FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday he plans to convene a group of experts this week to discuss the problem of contraband cellphones in correctional facilities. Industry officials said the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the FCC. Pai has expressed concerns about the danger of contraband devices since before he became chairman, including at a 2016 public hearing in Columbia, South Carolina (see 1604060058). In January, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, NTIA and the FCC cooperated on a test of micro-jamming technology at a federal prison in Maryland (see 1801180054). “The most important participants in this fight will be wireless carriers,” Pai said in an opinion piece in a Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper. “They have largely remained on the sidelines. This has to change. So I have challenged each wireless carrier to join me and federal, state, and local officials as a full partner to help develop effective and affordable ways to address this problem.” CTIA and "members recognize the very real threat that contraband devices pose in correctional facilities across the nation, and we appreciate the commitment of all stakeholders to identify and implement lawful solutions,” a spokesman said. Meanwhile, T-Mobile filed a report at the FCC, by Roberson and Associates, on potential problems posed by jamming cellphone signals in correctional facilities. The paper said a managed access system (MAS) costs less to deploy and operate in larger prisons, while a jammer is cheaper in smaller institutions, T-Mobile said. “The study also details a number of detrimental impacts of a jammer solution compared to an MAS solution, such as blocking legitimate use of wireless devices, including use for E911 and FirstNet, jamming other important uses, including GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and creating a significant potential for interference with use of wireless devices by the general public in surrounding areas,” T-Mobile said in a filing in docket 13-111.

The FCC 3-2 cited broadband "progress" in keeping a 25/3 Mbps fixed benchmark and said mobile isn't a full substitute, in Friday's report under a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate, following through on Chairman Ajit Pai's draft (see 1801180053 and 1802020058). The report, also backed by Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr, concluded the agency is encouraging "reasonable and timely" broadband-like advanced telecom capability deployment. ATC improvement "slowed dramatically in the wake of a 2015 net neutrality order, the report said: fixed broadband was newly deployed to 13.5 million 2015-16, down 55 percent from 2013-14; and mobile LTE broadband went to 5.8 million more people in 2015-16, down 83 percent. But Republicans said the FCC was promoting ATC gains. Fixed 25/3 Mbps reached 95.6 percent of Americans and mobile 5/1 Mbps reached 99.6 percent by year-end 2016, said the report (appendices, here and here, on county breakdowns); and the current FCC reduced "regulatory barriers" to infrastructure deployment, created a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee to assist efforts, repealed "heavy-handed" Title II (Communications Act) broadband regulations and took other steps. The Democrats said too many Americans lack adequate fixed or mobile broadband for a positive finding. Republicans partially acknowledged the point. "While we are now headed in the right direction, we have much to do," Pai said. "Far too many Americans still lack access." The FCC should "shoot for the moon," said Carr, urging continued streamlining of wireless and wireline deployment rules, freeing up spectrum for consumer use, and creating incentives to spur edge and network innovation. O'Rielly disagreed with FCC refusal to acknowledge wireless broadband as a substitute for wireline service, or set a wireless speed benchmark, but said a "plethora of data" backed a positive finding.

The Supreme Court will decide Feb. 16 whether to hear appeal of U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturn of the FCC junk fax rule. The high court said Wednesday it distributed briefs in docket 17-351 for the Feb. 16 conference. The FCC and a group of private respondents argued against the court taking up the appeal (see 1801170002). The petitioners last week said the D.C. Circuit decision (see 1703310018) was "radical" in its reasoning that Congress' silence on a regulatory issue -- such as whether the FCC can regulate opt-out notices on solicited fax ads -- shows intent to prohibit regulation of that issue. Petitioners argued that the agency's issuing waivers to the private respondents is a side issue since those waivers shouldn't survive judicial scrutiny.

The trend of longer DOJ and FTC transaction reviews can be reversed by sometimes deferring Hart-Scott-Rodino notification filing to use that time to better work out arguments why the deal poses no harm to consumers, said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Barry Nigro Friday at the annual Antitrust Law Leaders Forum, according to his prepared remarks. After that, quickly give strong arguments for why a fuller investigation isn't merited, he said: "A high level white paper re-hashing the rationale for the deal and the reasons not to worry often won’t cut it." Instead, within days of the HSR filing, provide names and phone numbers of major customers, big data for key transactions, areas of product overlap, internal analyses of competitors in areas of product overlap, business and strategic plans for overlap areas and analyses of the proposed transaction done internally or by consultants. Very few deals raise competitive red flags, with the DOJ Antitrust Division in 2017 opening investigations in 2.7 percent of proposed transactions and issuing second requests in 1.6 percent, he said.

