Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter advised Pandora shareholders to reject SiriusXM’s September $3.5 purchase offer in an all-stock deal (see 1809240030), after Pandora’s Q3 earnings and its revenue topped guidance of $390 million-$405 million and consensus analyst forecast of $402 million. Pandora's $417.6 million was 16 percent higher than the year-ago quarter.
Two tech trade group representatives played down the value of consumer data during Tuesday’s FTC policy hearing (see 1810310052). Another industry official argued too much focus is on drawbacks of big-data collection, not enough on benefits.
Disagreement over VoIP classification is complicating a state pole-attachment rate-setting proceeding. The Vermont Public Utility Commission is mulling a single rate for pole attachments to replace a two-tier system based on occupied space that treats LEC and cable attachments differently. Pole owners resisted cable and CLEC pleas for a lower single rate, in Monday comments emailed to us by the PUC on a petition by the CLEC Association of Northern New England (CANNE) asking the agency amend rules.
The FCC pressed small voice service providers to assist "efforts to trace scam robocalls that originate on or pass through their networks." Letters were sent to eight providers not participating in industry traceback efforts, the agency said Tuesday, a day after Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters demanding major voice providers adopt a call-authentication framework by 2019 to fight illegal caller ID spoofing and robocalling (see 1811050055). Separately, several backed IHS Markit asking urgent motor vehicle recall messages be exempted from Telephone Consumer Protection Act wireless calling restrictions (see 1810050005).
A consolidated appeal of the FCC’s September wireless infrastructure order on state and local barriers to siting small cells will be heard by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, not the 9th Circuit, as sought by local governments, and that could be positive for the FCC, court observers said. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation randomly picked the 10th Circuit Friday (see 1811020061). AT&T, Sprint and the Puerto Rico Telephone Company also appealed the order, forcing a lottery. AT&T’s appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was left out of the lottery.
The Oct. 20-25 ICANN meeting left a key question hanging, stakeholders said: Whether policy for aligning the Whois database of domain registrants with the EU general data protection regulation (see 1810220002) should take precedence over how to give access to nonpublic information to legitimate requesters such as law enforcement. As talks on an expedited policy development process (ePDP) to replace the "temporary specification" on Whois GDPR compliance continued, some wanted work to proceed in parallel on some sort of unified access model (UAM). The idea is backed by governments and the business (BC) and intellectual property constituencies (IPC) but opposed by noncommercial users, registrars and others.
The Supreme Court will hear argument Nov. 26 in Apple v. Robert Pepper, with implications for app stores. The conservative majority figures to favor Apple interests, stakeholders told us. Justices will decide whether Apple customers can sue for antitrust damages in a case, docket 17-204 (see 1810100058), stemming from a lawsuit claiming Apple has a monopoly through its App Store. Apple, which collects a 30 percent commission on apps purchased, limits iOS users to installing apps through that store, unless they jailbreak their phones, voiding warranty. Pepper argued this anticompetitive model lets developers pass added costs onto users. App developers benefit greatly from the App Store, given the booming app economy, and the liability and security protections the store offers, Pepper argued, making it unlikely developers will challenge Apple’s model.
Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed is seen by advocates as important to move many applications to the next level. There's pressure on the FCC to address the band. Commissioners approved an NPRM at their Oct. 23 meeting (see 1810230038).
Telecom sector interests told us they'll closely watch midterm results for early clues about how telecom policymaking will fare in next Congress. The margin of control for whichever party holds a majority in the House and Senate is particularly important for indicating whether there will be legislative gridlock on issues like net neutrality and whether compromise is possible on matters like broadband infrastructure funding, said lobbyists and officials.
Apple’s decision to stop reporting unit sales figures quarterly led to analyst speculation the iPhone peaked, sending shares closing down 6.6 percent Friday at $207.48. It was Apple's best September quarter, revenue growing 20 percent year on year to $62.9 billion.