The FCC asked a court to suspend its review of the agency's Lifeline USF overhaul, pending agency resolution of petitions to reconsider its order. When such petitions are filed for an order being challenged in court, "it is a common practice for the reviewing court, on request by the agency or other parties, to hold its review proceeding in abeyance pending agency action on the petitions for reconsideration," said an FCC motion (in Pacer) Thursday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hold in abeyance NARUC v. FCC, Nos. 16-1170 and 16-1219. The commission said the usual court considerations "are especially weighty in this case" because some recon petitions implicate two questions that judicial petitioners plan to raise before the D.C. Circuit: whether the agency should phase down stand-alone voice support and on state authority to designate USF "eligible telecom carriers" (ETCs). State judicial petitioners Thursday made a filing (in Pacer) saying they would oppose the abeyance motion and proposing a briefing schedule and format agreed to by all the parties, "subject, of course, to this Court's ruling" on the motion. The FCC March 31 adopted an order extending Lifeline low-income support to broadband service and streamlining program administration (see 1603310056). NARUC and individual states challenged the decision to create a federal Lifeline broadband provider designation process that bypasses state ETC reviews (see 1606030053 and 1607010057). CTIA, General Communication Inc., Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, NTCA/WTA, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, TracFone and USTelecom petitioned the FCC to reconsider or clarify aspects of its order (see 1608090023).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended to Dec. 31, 2018, the construction deadline for 77 UHF T-Band licenses for the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS). The commission granted the waiver request by Los Angeles County, it said in a letter released Wednesday in DA 16-1099. The FCC agreed the system is a large undertaking and said the extension wouldn’t harm potential new applicants. Enforcing the previous Dec. 21, 2016, deadline “would be inequitable and contrary to the public interest, as cancellation of the County’s licenses would strand investment of tax and federal grant dollars and would squander facilities already under construction,” it said.
Congress likely will see legislation next year that would require organizations that suffer a data breach to notify the public in a timely manner, experts told us Wednesday. If history is any indication, they don't expect any such legislation to move. That's even after Yahoo's announcement last week that personal information of its more than half a billion account users was stolen nearly two years ago (see 1609220046 and 1609230026). And two of the FTC's three members have told us that the commission unanimously wants a national law.
Small carriers bemoaned the shrinking number of states paying 911 wireless cost recovery to carriers. After Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed a bill Aug. 10 to end compensation for wireless carriers’ 911 costs, we could find only nine other states' with laws requiring annual payments. Delaware said it will use the saved money to fund 911 systems, but the Competitive Carriers Association said ending wireless cost recovery is an example of fee diversion. National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes urged states to seek carrier transparency on 911 costs and to consider reducing payments with depreciation. The money adds up to millions of dollars annually.
AUSTIN -- “It’s really a small minority” of communities making it tough for the wireless industry to install small cells for 5G, said a Wireless Infrastructure Association official Thursday at the NATOA conference. He, CTIA and Mobilitie officials said industry wants a dialogue with local governments as companies roll out tens of thousands of 5G small cells. Throughout the conference, local officials and attorneys objected to the tone of recent comments by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler about speeding local siting of small cells, with some warning attendees to be worried about possible commission action.
Commissioner Ajit Pai said the FCC should get tough on siting issues as carriers get set to deploy 5G, in a keynote at the Competitive Carriers Association meeting, live-streamed Wednesday from Seattle. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the CCA Tuesday there's broad support among the commissioners for tackling siting issues (see 1609200058). Pai also endorsed Wheeler’s calls for a new mobility fund. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly also spoke Tuesday on zero-rating, though not at CCA.
Systems using dedicated short range communications spectrum “hold great promise,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a letter dated Sept. 7 and released by the agency Monday. “However, as you note, we must work to ensure technologies operating in DSRC spectrum and the future world of interconnected automobiles address the potential risks that these new technologies could create for consumers' privacy and security,” he said in the brief response. “Due to the number of interrelated issues that are implicated by DSRC, the Commission intends to work closely with our partners at the Department of Transportation (DoT), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address the concerns raised in your letter.” The senators had asked questions on privacy and cybersecurity.
The FCC Technological Advisory Council continued its 2016 march, hearing updates from TAC's six work groups Tuesday on their efforts to develop new recommendations for agency consideration. The TAC plans to meet Dec. 7 to adopt recommendations that will be "actionable," said Chairman Dennis Roberson, Illinois Institute of Technology vice provost and research professor, at the end of a lengthy meeting. He said the group doesn't want to just give the FCC a long list of 40 or so recommendations, as it did last year, but wants to refine the list to a "top 10" with a laser focus on the best ideas. "That will be a very good outcome," he said.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, with less than an hour’s notice, convened its Thursday news conference on the Samsung Galaxy Note7 recall so hastily (see 1609150069) because the agency and Samsung wanted to announce a recall “as soon as we could,” Scott Wolfson, CPSC communications director and senior adviser to Chairman Elliot Kaye, told us Monday. But consumer response rates to CPSC recall notices are historically low, and the agency fears the Note7 recall will be no different, despite the smartphone's widely reported and "serious" fire hazards, Wolfson said.
Cable operators with networks that are mostly fiber shouldn't have to labor under cable signal leakage rules, said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a blog post Friday. Small cable operators use small airplanes to check their networks with RF sensors to look for signal leakage from loose connections, damaged paint or cracked coaxial cables, at a cost of thousands of dollars per system -- "money that can be used to curtail rate increases or expand the network’s reach to unserved homes," O'Rielly said. Pointing to the agency's now-moribund attempts in 2012 to update its cable signal leakage rules -- which was opposed by Verizon, NTCA and others (see 1212130055) -- O'Rielly said "substantial and valid concerns were raised about other ideas in that item." He also urged the agency to focus strictly on updating its rules governing cable signal leakage in systems with a sizable fiber footprint. Since fiber systems don't produce RF leakage, he said, making them not subject to such rules would cut compliance costs and could partially incentivize fiber deployments. O'Rielly didn't give specific recommendations on how the rule should be changed. American Cable Association in a statement said the blog item "is another good example of Commissioner O’Reilly’s knack for identifying common sense updates to the Commission’s rules" and it "would welcome further discussion of this matter, which could eliminate needless burdens" on smaller cable operators. NCTA didn't comment. At an Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers lunch Friday, O'Rielly said: "The impact in the scheme of things might not sound earth shattering, but can quickly become significant. It seems to me a reasonable minor step we should be able to make without much controversy." According to his speech made available online, O'Rielly also said he would like the AM revitalization proceeding split off relief for the main studio rule from the final NPRM so it can be completed by year's end. He said the FCC shouldn't just approve the ATSC 3.0 standard but rewrite its rules so broadcasters can offer 3.0 in an effort to "avoid any tech mandates or overly prescriptive measures." Since "both adopting the new standard and removing barriers to allow flexibility and choice of technologies get to the same end point, why not pursue the one that sets the stage for ATSC 4.0 or 5.0?" he said.