As the reply period ended Friday for the selection of the next Local Number Portability Administrator, a fundamental question about the recommended bidder, Telcordia, remains unresolved because of a change made in the request for proposal (RFP) process two years ago, said rival Neustar and a group of small- and medium-sized carriers.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler still appears to have final rules for the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band on the fast track for approval this year, agency officials said. But industry and agency officials questioned whether the commission will be able to address complaints of carriers and others in such a short time frame. The FCC has said the band could be used for what it calls a citizens broadband radio service (CBRS).

NCTA has its hands tied on certain big-ticket Capitol Hill video battles and consequently sees repeal of the set-top box integration ban as a crucial priority, a possible triumph for the association achievable through the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process, stakeholders told us. Lobbying muscle devoted to repealing the ban belongs more to NCTA than its member companies, said stakeholders we interviewed. Media lobbyists framed the association’s role as natural and said NCTA’s members back NCTA leading this charge -- one that has true member consensus, unlike in other looming Hill battles like retransmission consent overhaul.

Although Globalstar’s proposal to use some of its spectrum for a terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) is vying for attention with major spectrum efforts at the FCC, it most likely will be acted on, observers said in interviews last week. The 22 MHz that Globalstar would like to repurpose would be put to use quicker than spectrum won in the AWS-3 or broadcast spectrum incentive auctions, some said. Iridium is continuing to urge the FCC to consolidate its petition to reallocate the spectrum in the big low earth orbit (LEO) band with Globalstar’s proposal.

Broadcasters and satellite operators are lobbying together against reallocation by the Nov. 2-27, 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C-band to wireless services. The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) has said it backs satellite operators’ opposition to any change to the current spectrum allocation in the C-band or extended C-band in the fixed satellite service (FSS) because they're “essential” to broadcasting operations around the world. Mobile operators are pushing for shared use of the band.

NAB’s court challenge of the FCC incentive auction order is likely to delay the auction and unlikely to be the only such challenge, broadcast attorneys said in interviews Thursday. Though NAB, AT&T (see separate report below in this issue) and others have said the broadcast association’s petition for review (CD Aug 19 p1) was filed early enough in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it can be resolved without causing undue delays, few in the broadcast industry believe that’s the case, attorneys said. Increasing the likelihood of delay, the auction order is also going to be the focus “numerous separate and distinct” challenges from the low-power TV industry, said LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino.

FCC proceedings on petitions to pre-empt North Carolina and Tennessee laws on municipal broadband are likely to become a showdown about the extent of the commission’s authority under Communications Act Section 706 and the applicability of the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, industry observers told us. The FCC is reviewing pre-emption petitions from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina. Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, said in a speech Wednesday that the FCC’s authority to pre-empt state laws municipal broadband laws under Section 706 was weak and that the precedent the Supreme Court set in Nixon would likely doom pre-emption in court (CD Aug. 21 p10).

More FCC action on data roaming is critical to the future of wireless competition in the U.S., T-Mobile said. It filed replies in a proceeding examining the carrier’s May petition asking for a declaratory ruling containing guidance and “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted by the commission in its 2011 data roaming order (CD May 28 p9). T-Mobile didn’t file in the initial comment round (CD July 15 p7). AT&T and Verizon countered T-Mobile’s arguments. Reply comments were due at the FCC Wednesday in docket 05-265.

The FCC released an order Thursday (http://bit.ly/1piyXhm) making some technical changes to its rules for new Medical Body Area Network (MBANs), tweaking rules approved by the commission in May 2012 (CD May 25/12 p1). MBANs let doctors monitor and log data from patients with chronic diseases, FCC officials said at the time.

In the final days before the end of the reply period for the selection of the Local Number Portability Administrator Friday night, Neustar is trying to hold on to the contract by arguing there could be national security risks should the FCC award it to rival Telcordia. The FCC should pause and issue another NPRM to examine how well equipped the companies are in protecting the security of the network from infiltration and in working with law enforcement, Steve Edwards, Neustar senior vice president-data solutions, told us. He noted that Telcordia’s parent company, Ericsson, is a Swedish company. “Foreign ownership increases the risks,” said Edwards, who added that it “raises the potential that software codes could be written by employees and consultants overseas.” In the interim, Neustar should continue as the LNPA, he said.