The FCC’s lab completed the first phase of testing as the commission considers sharing in the 5.9 GHz band between Wi-Fi and automotive safety systems, and is working on a comprehensive report on the results, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill. The agency will decide next steps in coordination with the Department of Transportation and NTIA, Pai said in the Feb. 7 letter, released Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s administration touted its infrastructure legislative proposal Monday as a means for improving rural broadband connectivity, saying he “understands how important expanding broadband access is to ensuring a better quality of life and increasing economic opportunity for rural Americans.” Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue promoted the plan in a Monday opinion piece in the Des Moines Register. Trump’s legislative package, released last week, proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants (see 1802120001). Congressional Democrats criticized the proposal for not including dedicated broadband funding (see 1802140052 and 1802140064). Trump “has made clear that broadband should be an infrastructure priority,” the White House said. Trump didn’t mention broadband when he highlighted his then-pending infrastructure proposal during his January State of the Union speech, disappointing some industry officials (see 1801310071). The proposal “will provide States with the flexibility to invest in the needs of their rural communities, including broadband,” the White House said. “Given the level of discretion granted to states under the President’s Rural Infrastructure Program, governors can spend 100 percent of the Federal funds they receive under the Program on broadband.” It highlighted Trump’s January executive actions aimed at streamlining rural broadband deployments (see 1801080060 and 1801080063). “Expanding rural broadband to connect America’s rural areas to the ‘interstate highway system’ of global commerce sits atop the infrastructure priority list,” Perdue wrote. “To remain internationally competitive, American farms need reliable, real-time internet connectivity.”

The New York Supreme Court refused to dismiss the state’s lawsuit against Charter Communications that claims the company deceived customers about internet speeds (see 1801120009). In a ruling last week in case 450318-2017E, Judge Peter Sherwood rejected Charter arguments that federal law pre-empts the New York attorney general’s claims. The FCC’ net neutrality order doesn’t support Charter’s case, either, Sherwood said: It "includes no language purporting to create, extend or modify the preemptive reach of the [FCC] Transparency Rule.” Charter failed “to identify any provision of the [False Claims Act (FCA)] that preempts state anti-fraud or consumer-protection claims, or reflects any intention by Congress to make federal law the exclusive source of law protecting consumers from broadband providers' deceptive conduct,” Sherwood wrote. Neither the AG’s claims nor New York’s consumer protections laws conflict with the FCC’s transparency rule, the judge said. "It does not, contrary to defendants' arguments, provide a safe harbor for statements outside those disclosures.” A Charter spokeswoman said the court “made no ruling on the allegations about historic Time Warner Cable practices, and we will continue to contest these claims vigorously as the case progresses.” The company “not only delivers its advertised internet speeds, we have in fact raised the minimum broadband speeds that all our New York customers receive, at the same price,” she said.

FCC commissioners will hear a presentation on a new national broadband map at their meeting Thursday, said the agenda, which otherwise is the same as a Feb. 1 tentative agenda. To be considered are draft items on proposals and actions for using spectrum above 95 MHz, setting Section 7 rules for timely processing of applications for new technologies or services, resolving USF mobility fund Phase II reconsideration petitions, and eliminating certain broadcast and media paperwork rules and payphone provider audit and reporting duties (see 1802010042).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's championing U.S. market access for SpaceX's planned broadband constellation probably reflects him wanting to elevate forward-looking satellite related items, an FCC official told us. Several said the SpaceX item circulated Wednesday doesn't seem to raise any obvious red flags that might result in eighth-floor opposition. Pai, announcing Wednesday the draft was circulated, said SpaceX and other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operators seeking licenses or U.S. market access are one potential way to bridge the digital divide. Satellite technology can reach rural or unserved areas that fiber and cell towers don't reach and provide more competition in areas that have terrestrial Internet access, he said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement said, “The next generation of satellites will multiply the number of stations in our skies, creating extraordinary new opportunities for connectivity. The FCC will need to move quickly to facilitate these services and at the same time address new challenges with coordination and debris.” The FCC, Pai's office and SpaceX didn't comment. The commissioners at their June meeting approved OneWeb's application for U.S. market access for its 720-satellite NGSO constellation (see 1706220039). Space Norway and Telesat Canada NGSO applications were approved on circulation (see 1711030063). In a letter to the Office of Engineering and Technology earlier this month, SpaceX said it's planning for an upcoming launch of two test NGSOs, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b.

