States and localities are loosening pandemic-related restrictions, but federal and state courts are a more mixed bag, our informal survey found. State courts likely will be fully open by Labor Day and generally done with COVID-19 precautions, said Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, who's president of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ). Federal courts are more scattered in their moves.

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.

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.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly believes there will be broad wireless carrier interest in the 4.9 GHz band now that reallocation for wireless broadband is possible. Commissioners approved a Further NPRM at their March meeting, opening the door to major change for the band. O’Rielly told us industry hasn’t focused on the band in the past because the FCC never before considered reallocating it for wireless broadband. O’Rielly called the current situation “a mess.”

California legislators strongly rebuked their state telecom regulator, with the General Assembly voting 61-9 Thursday to pass a constitutional amendment (ACA-11) to dissolve the California Public Utilities Commission. On the Assembly floor, legislators cited the CPUC handling of Frontier Communications problems in April as one of several reasons to rethink utilities legislation in California. The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass and now moves to the Senate.

This month’s data roaming decision figured prominently in Verizon and MetroPCS’s net neutrality reply brief to the same court Friday. The carriers argued that in contrast to the FCC’s rules requiring data roaming, net neutrality rules clearly imposed “per se common carriage” obligations on broadband providers. The carriers also argued the rules violated the First and Fifth amendments. The agency looks forward to defending the open Internet order in court, a commission spokesman told us. “This strong and balanced framework is helping ensure that the Internet continues to thrive as an engine for innovation, investment, job creation, and free expression."

Verizon Wireless said it will sell part of the 700 MHz spectrum it owns if the FCC approves the carrier’s buy of advanced wireless service (AWS) licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. Verizon said Wednesday that if the deals are approved it will offer for sale all of the 700 MHz A and B block licenses it bought in the 2008 auction of former TV spectrum. FCC officials have raised concerns about whether Verizon’s purchase of the AWS licenses would give the company too dominant of spectrum position versus its competitors (CD March 30 p1).

The ITU-R study group on terrestrial services will begin two new studies and revise 16 ongoing studies unless objections arise by March 19, the director of the Radiocommunication Bureau said in a letter to administrations. One new study on frequency sharing and compatibility between systems in the fixed service will look at acceptable levels of interference from systems in services with and without primary allocations, including in adjacent bands, it said. A second study of use and future use of the fixed service will examine the key trends and drivers of technologies and applications for the fixed service across the different bands over the 2013 to 2023 time period and beyond, it said. A study on cognitive radio systems in the mobile service will examine how cognitive radio systems can spur the efficient use of radio resources. It will also examine the cognitive capabilities that can spur sharing and coexistence of mobile systems with systems in other services, including broadcasting, science, satellite and space services. A study on mobile broadband wireless access systems will no longer be limited to the mobile service. A study on nomadic wireless access systems including radio local area networks will no longer be limited to mobile applications. An ongoing study will focus more precisely on use of the mobile, amateur, and amateur satellite services in times of disasters. An existing study of mobile wireless access systems providing telecommunications for a large number of ubiquitous sensors and actuators scattered over wide areas in the land mobile service will now look at machine-to-machine communications. A study on intelligent transport systems will be extended to 2015. A study on radio-frequency arrangements for fixed wireless systems was extended to 2015. A study on software defined radio will be extended to 2015.

A handful of rural rate-of-return telco executives took aim at the USTelecom-led efforts to create cost models for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, an ex parte notice released Monday showed. USTelecom had brought in analyst CostQuest to create cost models as it continues to lead industry-wide talks on wholesale reform. CostQuest executives have been sitting in on ex parte meetings since at least May to discuss some of their findings (CD May 24 p14).

AT&T and Qualcomm said there are no grounds for the FCC to do a consolidated review of the first company’s plan to buy T-Mobile, the telco’s buy of Qualcomm spectrum licenses and eight additional proceedings in which AT&T proposes to buy 700 MHz spectrum. The two jointly responded to a petition by Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, Ntelos, the Rural Cellular Association and Rural Telecommunications Group. Those entities called AT&T a “serial” acquirer of spectrum (CD June 14 p7).