The International Trade Commission voted to begin a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation on imports of LTE wireless communication devices imported by Blu Products, the ITC said in Monday's Federal Register. In a complaint filed in March (see 1703270059), LG Electronics said Blu’s Dash, Energy, Life, Neo, Pure, Speed, Studio, Vivo, Win and R1 HD mobile phone products infringe its patents. As the technologies are essential to the LTE communication standard, LG committed to license use of the patents on fair terms, and Blu hasn't responded to LG’s attempts to negotiate a fair and reasonable licensing deal, LG said. Blu didn't reply to our queries.
A court denial of further challenges to the FCC 2015 net neutrality order was decided 6-2 by the active judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1705010013). The six judges voted Monday to deny petitions for en banc rehearing of a June ruling by a three-judge panel that upheld the FCC order, which also reclassified broadband to be under Title II of the Communications Act. Two judges dissented and three others didn't participate in the ruling in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063.
Arizona enacted small-cells wireless siting legislation as states continued to push forward small-cells wireless bills this week. Industry and localities continue to negotiate different terms in different states, while the FCC looks at ways to speed wireless infrastructure deployment at the federal level (see 1704260058). California senators promised more revisions to their bill after listening to many public comments -- for and against -- at a committee hearing Wednesday.
The FCC offered additional details Thursday on a proposal to scrap Title II broadband classification under the Communications Act and revisit net neutrality rules, building on a speech by Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday (see 1704260054). Pai, as promised, released the draft NPRM. A senior FCC official said on a call with reporters that even if there's significant public blowback against the NPRM the FCC doesn’t make decisions based on taking the public's temperature. By our count, the draft asks for responses to more than 150 questions. It proposes a deadline of July 17 for initial comments, Aug. 16 for replies.
Telecom companies urged convening of state USF contribution revamp workshops in Nebraska, even if they delay the Public Service Commission's proposed adoption of a connections-based mechanism (see 1703280032). CenturyLink, Cox Communications and Level 3 sought workshops, in reply comments dated April 21 and posted Wednesday at the PSC (NUSF-100). “It is abundantly clear that more information must be presented before a connections-based mechanism can be safely implemented,” and it’s OK if that causes the PSC to miss a self-imposed Jan. 1 deadline for action, Cox said. "Stabilization of the fund can be achieved in 2018 under the current methodology while a thoughtful, reasonable connections-based methodology is created.” In another reply, CTIA said the PSC shouldn’t adopt USF changes now but instead should urge the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to craft a plan for all states. "Nebraska is not unique in seeing declining revenues for its universal service program,” CTIA said. “Other states are seeing similar trends,” but the Nebraska PSC is alone in proposing "a novel contribution mechanism,” it said. However, a rural independent company -- Great Plains Communications -- replied that the PSC should reject calls for delay. “Any such delay should not occur since the Commission has already amply demonstrated that NUSF contribution reform is an urgent matter due to the continued erosion of the NUSF remittances generated by the current NUSF contribution mechanism.”
The FCC issued a draft rulemaking notice that proposes to reverse broadband Title II reclassification under the Communications Act and eliminate an internet conduct standard, as expected. It's also seeking comment on how to address open internet rules. Chairman Ajit Pai, who previewed the item in a speech Wednesday, put the draft NPRM on the tentative agenda Thursday for commissioners' May 18 meeting.
The FCC released the text of two wireline items Friday that commissioners approved the previous day at their monthly meeting (see 1704200046 and 1704200018). A 64-page item contains an NPRM, notice of inquiry (NOI) and request for comment (RFC) on ways to accelerate construction of advanced wireline broadband infrastructure. The "actions propose to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment at the federal, state, and local level; suggest changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services; and propose to reform Commission regulations that increase costs and slow broadband deployment," said the item. The NPRM proposes steps to ease pole attachments and copper retirements, including by revisiting technology-transition notification rules for the latter, and to streamline telecom service discontinuance requirements under Section 214 of the Communications Act. The NOI explores using FCC pre-emption authority to prohibit enforcement of state and local legal barriers to broadband deployment, and the RFC invites input on when carriers must obtain FCC permission to discontinue a telecom service. An eight-page order on reconsideration partially grants an NTCA petition and allows rate-of-return carriers to deploy broadband networks that exceed their capital allowance limits and still receive USF subsidy support if they pay for the costs above their limits.
Though the FCC voted 2-1 Thursday to restore the UHF discount and re-examine the rule later this year along with the national broadcast ownership cap, both Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who dissented from the vote, and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in news conferences after the meeting they believe altering the national cap is the province of Congress. “Something of that significance, I would appreciate additional guidance from Congress,” said Clyburn in response to a question from Communications Daily. O’Rielly reaffirmed his view the agency doesn’t have authority to change the cap, and said he's interested to see how the matter “gets litigated out.”
Individuals and companies in the telecom and media industries sent big dollars to help President Donald Trump's inauguration effort, according to a form recently filed with the Federal Election Commission, dated Tuesday. Liberty Interactive Chairman John Malone, who has a stake in Charter Communications, gave $250,000 personally, and Liberty donated the same amount separately. AT&T gave $1 million in multiple instances, for a total gift of more than $2.08 million. Qualcomm gave $1 million. Intel and Microsoft donated $500,000 each, Google $285,000, Comcast and Charter $250,000 each, Verizon $100,000 and Amazon more than $57,000. Trump ally Peter Thiel, a tech industry official involved in the campaign and presidential transition, gave $225,000.
Changes to rules for the 3.5 GHz shared band appear to be on a fast track at the FCC, with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly driving the process, industry and agency officials said. O’Rielly asked the industry about potential changes to the rules, the officials said. But he's expected to push only limited changes. Wi-Fi advocates warn that more sweeping changes could mean a slowdown in the launch of the band, a multiple-year focus for the FCC.