Universal Service Administrative Co. hasn't de-enrolled any Lifeline users who failed the national verifier's automatic reverification, and no decision has been made on when that will happen, USAC Vice President-Lifeline Michelle Garber told the Telecom Staff Subcommittee at NARUC Sunday. A state commissioner and subcommittee members grilled Garber on high rates of users failing the automated check due to the NV not accessing all databases relevant to determining eligibility, with USAC not even trying to access them in higher cost states.
New Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the FCC must move quickly on complaints AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are selling customers' real-time location data to bounty hunters (see 1901080046). The ex-Enforcement Bureau staffer, flanked by staff, met reporters Friday.
ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland shouldn’t wait for courts to rule on net neutrality before moving ahead with a law to restrict procurement to companies that follow such rules, Maryland Del. Kirill Reznik (D) told us Wednesday after the House Economic Affairs panel heard testimony on his net neutrality and ISP privacy bill (HB-141). Telecom and cable industry witnesses advised the state to wait at least until a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which heard argument last week on the FCC net neutrality order (see 1902010046). A House Communications Subcommittee hearing is Thursday (see 1902060036).
A Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on 5G was dominated by lawmakers' concerns about the national security threat from China in its race against the U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is believed to be considering actions aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness in 5G and other technologies, communications lobbyists told us. Trump barely mentioned tech during Tuesday night's State of the Union, matching officials' expectations (see 1901180032). Concerns about 5G security were also the focus of a Center for Strategic and International Studies event (see 1902060056).
Experts doubt the partial federal shutdown and looming threat of another will mean more worker turnover in coming months at the FCC and other agencies. That's especially among professionals ranks such as engineers and lawyers. Others are less sure.
Federal judges pressed both sides on the FCC's net neutrality rollback case in oral argument (audio) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Friday. It ran almost four-and-a-half hours, almost twice what was scheduled, plus a break. All three judges questioned challenger contentions the FCC erred in reclassifying broadband internet access as a Communications Act Title I information service, particularly given Chevron deference to reasonable agency decisions on ambiguous statutes, including 2005 Brand X affirmation of Title I cable modem service. Two judges questioned FCC decisions, including to scrap net neutrality rules -- particularly for public safety operations -- pre-empt state and local governments, and use Section 257 authority for transparency rules.
Net neutrality advocates voiced confidence in their case against the FCC's order reversing broadband common-carrier regulation, with some optimistic it will be overturned. They said Wednesday the net neutrality rollback under a reclassified Communications Act Title I broadband regime was unjustified legally and bad policy that would unleash ISP "gatekeepers" to throttle and discriminate, harming consumers and competition. Petitioners and intervenors challenging the order held two media calls ahead of Friday's oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Mozilla v. FCC (see 1901230060). It's case 18-1051.
Groups led by Public Knowledge asked the FCC to reconsider a 3-1 decision in December clarifying text messages are a lightly regulated Communications Act Title I service (see 1812120043). The order’s reasoning “is fallacious and fails to support its outcome,” the petition said. “Events since the order was issued confirm the need for the Commission to reconsider its action -- specifically, controversies concerning the privacy of customer location data and whether carriers will hinder the ability of schools and teachers to use third-party tools to stay in touch with students and parents.” The Benton Foundation, Common Cause, Consumer Federation of America, Greenlining Institute, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Open Technology Institute and The Utility Reform Network were among signers, in docket 08-7. The FCC didn't comment.
The full federal government got back to work Monday, after a prolonged partial shutdown that shuttered the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies overseeing communications policy. Incoming FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will be sworn in Wednesday by Chairman Ajit Pai in an eighth-floor conference room and will participate in the commissioners’ meeting that follows, said industry officials. President Donald Trump signed off Friday on a continuing resolution to reopen the FCC and other shuttered agencies through Feb. 15, after the House passed the measure as expected (see 1901240016).
CTIA supports the FCC at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case challenging the March wireless infrastructure order, Keetoowah Band v. FCC, No. 18-1129. “Actions in the Order serve as a long overdue recognition that its prior environmental review regulations are out of step with the manner in which modern wireless facilities are deployed,” CTIA replied (in Pacer) Friday. “The agency’s decisions in the Order are thus completely reasonable, if not required.” To get to a 5G world, “wireless carriers will need to deploy approximately 300,000 small cells in the next few years,” CTIA said, saying small cells don’t raise the same review issues as macro towers. The Natural Resources Defense Council countered that the FCC made two errors. The agency “overlooks the additional responsibilities that the National Environmental Policy Act imposes on it independent from the Commission’s obligations under the Communications Act,” NRDC said (in Pacer). "The FCC also overlooks the continuing federal role it plays in overseeing the conduct of those it licenses to provide wireless service.”