Industry witnesses at a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing will laud the passage and ongoing implementation of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum statute, in written testimony. They will outline additional legislative measures for consideration in the 116th Congress. The House Communications hearing is expected to emphasize the statute's language to aid the broadcast incentive auction repacking process. Lawmakers are likely to again raise concerns about the FCC's broadband coverage data mapping practices (see 1812070040). The hearing begins at 2 p.m. in Rayburn 2322.
NTIA's request federal wireless users assess their long-term spectrum needs (see 1811300046) is partly an attempt to plan for addressing continuing private-sector demand for access to government frequencies, said Administrator David Redl at Friday's Practising Law Institute conference. Nearer term, he voiced optimism about spectrum sharing and making prized mid-band spectrum available.
The FCC will investigate if top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps in violation of Mobility Fund Phase II rules, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday. The commission suspended the window for responding to MF-II challenges until the probe’s conclusion. Carriers said they'll cooperate. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, state commissioners and rural competitive carriers welcomed investigation, saying more work is needed.
The House and Senate Commerce committees are likely to make the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization debate and further work on spectrum and broadband-centric legislation some of their top 2019 priorities, said telecom aides during a Thursday Practising Law Institute event. Aides also cited interest in continuing to talk about net neutrality policy next Congress. Lawmakers and communications lobbyists we recently interviewed were skeptical of progress on a net neutrality compromise given the upcoming shift to split partisan control of Congress (see 1811290042). FCC Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel meanwhile told PLI the commission shouldn't be cautious in pursuing policies to keep the U.S. competitive (see 1812060056).
The FCC without fanfare included its latest Measuring Broadband America reports in draft appendices to a draft communications market report -- mandated by Ray Baum's Act -- slated for a vote at commissioners' meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the "slow" release of MBA reports that she and others said were "buried" in a long document. They generally show the median consumer broadband speeds of ISPs participating in tests continue to rise, with cable companies at the top, followed by telco fiber and satellite, and telco DSL at the bottom.
Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel clashed over the FCC denying media outlets Freedom of Information Act requests for data about who was commenting in last year's net neutrality proceeding. "What is the Federal Communications Commission hiding?" Rosenworcel asked in a statement Monday accompanying the order. Pai called Rosenworcel's critique "partisan gamesmanship."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he asked staff to expand "engagement with Tribal stakeholders so that their views and insights more fully inform our efforts to identify and develop measures to address, unserved Tribal areas." He noted a recent GAO report urging improved FCC data collection on tribal broadband and input from tribal members (see 1809100041), writing to Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J, and Greg Walden, R-Ore., Commerce Committee ranking member and chairman, respectively, and other lawmakers, posted Wednesday in docket 18-5. Meanwhile, Pai responded to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who voiced concerns about law enforcement use of cell-site stimulators (StingRays) to identify nearby devices and intercept calls. The FCC's role in such law enforcement use is "limited," wrote Pai: "We do not have the authority or expertise to determine which technologies are most appropriate for law enforcement use." Pai told Wyden: "You note a report from Canada and unsupported allegations that cell-site simulators cause significant interference to emergency services. Career Commission staff was unable to find actual test results by law enforcement authorities in Canada or any other credible evidence that authorized cell-site simulators used by federal law enforcement in the United States are failing to comply with the domestic requirement to cause a 'minimum of interference.'" Separately responding to Wyden cybersecurity concerns about Signaling System 7 vulnerabilities, Pai invited the senator or staff to visit the FCC to view a Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council risk assessment report "in camera," and to contact the Secret Service and FBI for data on breaches in customer proprietary network information, including SS7-specific breaches.
A surge in FCC ex parte meetings about access to national outage data in the network outage reporting system (NORS) and disaster information reporting system (DIRS) may foreshadow commission action in the near future, said parties to docket 15-80. States and others seek access, but the telecom industry is raising confidentiality concerns (see 1811060036). Multiple stakeholders that have talked with the FCC said the bureau is asking for input and meetings, but it's not clear what, if anything, Chairman Ajit Pai wants to do on the issue or when. The impetus for those meetings isn't clear, we were told.
Parties disagreed on the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act's fallout for an FCC's rulemaking to protect the communications supply chain from national security threats. The Telecommunications Industry Association said NDAA Section 889 requires the commission to bar certain suppliers from participating in its funding programs. Huawei -- one of the targeted suppliers -- and others said the recently enacted provisions give the FCC no mandate to impose supplier restrictions on USF support. NCTA suggested the commission defer action and consult with other agencies. Comments were posted through Monday on a public notice (see 1810260044).
ORLANDO -- State regulators’ relationship with the FCC “needs some work,” said NARUC Second Vice President Paul Kjellander in an interview at the association’s annual conference this month. Federal USF contribution modification could raise tension next year if the FCC continues to exclude states from the process, he said. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, holding its annual event concurrently with NARUC, remains concerned about deregulation and consumers losing protection as telecom technology moves to the IP world, NASUCA President Elin Swanson Katz told us.