The FCC Connect2Health task force said it will hold virtual listening sessions the weeks of July 31, Aug. 7, Sept. 11, Sept. 18 and Sept. 25. The sessions are expected to last about an hour, with specific dates and times to be chosen to accommodate the most interested parties, said a public notice Friday in docket 16-46. The sessions are intended "to more efficiently facilitate targeted input on broadband health issues (including on the rural/urban gap and other digital divide issues) from non-traditional stakeholders and those outside the Washington, DC area," the PN said, noting the effort is aimed at developing "recommendations on critical regulatory, policy, technical, and infrastructure issues concerning the emerging broadband-enabled health and care ecosystem." It said the comment period for the docket will remain open until Sept. 29, giving parties more time to provide input, including on an updated Mapping Broadband Health in America platform released June 8 (see 1706080032).

An NAB request to withdraw as moot a petition for reconsideration and a petition for clarification against aspects of the incentive auction that already have taken place was granted by the Media and Wireless bureaus, said a public notice released Friday. The recon petition appealed the FCC plan to relocate broadcasters in the duplex gap, while the clarification petition asked the FCC to clarify that stations not participating in the auction wouldn’t be treated differently than participating stations. Both petitions were filed in September 2015, before the auction began. NAB requested the withdrawal at the end of last month, the PN said.

Newsmax and a group of TV networks added support to requests for the FCC to grant more time for comment and also to request more information on Sinclair buying Tribune, joining Dish Network, Public Knowledge, Common Cause and the American Cable Association. The information provided by Sinclair and Tribune is insufficient, said Newsmax and a separate filing from AWE -- A Wealth of Entertainment, Cinémoi, MAVTV Motorsports Network, One America News Network and Ride Television Network. “Applicants had virtually nothing to say about the public interest benefits of the transaction, and what they did say is largely conclusory,” Newsmax said. Sinclair filed in opposition to the joint request from Dish, PK and ACA Thursday, arguing that they don’t follow typical commission procedure (see 1707200048). “Applicants bear the burden of proving their transaction is in the public interest,” the joint filing from the networks said. “The Application, however, does not contain sufficient information to meet this burden.” Sinclair didn’t comment to us Friday.

Free Press said Friday complaints that Verizon Wireless had slowed video connections while it optimized its network show the need for clear net neutrality rules. Complaints about slowed connections were reported by The Verge. “Before Ajit Pai tears down the FCC’s open-internet rules as he’s promised to do, he should take a look at practices that demonstrate the need for these safeguards -- and for a watchdog willing to enforce them,” said Matt Wood, Free Press policy director, in a news release. “It’s not yet clear exactly what Verizon Wireless may be doing to its customers, but it is clear that those customers are having issues with the wireless-broadband connections for which they pay so dearly.” The FCC and Verizon didn’t comment.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create the Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure within the Department of Commerce. The 15-member group will include members with “relevant experience or subject-matter expertise” in communications and other infrastructure sectors, the White House said Wednesday evening. The group will study the efficacy of existing federal funding and support for infrastructure projects, including broadband deployment. Trump directed the council to provide recommendations on how to prioritize U.S. infrastructure needs, develop funding options for infrastructure investment for the next 10 years and identify ways to increase public-private partnerships on infrastructure development.

The FCC is ready to start paying incentive auction winners, the Incentive Auction Task Force and the Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. The FCC “has directed the U.S. Treasury” to make payments to “every station subject to a winning bid in the reverse auction that has provided sufficient banking information to facilitate payment,” said the PN, which includes a list of the stations to be paid. The FCC “does not control the precise date on which the U.S. Treasury will make each incentive payment or when each incentive payment will be received,” the PN said, but for the purposes of rules pegged to stations receiving their payments, winning bidders will be considered to have received their payment in five business days. Winning bidders that gave up their spectrum in the incentive auction have to go off the air 90 days after receiving their payments, the PN said.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts gave USTelecom and others a 60-day extension to appeal a lower court's decision upholding the FCC Communications Act Title II net neutrality order. Cert petitions are now due Sept. 28, said a high court notice that Roberts granted the extension in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 17A54. Others on the application were AT&T, CTIA, CenturyLink, NCTA, the American Cable Association, Alamo Broadband, Daniel Berninger, Scott Banister, Charles Giancarlo, Jeff Pulver and TechFreedom. Attorneys expected the extension to be granted; there were more doubts about whether petitioners would seek another extension or could obtain one (see 1707140049).

T-Mobile continued to see strong growth in Q2, with 1.3 million net adds and 817,000 branded postpaid adds. Postpaid adds, a key measure, were slightly below Q1, when 914,000 were reported. T-Mobile noted it has now added more than 1 million subscribers for 17 straight quarters. Churn also improved to 1.1 percent, down 17 basis points from the same quarter last year and eight from Q1. T-Mobile expects to start to deploy the 600 MHz spectrum it bought in the TV incentive auction later this year, lighting up the first sites in August with several 600 MHz-capable handsets available for the holiday season. This was the first time the carrier went first among all the national carriers in releasing results. CEO John Legere said it was time to shake things up. “We’ve been breaking industry rules and dashing the hopes and dreams of our competitors,” Legere said. AT&T is focused on acquisitions and is OK with losing postpaid subscribers, he said. “Verizon’s massive marketing blitz on its unlimited plan looks like it might disappoint,” he said. “Sprint has been giving away phone service for free, like, literally, giving it away.” Legere said AT&T and Verizon have seen their networks slow under the weight of their unlimited offerings. “Their networks just can’t take it,” he said. The companies didn't comment. Legere also said T-Mobile has opened 1,000 company stores this year, with 500 on the way.

Federal judges dismissed an initial challenge to an FCC business data service order, which Sprint and Windstream filed to protect their legal rights due to uncertainty about a court deadline. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an FCC motion to dismiss the challenge (which Windstream and Sprint didn't oppose), said an order (in Pacer) in Sprint and Windstream v. FCC, No. 17-1126. Petitioners and others have timely challenges in the 8th Circuit.

Participants in an NTIA multistakeholder initiative to address IoT device security upgrades agreed to a final draft document that recommends what information manufacturers and vendors should convey to consumers before they buy a product. During a Tuesday virtual meeting, the group reached "consensus" on the draft, which recommended elements companies should consider in informing buyers about whether devices receive security updates; whether they're done automatically, by a user or professionally; and how long a device would receive such support. The draft talks about how a user should be notified about updates and what happens after a device is no longer supported. Harley Geiger, Rapid7 director-public policy, said that this document could become part of a larger government effort to deal with botnets and automated threats. He said the working group hasn't thought about a strategy for promoting adoption of the document but said it would be good to see it "in the wild" with some companies using it. The document was drafted by a working group in the NTIA-driven process, which has met three times since October. NTIA plans a Sept. 12 meeting in Washington to possibly reach consensus on other drafts presented by working groups on a catalog of existing IoT security documentation; technical capabilities of providing upgrades; and incentives for companies to provide updates.