New Jersey regulators continue looking at potentially statewide service problems with Verizon and other ILEC networks, said Board of Public Utilities officials in interviews. Asserting state power to protect consumers, the board is fighting lawsuits by cable operator Altice on a prorating rule. The Rate Counsel Division supports public hearings about telecom problems but worries the agency won’t aggressively respond, Director Stefanie Brand told us.
Concerns over payments for satellite operators dominated discussions Friday as the FCC approved an item (see 2002280044) on a C-band auction. Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks mentioned competition issues, focused on concerns payments to incumbents won’t survive legal challenge.
The FCC unanimously approved an NPRM Friday seeking comment on proposals to allow devices that use the TV white space to operate with higher power in less-congested areas. The item’s final text hadn’t been released, but the final notice was little changed from the draft, said Office of Engineering and Technology staff. That was as expected (see 2002250084).
The FCC approved 5-0 draft bidding procedures for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, which formally schedules a June 25 auction of CBRS licenses. Unlike the C band (see 2002280044), this second mid-band item was approved after a relatively brief discussion without similar political fireworks. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel agreed the process has taken too long. The licenses will be the first mid-band spectrum the FCC has offered for 5G.
Washington state’s House Innovation, Technology and Economic Development Committee advanced Senate-passed SB-6281 6-3 Friday (see 2002270065). An amendment establishing a private right of action passed. One that would remove a controversial facial recognition section failed.
The FCC voted to propose an Oct. 22 auction date for the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and to release a public notice for docket 20-34 on procedures for its auction 904. That was despite pushback from Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, as was expected (see 2002270004). They partly dissented. The PN would seek comment on proposals such as how large the eligible bidding areas should be and how much information should be collected in short-form applications.
The FCC has a plan for dealing with a pandemic if necessary, said Chairman Ajit Pai and others answering our queries during news conferences Friday. So far, the main coronavirus effect on the regulator has been cancelation of an annual wireless conference, members told us. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks worries about impacts on 911 systems and about getting more people connected to residential broadband.
Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks Friday criticized an FCC NPRM, approved 3-2, proposing sharing communications outage information with other federal and state agencies. The two Democrats dissented.
The livestream of monthly commissioners' meetings have had technical problems making it difficult for people to watch, several users said in interviews Friday. The problems seemed to have increased for Friday's gathering versus others this year and in late 2019, some said. We experienced problems streaming this gathering, both at the commissioners' meeting itself and offsite. Users told us the live video on the regulator's website would unexpectedly pause or entirely stop working. Several of those we spoke with had tweeted about the issues, including here and here.
The FCC handed down proposed fines Friday against the four national carriers for failing to safeguard data on their customers' real-time locations (see 2002270063). T-Mobile faces the biggest at more than $91 million, followed by AT&T, $57 million; Verizon, $48 million; and Sprint, $12 million. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced during the news conference after the commissioners’ meeting that the notices of apparent liability had been approved and would be issued shortly (see 2002280040). Three commissioners raised questions about the FCC approach, including in media Q&A with us.