Sprint and its parent SoftBank may end up having to embrace a litigation strategy to win regulatory approval of their expected buy of T-Mobile, industry officials and former regulators told us. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the Department of Justice have signaled repeatedly that they would not welcome a deal combining Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier, with T-Mobile US, the fourth-largest.

The Federal Aviation Administration wants to crack down on what it calls the increasing recklessness of hobbyists who fly small drones for recreational purposes, and that has many in the model aircraft community up in arms. Comments are due Friday on an FAA rule “interpretation” in which the agency is claiming broad enforcement authority over model aircraft operations that don’t meet “statutory definition and operational requirements,” including being flown in a pilot’s “visual line of sight,” it said in a June 25 notice (http://1.usa.gov/1qwPmkg).

The American Cable Association and NTCA want net neutrality rules to flow both ways, with content providers prohibited from blocking Internet providers from carrying their content as well as the reverse. The ACA backed two-way regulation in the past, and it said in its comments that imposing “one-sided regulation” would be a “mistake.” If the commission approves net neutrality rules, “the exclusion of Internet edge providers from them, will undermine the rules’ goals and effectiveness, and in turn, cause distortions in the multi-sided Internet marketplace,” ACA said in its comments (http://bit.ly/Wnu1Nc). Using Title II “would be excessively costly, disruptive and unnecessary,” ACA said.

The question of whether wireless will be subject to the same rules as wireline is emerging, as expected, as a key area of disagreement in industry and public interest group filings last week on net neutrality. Industry officials predict that in an effort to toughen proposed rules, Chairman Tom Wheeler may urge the commission to impose the same standards on mobile as it imposes on fixed broadband (CD July 17 p1). The 2010 order imposed a less strenuous standard for prohibitions on blocking on mobile broadband and exempted it from the nondiscrimination rule.

The draft version of the LPTV and Translator Act unveiled by the House Communications Subcommittee Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1u0pRcH) and written by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, leaves some key stakeholders uncertain. But some advocates for such low-power TV issues argue it’s a crucial first step and are thrilled to see Congress raising the profile of the issue ahead of the FCC broadcast TV spectrum incentive auction, slated for mid-2015. They told us people should be prepared for the discussion draft to evolve.

NARUC planned Friday to comment on the FCC net neutrality NPRM, adding to the more than 1 million comments already filed on the NPRM. (See separate report in this issue.) NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay told us Friday he was still writing the group’s comments but said he anticipated they would “undoubtedly quote” a net neutrality resolution NARUC’s board passed Wednesday at its meeting in Dallas (CD July 17 p17).

After taking a break from wireless issues at its June and July meetings, the FCC will focus on wireless at its Aug. 8 meeting, said the agenda released by the agency Friday. The marquee item is a report and order and Further NPRM on texting to 911 that expands the current text-to-911 mandate beyond AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon -- to cover interconnected over-the-top (OTT) texting and smaller carriers as well. The only other item on the agenda is a report and order on rules for communications antennas.

"Light fidelity” (Li-Fi) technology could help power the Internet of Things and boost communications security, its developers said in recent interviews. Li-Fi refers to signals sent via light rather than radio waves. Companies such as General Electric and Philips are incorporating the technology into their products, but it hasn’t been commercialized for consumers, said Swati Nigam, senior research associate for market research consultancy MarketsandMarkets. She predicted that would happen in two to three years. But Ovum analyst Dimitris Mavrakis disagreed, saying he sees no immediate commercial opportunities for Li-Fi.

The FCC should “do nothing” that would upset the balance struck in the 2010 Open Internet order, which “balanced concerns about Internet openness with the need to maintain incentives for Internet service providers to continue investing in advanced networks,” AT&T said. The commission has “ample statutory authority under section 706 to adopt new rules that replicate the balance struck in 2010” including new no-blocking and nondiscrimination rules, it said: The record is “devoid of evidence of any actual threat to Internet openness that could possibly warrant heavy-handed regulation, and any such rules would be” highly vulnerable to legal challenge. “And if there is one thing that all parties to this proceeding can agree on, it is that the Commission should ground its rules on a solid legal foundation to avoid the turmoil and investment-deterring uncertainty that would follow yet another judicial remand,” it said.

Innovation and the presence of a “disrupter” in a market together don’t mean regulators can be any less vigilant or exercise a lighter hand, FCC Chief Economist Tim Brennan said Thursday at an event sponsored by the Georgetown University Center for Business & Public Policy. The speech was his first major address since being named to the post in January.