Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC’s FY 2018 budget request includes plans for an additional $6 billion spectrum auction, to take place between 2025 and 2027, but offers no more details. Industry lawyers, including former FCC and Capitol Hill officials, said at this stage, the FCC goal may be mostly aspirational and government doesn’t appear to be focused on a particular band. The budget document proposes to extend FCC auction authority to 2027, from a current expiration of 2025. “The Budget proposes to require the auction of additional spectrum by 2027 and further extend the FCC’s auction authority solely to allow this auction to proceed,” it said.

Montana penalties may be unlikely against Republicans for calling voters with recorded endorsements for U.S. House candidate Greg Gianforte (R) by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, despite a Montana law banning robocalls. Enforcement of the state prohibition is difficult, Montana’s authority on political ethics told us Thursday. However, complaints are possible under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a TCPA attorney said. Gianforte also faced criticism after reportedly body-slamming a reporter asking questions about healthcare at a campaign event.

The Trump administration FY 2018 budget request would cut FCC funding by about $18 million. The White House unveiled the documents Tuesday, and several stakeholders said Congress won't take up the proposal as drafted. The funding measure comported with a previous outline and moved to nix funding for the CPB, including a small portion of funding as part of a winding-down process.

Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., introduced HR-2546 Thursday to “ensure the Chief Information Office of the Federal Communications Commission has a significant role in decisions related to information technology,” its title said. An aide said the bottom line of the legislation is that it ups the commission’s chief information officer position to the same standing as the chief technology officer. The aide cited the goal of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, now law but not applying to independent agencies like the FCC, of empowering CIOs. The legislation extends that IT bill’s goals to the commission, the aide said. The three-page text of the bill shows the full title is the FCC CIO Parity Act.

The FCC is expected to move very quickly on a final order on net neutrality after voting to launch a rulemaking Thursday (see 1705180029). Chairman Ajit Pai said he hoped to move as early as October, industry lawyers said. Former officials said that’s a tough timetable, especially if new commissioners join by then, including possibly a new commissioner to replace Democrat Mignon Clyburn, whose term expires in June.

Comments are due at the FCC June 15, replies July 17 on a rulemaking notice aimed at removing barriers to wireline infrastructure deployment, which was released in April by the commission (see 1704210041). "The NPRM seeks comment on pole attachment reforms, changes to the copper retirement and other network change notification processes, and changes to the [Communications Act] section 214(a) discontinuance application process," said the summary of the notice in docket 17-84 in Tuesday's Federal Register. "Comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act proposed information collection requirements must be submitted by the public, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other interested parties on or before July 17." The summary noted the NPRM was adopted in conjunction with a notice of inquiry (NOI) and a request for comment (RFC) on related issues (see 1704200046). An FCC public notice Tuesday noted the NOI was published in the FR Thursday, and it clarified that the comments and replies for both the NOI and the RFC will be due on the same days as those for the NPRM. "These same filing dates apply to any other comment periods related to the Notice in this docket, including the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis and any of the proposed information collection requirements contained in the Notice," it said.

The FCC told a court it reasonably denied SureWest Telephone a waiver from a federally mandated USF state certification deadline the company missed in 2012 (see 1610260025). "This Court has repeatedly stressed that agencies should not waive their rules except where special circumstances warrant deviation and a waiver is in the public interest," said an FCC/DOJ brief Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that responded to arguments raised by Consolidated Communications, which took over SureWest. "SureWest’s confusion regarding the Commission’s rules -- which caused a filing error not remedied for many months -- is not the kind of special circumstance that can justify a waiver." In a 2016 concurring statement, then-Commissioner Ajit Pai agreed SureWest wasn't entitled to a waiver due to a simple mistake but said the decision to withhold $2.9 million in interstate common line support "for this minor filing error -- as we are required to do under our rules -- is exceedingly harsh." The case is Consolidated Communications of California v. FCC, No. 16-1431.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday decision to review en banc the FTC’s appeal ruling that threw out the commission's case alleging AT&T Mobility inadequately informed customers of its data-throttling program is potentially a game changer for the FCC and the FTC, industry officials said Wednesday. The agencies won’t have clarity before the fall. The court said Wednesday the en banc hearing will be the week of Sept. 18. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hailed the importance of the decision to rehear the case (see 1705090068). Industry lawyers said usually when a court grants en banc rehearing, it's more likely than not to overturn the initial decision.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai invoked the words of Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., in declaring that policymakers must “return the role of state utility commissions in determining Lifeline eligibility,” citing a statement that Udall offered in introducing joint Lifeline overhaul legislation with Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. (see 1702170051). Pai was responding to a group of House Democrats’ Feb. 15 criticisms, led by House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a reply released Monday and dated April 28, focused on the commission’s revocation of Lifeline certification for certain broadband providers. Applications are pending before the Wireline Bureau. “I do not believe that the Bureau should approve these applications,” Pai said, citing more than 3.5 million Americans receiving subsidized broadband through Lifeline via the eligible telecom carriers that are certified. “It would be irresponsible for the Bureau to allow companies to sign up customers for subsidized broadband service through an unlawful federal authorization process that will soon be withdrawn. This would force many consumers to switch broadband providers in a relatively short period of time, which wouldn't be fair to them.” He lauded the state certification role: “By letting states take the lead on certification as envisioned by Congress, we will strengthen the Lifeline program and put the implementation of last year's order on a solid legal footing. This will benefit all Americans, including those participating in the program.” Pai laid out some of his intentions on these matters at the end of March (see 1703290054).

Charter's cable VoIP is an information service exempt from state regulation, a federal court in Minnesota ruled Monday. In an opinion (in Pacer) seen as having big ramifications for the jurisdictional question of whether states may regulate VoIP and other IP-based services, the U.S. District Court in St. Paul said the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission may not regulate Charter’s VoIP-based Spectrum Voice as a telecom service. The court granted Charter’s motion for summary judgment and denied the PUC’s separate motion for summary judgment.