U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

LightSquared is hoping the lack of opposition to its plans to transfer licenses to a reorganized version of the company, and to get a waiver of foreign ownership rules, helps speed its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The deadline for initial comments in docket 15-126 was July 1. The company needs to transfer its licenses to a reorganized entity as one of the last steps to getting Bankruptcy Court approval for ending its 38-month-old bankruptcy proceeding. The lack of opposition to the license reassignments "is a positive sign," said a lawyer working with the company. "It certainly shortens the review process."

LightSquared is hoping the lack of opposition to its plans to transfer licenses to a reorganized version of the company, and to get a waiver of foreign ownership rules, helps speed its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The deadline for initial comments in docket 15-126 was July 1. The company needs to transfer its licenses to a reorganized entity as one of the last steps to getting Bankruptcy Court approval for ending its 38-month-old bankruptcy proceeding. The lack of opposition to the license reassignments "is a positive sign," said a lawyer working with the company. "It certainly shortens the review process."

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issued an opinion and primary order renewing NSA's Section 215 bulk telephony program to ensure an orderly transition to the surveillance program authorized by the USA Freedom Act to the phone providers themselves, said the Department of Justice and Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a joint statement Tuesday. Per Monday's order, NSA’s bulk program will continue for a 180-day transition period to the phone companies, said DOJ and the DNI. “The court’s new primary order requires that during the transition period, absent a true emergency, telephony metadata can only be queried after a judicial finding that there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the selection term is associated with an approved international terrorist organization." Query results are limited to data within two hops of the selection term instead of three, it said. The administration is “undertaking a declassification review of this most recent primary order, and when complete, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will post the document to its website,” it said.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court issued an opinion and primary order renewing NSA's Section 215 bulk telephony program to ensure an orderly transition to the surveillance program authorized by the USA Freedom Act to the phone providers themselves, said the Department of Justice and Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a joint statement Tuesday. Per Monday's order, NSA’s bulk program will continue for a 180-day transition period to the phone companies, said DOJ and the DNI. “The court’s new primary order requires that during the transition period, absent a true emergency, telephony metadata can only be queried after a judicial finding that there is a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the selection term is associated with an approved international terrorist organization." Query results are limited to data within two hops of the selection term instead of three, it said. The administration is “undertaking a declassification review of this most recent primary order, and when complete, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will post the document to its website,” it said.

Government approval of AT&T/DirecTV is close but precise timing appears to be a guessing game, our conversations with sources indicated Wednesday. The transaction "should be done before too long," emailed Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman. Reuters reported Tuesday that the Department of Justice completed its review of AT&T/DirecTV and is waiting for the FCC to conclude its review, which could come "as soon as next week." An industry official involved in the proceeding said, "I'd be surprised if it gets done next week, given that the item hasn't circulated [among FCC commissioners] and they'll have to review and approve a lengthy order." New Street Research analysts, who also said DOJ had signed off on the transaction, recently told investors in a research note that they believed final approval could come the week of July 6 but was more likely to come the week of July 13 or 20 (see 1506290061).

Government approval of AT&T/DirecTV is close but precise timing appears to be a guessing game, our conversations with sources indicated Wednesday. The transaction "should be done before too long," emailed Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman. Reuters reported Tuesday that the Department of Justice completed its review of AT&T/DirecTV and is waiting for the FCC to conclude its review, which could come "as soon as next week." An industry official involved in the proceeding said, "I'd be surprised if it gets done next week, given that the item hasn't circulated [among FCC commissioners] and they'll have to review and approve a lengthy order." New Street Research analysts, who also said DOJ had signed off on the transaction, recently told investors in a research note that they believed final approval could come the week of July 6 but was more likely to come the week of July 13 or 20 (see 1506290061).

The FCC’s new rules for the Emergency Alert System were published in the Federal Register Tuesday. The rules take effect July 30 and include a national location code for EAS alerts issued by the president, amend FCC rules for nationwide EAS tests, and set accessibility standards for EAS alerts (see 1506040056).

EU governments and lawmakers forged a deal on net neutrality rules in the wee hours of Tuesday, the Council said in a statement. The text wasn't available, but the Council said it will require that access providers treat all traffic equally. Reasonable traffic management will be allowed, as will blocking or throttling in limited circumstances such as to counter cyberattacks and prevent traffic congestion, it said. Agreements for services that require a specific quality level will be permitted, but providers will have to ensure the general quality of Internet access, it said. The draft agreement, which also includes new rules on mobile roaming fees, must be approved by the Council and European Parliament. It won cheers from one telecom regulator and Internet telephony services providers, and less enthusiasm from digital rights activists and consumers.

EU governments and lawmakers forged a deal on net neutrality rules in the wee hours of Tuesday, the Council said in a statement. The text wasn't available, but the Council said it will require that access providers treat all traffic equally. Reasonable traffic management will be allowed, as will blocking or throttling in limited circumstances such as to counter cyberattacks and prevent traffic congestion, it said. Agreements for services that require a specific quality level will be permitted, but providers will have to ensure the general quality of Internet access, it said. The draft agreement, which also includes new rules on mobile roaming fees, must be approved by the Council and European Parliament. It won cheers from one telecom regulator and Internet telephony services providers, and less enthusiasm from digital rights activists and consumers.

Some of the radio communications worked during the Jan. 20 Washington Metrorail smoke incident inside L’Enfant Plaza station, but emergency responders from outside of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority had trouble with communications, said witnesses during a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing Tuesday. From the early stages of the incident, one of the rescue squads experienced radio problems, said Derron Hawkins, deputy chief of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Once the first arriving unit entered the station from the mezzanine level, responders started experiencing more problems, he said. The commander had problems with his radio on the day of the incident, he said. When the system failed to operate, the commander used his BlackBerry phone to communicate with the officials on the scene, Hawkins said. “The process may not have run smooth as we would like it to become, but we are doing things to improve that.” The underground public safety radio system works but is delicate and requires a high level of maintenance, said Scott Goldstein, acting fire chief for Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire and Rescue Service. There were no reported issues on WMATA's communications channel, said Ronald Bodmer, director of Metro Transit Police Department's Office of Emergency Management. In the station, some officers reported some blocking of the radio during the incident. Before the incident, ongoing testing was an informal process, said Marshall Epler, deputy chief of COM and NET systems for WMATA's Department of Transit Infrastructure and Engineering Services. If one of the local jurisdictions found fault with its system, it would contact the WMATA maintenance radio manager who would put in a work ticket and the department would rectify the problem, he said. Now, the first thing WMATA is doing is testing local jurisdictions weekly, Epler said. “We animated a map,” he said. “On this map, you can now tell carriers that have poor radio coverage based on maximum work tickets.” It's extremely difficult to maintain a radio system, Epler said. WMATA’s current radio system was designed to provide radio coverage in 95 percent of the public areas in a station 95 percent of the time, he said. April 17, WMATA announced early action items, which included a radio maintenance program. Last week, a Federal Transit Administration report raised some issues with the quality of the rail system's radio communications (see 1506170053).