The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case challenging a 2009 FCC wireless zoning shot clock order may have much bigger implications for the commission and other regulatory agencies, lawyers and analysts said this week. The court granted cert Friday (CD Oct 10 p15) in Arlington, Texas, v. FCC, in a case that could mean high court review of the broader Chevron doctrine. The doctrine requires federal courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute, as long as that interpretation is deemed “reasonable.” The doctrine dates to a 1984 case, Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
A proposal for the FCC to handle class action complaints was met with scorn, as commenters called the request “impractical,” “unnecessary,” “unlawful,” “unrealistic,” and “unworkable.” No one spoke in favor of the proposal, made in July by Solvable Frustrations (SFI), a recently formed online social network that collects customer complaints. SFI had said an FCC class complaint procedure could be an “excellent and efficient tool to address unlawful acts by carriers” (http://xrl.us/bntee2).
Aerohive Networks hires Dean Hickman-Smith, ex-Proofpoint, as senior vice president-worldwide sales; and Raphaël Gernez, ex-SunPower, as vice president-operations … Big Switch Networks hires as vice presidents: Jason Matlof, ex-Battery Ventures, for marketing; and Dave Butler, ex-Fast Forward, of sales … CTIA adds to board for 2012: Philip Christopher, AirTyme Communications; Bud Tribble, Apple; George Appling, Personal Communications Devices LLC; and John Legere, T-Mobile USA …NPR News promotes Madhulika Sikka to executive editor, effective in January … NBCUniversal promotes Rajal Lele to vice president-business affairs, Bravo Media, Oxygen Media and Style Media … NARUC names Jim Gardner, Kentucky Public Service Commission, chairman of the Education and Research Subcommittee, replacing Lori Murphy Lee, ex-District of Columbia Public Service Commission …Lobbyist Registrations: aerospace and tactical systems firm On Target Enterprises, O'Hara Federal Strategies, effective Sept. 1.
Legacy regulations developed to contend with monopoly copper providers have no place in today’s world of next-generation networks and “intermodal competition” among cable, carriers and telcos, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said. He said the commission could help the U.S. regain its leadership in the information, communications and telecom sector by doing three things: Act more quickly, get more spectrum into the commercial market and remove barriers to infrastructure investment. Companies have told Pai they are “sitting on billions of dollars on their balance sheets, in part because of regulatory uncertainty,” he said on C-SPAN. Those companies will be more hesitant to invest in fiber deployment or Internet infrastructure until the rules are “certain and predictable,” Pai said: The FCC’s regulatory framework should “give them the incentive to take those risks."
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC has made significant progress on addressing the spectrum “crunch” during his watch as chairman. His comments came in remarks Thursday at the University Of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. There has not been a major spectrum auction since Genachowski became chairman and none have been formally scheduled, but he told the Wharton students that auctions are on the way. Genachowski includes in his calculations spectrum that won’t be cleared out right away but must be shared with federal government users, regarded by many as a tough task. (See related story, this issue.)
The Federal Trade Commission brought six law enforcement actions against individuals and companies who allegedly defrauded computer owners through “scare ware.” Chairman Jon Leibowitz said scammers across the globe, but mostly located in India, would perpetrate “outrageous and disturbing cons” by cold calling individuals, “remotely diagnose” their computers, telling the individuals that the computers were infected with malware, and then charge between $49 and $450 to “remove the phantom malware.” Working with Australia’s Communication and Media Authority and Canada’s Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, the FTC has brought claims against 14 companies and 17 individuals, has frozen $188,000 in U.S. funds held by the alleged scammers. The U.S. agency said it worked with U.S. phone and Internet providers to ensure that the alleged scammers won’t have access to the phone lines and Internet connections used to facilitate the scams. Congress needs to renew the SAFE WEB Act for the FTC and agencies abroad to keep going after such scams, Leibowitz said. The act allows the FTC to share information and collaborate with foreign law enforcement agencies for consumer protection investigations. Renewing the act is important because the FTC and other foreign agencies “are much more effective working together than we would be individually,” Leibowitz said. “We need enforcement tools that keep up with the bad guys,” Leibowitz said, thanking the “bipartisan champions of the renewal of the U.S. SAFE WEB Act authority.” The House has already voted to renew the act, he said, but if the Senate does not vote to do the same after the elections, the FTC’s authority in cases like these will expire next year. Leibowitz said he hopes the enforcement actions would be “a wake up call for computer users around the world that there are some useful strategies” when it comes to recognizing scams. Educating users is necessary because “consumer awareness is often the first line of defense,” he said, pointing to online resources such as OnGuardOnline.gov. Consumers should be suspicious of any companies that place cold calls and remotely diagnose computer problems, said Microsoft Director of Consumer Affairs Frank Torres. “Microsoft will never cold call a consumer,” he said, and other “legitimate companies” are “very unlikely to do these sorts of cold calls.” If a consumer receives one of these cold calls or is concerned about their computer, he should seek legitimate resources, such as McAfee, Torres said. Solving such scam threats “takes the cooperation of industry, government and regulators,” he said.
