FCC Chairman Ajit Pai likely faces a more complicated next two years than his first two, after Democrats retook the House (see 1811070054), if Pai stays through President Donald Trump's term. With some races still unsettled, Democrats hold a slim majority in the House and Pai will encounter the same dynamic as many predecessors after their parties lost control of the House, Senate or both. Most industry officials agreed FCC work likely will slow slightly on some of bigger, controversial items.

The FCC pressed small voice service providers to assist "efforts to trace scam robocalls that originate on or pass through their networks." Letters were sent to eight providers not participating in industry traceback efforts, the agency said Tuesday, a day after Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters demanding major voice providers adopt a call-authentication framework by 2019 to fight illegal caller ID spoofing and robocalling (see 1811050055). Separately, several backed IHS Markit asking urgent motor vehicle recall messages be exempted from Telephone Consumer Protection Act wireless calling restrictions (see 1810050005).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai "demanded" industry "adopt a robust call authentication system to combat illegal caller ID spoofing" and launch it no later than 2019. “Combatting illegal robocalls is our top consumer priority," he said Monday on letters to 14 telecom and internet voice providers. Call authentication is "the best way to ensure that consumers can answer their phones with confidence," he said. "By this time next year, I expect that consumers will begin to see this on their phones. Carriers need to continue working together to make this happen and I am calling on those falling behind to catch up. ... If it does not appear that this system is on track to get up and running next year, then we will take action to make sure that it does.” In May, Pai welcomed a North American Numbering Council report recommending industry quickly establish governing and policy authorities for implementing a Shaken/Stir (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) framework, with some providers expected to adopt the protocols within a year (see 1805140028). Some then made announcements. Pai's letters Monday asked providers that apparently haven't established concrete Shaken/Stir implementation plans to do so without delay, with questions about their efforts: CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Frontier Communications, Sprint, TDS, U.S. Cellular and Vonage. He asked other providers for Shaken/Stir implementation timelines and details: AT&T, Bandwidth.com, Comcast, Cox Communications, Google, T-Mobile and Verizon. USTelecom leads the Industry Traceback Group working to fight robocalls via "consumer tools, new technologies, traceback efforts and law enforcement," an association spokesperson responded. "The SHAKEN/STIR standard is an important tool" in the industrywide "toolkit to combat illegal robocalls and identify the sources of untrustworthy communications," he emailed. “NCTA members are actively participating in the development and implementation of the Shaken/Stir protocol,” said a spokesperson. "The wireless industry is fully committed to protecting consumers and will continue to work closely with the FCC, FTC, law enforcement and other stakeholders to combat the problem, including developing and deploying call authentication tools as quickly as possible," said CTIA Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann.

The Supreme Court declined to review the prior FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, which was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Justices 4-3 denied cert petitions appealing affirmation of the Communications Act Title II order, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh not participating, said the order list Monday deciding Daniel Berninger et al. v. FCC, No. 17-498. It noted Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would grant the petitions, vacate the D.C. Circuit's judgment and remand to that court with instructions to dismiss the cases as moot under U.S. v. Munsingwear. The solicitor general, backed by ISPs, had urged justices to take that course, given the current FCC's order undoing Title II net neutrality regulation, which is being challenged in the D.C. Circuit (see 1810030036). ISP groups and some others Monday said they weren't surprised by cert denial. “Once the current FCC repealed the 2015 Order, almost all parties -- including NCTA -- agreed that the case was moot," said NCTA: "Today’s decision is not an indication of the Court’s views on the merits but simply reflects the fact that there was nothing left for the Court to rule on.” Net neutrality advocate Andrew Schwartzman emailed, "This was the likely outcome and doesn't change things much, if at all. However, had the court vacated the 2016 DC Circuit opinion, it would have precluded the petitioners in the current DC Circuit case from relying on the earlier decision as precedent." The current order "remains the law of the land and is essential to an open internet," said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter. CEO Matt Polka said the American Cable Association will continue "to defend the [current] order in federal court and fight impermissible interference with the national regime by the states." Unless Congress legislates, "the ping-pong match over the FCC's authority will continue," said TechFreedom President Berin Szoka. The group noted three Republican appointees would have vacated the 2015 order; Kavanaugh dissented from the D.C. Circuit affirmation while on that court; and Roberts was recused, "apparently because of prior" cable stock holdings. “Although the current FCC repealed [the] net neutrality rules in 2017 in a fit of partisan overreach ... we will continue to fight until net neutrality is once again the law of the land," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted: " It wasn't enough for this @FCC to roll back #NetNeutrality. It actually petitioned the Supreme Court to erase history and wipe out an earlier court decision upholding open internet policies. But today the Supreme Court refused to do so." Free Press and Public Knowledge welcomed the decision (here and here).

