The FCC hasn't made any decisions on zero-rated services, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a news conference Friday. Protesters outside FCC headquarters Friday pressed for action, as expected (see 1606230065). The FCC didn’t put specific language on zero rating in last year’s net neutrality order despite pressure to do so, Wheeler said. “The issue of zero rating is … broad and it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation,” he said. “We’re collecting information, as I’ve been telling you for months. We’re in ongoing discovery mode.” Wheeler has offered a similar answer several times in the past. Wheeler said he appreciated the “input” from the pro-net neutrality groups “and all the other input that we have gotten on the topic.” Consumers, "not government, should choose what plans and services they want," said Brad Gillen, executive vice president of CTIA. "Surveys routinely show that the vast majority of Americans want free data so they can use more content and services without it counting against their data plans.” The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council expressed concerns about the zero-rating protests. "Innovation and competition in the form of free data practices are significant tools in the struggle to connect Americans who cannot afford to pay for the full Internet experience," said MMTC President Kim Keenan. "To keep the internet affordable for consumers who are heavily reliant on mobile devices as their only gateway, we need the FCC to carefully explore the public interest benefits before interrupting free data practices. Otherwise, these consumers will lose."

The state of Globalstar's broadband terrestrial low-power broadband system (TLPS) remains in limbo, with two FCC commissioners having yet to vote. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said Friday he hasn't voted on or made up his mind about Globalstar. An agency official tells us likewise for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel voted no (see 1606030041). Asked after the commissioners' meeting Friday about the likelihood of changing his vote, Pai said the Globalstar issue "involves a fundamental question: Do we want to grant special rights to a particular company to unlicensed spectrum? I think the answer should be no ... the agency has not bestowed largess upon a competitor in that space." Meanwhile, Globalstar continues to lobby the FCC on approval, with the company repeatedly talking to the agency about the possibility of opportunistic sharing of Wi-Fi channel 14 where TLPS isn't otherwise deployed. A big part of any such approach would be Globalstar's network operating system protecting the company's mobile satellite service and other services from interference, the company said in an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 13-213. Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute and, separately, the Wireless ISP Association pushed for that condition on Globalstar's TLPS plans (see 1606140020), and Globalstar discussed the idea at other recent lobbying meetings. The ex parte filing recapped a meeting with Chairman Tom Wheeler aide Edward Smith.

While global cooperation has increased among government agencies combating cartels and reviewing transactions, the head of DOJ's Antitrust Division told the annual Chatham House Competition Policy conference Thursday about differences in criminal treatment of cartel individuals and about becoming more transparent and fair when applying laws. Renata Hesse, who succeeded Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in April, said in her speech posted on DOJ's website there's "near unanimity around the world about the importance of discovering and prosecuting price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation" by international cartels, and over the past decade a majority of fines have been imposed outside the U.S. But there's a "pronounced difference" between the U.S. and most countries on holding individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing and that needs to change. Hesse also said there has been more focus on the procedural differences in applying competition law -- "the way we do our work" -- not so much on the substance of the law. A competition agency should measure its success not just by output, but also public confidence in it, which can be achieved through more transparency and procedural fairness, she said. Hesse said there has been great cooperation on deal review procedures and analysis. "Many jurisdictions now apply essentially the same substantive assessment of likely competitive effects from proposed mergers," she said. Last year, DOJ worked with 16 foreign enforcers on 30 different investigations, she added.

An FCC rule requiring parties to email the agency certain lawsuits takes effect July 25, after a summary of a commission order was published in Thursday's Federal Register. The new rule "requires persons petitioning for judicial review who wish to participate in a 'judicial lottery' to notify the Commission of the petition by email," said the summary. A judicial review statute "provides for a lottery to select a court when parties have petitioned for review of the same FCC decision in more than one court," provided they petition within 10 days of issuance of the order, said the commission order approved 5-0 and released June 3. The FCC had required parties to hand-deliver such petitions to its Office of General Counsel to ensure timely delivery. "However, that method of service is not easily reconciled with the security protocols that currently apply to other filings with the Commission," said the order. "These procedures will allow for timely service on the Commission without raising the issues with respect to Commission security requirements that are currently presented by service in person. We also expect that this method of service will be more convenient for most petitioners and their counsel, especially those located outside of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area." The new rule "encourages, but does not require, notice by email for persons who petition for review but do not seek to participate in a lottery. It likewise encourages, but does not require, notice by email for persons who judicially appeal Commission decisions," said the summary.

AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings are among more than 50 major technology, cable TV and other business executives who endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Thursday, her campaign said in an email. “I’ve supported every Republican Presidential candidate since 1976, and was honored to work for two of them," said Cicconi in a statement supplied by the Clinton campaign. "But this year I think it's vital to put our country's wellbeing ahead of party. Hillary Clinton is experienced, qualified, and will make a fine President. The alternative, I fear, would set our Nation on a very dark path.” Hastings said in a statement from the campaign that presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump "would destroy much of what is great about America. Hillary Clinton is the strong leader we need, and it's important that Trump lose by a landslide to reject what he stands for." The Trump campaign didn't comment. Others who endorsed Clinton include Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff; Airbnb Chief Technology Officer Nathan Blecharczyk, CEO Brian Chesky and Chief Privacy Officer Joe Gebbia; IAC and Expedia Chairmen Barry Diller; Dish Network co-founder Candy Ergen; Dropbox CEO Drew Houston; Qualcomm CEO Emeritus Irwin Jacobs and Executive Chairman Paul Jacobs; Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson and CEO Debra Lee; Tumblr CEO David Karp; Box CEO Aaron Levie; former Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus; Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam; Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus; Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg; Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt; Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman; and Entravision Communications CEO Walter Ulloa.