The Government Printing Office and the FCC should cease printing hardbound compilations of documents issued by the FCC, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wrote in a blog post Friday about The FCC Record. “It makes little sense to continue to publish paper copies when other mechanisms are more consumer friendly, cost-efficient, and easier to access,” he said. The FCC Record collections of FCC documents printed by GPO cost $813 for a yearly subscription, and the 2016 version ran to 17 volumes with more than 14,000 pages, O’Rielly said. The FCC bought 80 copies of The FCC Record in 2016, he said. The FCC “certainly has the capability to publish the FCC Record electronically as a PDF on our website” instead, O’Rielly said. “In fact, the Commission compiles the current FCC Record, not the GPO or its contractor.” The agency could “just as easily compile the PDF and just put it online, saving the costs of purchasing paper copies for its own use,” O’Rielly said. “To aid in consumer functionality, the Commission could also establish a separate web page that consisted of only PDF Record compilations.”

Two former deputy assistant attorneys general for economic analysis at DOJ's Antitrust Division will be lead economics expert witnesses, on opposing sides, for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia trial on the agency's attempt to block AT&T buying Time Warner. DOJ counsel Craig Conrath told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon Friday during a biweekly status hearing on the impending trial that University of California, Berkeley economics professor Carl Shapiro will be lead economics expert witness for DOJ. Conrath said Justice potentially had two other expert witnesses to testify about regulatory issues. AT&T outside counsel Daniel Petrocelli of O'Melveny said the lead economics expert for the defense will be University of Chicago economics professor Dennis Carlton, and it has potentially three other expert witnesses to discuss advertising, media and entertainment and business efficiency issues. Petrocelli said there's a cap of 30 fact witnesses each for the two sides, but it's unlikely either side will call more than half that. Leon urged the two sides to give him a heads up about potential conflicts over evidence admissibility, so as to avoid numerous or protracted objections that could make the trial disjointed or delay a final ruling. The trial -- expected to run two to three weeks -- is to start March 19 (see 1712070067).

Universal Service Administrative Co. issued its updated Lifeline national verifier plan for the FCC low-income broadband and voice subsidy program. A 2016 commission order authorized creation of a Lifeline national entity to standardize verification of consumer Lifeline eligibility, and required USAC to report on implementation progress every six months. The plan noted the FCC delayed the national verifier's (NV) Dec. 5, 2017, soft launch and March 13, 2018, hard launch target dates in six initial states to address issues about Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) compliance (see 1712010042). "Functional development of the service provider portal is complete and the FISMA security validation is the final step before the soft launch can occur," said the plan posted Thursday in docket 11-42. "At soft launch, service providers in the six states will be able, but not required, to use the NV system. At hard launch, service providers in the six states will be required to use the NV. Consumers in the six states will also be able to use the system at this time." The six states are Colorado, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The plan also noted USAC and the FCC are implementing tribal Lifeline USF changes adopted in December that affect NV systems.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the name of the group that welcomed a proposal by FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly to specify rate-of-return telco expenses that couldn't be reimbursed through USF support or the rate base (see 1801310057).

The USF contribution factor could drop in Q2 from 19.5 percent to 18.3 percent of carriers' U.S. interstate and international (long-distance) telecom end-user revenue, if the revenue holds steady, said industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg's quarterly email update Wednesday. He based his estimate on the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s projection that adjusted Q2 USF demand would be $1.97 billion, $113.4 million less than Q1. "Out of period adjustments," primarily in the high-cost and school and library funds, are "the primary cause of the decrease in quarter-to-quarter USF demand," he said. If the industry revenue base stays constant, that will produce a contribution factor of 18.3 percent, but he noted that base has been trending down and a new decline would produce a higher factor. USAC's revenue base is due out by month's end, he said.

Competition law enforcement worldwide needs to pay less attention to short-term pricing issues and more to innovation and growth that deliver long-term value to consumers, DOJ antitrust head Makan Delrahim said Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, according to prepared remarks. He said remedies to antitrust violations must be approached cautiously, calling himself "generally skeptical" of behavioral remedies "and even more so" of licensing requirements that could disincent technological developments. Innovation "can be unsettling and disruptive," but ultimately it will result in the most consumer benefit, he said: But there can be situations where the exercise of patent rights "should attract antitrust scrutiny," and patent holders aren't immune from antitrust laws. He said China's establishment of dedicated IP courts is "a very positive step" toward engendering faith in the patent system, and such changes likely are connected Chinese companies moving from implementers of IP rights to innovators and holders of them. As China increasingly becomes an innovation economy, its progress "can be amplified -- and its prosperity increased" via promotion and protection of IP rights, he said. The Antitrust Division head's general skepticism of behavioral remedies makes it less likely to settle so AT&T can buy Time Warner (see 1801260002).