AT&T Florida and Florida Power & Light got until Jan. 15 to submit a joint statement on the FCC ruling in favor of AT&T's complaint it was being charged unreasonable pole attachment rates, said an FCC Enforcement Bureau order in Tuesday's Daily Digest (see 2005200057). Both parties sought an extension after failing to meet the extended Dec. 21 deadline. The 270-day review period was delayed 134 days because the statement will be filed beyond the Sept. 3 deadline established in the original order.
Country of origin cases
Alaska Communications Systems announced a $332 million sale to ATN International Monday, ending the agreement it originally had with Macquarie Capital and GCM Grosvenor (see 2012150033). The all-cash transaction is expected to close in Q2, and ACS said it paid the $6.8 million termination fee to Macquarie and GCM. The purchase will "allow us to enhance our expanded fiber network services and drive long-term value," said ACS CEO Bill Bishop.
Subscription VOD services had big growth last year, but they have far less daily traffic than Netflix, meaning many could lose many of those subscriptions when "normal" life returns and people have less time and money for streaming, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Sunday. Netflix and Amazon Prime are likely to retain subscribers, but others need to bring more value in 2021, such as through original content, he said.
The FTC’s recent inquiry into social media company data collection practices could likely result in enforcement action, much like the agency’s 6(b) study that led to its antitrust case against Facebook, an ex-official and attorneys said in interviews. Some said to expect the social media companies to negotiate with the agency over the scope of the latest 6(b) study, which seeks details on how data practices affect younger users and others (see 2012150005).
The FCC issued an order Wednesday limiting the number of exempted non-telemarketing robocalls to three to any residential phone from any caller within a 30-day period. “Previously, there was no limit on the number of non-telemarketing robocalls that any caller could make to a residence,” the FCC said: “Callers are also now required to allow consumers to opt out of these calls.” The order was approved by commissioners, but none released statements. In a second order, also approved by commissioners without comment, the agency requires terminating voice service providers to take new steps to make sure their networks aren’t used to transmit illegal robocalls. “Voice service providers will now be required to take affirmative steps to stop illegal calls when notified of those calls by the Commission,” the FCC said. “They will also be required to aid FCC and law enforcement efforts to identify providers that originate illegal calls.” The order expands safe harbors for providers to now include network-based blocking of calls considered “highly likely to be illegal and that have been identified using reasonable analytics, including caller ID authentication.” The FCC is staying busy under Chairman Ajit Pai, who will leave Jan. 20 when Joe Biden is sworn in as president and Democrats assume control. “Americans are sick and tired of unwanted and illegal robocalls, and today’s separate actions are like a one-two punch to ward them off,” Pai said.
Washington state will weigh a proposed $7.2 million fine for Lumen that’s more than 14 times what the company agreed to pay the FCC in a Dec. 14 settlement for a two-day 911 outage in late 2018 that affected most states (see 2012140058 and 1901280023). Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff alleged Tuesday the company, then called CenturyLink, committed about 72,000 violations of four state laws and rules, including 24,000 for failing to transmit 911 calls and 15 for failing to promptly notify public safety answering points (PSAPs) about the outage that affected about 7.4 million state residents. The three-member state commission will schedule a hearing on staff’s recommendation, the UTC said. Staff “found that the outage was due to a preventable technical error and related deficiencies within CenturyLink’s network” and “that CenturyLink incorrectly configured network devices and did not build safeguards into their traffic routing infrastructure, significantly prolonging the outage.” The carrier didn’t provide complete failed-call data requested by the state commission, so staff averaged emergency call volumes to determine the number of possible missed or dropped calls during the outage, the UTC said. The proposed fine is “misguided and misdirected” because a third-party vendor’s faulty network equipment caused the December 2018 outage, a Lumen spokesperson emailed Wednesday. CenturyLink-served PSAPs had no failed 911 calls, she said. “Service providers that rely on CenturyLink’s network to transport their traffic, including 911, may have been impacted. If another provider's 911 service was impacted during the event, it is their responsibility, not CenturyLink’s, to ensure redundancy is built into their network.” The UTC emailed a line in the report: "Regardless of whether a PSAP was receiving service from CenturyLink or Comtech, during phase one all Washington E911 calls were dependent on West, CenturyLink’s vendor, for [automatic location identification] services and on CenturyLink for call origination services." At the time of the outage, CenturyLink managed PSAPs in some of Washington’s most populated counties, including King, Spokane and Snohomish, the report said.
Challengers to the FCC's attempt to loosen broadcast ownership rules cited the harms of media consolidation and ways the FCC fell short of administrative law, in Prometheus IV amicus briefs filed Wednesday with the Supreme Court. Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota assistant professor-media law, told us there are social issues of broadcast ownership diversity tied to the case, but at its heart, it's a procedural administrative law case, which the respondent amicus briefs delved into more than petitioner amicus briefs (see 2011230064). The FCC didn't comment.
The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus delayed comment deadlines on the 4.9 GHz Further NPRM approved by commissioners 3-2 in September. Comments are now due Jan. 13, replies Feb. 12, in docket 07-100. Revised rules for the band permit one statewide licensee per state “to lease some or all of its spectrum rights to third parties, including commercial, critical infrastructure, and other users, thus making up to 50 megahertz of mid-band spectrum available for more intensive use.” The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and Land Mobile Communications Council sought delays of the original deadlines -- Dec. 29 and Jan. 29. The bureau provided more time but not as much as the groups wanted.
The FCC’s C-band auction appears likely to become the largest FCC spectrum auction in history, surpassing the AWS-3 auction five years ago, which brought in $41.3 billion in provisionally winning bids (see 1501300051). The rising numbers likely indicate AT&T and Dish Network are joining Verizon as major bidders in the auction, experts said Monday. The auction hit $50.84 billion Monday after 38 rounds.
Both houses of Congress were expected to vote Monday night on the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), after Hill leaders reached a deal on the measure, which includes $6.82 billion for broadband and a raft of other tech and telecom policy provisions. HR-133 also includes increases in annual funding for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies compared with FY 2020. The Senate was, meanwhile, set to hold a revote on invoking cloture on FCC inspector general nominee Chase Johnson after failing a first try Saturday.