NTIA's push for some exemptions for government earth stations operating in the C-, Ka- and Ku-bands wouldn't achieve what it wants and doesn't incorporate FCC Part 25 rules into NITA federal radio frequency management rules, EchoStar representatives told the commission. An ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 13-115 said the company urged the FCC to reject the NTIA exemptions and instead make federal earth station operations subject to the same licensing, coordination, interference protection and technical requirements as commercial earth stations. They also should be subject to public notice and public comment, EchoStar said. It said commercial licensees shouldn't have to operate under NTIA coordination requirements, and federal earth station operators instead should have to monitor FCC PNs and comment on applications that might affect their operations the way commercial licensees must. The commission also should have sole jurisdiction over enforcement actions for federal earth station use of nonfederal spectrum, EchoStar said. Co-primary use of fixed satellite service spectrum by government earth station operators without such regulatory parity "would result in preferential treatment of one class of applicants over another with no public interest basis," said the satellite company. The filing recapped meetings that included Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Deputy Chief Ronald Repasi. NTIA in a letter in the docket to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last month said the communications agency should add primary federal allocations or remove restrictions in the 3700-4200 MHz, 5925-6425 MHz, 11.7-12.2 GHz, 13.75-14.5 GHz, 18.3-19.3 GHz, 19.7-20.2 GHz, 28.35-29.1 GHz and 29.25-30 GHz bands
News of Thursday’s Samsung Galaxy Note7 recall notice to end all such replacements came in the wee hours of the morning because “this was a globally coordinated announcement” with the company’s Korean parent, Scott Wolfson, Consumer Product Safety Commission communications director and senior adviser to Chairman Elliot Kaye, emailed us Thursday. Consumers can exchange their phones for another Samsung smartphone, or get a refund, under the “expanded” recall outreach aimed at getting all Note7 devices -- the originals and their replacements -- off the streets as soon as possible, said CPSC and Samsung Electronics America in nearly simultaneous emails sent just after 3 a.m. EDT Thursday.
The FCC should drop plans to consider an ISP privacy order at commissioners' Oct. 27 meeting, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Thursday at the Hudson Institute. He and fellow Republican Ajit Pai are expected to vote no (see 1610120063).
Aviation, hydrological and meteorological critics of Ligado's LTE proposal have been pressing their case on the FCC's 8th floor, according to ex parte filings (see here and here) posted Wednesday in docket RM-11681. The filings recapped meetings involving Jessica Almond, an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Erin McGrath, an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, with representatives from Penn State University's Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, the American Meteorological Society, the National Hydrologic Warning Council, Aviation Spectrum Resources, and weather and climate policy consultancy Narayan Strategy. According to the twin filings, Penn State and others said sharing the 1675-1680 MHz band poses notable risks to the U.S. extreme event communication, forecast and warning capabilities, and that more research is needed. They also criticized Ligado's cloud-based content delivery network proposal as unacceptable since it lacks guarantees all current users of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration information will continue to have uninterrupted access to the real-time data regardless of access to the internet or power. They also warned of dozens of private and public users of NOAA data who require direct reception in the 1675-1680 MHz and 1675-1690 MHz bands unprotected since the Ligado proposal would only protect federal users from interference. And in a separate filing Tuesday in the docket, Garmin said Ligado's exclusion zone proposal isn't adequate for certified aviation devices and suggested the FCC look to the Federal Aviation Administration to set up the best course for interference protection. Garmin said an analysis by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics indicated the size of exclusion zones would necessarily vary based on operational scenarios. The company also said even if the right-size exclusion zones could be defined, there's no agreement on determining the power limits that would apply to the thousands of Ligado base stations. Ligado didn't comment Wednesday.
Flooding from Hurricane Matthew is testing telecom companies trying to restore communications service Tuesday on the Southeast coast. Matthew slowed to a post-tropical cyclone Sunday and exited east, but flooding reportedly continued, especially in North Carolina. Over the long weekend, President Barack Obama declared federal emergencies in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Damage from the storm also was reported in Virginia.
AT&T and union workers asked a federal court to bar Louisville from enforcing a one-touch, make-ready ordinance. Wednesday, AT&T amended its complaint against the city in U.S. District Court in Louisville; Thursday, the Communications Workers of America supported the company in an amicus curiae notice. The law, meant to speed the pole attachments process for new entrants like Google Fiber, attracted a separate lawsuit -- on similar grounds -- by a Charter subsidiary earlier this week, and AT&T sued over a similar rule in Nashville (see 1610040069 and 1609230039). The suits illustrate the risk for cities considering one-touch, make-ready laws, but better broadband may be worth the fight, said attorneys and advocates for local broadband.
