No commenters filed in opposition to FCC media deregulation proposals in docket 18-23 to do away with the separate filing requirement for mid-term equal employment opportunity reports. Broadcasters like Nexstar cheered the FCC proposal on, but 33 diversity groups said the agency should tackle a lot more. Groups including Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council have urged the agency to complete a proceeding on overhauling EEO enforcement that dates back to 1998, the joint filing said. “At last the agency has reawakened the EEO docket from 14 years of somnolence.”
Many communications outages may have been prevented during 2017 severe storms in California if wireline providers had more reliable cable facilities and wireless providers more widely used backup power, the California Public Utilities Commission reported. Staff analyzed carrier reporting data to examine causes of 911 call failures and network outages from January to February 2017, when California experienced the most rainfall in recorded history. Carriers said it was an unusually bad storm, and a former commissioner said companies must do better. Meanwhile, in the District of Columbia, the Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) urged the Public Service Commission to reject Verizon’s dismissal of proposed rules for more detailed outage reporting.
T-Mobile and Sprint are expected to deploy 5G separately as they wait for their proposed deal to be cleared, industry lawyers and former FCC officials said Tuesday. One big question is the pending high-band auctions, with the first action of 28 GHz licenses to start Nov. 14 (see 1804170036). Executives from both carriers emphasized on a call Sunday they will continue their push toward 5G independently.
The federal USF shift to the U.S. Treasury is moving ahead, with changes to the contribution and distribution processes happening Tuesday, Universal Service Administrative Co. emailed Monday. "Effective immediately, as of May 2018, USAC will accept payments to and distribute funds from the U.S. Treasury," said a USAC announcement on a web page where it said further transition updates will be posted. "We are taking this step to safeguard USF funds consistent with guidance from GAO and OMB. And we have made clear for months that the funds were going to be moved to the Treasury,” emailed an FCC spokesman.
Republicans aren't ready to “pull the trigger” on social media privacy legislation, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told us. But Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., believes GOP lawmakers will support a bipartisan bill he recently floated with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. (see 1804240046), the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act (S-2728). “I’m not ready to turn Facebook into a regulated utility or even agree to any regulation at this point, but I do think there’s a lot of concern,” Cornyn said. “We’re going to have to sort it out, but it’s not just Facebook.” All platforms mining for data with monetary incentives deserve attention, he said.
T-Mobile's proposed merger with Sprint is likely to face additional Capitol Hill scrutiny in the months ahead, but don’t expect a hearing soon, lobbyists and experts told us. Industry officials give roughly even odds of government approval of the deal, which T-Mobile and Sprint announced Sunday (see 1804290001 and 1804300055). House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., formally called on committee leaders Monday to convene a hearing.
As the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee prepares to harmonize its working group reports, some members said the final act isn’t fully worked out. Local and utility members raised concerns about the state model code approved at Wednesday’s meeting with seven nays (see 1804250064). Some members in interviews cited collegiality and genuine efforts for consensus.
The court overseeing DOJ antitrust litigation against AT&T has structural condition options beyond just an injunction stopping the buy of Time Warner, like allowing purchase of only parts of TW, minus Turner, or requiring AT&T divestiture of DirecTV, said Justice antitrust attorney Craig Conrath Monday in U.S. v. AT&T/TW closing arguments. Conrath told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington that defense arguments New AT&T would be structured in ways to preclude undue coordination between its content and distribution arms "ask the court to suspend logic and principles of economics" since businesses do all they can to maximize returns. Besides, Conrath said, such structuring "can change in a heartbeat."
DOJ rather than the FCC is seen as the more likely to attempt to block the combination of T-Mobile and Sprint, proposed Sunday (see 1804290001). Review could drag on for up to a year, but in early days, observers said odds it will face regulatory hurdles are difficult to gauge, with some setting odds of approval at 50/50 or lower. Like AT&T/Time Warner, how DOJ reacts is likely to be widely watched as a key test of Trump administration takeover policy, the officials said. Former government officials said the Donald Trump administration contains both populist and more traditionally Republican elements and it's difficult to figure out who is in charge. Also Monday, closing arguments were held Monday in DOJ’s antitrust case against AT&T/Time Warner: 1804300020; and T-Mobile/Sprint was getting attention on Capitol Hill: 1804300057.
The North American Numbering Council approved a draft report to the FCC recommending industry stand up two entities to oversee a call-authentication framework aimed at countering call spoofing and illegal robocalls. The draft targets creating a governing body and selecting an administrator over the next year but doesn't propose a deadline for providers to implement "Shaken/Stir" protocols and procedures for authenticating calls because many still lack the network capability. It recommends providers capable of signing and validating VoIP calls using Shaken/Stir implement it over the next year or so. Shaken/Stir stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (Shaken) and Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (Stir).