Several House members told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez to revamp rules to protect Americans from unwanted phone calls, outlining concerns with an item the FCC will consider at its Thursday meeting. “We have concerns that this item may not provide sufficient guidance and would leave businesses still unsure how to comply with an outdated law in a time of modern technology,” said the letter sent Thursday by Reps. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; Tony Cardenas, D-Calif.; Leonard Lance, R-N.J.; and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif. “While this is a promising step ... these proposals may not in fact reduce the number of unwanted calls. The FCC is considering new exemptions that could weaken the effectiveness of the current prohibitions on unwanted calls and the current statutory limits on fines and damages may not sufficiently deter bad actors, regardless of the rules.” They requested staff briefings from the FCC and FTC on the challenges of enforcing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. "American families should be able to decide when they want to make a purchase, not be cold-called and badgered," Cardenas said in a statement.
As the FCC takes up Lifeline reform, it mustn't ignore the important role played by wireless carriers in the USF program, CTIA President Meredith Baker said in a letter to the agency members posted Friday in docket 11-42. “Thirty years after its creation, Lifeline has evolved to reflect the increasing role of wireless as the primary means of communications for millions of low-income and diverse, underserved communities,” Baker wrote. “In the decade since wireless entered the Lifeline program, the telephone subscribership gap between low-income and all households was cut nearly in half, representing over 3 million low-income consumers.” CTIA is also committed to helping clean up the Lifeline program, further making it “more efficient, accountable, and effective,” she said. “Ensuring the fiscal integrity of the Lifeline program is a high priority because wireless carriers and their consumers make up over 44 percent of the contribution base of the Commission’s Universal Service programs.”
The FCC need take no additional steps to address the growth of LTE-unlicensed or licensed assisted access (LAA), CEA commented to the FCC. CTIA and Qualcomm had similarly encouraged a hands-off approach (see 1506110034). “The industry is progressing in its efforts to ensure that LTE-U and LAA can coexist in the unlicensed bands with other critical technologies,” CEA said. The association said its members “are highly dependent on the continued existence of unlicensed bands that are fully functional for a wide range of uses and users.” Unlicensed spectrum generates an estimated $62 billion per year just from incremental retail sales to end users of devices using unlicensed spectrum, the group said. “Near term unlicensed technologies, such as LTE-U/LAA and 802.11ax Wi-Fi, hold great promise for enhancing spectral efficiency,” CEA said. “LTE-U/LAA proponents contend that it allows for better overall use of a particular band and security by taking advantage of LTE’s robust security features.” The FCC mustn't place restrictions on services like LTE-U designed to protect Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies, T-Mobile said. “What may be the dominant technology and use of unlicensed spectrum today may not be the same tomorrow,” T-Mobile said. “The Commission should therefore continue its longstanding current approach of technology neutrality and ensure that bands designated for unlicensed operations support a broad range of technologies, products, and services.” But the Wi-Fi Alliance sounded a note of caution. The alliance remains hopeful “cross-industry cooperation” will lead to development of “appropriate sharing mechanisms” for LTE-U and LAA, it said. “If such consensus cannot be reached, or if there is inadequate collaboration, the Commission must be prepared to act so that the introduction of new Unlicensed LTE technologies does not impede the continued robust development of Wi-Fi and other existing technologies that are so critical to our nation’s economy and communications ecosystem.” Microsoft also expressed concerns about LTE-U and LAA, saying little is known, while Wi-Fi is critical to many Americans. “Although seemingly a highly technical matter, the question of how such coexistence is defined, implemented, and enforced in unlicensed spectrum bands is a critically important issue for literally billions of consumers globally who use voice, video, and data applications over wireless devices leveraging unlicensed spectrum,” Microsoft said. “We are concerned that any technology that makes use of a licensed control channel will use that channel to give it priority access to the medium, and in this case degrade the performance of services delivered over Wi-Fi and other technologies that rely exclusively on unlicensed spectrum.” The FCC posted comments Thursday and Friday in docket 15-105.
NAB is leaning on the FCC to strengthen the TV white spaces (TVWS) database, after filing an emergency petition in March asking the agency to suspend operation of the database system until “serious flaws” are corrected (see 1503190056). NAB officials, including Bruce Franca, a former deputy chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, met last week with OET Chief Julius Knapp and others at the FCC to lay out their concerns that problems persist. “Our updated examination of the TVWS database reveals that the database is, once again, riddled with inaccuracies despite the fact that the FCC has made aggressive efforts to clean up the errors,” NAB said. “This confirms that the problem of inaccurate information in the database is one that will not stop -- and will likely accelerate -- unless and until the Commission changes its rules to ensure location data is built into the device and input with limited human involvement.” NAB said it earlier called attention to obviously false names, such as “John Doe” or “Sue Q. Public,” and “Anytown, CA” in the database. “Remarkably, months after NAB focused considerable attention on such errors, someone registered a device in the TVWS database under the name ‘John Doe,’” the association said. “This device was registered as being located in the middle of an empty field, with a contact e-mail address of ‘jd@example.com,’ and a contact telephone number of 232-555-1212.” The FCC deleted the entry, but only after NAB brought it to the agency’s attention, the group said. One device was registered as being in the middle of Lake Michigan, NAB said. “This device remained registered in that location nearly two months after NAB brought this example to the FCC’s attention.” NAB on Thursday filed an ex parte notice on the meeting in docket 14-165. The FCC is aware of the issue and is taking a close look after seeking comment on the NAB petition, a spokesman said. “The commission is committed to ensuring that the white spaces database is correct, and have taken the appropriate steps to do so," the spokesman said. "We continue to work with the spectrum of stakeholders to accomplish that, including NAB, database providers and equipment manufacturers.”
