The FCC Public Safety Bureau deactivated the disaster information reporting system for the Puerto Rico earthquakes (see 2001080006), said a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest.
If FirstNet doesn't work with America’s Public Television Stations, the FCC "may wish to engage through oversight or other action to ensure that the nation’s first responders have the full benefit of public television’s datacasting capability," APTS told Public Safety Bureau staff in a filing for docket 19-254. "APTS seeks first and foremost to work with FirstNet and AT&T in a cooperative approach." FirstNet didn't comment Monday. “In an ideal world, the Commission would encourage the integration of datacasting and, if necessary, mandate that ATSC 3.0 broadcast chips be included in all public safety phones and devices,” the public broadcaster group said. “Such action would allow for a transparent hand-off of datacasting from public TV broadcast stations to the public safety LTE network allowing for a two-way mobile communications path.” Friday, FirstNet Executive Director Edward Parkinson said at CES FirstNet has more than 1 million connections. "We’ve seen commercial carriers competing like they never have before to gain public safety’s business,” he said: “We’ve seen industry rising to the occasion for our first responders with new devices, apps, and solutions."
The FTC and DOJ requested comment by Feb. 11 on draft vertical merger guidelines Friday. The FTC voted 3-0-2 to approve the draft, with the two Democrats abstaining. DOJ withdrew the 1984 non-horizontal merger guidelines, eliminating application of the guidelines for either agency. “Greater transparency about the complex issues surrounding vertical mergers will benefit the business community, practitioners, and the courts,” said Chairman Joe Simons. The guidelines will “provide more clarity and transparency on how we review vertical transactions,” said DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim. The draft guidelines aren’t “supported by an analysis of past enforcement decisions, perpetuate an overdependence on theoretical models, and do not reflect all of the ways that competition can be harmed,” said Commissioner Rohit Chopra. He asked that the 1984 non-horizontal merger guidelines be rescinded due to economic shifts in the past 40 years. “Increasing concentration, declining new firm formation, and other market trends necessitate a modernization of vertical merger review,” he said. Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said her biggest concern is an apparent safe harbor indicating agencies are unlikely to challenge vertical deals if the parties “have a share in the relevant market of less than 20 percent, and the related product is used in less than 20 percent of the relevant market.” She said the 20 percent threshold lacks evidence and justification. Commissioner Christine Wilson agreed the 1984 guidelines need to be updated and replaced. She suggested commenters weigh the safe harbor and its threshold, asking if agencies should focus on “oligopoly markets.”
The North American Numbering Council is sending draft technical requirements document for a reassigned numbers database administrator to the FCC. NANC members approved an amended version of its draft Monday. Contract Oversight Subcommittee co-Chairman Phil Linse of CenturyLink said the database would function so that when it gets a query of a number and date, it would respond with "yes," "no" or "no data" to show if the number has been permanently disconnected since that date. He said the database would be federally procured and owned, provided through a contract, with updates monthly -- on the 15th or the next available business day. The hourlong meeting had back and forth about whether the scope of the database also covers number resellers having to submit information; the consensus being they do. Also discussed were database capabilities for querying 50 numbers at once, how mistakes would be addressed and whether data updates could be done more frequently. NANC Chair Jennifer McKee of NCTA said the next step is for the FCC to seek public comment. The agency didn't comment about timing. The agency in 2018 directed NANC to make recommendations on reassigned number database technical and operational issues (see 1812120026).
San Francisco, defending before the FCC its Police Code Article 52 that mandated building owners let ISP share all wiring, followed an "incoherent strategy" of vagueness about what the ordinance says, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Jan. 3 and released Friday. He said the city finally asserted its ordinance doesn't require sharing of in-use wiring, but the ordinance language seemed to say otherwise. If the municipality's correct, he said, "there is no reason ... to object to our narrow ruling." Commissioners voted 3-2 in July to pre-empt part of the open access rule (see 1907100020). Mayor London Breed (D) didn't comment Friday. Pelosi's letter, dated July 10, said the proposed pre-emption "is deeply misguided [and would put] a chilling effect on much-needed competition in the telecommunications sector."
DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim filed a notice of appearance at U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in the Tunney Act review of T-Mobile's buying Sprint, he said Friday (in Pacer). DOJ didn’t comment. Judge Timothy Kelly said Wednesday he won't pause while states separately challenge the deal at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (see 2001080051). The D.C. federal court held a telephone status conference with parties Friday. Amici may file briefs of up to 20 pages by Jan. 24; parties must respond by Feb. 7, Kelly said in a Friday minute order in case 1:19-cv-02232. State plaintiffs in the SDNY case may file one joint brief, he said: "All potential amici shall address in their briefs only the precise and limited issues before the Court in this proceeding." The D.C. federal court held a telephone status conference with parties Friday. Amici may file briefs of up to 20 pages by Jan. 24; parties must respond by Feb. 7, Kelly said in a Friday minute order in case 1:19-cv-02232. State plaintiffs in the SDNY case may file one joint brief, he said: "All potential amici shall address in their briefs only the precise and limited issues before the Court in this proceeding."
Ajit Pai was to visit Hawaii Thursday and Friday as his 49th state since taking the FCC helm. His schedule included discussing the proposed Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 2001090025) at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences in Wailea and visiting a Hawaiian Telecom site that received support from RDOF's precursor, as well as telehealth and distance learning sites.
The FCC estimates 19.5 percent of cellsites are out in Puerto Rico from recent earthquakes, mostly due to power outages, said the disaster information reporting system Thursday report. That’s down from 31.7 percent the previous day (see 2001080006). A Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board spokesperson estimated outages at 26 percent Thursday, the same as the day before. Cable and wireline companies reported nearly 173,400 subscribers out of service, down from about 258,600. Liberty Cablevision is assessing its network, including fiber rings, cables and posts, and so far hasn’t found major damage, CEO Naji Khoury said in a statement. Infrastructure is “operating at full capacity,” but power outages in 35 municipalities are disrupting service, it said: About 51 percent of its customers have access to their internet service.
T-Mobile and states opposing the carrier’s Sprint buy re-emphasized their positions, before closing argument Wednesday at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Arguing (in Pacer) plaintiffs don’t have to prove anticompetitive intentions, states highlighted companies’ internal documents cited at trial as showing such motives, including a 2011 Deutsche Telekom slide deck saying one transaction benefit is a "rule of three" that would reduce price competition (see 1912100029). States questioned Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen’s credibility: "There is considerable reason for this Court to doubt whether DISH will build the promised network; and, even if it does, DISH’s most optimistic projections still fall well short of being timely, likely, or sufficient to replace the lost competition that Sprint has long provided.” States rejected (in Pacer) DOJ and the FCC urging the court defer to federal agencies’ conditional OKs (see 1912200043). "States are independent enforcers of the antitrust laws, and it is the role of the Court -- not any federal agency -- to decide the lawfulness of the merger," they said. “A prosecutorial decision by” DOJ “not to challenge a transaction is not a determination that the proposed merger is lawful under the Clayton Act,” and the same goes for a commission OK, the plaintiffs said. T-Mobile said (in Pacer) DOJ and the FCC agree the deal will mean lower prices, better wireless service and increased competition: “Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden to prove that the world with this merger is likely to be substantially less competitive than the world without it." If not allowed, T-Mobile and Sprint will suffer and Dish won’t enter the market, they said. It's false to say the biggest U.S. carriers welcome the takeover, defendants said. “AT&T has been working with third parties to thwart the merger,” said T-Mobile, citing a July 17, 2018, email from AT&T Executive Vice President-Regulatory and State External Affairs Joan Marsh to Communications Workers of America Telecom Policy Director Debbie Goldman. Marsh wrote that she “wanted you to be aware of potential [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)] issues that some are raising.” The attachment raises possible national security concerns, including T-Mobile and Sprint using Chinese equipment, Softbank’s relationships with Chinese companies, and a foreign-owned company potentially holding more spectrum than U.S. carriers. "As far as I know, AT&T has not taken a position on the merger," a CWA spokesperson emailed: The union opposes the deal "because it would hurt working people." AT&T didn’t comment. A settlement between states and the carriers is deemed unlikely (see 1912300033).
The Tunney Act review of T-Mobile's buying Sprint won't pause while states separately challenge the deal at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Timothy Kelly said in a minute order Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Washington (case 1:19-cv-02232). Kelly allowed an October amici brief (in Pacer) by New York, the District of Columbia and other states challenging the deal at the SDNY, but said the states may not seek a stay of the case in Washington. States asked the D.C. court not to schedule any hearings or determination under the Tunney Act until the SDNY litigation finished. “To the extent [states’] brief can be characterized as a motion for a stay or to otherwise delay these proceedings, the Court will deny it,” Kelly said. Parties in the Tunney Act case should be on a phone status conference Friday at 2 p.m., he said. At the lower Manhattan court, post-trial findings of fact and conclusions of law were due Wednesday.