U.S. internet access connections rose 6 percent in 2016 to 376 million, the FCC reported in an item in Thursday's Daily Digest, counting connections of more than 200 kbps. Mobile internet connections grew 7 percent to 270 million and fixed connections grew 3 percent to 106 million. Among fixed connections, 23.2 percent had download speeds of at least 100 Mbps, 36.8 percent had between 25 Mbps and 100 Mbps, 22.1 percent had between 10 Mbps and 25 Mbps, 14.2 percent had between 3 Mbps and 10 Mbps, and 3.7 percent had less than 3 Mbps. There were 463 million retail voice phone service connections, also based on Form 477 data: 341 million mobile wireless (up from 335 million in 2015), 63 million wireline interconnected VoIP (up from 59 million) and 58 million wireline switched access (down from 65 million), the agency reported. Fifty-three percent of wireline connections were residential, and 58 million were served by ILECs (mostly by switched access), 63 million by others (mostly by interconnected VoIP).

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed an executive order Monday mandating all ISPs with state contracts from July 1 on follow net neutrality principles (see 1802020021). "We may not agree with everything we see online, but that does not give us a justifiable reason to block the free, uninterrupted, and indiscriminate flow of information,” Murphy said. “It certainly doesn’t give certain companies or individuals a right to pay their way to the front of the line. While New Jersey cannot unilaterally regulate net neutrality back into law or cement it as a state regulation, we can exercise our power as a consumer.” New York and Montana implemented similar rules (see 1801310058).

The FCC 3-2 cited broadband "progress" in keeping a 25/3 Mbps fixed benchmark and said mobile isn't a full substitute, in Friday's report under a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate, following through on Chairman Ajit Pai's draft (see 1801180053 and 1802020058). The report, also backed by Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr, concluded the agency is encouraging "reasonable and timely" broadband-like advanced telecom capability deployment. ATC improvement "slowed dramatically in the wake of a 2015 net neutrality order, the report said: fixed broadband was newly deployed to 13.5 million 2015-16, down 55 percent from 2013-14; and mobile LTE broadband went to 5.8 million more people in 2015-16, down 83 percent. But Republicans said the FCC was promoting ATC gains. Fixed 25/3 Mbps reached 95.6 percent of Americans and mobile 5/1 Mbps reached 99.6 percent by year-end 2016, said the report (appendices, here and here, on county breakdowns); and the current FCC reduced "regulatory barriers" to infrastructure deployment, created a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee to assist efforts, repealed "heavy-handed" Title II (Communications Act) broadband regulations and took other steps. The Democrats said too many Americans lack adequate fixed or mobile broadband for a positive finding. Republicans partially acknowledged the point. "While we are now headed in the right direction, we have much to do," Pai said. "Far too many Americans still lack access." The FCC should "shoot for the moon," said Carr, urging continued streamlining of wireless and wireline deployment rules, freeing up spectrum for consumer use, and creating incentives to spur edge and network innovation. O'Rielly disagreed with FCC refusal to acknowledge wireless broadband as a substitute for wireline service, or set a wireless speed benchmark, but said a "plethora of data" backed a positive finding.

Windstream said it will offer AT&T's DirecTV satellite-TV and internet streaming services to residential consumers across its service area. The DirecTV services "will provide a perfect complement to Windstream’s high-speed internet service -- Kinetic by Windstream -- that will give customers affordable, diverse options for getting the programming they want and watching that content whether they are at home or on the go," said a Windstream release Thursday.

A Washington state House panel cleared bills on ISP privacy rules and broadband deployment. The Technology and Economic Development Committee voted 13-3 Tuesday on HB-2200, with members from both parties voting for the bill that counters congressional repeal of the FCC broadband privacy rules. The House last year passed the bill three times with bipartisan votes, but it was never taken up by the then GOP-controlled Senate that’s now in Democratic hands (see 1801190025). The committee voted 9-6 to clear HB-2592, a bill to promote 5G wireless small-cells deployment by pre-empting local government authority. Disagreement continues over rates cities can charge as the bill moves to the floor, said Chairman Jeff Morris (D). Some committee members opposed because they said they sympathized with cities. The panel voted 16-0 to greenlight HB-2423 to expand the Washington Universal Communications Services program to include broadband deployment, upgrades and maintenance.