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with Vermont and California will continue, even as those and other states seeking to enforce net neutrality rules repealed by the FCC said they're heartened by a Tuesday decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.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.
NTIA put a relatively unexplored spectrum band on the table Tuesday for potential sharing, between federal incumbents and other users -- the 7.125-8.4 GHz band. It's in “early stages” of considering a feasibility study of future sharing there, Charles Cooper, associate administrator in the Office of Spectrum Management, told the first meeting of the reconstituted Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee.
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.
A cable programmer suing Comcast for alleged racial discrimination for not being picked up for carriage is getting support before the Supreme Court from some members of Congress, in docket 18-1171 amicus briefs. Pointing to how the high court's construction of Section 1981 of federal anti-discrimination law could affect interpretation of other anti-discrimination statutes the U.S. enforces or that apply to the federal government, the Solicitor General is asking to take part in Nov. 13 oral argument.
Action on Globalstar asking the FCC to revisit allowing unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) devices to operate in the 5.1 GHz band, now 16 months old and counting, (see 1805220006) isn't expected soon. At the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), 5.1 GHz spectrum sharing is on the agenda.
It’s key that DOJ and the FTC clearly divide tech industry investigations to avoid wasted resources and contradictory findings, Senate Judiciary Committee members said in recent interviews. The FTC confirms it’s investigating Facebook for potential antitrust violations, and DOJ is reportedly weighing its own probe of separate but related Facebook conduct. FTC Chairman Joe Simons and DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim recently acknowledged the agencies wasted resources on interagency squabbling (see 1909170066).
The FCC Office of Economics and Analytics projects three auctions from now through Sept. 30, 2020. Two are already scheduled and a third was promised by Chairman Ajit Pai. The notice doesn’t mention any auctions tied to the USF, including a Mobility Fund II auction. A C-band auction didn’t make the list. The first auction listed is that of the 37, 39, 47 GHz bands, to start Dec. 10 (see 1904120065) and the second is the 3.5 GHz priority access licenses auction, to start June 25 (see 1909260040). The third hasn’t been scheduled, for 2.5 GHz educational broadband service licenses.
Verizon and AT&T clashed on whether the FCC should consider rules to guarantee interoperability as a fundamental responsibility of FirstNet. Comments appeared through Friday (see 1909110062) in docket 19-254 on Colorado's Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority (BRETSA) petitions for declaratory ruling or rulemaking. AT&T won a contract to build FirstNet, and Verizon pursues public safety customers for its own network (see 1808140036).
Unmanned aircraft system spectrum is among the topics the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will study as it gets to work Tuesday, said a document released last week by NTIA. CSMAC last met in July 2018 (see 1807240057) and once appeared in danger of disappearing entirely (see 1903280060). UAS spectrum will be studied by one of the four subcommittees that will develop reports for CSMAC.
Telecom sector supply chain security and spectrum legislation drew enthusiastic support from House Communications Subcommittee members and witnesses during a Friday hearing, as expected (see 1909260056). They gave no clear guidance during on how they want to proceed on the seven measures the panel examined. Lawmakers focused much of their attention on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4459) and the Studying How to Harness Airwave Resources Efficiently Act (HR-4462), though they also showed interest in other measures.