The proposed bidding process for the local number portability administrator will “fail to resolve neutrality issues in a fair, open and timely fashion,” Telcordia and Ericsson executives told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Thursday, a Telcordia ex parte filing on LNPs said (http://xrl.us/bnscuj). Telcordia urged the commission to “bifurcate the neutrality review from the merits evaluation,” to provide more time for both neutrality and merits evaluations, the company said. The request for proposals should require bidders to provide an “auditable” code of conduct, rather than prescribe the Neustar code of conduct for all number portability administration centers, Telcordia said. It encouraged the commission to require all bidders to submit regional bids in addition to any national bid submitted; prevent single-party negotiations by requiring that a “best and final offer” be solicited from at least two bidders; and make the RFP process for communicating selection recommendations consistent with those in the federal acquisition regulations. The FCC sought comment last month on the procurement documents submitted for the LNP database platforms and services (CD Sept 17 p9). Neustar has been the LNP administrator since portability started in 1997, but its current contract is scheduled to end in 2015.
The U.S. government can further improve efforts to get Latin Americans online with broadband connections on devices with more computing power than basic smartphones, and should take steps to hire more Latinos, Hispanic activists said at the FCC. Reducing what prisoners are charged to make calls to outsiders, giving iPads to children of migrant farm workers and completing minority media ownership studies before adopting a quadrennial review of media ownership order were among steps they listed. Some activists in particular singled out the commission for not doing enough to increase its staff diversity, which agency officials said they're working on. Chairman Julius Genachowski and FCC staff outlined efforts the agency is taking, at an event the Office of Workplace Diversity organized with the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Other events last week discussed those topics, with some speakers calling broadband a civil right (CD Sept 26 p3).
Communities are attempting to reconcile law, regulation and concerns as more carriers want to make use of the rights-of-way space due to rising data demands, NATOA panelists said in two sessions Friday and Saturday. “We are facing applications from wireless providers” that want to locate in the rights of way, said Fort Lauderdale, Fla., municipal telecom lawyer Gary Resnick, also part of the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee since 2006. But concerns among communities include not only those of health and environment but aesthetic and property value, said Mary Beth Henry, deputy director of the Portland, Ore., Office of Cable Communications and Franchise Management and the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission. “In Portland we really needed to involve everybody,” Henry said. She described elaborate neighborhood meetings to discuss what rights-of-way management entailed as more wireless companies seek out the space. There’s now “a need for wireless infrastructure in neighborhoods,” she said. Of the 1,007 cell sites in Portland, 76 are located in the public right-of-way space, she said. American Tower State & Local Government Affairs Director Liz Hill emphasized the importance of collocation on these sites. “The visual impact is already there,” she said. “It reduces citizen outcry.” Portland hasn’t added new towers since 2004, Henry said. Industry should be invited to the discussions, Hill said, suggesting several industry resources. Communities should update their ordinances if they're from the “pre-iPhone era” preceding 2007, she added, noting that industry doesn’t like dealing with “messy” litigation any more than communities. Federal law can’t keep up with the technological changes whereas local governments can, said Best Best’s Nicholas Miller, a municipal telecom lawyer who specializes in representing local governments. He advocated for ways local communities can still exert their powers on the rights of way and other public spaces. “Don’t abandon your police power authority,” he said. The law doesn’t keep up with regulation, Resnick said, calling wireless and other similar advances examples of “disruptive technologies.”
The California bill prohibiting the state’s public utilities commission from regulating VoIP for the next eight years is officially law. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed SB-1161 late Friday, two days before a mandatory decision. The new law “encourages the continued growth” of VoIP and IP-enabled services while leaving “crucial” consumer protections “safeguarded,” Gov. Brown told the Legislature in a message with the bill’s signing. Despite vigorous debate, the bill passed both bodies of the Legislature by large margins this summer. Federal and state statute can change the commission’s authority in the next eight years if need be. The new law immediately provoked a wave of praise as well as some concern from not only California stakeholders but also national forces in the telecom world. California is the 25th state to limit regulation of VoIP, NARUC’s National Regulatory Research Institute Researcher Sherry Lichtenberg estimates. Glenn Richards, Voice on the Net Coalition executive director, estimates California is the 24th state and 25th jurisdiction, including Washington, D.C., to deregulate in this way.