The FCC Wireline Bureau Pricing Policy Division is investigating whether Lingo's proposed changes to its originating and terminating end office switched access rates are within bounds of the Communications Act and commission rules, said a docket 20-245 order in Friday's Daily Digest. The basis for the tariff revisions "are unclear," it said. The rate changes were scheduled to take effect Friday and the order suspended them for one day. Lingo didn't comment.
Country of origin cases
A Senate block on FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly is likely to delay reconfirmation until at least after Congress’ upcoming August recess and potentially until after the November election, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews last week. Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., placed a hold last week on O’Rielly that he said will last until the commissioner publicly “states that he will vote to overturn” the order approving Ligado’s L-band plan (see 2007280039). President Donald Trump nominated O’Rielly in March to a term ending in 2024 (see 2003180070).
“Size and sophistication” of online attacks “has risen dramatically” with the pandemic’s spike in internet traffic, said Akamai CEO Tom Leighton on a Tuesday investor call: “Threat actors” are taking advantage of the “distraction and vulnerabilities created by employees working remotely.” Malware reports to Akamai jumped nearly fivefold in Q2 from the previous quarter, he said. Nearly half the content on a typical website “originates from third parties,” estimated Leighton. “Attackers are embedding malware in this content to steal users’ credit cards and other personal data.” Theft of login credentials “is another growing problem,” he said. “We blocked more than 53 billion credential abuse attempts last quarter, more than four times the number we saw in Q2 of last year.” Demand for the company's media and security services “more than offset” revenue downturns from the travel and hotel industries and other sectors “hit hardest by the pandemic,” said Leighton: Churn “stayed below 1% of annualized revenue.” Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan estimated Akamai took a $14 million Q2 hit from COVID-19, mainly through “contract restructurings and elevated bad debt reserves.” A 13% revenue gain and 29% profit increase reflected a “continuation of the high traffic levels” on the internet since the onset of the pandemic, said Leighton. Peak traffic exceeded 100 terabits daily, he said. “That’s a lot of traffic.”
California lawmakers tinkered with rival bills on state broadband funding. Eyes are on the clock after the Assembly Communications Committee postponed Tuesday's hearing on SB-1130 to raise the standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical. The delay was due to an unrelated row over the relative volume of bills in the legislature, and it's the second time the committee delayed the hearing. A $100 billion state stimulus bill unveiled Monday included broadband for distance learning.
USTelecom's Industry Traceback Group (ITG) is the official consortium for coordinating industry-led efforts to trace back the origin of suspected unlawful robocalls, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said Monday. The Traced Act directed the FCC to put together rules for a single consortium heading those private-led efforts, and the FCC in March adopted rules governing that consortium (see 2004170021). In the order appointing ITG, the bureau said it was the only applicant and is both neutral and competent to shepherd the efforts. “The message this sends to would be robocall scammers is loud and clear: we’ve got your number," USTelecom said, adding that it's "an important recognition of our technology, our commitment and our success fighting the scammers and spoofers who pollute our shared communications networks with these illegal robocalls." It said its team of wireline, wireless, VoIP and cable providers is "focused on tracing the source of illegal robocalls around the world and coordinating with federal and state enforcement agencies to bring criminals to justice. We’ve already shut down scams preying on vulnerable consumers during the pandemic. As the FCC’s registered traceback consortium, we intend to continue our laser-like scrutiny not just on robocall scammers, but the under the radar providers who let junk calls onto the network in the first place. We’re tracing back more calls every single day and ready to expand this work for consumers.” Nov. 15 is the deadline for voice service providers and ITG to update the FCC Enforcement Bureau on industry efforts July 27-Oct. 31 to trace the source of suspected unlawful robocalls, the bureau said in a public notice. The bureau's data collection is part of a Traced Act requirement the FCC annually submit a report to Congress on the status of such private-led efforts, it said.
Sony Interactive Entertainment is getting pushback from the Patent and Trademark Office on its June 22 application for a U.S. trademark on “Play has no limits” as a promotional tagline for the PlayStation 5 videogame console scheduled to debut for the holidays. Mattel’s May 2019 application for “Where play has no boundaries” predates Sony’s by more than a year, so PTO could refuse the PS5 tagline if it clears Mattel's for final registration, said the agency. Sony may “present arguments in support of registration by addressing the issue of the potential conflict" between the two applications, it said. Sony has until Jan. 21 to respond. PTO also judged the application flawed because Sony based it on foreign prior art filed in Jamaica, not Japan, Sony's "country of origin." To be granted a U.S. trademark “based on a foreign registration that will issue from the foreign application relied on for priority, the country in which the foreign application was filed must be the applicant’s country of origin,” said the agency. Sony didn’t comment Monday. Sony said June 29 the PS5 is on schedule to launch Q4 despite COVID-19 testing and production-line delays (see report, June 30).
Sigma Designs shareholders of record through Aug. 3 will get a final payout of 28 cents a share under a board-approved plan to finish liquidating and dissolving the company. The former Z-Wave owner and once-formidable SoC supplier -- it was the first to announce Dolby Vision support in September 2014 (see 1409040067) -- “has been working to wind down all of its operations and resolve all outstanding creditor claims,” it said Friday. Shareholders approved the liquidation plan more than two years ago, but phasing out Sigma subsidiaries in Europe and Asia “has taken longer than originally anticipated,” it said. The final distribution of $11.4 million will bring to $252 million “the total amount of cash returned to shareholders,” it said.
Radio giants such as iHeart and Cumulus are united with low-power FM and public interest entities such as REC Networks and Prometheus Radio Project in opposition to a proposal to allow originating programming on FM translators (see 2006260029), in comments posted Friday in RM-11858. This responds to a petition from the new Broadcasters for Limited Program Origination. BLPO includes Miller Communications, Cromwell Group and Finger Lakes Radio Group.
Along with proposed changes to the UHF and S bands to tackle launch congestion spectrum, the FCC should also look at higher bands to support such uses as astronaut video or high-bandwidth research payloads, representatives of space launch company Blue Origin told FCC International Bureau staffers, according to a docket 13-115 posting Friday. It said the 4500-4800 MHz band, currently used for fixed satellite downloads, is a possibility, as are other parts of the C or X band. Blue Origin said minimum 40 MHz channel sizes are needed. As the FCC looks at the 2200-2900 MHz band for launch use, look at amending the allocation table to add co-primary nonfederal space operation service to portions of band, the company said.
The FCC leased access rate formula order adopted last week (see 2007160045) is slightly more forceful in its language critical of the leased access rules regime, according to our side-by-side comparison of the draft and the approved order released Friday. The draft indicated in passive tense that "an argument exists" that video market changes have eroded the need for the leased access rules. The adopted order is more direct: "We agree ... that marketplace changes ... appear to have eroded the original justification for the leased access rules."