AT&T employees called a three-day strike Friday after threatening to walk off the previous day (see 1705180010), Communications Workers of America said in a news release. The 40,000 strikers are covered by four disputed contracts: wireless workers in 36 states and the District of Columbia, DirecTV workers in California and Nevada, wireline workers in California and Nevada, and wireline workers in Connecticut. They seek better wages, benefits and job security and are protesting outsourcing. It’s the first time AT&T wireless employees have gone on strike, CWA said. They were scheduled to return to work Monday after the weekend strike, a CWA spokeswoman said. “This is a warning to AT&T,” said CWA Vice President-District 1 Dennis Trainor. “There’s only one way out of this now -- a fair contract -- and we’ll settle for nothing less.” Mark Bautista, an AT&T wireline worker from El Sobrante, California, said striking wasn’t easy because he’s a father, but he believes it’s important to stand up to AT&T for his kids’ future. “On the picket lines today, I’ll be chanting ‘No Contract, No Peace,’ until I lose my voice,” he said. AT&T was ready for the strike, but the carrier continues to find the union’s complaints “baffling," said a carrier spokesman. A three-day strike shows workers are serious, emailed 556 Ventures analyst William Ho on Friday. "That strike may disrupt any weekend work and may potentially push any backlog work," he said. "If the majority of the union membership are Monday to Friday workers, it minimizes any bigger monetary impact on them." While a more open-ended strike might show conviction, a protracted strike can make a big dent in union members' incomes, Ho said. "That path is pretty serious and union leadership will need to manage the membership’s expectations, if that is their strategic decision."
President Donald Trump's Thursday notice to Congress that he plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement spurred tech groups to recommend the White House address copyright-related issues in any update of the 1994 deal. NAFTA hasn't changed, “while our economy and businesses have changed considerably,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a letter to House and Senate leaders: “Many chapters are outdated and do not reflect modern standards. For example, digital trade was in its infancy when NAFTA was enacted. In addition, and consistent with the negotiating objectives in the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act, our aim is that NAFTA be modernized to include new provisions to address” IP rights and other issues. The administration can begin renegotiation 90 days after notifying Congress, the White House said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed the move as a sign that “free and fair trade is the new standard for U.S. trade deals.” The Telecommunications Industry Association believes it's a “timely opportunity” to update the agreement “by incorporating new rules of digital trade and related policies that will make internet-based services and other digital products more affordable and accessible,” said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Cinnamon Rogers: “It is essential to maintain existing elements of the agreement that have contributed to U.S. leadership" in information and communications technology. NAFTA “was negotiated before the emergence of the Internet as an engine for international commerce, and consequently lacks rules protecting and promoting digital trade,” said BSA|The Software Alliance. Any inclusion of a chapter in the renegotiated NAFTA on copyright "must have mandatory language on copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use,” the Re:Create Coalition said.
The FCC approved for filing the long-form applications of a first round of 600 MHz licenses bought by companies in the TV incentive auction. The notice moves licensees another step closer to being able to begin operations in the band, as the post-incentive auction transition gets underway. The FCC said other applications will be addressed in later notices. The licenses include many purchased by T-Mobile, Dish Network through ParkerB.com, Comcast through CC Wireless Investment, and AT&T. Other parties can file petitions to deny the grant of the licenses, but must do so by May 30, the public notice said. The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Wireless Bureau released the notice. Meanwhile, stations that will be changing channels during repacking but aren’t eligible for reimbursement will need to file progress reports the same as stations that can be reimbursed, said the FCC Media Bureau and IATF in a PN. Nonreimbursable stations include band changing stations, stations that “accept a waiver of the Commission’s service rules to allow them to make flexible use of their reassigned spectrum to provide services other than broadcast television services in lieu of receiving reimbursement” and a small number of Class A's, the PN said. Requiring all broadcasters changing channels to file will give the FCC and the wireless and broadcast industries a more complete picture of the progress of the post-incentive auction transition, it said. The filing “will permit the Commission, broadcasters, and other interested parties to get a snapshot of progress at regular intervals and critical periods within each transition phase,” the PN said. IATF released a user guide for the commission registration system (Cores) incentive auction financial module. Full-power stations, Class A broadcasters and MVPDs that “anticipate receiving incentive and/or reimbursement payment(s) following the incentive auction” must “use the Financial Module to submit bank account information electronically,” the PN said. The user guide is available on the auction website.
The White House sent the nomination of David Redl for NTIA administrator to the Senate Thursday, along with others including Neomi Rao to be administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. Transmitting the paperwork is the first step toward allowing Senate Commerce to hold a confirmation hearing for Redl. He has spent years working as a staffer for the House Commerce Committee, with a special focus on spectrum issues that would be at the forefront of his NTIA position (see 1705170056).
