Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Public safety issues rarely dominate the agenda of any FCC chairmen, as in 2004 when one of the biggest focuses of then-Chairman Michael Powell was the 800 MHz rebanding, aimed at protecting safety users from interference. Four years later, then-Chairman Kevin Martin pushed through a failed plan to reallocate the 700 MHz D block for public safety. The main contender, Frontline, dropped its pursuit of the band, which went unsold at auction but now is part of FirstNet. Every chairman since has focused on a few public safety issues.

The FCC routinely released public safety and emergency communications documents in the evening, outside the time frame that experts recommend. This trend, seen on many other issues at the commission over more than a decade, possibly deprived stakeholders from being fully and timely informed on important issues. From Jan. 1, 2018, until Oct. 25, when Communications Daily filed a Freedom of Information Act request and the practice ceased, four such items were made public later than 5:30 p.m. Eastern when the commission's business hours end. That's according to results from the FOIA request and our database.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission should execute its plan to adopt the FCC cable rate formula for pole attachments, but not stop pole owners and attachers from negotiating their own rate agreements (see 1903220061), commented cable, wireless and other pole riders Friday in docket 2019-00028. Local governments raised concern with a proposal to retain a municipal exemption for fees for make-ready work but remove the exemption from costs of replacing poles for a municipal attachment.

With a federal decision on T-Mobile/Sprint likely close, the deal's fate is anything but certain. T-Mobile/Sprint also must pass state review, which some analysts see as a potential sticking point. Both stocks were down Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that DOJ staffers told the two companies the deal's unlikely to be approved as structured (see 1904160036). T-Mobile closed at $72.46, down 2.2 percent; Sprint at $5.64, down 6.16 percent. Analysts said the transaction's still alive, even if it’s in trouble.

Officials in President Donald Trump's administration and the FCC spoke optimistically about the U.S. path forward on rural broadband and spectrum policy during a Monday NTCA event, citing 2018 successes and actions slated for this year. The FCC's plans to follow up the USF Connect America Fund with a new $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 1904120065) received some attention at the event, but more focus was on upcoming spectrum auctions and ways to increase rural broadband deployments.

The federal Bureau of Prisons last week tested micro-jamming technology to determine if micro-jamming could prevent wireless communication by inmates using contraband cellphones, DOJ said Friday. The pilot test was conducted at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, and follows earlier tests at a federal corrections facility in Cumberland, Maryland (see 1801180054). “Contraband cellphones have been used to run criminal enterprises, distribute child pornography, and facilitate the commission of violent crimes -- all while inmates are incarcerated,” said DOJ, noting that only federal agencies, not state or local prisons, can obtain authorization to jam the public airwaves. NTIA authorized the test, which was coordinated with the FCC. NTIA will analyze the data and prepare a report.

The FCC approved a process for sharing in the upper 37 GHz band, despite complaints from Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks (see 1904100071). The two Democrats partially dissented. Chairman Ajit Pai, meanwhile, announced that the 37, 39 and 47 GHz auction will start Dec. 10 -- the FCC's third high-band auction. Commissioners approved a public notice on rules for the auction amid complaints by Rosenworcel and O’Rielly. Agency members also approved telecom and cable items.

Akin Gump got some support in seeking FCC clarity on fax “sender” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so it's harder to sue companies whose products are unknowingly hawked in junk faxes (see 1903070051). Comments were posted through Tuesday in dockets including 02-278. Educational Testing Service noted "federal courts have divided over how to apply the TCPA and the Commission’s regulations" here. "Why would Congress or this Commission impose liability on someone who had nothing to do with sending an allegedly unlawful fax?" asked the educational test developer. "What sense could there be in stringing companies up for massive statutory damages when, as everyone acknowledges, they did not send the fax (or cause it to be sent) in any ordinary sense of those terms?" AmeriFactors Financial supported much of the law firm's petition, with the company raising more fax scenarios where the FCC ought to not find one liable for violating the TCPA. RingCentral agrees with the petition that the agency should say “sender” doesn't include entities that merely dispatch others’ faxes but only those that compose the fax or choose recipients. That would ensure "TCPA continues to protect injured consumers by holding accountable the bad actors who initiate unsolicited" ads, commented the provider of virtual fax and other communications services. Bais Yaakov of Spring Valley, New York, which litigated a TCPA case against the FCC, asked, along with Roger Kaye MD PC and a few others that Akin's request be denied. They supported a definition/test backed by Cin-Q Automobiles. The Edelman Combs law firm that represents consumers who got unsolicited junk faxes opposed the petition: "Akin Gump has failed to identify any ambiguity in the 2006 Junk Fax Order that necessitates clarification."

Expected House passage of the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) is unlikely to spur the Senate to take up the bill's companion version (S-682) or to rejuvenate a fledgling working group in the chamber aimed at writing alternative legislation, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. HR-1644/S-682 would reverse the FCC order rescinding its 2015 net neutrality rules and restore reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1903060077).

With Colorado poised to enact net neutrality legislation, observers said the state might be less likely than others to attract a lawsuit. Longtime net neutrality supporter Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is expected to sign SB-78 to restrict high-cost support or other state broadband funding to companies that adhere to open internet principles, and require government entities give preference in procurements to ISPs that follow rules.