The FTC released a long-awaited report Thursday on its study of the business practices of patent assertion entities, as expected (see 1610040082). The agency proposed several reforms in the report, aimed at mitigating what it called “nuisance infringement litigation” brought by PAEs. The recommendations are largely aimed at balancing the rights of defendants during the early stages of patent lawsuits brought by PAEs, the FTC said. The commissioners approved the report 3-0. The report's scope was narrower than the FTC originally envisioned, but its data provide a strong basis for future patent litigation revamp efforts in Congress and federal courts, stakeholders told us.
A one-touch, make-ready ordinance in Louisville attracted a second lawsuit from industry. Following AT&T, Charter Communications subsidiary Insight Friday challenged the Metro Government law in U.S. District Court in Louisville (Case No. 3:16-CV-625). The federal court should "disallow Louisville’s action allowing competitors to trespass on, convert, take possession of, and potentially damage, Insight’s property,” said the cable complaint (in Pacer). Only the Public Service Commission may regulate privately owned utility poles in the state, said Insight. It said the Louisville policy allows Google to take actions “without prior notice and puts strict limitations on Insight’s ability to uncover any possible damage caused to its plant by its competitor or even to assure that it is able to recover the costs of necessary cures. The One-Touch procedures also could allow Insight’s competitors (intentionally or unintentionally) to damage or disrupt Insight’s ability to serve its customers, creating an inaccurate perception in the market about Insight’s service quality and harming its goodwill.” Google pushed for one-touch policies meant to speed new pole attachments as it tries to increase deployment of its competitive fiber network. But existing pole riders opposed such policies. In February, AT&T sued Louisville, saying the city was pre-empted by state pole attachment rules; and last month, it sued Nashville, saying the city was pre-empted by the FCC (see 1609230039). Insight’s suit echoed in part AT&T’s challenge of one-touch, but the Charter company also claimed AT&T and Google benefit from less local regulation of their competitive video services. The court should "bring parity in regulation to Louisville by applying the same regulatory burdens on Insight that it applies to AT&T and Google so that all similarly situated speakers are treated equally in their ability to communicate,” Insight said. "Fair competition requires that the government, whatever its motives, treat similarly situated speakers the same and not unfairly weight one side of the regulatory scale.” Mayor Greg Fischer’s (D) office, AT&T and Google declined comment Tuesday. The city must file an answer to the separate AT&T complaint by Thursday, said a Sept. 20 court order (in Pacer).
Nine wireless providers asked to become "Lifeline Broadband Providers" (LBPs) under the FCC's new federal process for designating carriers eligible for the low-income USF subsidy support program. Assist Wireless, Blue Jay Wireless, Easy Telephone Services, Free Mobile, i-Wireless, Karma Mobility, Telrite, TruConnect Communications and Ztar Mobile filed LBP applications posted Tuesday in docket 09-197. All of the applicants said they met the requirements for streamlined, 60-day treatment designating them as LBP eligible telecom carriers (ETCs). Lifeline's new broadband-oriented support begins Dec. 2 under rule changes the FCC adopted in March, the effective dates for which were announced Monday (see 1610030040). NARUC and individual states are challenging the FCC's LBP process -- which allows providers to become eligible in multiple states or even nationally -- as circumventing state ETC authority under the Communications Act (see 1606030053 and 1607010057). Meanwhile, USTelecom asked the commission for a limited waiver of certain rules in order to permit Lifeline providers to "continue enrolling consumers in the federal Lifeline program based on state-specific program and income eligibility criteria" in 25 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. The waiver should expire at the earlier of 18 months from its grant or 60 days after the state notifies the FCC and all ETCs in the state that it has aligned its eligibility criteria with the federal criteria, the ILEC group's petition said.
The FCC and DOJ said an appellate court should deny industry appeals of a ruling upholding the commission's 2015 net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The three-judge panel carefully examined industry objections to the order and "rejected them in their entirety," said the FCC/DOJ response (in Pacer) Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in USTelecom et al. v. FCC, No. 15-1063 and consolidated cases. The panel's ruling was "entirely correct" and consistent with Supreme Court analysis in its 2005 NCTA v. Brand X decision and the D.C. Circuit's precedent in two previous net neutrality decisions, Comcast v. FCC in 2010 and Verizon v. FCC in 2014, the government said.