The FCC should fully fund model-based and cost-based rate-of-return USF mechanisms before considering a second Alternative Connect America Cost Model (ACAM) offer with new demands, said WTA in meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Friday in docket 10-90 (here, here). The RLEC group also discussed "implementation and technical and economic feasibility of potential changes to associated broadband build-out obligations" and "potential impact of the growth of Customer Broadband Only Line ('CBOL') services upon cost-based RoR budgets and budget control." Hargray Communications urged adoption of consensus RoR budget hike proposals from NTCA, USTelecom, ITTA and WTA (see 1810010045). "Current funding uncertainty is deterring investment" that could help close the digital divide, it said on a discussion with bureau staffers. It opposed "arbitrary reductions" in support for seven years, "the term of many commercial loans."

A CLE heard criticism of FCC broadband mapping inaccuracies and of an AT&T executive appearing to some to celebrate a municipal network's struggles. Many at Thursday's Wolters Kluwer event agreed the maps need improvement, including Mississippi Public Service Commission Chairman Brandon Presley (D). He has a related draft NARUC resolution (see 1810310035). "The maps are completely inaccurate" and some providers claim to have service in places where they don't, he said: "We’re finding problems throughout our district," which covers about a third of Mississippi. Best Best law firm's Gerard Lederer, who represents municipalities, said "we simply would like to have facts. ... We really need to know where to fill in the gaps. If you don’t have agreement on that, I’m not sure how you can pursue the goal" of universal-type availability. The FCC has defended its process, and declined to comment now. An Oct. 24 tweet from AT&T Mississippi President Mayo Flynt that "another one bites the dust" on Opelika, Alabama, selling its "broadband business for big loss" also drew scrutiny Wednesday. USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Diane Griffin Holland said that, speaking personally, "We should not necessarily poke fun at or have a visceral reaction where a municipality seeks to take the initiative to deploy broadband." She thinks public-private partnerships could "take sort of the best of both worlds" to perhaps get "us closer to ubiquitous deployment." Mayo was highlighting AT&T's long-held position that "government-owned networks typically fail at great cost to taxpayers,” a spokesman said. “A number of municipal broadband efforts have failed over the last several years, often at great cost to local taxpayers," a USTelecom spokesman also noted. The group's "position has long been that bringing broadband to unserved areas is essential to closing today’s digital divide," he said. "The best way for municipalities to aid in this effort is through lowering the barriers to private sector deployment and partnering with private companies." As government is funding some projects to fill in digital gaps, some sought higher speeds. Speeds of 10/1 Mbps downstream/upstream may not be sufficient, and the Utilities Technology Council seeks 25/3 or higher, said General Counsel Brett Kilbourne. Many customers of utilities in sparsely populated areas buy 50 Mbps and above, even when slower speeds are available, he said. "Folks in rural areas want high speeds just as much as folks in urban areas."

LAS VEGAS -- A key telecom challenge is to ensure regional and smaller providers can compete in a market dominated by large national players, Windstream CEO Tony Thomas said Wednesday. He said his company is the No. 5 fiber provider, with half a million locations on-net. "We can't be a national provider without some sort of basic, functioning wholesale market," he said, noting the need to serve business customers with scattered locations. He backed spectrum policies that do more to allow smaller bidders to compete with the big four national wireless carriers and voiced concern about large tech companies gobbling up upstarts.

LAS VEGAS -- CLEC executives at the Incompas Show mixed optimism and hope that the FCC won't grant a USTelecom bid for ILEC relief from wholesale duties to share networks with rivals. They told show attendees that competitor ability to lease access to discounted copper unbundled network elements (UNEs) of large incumbents encourages both sides to deploy fiber. Some cited the importance of maintaining "avoided-cost resale" requirements also targeted by a USTelecom forbearance petition.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai seeking a committee staff briefing on USTelecom's petition for incumbent telco relief from mandatory wholesale unbundling discounts, resale and other duties. Telco rivals, state regulators and consumer advocates say it would undermine competition (see 1808070024). Walden and Blackburn told Pai they also want the FCC to brief the committee on the agency's Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction. An FCC spokesman said the agency is working to set the briefing.

California agreed not to enforce its new net neutrality law (SB-822) while appeal of the FCC’s order rescinding the 2015 national rules is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and possibly the Supreme Court. The state agreed to delay enforcement in a pleading with the U.S. District Court for Eastern California. The state was scheduled to respond to the motion for a preliminary injunction Friday, but the parties informed the judge they had reached a deal. ISP groups (see 1810030036) and DOJ (see 1809210059) challenged the California law in cases before that district court.