The FCC approved making broad changes to the Part 95 personal radio services rules for Citizens Band radios; walkie-talkies; radio-controlled toy cars, boats and planes; hearing assistance devices; and more sophisticated apparatus including medical implants and personal locator beacons, said a news release. Most of the devices use low-power levels and don’t require a license. The Thursday vote was 3-0. The FCC modernizes the rules to “remove outdated requirements, and reorganize them to make it easier to find information,” it said. “The FCC addressed more than two dozen proposals submitted by interested parties. Today’s action will result in a more consistent, clear, and concise set of rules that will better serve the needs of the public.” Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly said they support simplifying the rules. O’Rielly asked what took so long. “I’m fairly certain ... when the notice for this item was released back in June 2010, no one ever imagined it would be presented at a commission meeting in May 2017,” he said. “Seven years later and no one has a great reason for the delay, though it’s clearly not the fault of the staff.” Over “the decades, CB radio slang has changed, but the FCC’s rules in this area have not,” Chairman Ajit Pai said. The FCC has a requirement that CB makers engrave the serial number into the transmitter chassis of each CB radio. “Whatever the merits of this rule when it was adopted 40 years ago, those merits have faded into memory, just like B.J. and the Bear,” Pai said. “And the costs of complying with it today greatly exceed any benefit from theft prevention and the like.” B.J. and the Bear was 1970s TV show featuring the adventures of a trucker and his monkey sidekick. On a day when the FCC approved the net neutrality NPRM 2-1 (see 1705180029), the rule changes got little respect. “I know you’re all dying to ask about the Part 95 item, so I will promise to make this brief,” Pai joked at the start of a news conference.
Mismatched IP addresses caused a widespread March 8 outage of 911 service that kept AT&T wireless customers from making emergency calls during five-hours (see 1703090017). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at the commissioners' meeting Thursday that the problem never should have occurred. The FCC will release a public notice reminding carriers of best practices in the area. The Public Safety Bureau plans a workshop of consumer groups, service providers and public safety. The agency reported 12,539 Americans were affected. AT&T relies on subcontractors Comtech and West, which give it 911 call routing information, said James Wiley, Public Safety Bureau legal adviser, who presented the report. March 8, AT&T “inadvertently” broke its connection to Comtech when it initiated changes to its network, which led to a mismatch between the trusted set of IP addresses in AT&T’s network and the IP addresses Comtech used to send 911 call routing information to the carrier, Wiley said. AT&T rerouted the calls to a backup call center for manual processing, but that call center dropped most of the calls it received, Wiley said. “These findings are highly instructive,” Pai said. “This outage could have been prevented. It was the result of mistakes made by AT&T. The bureau’s report shows that there were shortfalls in operational redundancies, risk assessment, and stakeholder and consumer outreach. Had AT&T followed certain best practices as outlined by the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council, or CSRIC, this outage would have had much less impact. Indeed, the cause of the outage could and should have been identified and addressed with periodic audits.” The carrier addressed the vulnerabilities, Pai said. “I urge every carrier to address similar vulnerabilities." The company did "an extensive evaluation of this outage and concluded it was caused by a system configuration change affecting connectivity between a 911 vendor and our network," a spokesman said. "We’ve taken steps to prevent this from happening again." Public Knowledge had called for audits, said Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "Who recommended stuff like that?” Feld tweeted. “@publicknowledge. Who voted against and called us chicken little? @AjitPaiFCC.”
The FY 2016 regulatory fees for small entities are going up to offset the FCC's facilities reduction costs, the agency said in its small entity compliance guide issued Wednesday. The fee structures include an update for direct broadcast satellite operators and adjustments to the regulatory fees on radio and TV broadcasters based on type and class of service and population served. The fees were adopted in September (see 1609060050).
Presentations to the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee and subcommittees and groups will be treated as exempt presentations for ex parte purposes, said a notice Wednesday. It said such treatment is appropriate since presentations to CAC won't directly result in promulgation of new rules, and the FCC won't rely on the proceedings or information submitted to CAC in pending proceedings. CAC is next scheduled to meet Friday (see 1704270051).
The FCC wasted no time in opening a pleading cycle on an NCTA/USTelecom request to clarify broadband speed disclosure requirements. Comments are due June 16, replies July 3 on the petition for declaratory ruling, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 17-131. The FCC should act to ensure broadband speed disclosure duties are harmonized and maintain industry flexibility in light of state efforts to mandate various requirements based on "unreliable performance metrics," said the petition filed Monday. It noted the agency was poised to open a broadband open internet proceeding (see 1705160063).
Qualcomm sued Apple iPhone manufacturers Compal Electronics, Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, opening a new front in the Apple-Qualcomm patent licensing battle. Apple sued Qualcomm in January on claims the smartphone chipmaker gouged Apple for billions of dollars in patent royalties on technologies it didn't own (see 1701230067). Qualcomm countersued (see 1704110026). Qualcomm also faces an FTC complaint the manufacturer had a monopoly in baseband processors used in cellphones and other devices (see 1701170065, 1704040040 and 1704040037). Qualcomm’s lawsuit against the manufacturers, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, claims the firms are in breach of patent licensing agreements and other commitments to Qualcomm by refusing to pay royalties on products they made for Apple, which also include iPads, at the company’s behest. Apple faces a separate lawsuit for interfering in Qualcomm's licensing agreements (see 1704200016). The firms entered into the agreements before they began making iPads and iPhones and are still paying royalties on all non-Apple products, Qualcomm said. “We cannot allow these manufacturers and Apple to use our valuable intellectual property without paying the fair and reasonable royalties to which they have agreed," said Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg in a news release. "As Apple continues to collect billions of dollars from consumer sales of its Qualcomm-enabled products, it is using its market power as the wealthiest company in the world to try to coerce unfair and unreasonable license terms from Qualcomm in its global attack on the company.” Apple pointed to CEO Tim Cook’s statement during the company’s Q2 earnings call (see 1705030051) that Qualcomm is “trying to charge Apple a percentage of the total iPhone value” when its patents are just “one small part of what an iPhone is.”