business objectives of one carrier.”
Process reform efforts taking place at the FCC and the effort to change satellite licensing rules at the International Bureau reflect a collaboration between commission officials and private sector, said a bureau official. The efforts toward change also are a reflection of staff under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said International Bureau Deputy Chief Troy Tanner at an FCBA event Thursday.
Nvidia, through its complaint at the International Trade Commission, seeks under Tariff Act Section 337 to bar imports of Samsung smartphones and tablets based on Samsung’s alleged infringement of Nvidia patents, “which purportedly concern technology included in one component of those end products,” Samsung told the ITC in comments filed Sept. 19 (http://1.usa.gov/1rhx7Jm). “Samsung denies Nvidia’s allegations, including that there has been any violation of Section 337 or that Nvidia is entitled to any remedy.” The comments were posted Tuesday after the ITC voted to open an investigation into Nvidia allegations that Samsung and Qualcomm violate seven Nvidia patents on graphics processing units (GPUs) built into Samsung smartphones and tablets (CD Oct 8 p10). Qualcomm as of Wednesday had filed no comments in the ITC docket, which is 337-TA-932.
Short-form applications filed for the AWS-3 auction ran significantly below the numbers in the two past major auctions, 700 MHz and AWS-1 (CD Oct 2 p5). But the news is not all bad for the FCC, which hopes to raise big dollars and make a major down payment on FirstNet, industry officials tell us. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all jumped in, as has Dish Network, according to filings at the FCC.