FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly renewed his criticism of Lifeline's administrator, and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks expressed concern about problems with federal electronic certification of customers for the telecoms service for the poor. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency wants to work with states on making database connections. The regulators spoke in Q&A with us after commissioners' meeting Friday. Earlier last week, states worried some could be dropped from Lifeline rolls when their jurisdictions began mandatory use of the national verifier after Wednesday's hard launch.
The FCC is expected to start its planned appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Prometheus IV with an en banc appeal at the 3rd Circuit. That could make the agency unlikely to grant further waivers of ownership rules connected with the case, said academics, broadcasters and appellate attorneys in interviews. That could affect the approval of pending deals at the FCC, broadcast attorneys said.
Democratic FCC members joined the majority Friday, begrudgingly approving Charter Communications’ effective competition petition based on the existence of vMVPD AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now). Both they and the Republican majority said the Cable Act clearly justifies grant of Charter’s petition. Democrats concurred in their votes, citing the near-certitude customers in parts of Massachusetts and Hawaii will face big jumps in the cost of basic cable.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly appears to have the support of several top Republicans to remain for another term, a factor officials told us makes him strongly favored for renomination. One stumbling block appears to be the timeline for President Donald Trump to re-up him amid a souring confirmations atmosphere on Capitol Hill caused by the House impeachment inquiry and 2020 presidential campaign. O'Rielly's term expired June 30 (see 1412170031). He can remain until this Congress ends at the beginning of 2021.
The Senate Investigations Subcommittee gave guidance to federal regulatory agencies on how much they should consider the volume of comments on a proposed rule and said the agencies should develop limits on duplicative comments, in recommendations Thursday. The FCC was flagged in the report. Government transparency advocates said some agencies are considered likely to act on the recommendations.
The Senate Banking Committee’s data privacy hearing Thursday showed a “significant amount of consensus” on the need for platforms to be more transparent about data they collect online, Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, told us. Legislators appeared to believe this should be “part of any ultimate [legislative] solution,” he said. Ranking member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, hopes the committee delivers a data privacy bill, telling us Crapo is “very interested.” Brown said to expect interest from the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees.
New York lawmakers aim to coordinate next moves on net neutrality after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Oct. 1 that FCC 2017 net neutrality deregulation doesn’t stop state policies (see 1910010018). However, two Democratic bill sponsors interviewed this week disagreed how cautiously to proceed. Two Massachusetts net neutrality bill authors agreed the D.C. Circuit ruling frees states to act.
House Democrats blasted CEO Mark Zuckerberg for failures in privacy, workforce diversity and advertising discrimination, during a hearing Wednesday. Skeptical Republicans drew attention to similar miscues. They also defended Zuckerberg as an innovator and warned Congress against hindering Facebook’s digital currency.
Network virtualization and open radio access networks (ORANs) could be the key to ensuring that 5G networks are secure, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a keynote at the Mobile World Congress. Speakers Wednesday said 5G offers great promise and some challenges.
A notice of inquiry for the FCC's annual broadband deployment report was adopted 3-2 Oct. 4 and posted Wednesday afternoon. Comments are due Nov. 22, replies Dec. 9, in docket 19-285. The NOI circulated in July (see 1908090012) and concerns were raised about incorrect data. Now, Democratic commissioners' concerns focused on lack of better data collection methods. The FCC proposed to maintain 25/3 Mbps as the metric for fixed broadband and will take comment on whether another approach is justified.