The FCC tentatively plans to take new tech transition actions at its July 14 meeting. "The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order on Reconsideration that adopts a framework to guide transitions to next-generation communications technologies while protecting the interests of consumers and competition," said a tentative agenda released Thursday.

FairPoint Communications plans to stop offering its broadband internet transmission service as a telecom service "and offer it instead as a private service," the company told the FCC Wireline Bureau Thursday in a filing in docket 14-28. "In the Open Internet Order, the Commission classified retail mass market broadband Internet access service ('BIAS') as a partially forborne telecommunications service, but declined to reclassify other broadband services, such as special access, enterprise broadband and wholesale broadband services, as telecommunications services," FairPoint said. "The Commission's forbearance allowed telecommunications carriers to provide BIAS free from a variety of provisions of the Communications Act otherwise applicable to telecommunications carriers, such as ratemaking regulations. At the same time the Commission indicated that any carrier that had elected to provide BIAS subject to 'the full range of Title II requirements' remained subject to all the applicable Title II rights and obligations unless and until such carrier elects to change its offering of broadband Internet transmission services 'pursuant to the construct adopted in this Order,' in which event the carrier 'should notify the Wireline Competition Bureau 60 days prior to implementing such a change.'" The company said its filing was such notice, meaning the change would take effect Aug. 22. FairPoint didn't comment further Thursday.

CTA and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) want more testing of Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) and its possible effects on unlicensed users in the 2.4 GHz band. In a filing Wednesday in docket 13-213, CTA opposed FCC approval before more testing to ensure TLPS deployment wouldn't negatively affect Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. "While we appreciate the potential of TLPS to open up new spectrum resources, it must be balanced against the potential harm to existing uses with proven consumer value," CTA said, saying Globalstar-submitted data from its demonstration seemingly didn't include comprehensive testing of unlicensed uses. In an ex parte filing Tuesday in the docket about phone calls to staff of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly, ITI said its member companies have similar concerns about TLPS effects and that more testing could help in assessing safeguards. Globalstar didn't comment.

The FCC put a hold on Lifeline USF reimbursement payments to Total Call Mobile, said a Wireline Bureau order Wednesday in docket 11-42 directing Universal Service Administrative Co. to carry out the action. "This temporary hold is a limited one," the bureau said. "It shall be effective beginning with TCM’s request for reimbursement in all states filed for the data month of May 2016, and shall remain in effect pending the Bureau’s receipt and evaluation of TCM’s final, complete response to the Bureau’s letter of June 1, 2016 and subject to the Bureau notifying USAC of any change in the terms of the temporary hold." The bureau noted the commission issued a notice of apparent liability for forfeiture and order resulting from an investigation by the Enforcement Bureau. The notice proposed fining Total Call Mobile $51 million for allegedly enrolling tens of thousands of duplicate and ineligible consumers into the low-income telecom support program (see 1604080032). Total Call Mobile General Counsel Mike Morrissey told us his company was "a bit surprised" by the FCC action "because we thought we had been responding" adequately. He said TCM had told the FCC it couldn't provide all the information the agency sought by June 13, but it provided over 120,000 documents, and planned to provide the rest by June 27. "Frankly, we hadn't heard there was a problem with that," he said, but the company is now trying to complete its submissions to the commission by Friday. "I think we’re working this out and believe we will be able to do so to their satisfaction and show that whatever happened back in 2013 and 2014, that we’re now in full compliance" with their reimbursement rules, he said, suggesting it could take weeks, not months.

Telecom heavyweights urged the FCC to promptly approve the Telcordia contract to be local number portability administrator that was negotiated by North American Portability Management (NAPM). Officials from AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, NCTA, T-Mobile, USTelecom and Verizon met with commissioner aides about the planned LNPA transition from Neustar to Telcordia (iconectiv). "The parties stated that the approval of the [master services agreement or MSA] is a prerequisite to the continued progress of the transition and that there are mounting costs to consumers for every day the transition is delayed," said a USTelecom filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-109. "The parties noted that all segments of the industry support the MSA and that those opposed to approval of the MSA and moving forward with the transition have had ample opportunity to be a part of the process." Neustar recently asked the FCC to force Ericsson-owned Telcordia to explain why it shouldn't be disqualified as LNPA due to possible misrepresentations about the citizenship of employees doing initial system coding work (see 1606020050). Telcordia and NAPM opposed the motion (see 1606130040 and 1606170027). The telecom officials told the commissioner aides "security issues have been exhaustively addressed and resolved and with the Commission staff and with the approval of relevant federal government stakeholders," said the filing. "In addition ... the cost savings in selecting Telcordia are exponential and would provide significant savings not only to companies of all sizes, but more importantly to consumers." In a separate filing, Neustar summarized a meeting with FCC officials about law enforcement authorities' transition to an "Enhanced Law Enforcement Platform." Neustar said it won't provide its Local Number Portability Enhanced Analytical Platform service in regions where it's no longer the Number Portability Administration Center administrator. Neustar said the MSA "sets the expectation that the ELEP service will not be available until after all NPAC regions are transitioned, thereby potentially creating a gap in the provision of the law enforcement service." Neustar also raised concerns about increased transition risk from the "compressed timeline and substantial reduction in testing" announced by PwC, NAPM's transition oversight manager.