FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler outlined an aggressive timetable for moving the U.S. toward 5G, in a major policy address at the National Press Club Monday, saying he plans to circulate an order Thursday opening high-frequency bands for wireless broadband. The order and an accompanying NPRM will get a vote at the July 14 FCC meeting, he said. Wheeler also said he will propose other high-frequency bands for 5G, as well as a giant 14 GHz-wide band for unlicensed. With backhaul key to 5G, Wheeler said the FCC will wrap up its business data services proceeding by year end.

With a week to go before a vote, there are broad industry concerns about an FCC proposal to reform Team Telecom, industry officials said in interviews last week. So-called Team Telecom is a working group of representatives from the federal agencies who look at the national security implications of foreign investment in U.S. communications companies. The commission is to take up a rulemaking at the June 24 commission meeting designed to “streamline” and increase the transparency of the Team Telecom process.

Tennessee and the FCC sparred at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the agency's broadband authority and the relevance of this week's net neutrality and broadband reclassification ruling in the D.C. Circuit (see 1606140023). Tennessee urged the 6th Circuit, which is reviewing a municipal broadband case, to take an independent look at the commission's broadband authority under Section 706 of the 1996 Telecom Act, but the commission warned against creating a circuit split. Tennessee disputes FCC Section 706 broadband authority in its challenge to a commission order that pre-empted a state law barring Chattanooga from extending its municipal broadband system to neighboring localities.

Several House Cybersecurity Subcommittee members raised concerns during a hearing Wednesday about what they view as sluggish private sector participation in the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) program, which DHS set up as part of its implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015. The Cybersecurity Act, which Congress passed in December as part of the FY 2016 omnibus spending bill (see 1512180052), codified the DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center's role as the main civilian hub for cyberthreat information sharing. The bill also enacted strong liability protections for information sharing and required private sector entities to remove personally identifiable information (PII) from data prior to sharing. Industry stakeholders told House Cybersecurity they're optimistic that private sector participation in the AIS program will increase over time and attributed sluggish early uptake of the program to stakeholders' cautiousness about participating in the program's earliest stage and the need for finalized information sharing rules.

It appears all but certain industry will appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision Tuesday upholding the FCC 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1606140023). Less certain is whether the Supreme Court will take the case. A complicating factor is that four of the remaining eight justices would have to agree to hear the case, and, with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, that will be more difficult until his slot is filled, court watchers said in interviews Tuesday.

A federal court gave the FCC broad deference in upholding its net neutrality order that reclassified broadband under Title II of the Communications Act. Judges David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that previous Supreme Court decisions gave the commission considerable latitude to determine broadband is a Title II telecom service subject to common-carrier regulation. In a separate opinion, Judge Stephen Williams partially concurred and partially dissented, saying he would overturn the order because he believed the commission failed to engage in reasoned decision-making.

GOP House Commerce Committee staffers outlined many potential problems with the FCC ISP privacy NPRM, in a staff memo for a Tuesday Communications Subcommittee hearing: “Concerns with the FCC’s approach to privacy vary, from legal experts that question the FCC’s rationale for the rules and raise concerns that the FCC’s rules are a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, to those in the business community concerned with the economic and social consequences of the FCC’s regulatory approach.” The six-page memo elaborated on the concerns and cited arguments favoring an FTC-centric approach.

Federal judges denied petitions for review of the FCC net neutrality order "in accordance with the opinion of the court," in a per curiam judgment (in Pacer) Tuesday (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063). The lengthy opinion (in Pacer) of the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was also released this morning. This opinion will be the subject of a forthcoming Communications Daily Bulletin this morning. The FCC order had reclassified broadband under Title II of the Communications Act. Officials at the FCC and USTelecom had no immediate comment.

A split panel of federal judges has upheld the FCC net neutrality order that reclassified broadband service under Title II of the Communications Act. In a 184-page document of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Judges David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan wrote the majority opinion finding FCC arguments reasonable and denying all petitions for review of its order, while judge Stephen Williams dissented in part and concurred in part (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler cheered the ruling, which Commissioner Ajit Pai said it disappointed him, and USTelecom had no immediate comment.

Major trade associations urged the FCC to back off its broadband privacy plans focused on regulating ISPs and pursue harmonization with the FTC's privacy approach. CTA, CTIA, Mobile Future, USTelecom and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler promised to listen and learn from the public and providers before adopting final rules. "Well, the public’s verdict on Chairman Wheeler’s plan ... is now in -- and the result is clear. An overwhelming majority of the expert comments filed to date have urged the FCC to change course," the groups said in blog posted Wednesday. Initial comments were due May 27; replies are due June 27. The groups said privacy experts questioned the FCC's approach; other experts demonstrated the proposed rules were based on a flawed premise; commenters warned consumers would be harmed; and business and tech groups highlighted economic and technical problems. "The record makes clear that the best course is for the FCC to abandon its flawed approach and harmonize privacy regulation for broadband providers with the well-established and effective approach implemented and consistently endorsed by the FTC and the Obama Administration for many years and that has both protected consumers’ privacy and fostered unprecedented innovation, investment, and broadband adoption," the groups said. "This is the core of the Consensus Privacy Framework first submitted by a wide range of industry participants to Chairman Wheeler in March, which is a more efficient, pro-consumer and pro-innovation alternative. Chairman Wheeler promised to review the record and listen to the public. If he is to keep that promise, the FCC must change course." Public interest groups want the FCC to take its own approach (see 1606080034). The FCC didn't comment Thursday.