A USTelecom executive and a former FCC adviser debated net neutrality and a recent decision from the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court on The Communicators scheduled to be televised this weekend on C-SPAN and available online Friday. Patrick Halley, USTelecom senior vice president-advocacy and regulatory, and Gigi Sohn, a former aide to then-Chairman Tom Wheeler, discussed Chevron, Brand X, state vs. federal jurisdiction over broadband, and other details. Halley noted that the court ruled the FCC was within its discretion to regulate broadband as an information service, and while the court said the FCC can't expressly pre-empt state laws on the matter, "it would be an over-reach to say states can write their own laws," especially as much of internet use is interstate, not intrastate. Sohn suggested the FCC has abdicated its authority to regulate the broadband market: "The court was really clear: If an agency lacks authority, it can't then tell a state it can't regulate." Sohn was not suggesting states would have an easy time, but nor will industry, in determining when states can regulate over issues of net neutrality: "It will be case by case. It won't be a slam dunk." With the recent court decision, states will test the boundaries, she said, "and to me that argues for a federal law." Halley "completely" agreed with the need for a federal law, and said the sides likely agree on the concept of net neutrality as well. "The best answer for all of this is a federal, modern national framework that provides the net neutrality protection" that most consumers and businesses want. When it comes to one of the issues that the court remanded to the FCC, on how it will regulate broadband in the USF Lifeline program, the court said only that the agency did not sufficiently address the matter in its arguments, Halley said, not that it lacks such authority. Last week, the court upheld most of a 2017 FCC net neutrality repeal but remanded several matters to the FCC for clarification (see 1910010018).

As the FCC presses on with the Lifeline national verifier rollout, some state officials continue to voice concerns about incomplete access to state databases and other issues. Other state commissioners told us they haven’t heard any complaints, though one said his agency might not get any even amid problems. The NV is midway through a state-by-state launch and is designed to make signup and reverification more automatic. Those on the front lines see growing pains and worry the poor could be incorrectly excluded from the approximately $1 billion annual federal program (see 1907080009).

Pursue granularity and accuracy of broadband mapping data so consumers aren't trapped in broadband deserts when government funding is unavailable in areas deemed served, NTCA replied on FCC digital opportunity data collection (see 1909240005). Commenters differed on a latency-reporting obligation and most opposed collecting prices. DODC replies posted through Tuesday in docket 19-195.

American Electric Power and other energy companies call the new FCC pole attachment rules unnecessarily restrictive in their ability to request basic information needed "to conduct any meaningful review of potential capacity, safety, reliability or engineering issues" raised by overlashing proposals from telecom providers seeking access to poles, they filed Friday (in Pacer) for American Electric Power v. FCC in docket 18-72689 at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The utilities oppose a prohibition against charging a fee to evaluate a proposed overlash. Verizon and USTelecom are respondents with the FCC (see 1908300036).

Industry and consumer group officials continued hoping Monday that lawmakers will reach a bipartisan compromise on net neutrality legislation, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Mozilla v. FCC last week upheld parts of the FCC 2018 order rolling back 2015 reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II (see 1910010018). They didn't stray during a Congressional Internet Caucus Academy event from their longstanding belief that a final statute either should or shouldn't have a basis in Title II and mirror the rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1910010044).

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly renewed calls to prohibit E-rate funds to schools and libraries that receive broadband service from one provider when another has already received USF dollars at the same location. "It's awful enough when the government subsidizes network builds in areas where the private sector can or does provide service, but it's a separate layer of hell when E-rate money goes to an area already being subsidized by the FCC," O'Rielly told an FCBA USF seminar. O'Rielly has corresponded with school superintendents and consortium leaders in Texas and Arizona about their plans to build self-provisioned wide-area networks that would overbuild a local incumbent's fiber facilities. "I have never been presented with credible evidence that E-Rate funded overbuilding has been anything other than wasteful for the USF," he said, citing "copious evidence of bidding matrices designed to favor a particular outcome and schools buying far more bandwidth than they use or need."

FCC allies in Tuesday's federal court decision on the Communications Act Title II rollback order (see 1910010018) consider appeal unlikely. Petitioner allies are less sure. California and Vermont’s litigated net neutrality laws remain on hold, those states’ attorneys generals confirmed Wednesday.

USTelecom said ISP standoffs with Vermont and California will continue, even as those and other states seeking to enforce net neutrality rules repealed by the FCC said they're heartened by a Tuesday decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The court largely upheld the FCC’s 2018 order but ruled that the federal agency couldn’t pre-empt states (see 1910010018). The ruling also put the spotlight back on Congress’ net neutrality debate, gridlocked for months. Legislative leaders didn’t stray Tuesday from their existing positions. Some see that as a sign there’s unlikely to be much progress before the presidential election.

Parties on both sides declared some victory from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's decision Tuesday on appeals of the FCC 2018 Communications Act Title II broadband service regulation rollback. Backers of the order cheered most of the decision, while critics pointed to the court rejecting pre-emption of state and local regulations. There was partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins. See our bulletins: 1910010016 and 1910010013.

USTelecom sought clarity on a series of changes to Lifeline in meetings with Deputy Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader and others in the FCC Wireline Bureau and separately with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai Monday, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-287. An industry petition urges delaying implementation of higher minimum service standards set for Dec. 1 or grandfathering current minimum broadband service standards (see 1909130020). "To the extent the Commission is considering postponing the implementation date, USTelecom emphasized the importance of knowing this as soon as possible to prevent customer confusion and avoid administrative difficulties with carriers' IT systems," USTelecom said. An FCC spokesperson said Friday the petition is under review. Representatives from member companies AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated, Frontier, Verizon and Windstream participated.