The FCC said presentations to the agency’s new Disability Advisory Committee won't be subject to commission ex parte rules, in a public notice Thursday . The DAC held its first meeting March 17 (see 1503170063), with a second set for June 23. “Presentations to the DAC, including to its subcommittees and working groups, and presentations between DAC members and FCC staff, will be treated as exempt presentations for ex parte purposes,” the FCC said. “This treatment is appropriate because presentations to the Committee will not directly result in the promulgation of new rules.”
The National Treasury Employees Union continues to have concerns about FCC plans to shutter Enforcement Bureau field offices, even after a compromise unveiled Tuesday that would keep most open (see 1506090059). The new agreement doesn't go far enough and still could prevent the agency from adequately protecting spectrum from interference, said Ana Curtis, president of NTEU Chapter 209 (FCC). “Keeping 15 offices open is still not enough,” Curtis said in a Wednesday news release. “The 24 offices each serve several states or large cities. They need to be modernized and fully staffed by compliance specialists and administrative assistants as well as engineers. Those who are served by these offices have testified to the value of the work of these field offices and the need to keep them open and fully staffed.”
The FTC is issuing a second Federal Register notice for its “proposal to study the effectiveness of the Commission’s orders in merger cases where it required a divestiture or other remedy and is seeking clearance from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct the study,” the agency said in a news release Wednesday. The FTC’s proposed study would focus on merger orders the FTC issued between 2006 and 2012 and evaluate "orders that required divestiture, as well as those that required non-structural relief to remedy anticompetitive effects,” the release said. The FTC’s proposed review of about 90 orders would be used to update and expand on a study the commission issued in 1999, it said. Additional public comments will be accepted until 30 days after the notice is published, the release said. The vote to approve the second Federal Register notice was 5-0.
The FCC -- like Groundhog Day weatherman Phil Connors -- is stuck in a never-ending time loop as it yearly has to put out pointless status reports on the privatization status of Inmarsat and Intelsat, though those two former intergovernmental satellite organizations long have been privatized, Commissioner Ajit Pai said. The FCC posted its 16th annual Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act report to Congress Wednesday. The report was unanimously approved by commissioners, with Pai issuing a separate statement. Over the past year, the agency noted that Inmarsat launched a pair of Inmarsat-5 satellites as it expands its Global Xpress system operating in the Ka-band, though a third set to launch last month has been delayed. Meanwhile, Intelsat signed operational agreements with numerous satellite operators licensed by 15 separate nations and submitted numerous license authorizations and requests to the FCC. Intelsat spin-off New Skies Satellites -- today part of SES -- has five satellites operating on the C- and Ku-bands, and the FCC has given multiple permits to stations to earth stations to communicate with them, the report said. Several past reports have stated that Inmarsat and Intelsat have fully transitioned to privatized operations. "Unfortunately, the FCC's annual ORBIT Act report is our Groundhog Day," Pai said. "A decade ago, we were able to report success -- the privatization was complete. Yet ten years, ten reports and more than 200 pages later, the FCC is still stuck in Punxsutawney." The House passed the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act in February, and similar legislation now in the Senate would eliminate the ORBIT Act report, Pai said.
The Competitive Carriers Association supports Lifeline overhaul, teed up for a vote at next week’s FCC meeting (see 1505280037), but not at the expense of other USF programs, CCA officials said in a series of meetings at the agency. CCA members participate in the program, it said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. “CCA and its members support efforts to restructure the Lifeline program to meet today’s most pressing communications needs, including providing low-income consumers affordable access to broadband, as long as the Commission does not abandon support for voice services -- especially in rural areas -- and these changes are not made at the expense of other USF programs.” Some CCA members serving rural communities are concerned about uncertainty on available high-cost universal service support “for operating, upgrading, and expanding wireless networks in rural areas,” CCA said. This support is key to “facilitating investment, which promotes competition and broadens the number of providers who can offer services through the Lifeline program,” the association said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a waiver sought by Breitling U.S.A. for its dual band emergency watch, branded as the Emergency2 watch. Last year, the bureau sought comment on the proposed waiver (see 1411040040). The device, intended for use on land, can be used to transmit a distress signal on 406.0-406.1 MHz for communication with the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system and a lower-powered homing signal on 121.5 MHz, the bureau said. Breitling needed a waiver because the locator watch doesn't meet all of the requirements for Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) devices. No commenter opposed the waiver and most supported the request “unreservedly,” the bureau said. Breitling told the FCC that incorporation of a personal locator beam (PLB) into a wristwatch casing, instead of the more traditional handheld device “renders certain requirements in the RTCM standard irrelevant or infeasible, but argues that the Emergency2 provides the offsetting advantage that it is always immediately at hand and ready to operate, with no added risk of harmful interference to others,” the bureau said. Breitling sought a waiver of various manual control, battery and labeling requirements in the RTCM standard. “There appears to be no dispute that most of the requirements in the RTCM standard from which Breitling requests a waiver are irrelevant or infeasible for a PLB incorporated into a wristwatch casing,” the bureau said. “For example, the requirements for integral manual on/off controls, a separate test switch, a highly visible orange or yellow case, and certain labels contemplate a handheld, box-shaped device.”