Experiences from the 2017 hurricane season pointed to changes needed in how the U.S. prepares, Zenji Nakazawa, public safety aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, told a U.S.-Caribbean Resilience Partnership meeting in Miami. “We learned that in addition to fostering community engagement, authorities at all levels should establish pre-staged areas for processing incoming supplies, refueling, backup power, mobile telecommunications vehicles, and relief crews,” Nakazawa said Friday, in remarks posted Monday. Improved coordination is also key, he said: “We learned that coordination between communications providers and electrical and other utilities is critical to ensure restoration efforts. Coordination ensures that both communications and power are brought back into service quickly and efficiently.” The FCC is also looking at what post-disaster restoration and recovery should look like, he said. “Is it a mere ‘rip and replace’ of prior equipment or is it an opportunity for renewed investment to modernize outdated facilities and harden networks?” Nakazawa asked.
The cable industry's shapefiles-centric broadband mapping plan lacks the route for creating more accurate broadband location data, Broadband Coalition members USTelecom, ITTA and the Wireless ISP Association said in a docket 11-10 posting Monday. Shapefiles themselves are data formats and only as good as the data in them, and variability and latitude and longitude coordinates that providers submit in shapefiles could result in unserved areas being misdrawn, they said. Provider shapefile submissions need to follow a common template with consistent geocoding of addresses and locations -- which is why the consortium advocates such a template, the Broadband Serviceable Locations Fabric (see 1903220036). NCTA emailed that its proposed Form 477 process revisions "could provide more accurate information about broadband availability without undue time and expense. While the proposal by the Broadband Mapping Consortium has the potential to generate useful information regarding unserved areas, at this point it is a proof-of-concept that raises significant questions for the Commission about cost, timing, effectiveness, and access to data. The Commission can and should adopt NCTA’s approach now and supplement it with data from Broadband Mapping Consortium if their experiment ultimately proves successful.”
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.
Wiley Rein's Kevin Rupy wasn't referring to a need for additional anti-illegal robocall legislation when he told the Senate Communications Subcommittee Thursday there isn't a "single silver bullet" that will fix the problem (see 1904110066) ... Arkansas is the 23rd state to enact small-cells legislation (see 1904110059). Georgia's bill needs gubernatorial OK.
DOJ will hold a May 2-3 public workshop on competition in TV and digital advertising, including on implications for antitrust enforcement and policy. Justice seeks comment through June 15 on the topics covered by the workshop. Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim will open Day 1 at 1:30 p.m., and the event is at Liberty Square Building's Bingaman Auditorium and Lecture Hall, 450 5th St. NW. Academics and executives "from leading companies, including buyers and sellers of advertising inventory" will speak, the department said. "The Division intends to explore the practical considerations that industry participants face and the competitive impact of technological developments such as digital and targeted advertising in media markets." Panelists haven't been disclosed.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., separately said Thursday they plan to talk with President Donald Trump's administration in the coming weeks about infrastructure funding in a bid to revive interest in enacting a comprehensive bill to allocate up to $2 trillion for broadband and other projects. Trump sought in his February State of the Union for Congress to “unite for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure” (see 1902060002). In 2018, he called for a bill “that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment” that relied heavily on public-private partnerships, though that effort stalled (see 1803290046). The communications sector has been hopeful there will be more appetite for infrastructure legislation this year because Democrats regained the majority in the House in the 2018 election (see 1811130011). Schumer told reporters he and Pelosi will meet with Trump in the coming weeks. They will warn Trump that “if [the administration is] not going to put real money and have real labor and environmental protections” in a final bill, “we're not going to get anywhere,” Schumer said. Legislation needs to provide “at least $1 trillion” in funding, but “I'd like it to be closer to $2 trillion,” Pelosi said at a House Democratic retreat in Leesburg, Virginia. Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Patty Murray of Washington led filing of the Digital Equity Act, which would allocate federal funding for digital inclusion projects. Many tech stakeholders immediately praised it.
At NAB's annual convention, executives from the group and from Beasley Media Group, Tegna and Zimmer Radio met with FCC officials who also attended the NAB Show, including Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1904100069), said filings posted Thursday in docket 18-349. The lobbying meetings occurred at the event in Las Vegas, a spokesperson confirmed. Easing radio ownership rules as NAB has proposed were discussed in most conversations. "Radio stations, especially those in small and medium markets and AM stations in markets of all sizes, need relief from the Commission’s outdated ownership rules," NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan reported telling Pai. "It is imperative that the Commission modernize the radio and television ownership rules." The association sought action "soon to modernize" kidvid rules. Later at the show, Pai said that will happen. The group also lobbied on the C band, just as a satellite executive did while she was on the plane to the event with Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 1904110034). Separately, Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley told Carr of her backing NAB's radio ownership plan: "Radio broadcasters are competing against dozens of digital giants, including YouTube, Spotify and Pandora." Beasley said radio station owners need "greater economies of scale," in the meeting that Kaplan also attended. The association's TV ownership cap proposal and kidvid deregulation were talked up by Tegna in its meetings with Pai and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks that included CEO Dave Lougee and an NAB representative. Lougee sought OK of Tegna's getting divested stations in Nexstar's buy of Tribune Media (see 1903200058), he told Pai, recounted Tegna General Counsel Akin Harrison. Zimmer Radio President John Zimmer wrote that he told Carr "all radio broadcasters, and especially those in smaller markets, must be allowed to achieve greater economies of scale in order to compete against the growing number of digital competitors."
President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai are expected to make a joint announcement Friday clarifying that the U.S. isn't headed toward a nationalized 5G network, industry and government officials said. Trump is also expected to discuss the push to deploy 5G in rural areas. Details were still emerging at our deadline. Trump has been working to associate himself with 5G and a U.S. win. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told a CTIA event last week the U.S. definitely isn't losing the race to 5G (see 1904040048). Earlier in the week, CTIA said the U.S. is catching up with China (see 1904020004). The FCC and the White House didn’t comment.
The FCC’s newly reconstituted Consumer Advisory Committee meets for the first time June 3, starting at 9 a.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a Wednesday public notice. Consumer Institute President Stephen Pociask is chair and National Consumers League board member Debra Berlyn, vice chair. The FCC named 25 other members from industry, government and public interest and consumer groups (see personals, this issue). The first meeting will be mostly organizational, the agency indicated.
The FCC corrected dates for comments on a March NPRM proposing reconfiguring the 900 MHz band (see 1904020014) to June 3, replies July 2, says a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. ... Also for Thursday's FR, the FCC corrected a notice on the compliance date (see 1903260016) for a December order creating a reassigned phone number database. Compliance won't be required for sections 52.15(f)(1)(ii) and (f)(8), 52.103(d), and 64.1200(l)(1) and (2) until FR publication announcing the compliance dates, it says.