The Federal Aviation Administration’s final rule for small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations and other key requirements defined in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act remain incomplete, said a GAO report released Wednesday. FAA officials have indicated that they are hoping to issue a rulemaking notice soon, with a timeline for issuing the final rule in late 2016 or early 2017, the report said. Although the FAA established the test sites required in the act, some test site operators “are uncertain about what research should be done at the site, and believe incentives are needed for industry to use the test sites,” the report said. Absent regulations, “unauthorized UAS operations have, in some instances, compromised safety,” it said. FAA granted seven exemptions for the filmmaking industry as of Dec. 4, it said (see 1406030065). More than 140 applications awaited review for other industries for uses like electric power line monitoring, the report said.
President Barack Obama’s statement in favor of broadband reclassification potentially weakened “perhaps significantly, the case for granting deference” to the FCC's ultimate decision on net neutrality, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May Thursday in a blog post on The Hill website. “The president's intervention politicized the agency's decision-making process in a way that may give a reviewing court considerable pause before granting any deference.”
“Net equality” is needed as much as net neutrality, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President Kim Keenan said in a blog post. Keenan said MMTC, NAACP, the National Urban League and Rainbow PUSH oppose reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II service. “Section 706 offers the best opportunity for innovation, investment, and universal broadband adoption,” Keenan said. The use of Section 706 would also “encourage investment, job creation, deployment, and adoption of broadband,” she said. The FCC also should consider adopting consumer-friendly protections in connection with Section 706, including compliance mechanisms imported from Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Keenan said.
While several recent letters urge the FCC to approve a declaratory ruling sought by T-Mobile on data roaming agreements (see 1405280042), none of the arguments is new, AT&T said in a filing. “The facts in T-Mobile’s Petition actually show that data roaming is widely available at commercially reasonable rates, that those rates have been declining rapidly, and that the Commission’s rules are working,” AT&T said. “The record thus confirms that the Commission’s 2011 Data Roaming Order struck the proper balance between ensuring that data roaming is available and maintaining incentives for build-out and robust facilities-based competition.” The Competitive Carriers Association said in a recent letter to the FCC there's broad support for the T-Mobile petition. “Each entity represented by the T-Mobile Petition Supporters agrees that the data roaming market is broken, and that a grant of the T-Mobile Petition would vastly improve the data roaming market, which in turn would help allow carriers to provide competitive services to consumers,” CCA said. The filings are in docket 5-265. AT&T also weighed in with a Wednesday blog post on the topic. If T-Mobile "has a beef," it should "file a complaint," AT&T said.
The FCC Media Bureau made “certain broadband subscriber data” from FCC Form 477 data collection part of the record for Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, said a public notice Wednesday. The information includes subscriber totals, broadband providers in the combining companies’ footprints and subscriber totals by technology, the PN said. The information could inform economic analysis and comments on the transaction, the PN said. “Such comment may play an integral role in the commission’s ultimate determination about whether the proposed transactions in this proceeding are in the public interest," the PN said.
A draft NPRM seeking comment on redefining the category of multichannel video programming distributors to include linear online video distributors will be voted on this week, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at Thursday’s meeting. The item is “simple” and similar to the legislation that brought DBS into the MVPD fold, he said.
Sixty tech companies, including Cisco, Ericsson and IBM, wrote FCC commissioners and congressional leaders Wednesday saying a Communications Act Title II approach on net neutrality could mean a $45.4 billion drop in capital investment over the next five years, a Telecommunications Industry Association news release said. “The robust support for this letter demonstrates that Title II is a significant threat to the tech companies that build and support the Internet,” said Scott Belcher, CEO of TIA, which organized the letter, in the release. “These companies are at the heart of our economy, and are driving the innovation and investment that has made the Internet the revolutionary force it is today. This letter sends an unambiguous message that reclassifying Title II would be detrimental to today’s Internet, harming consumer, job creation and economic growth,” Belcher said. “Title II would lead to a slowdown, if not a hold, in broadband build out,” the letter said, “because if you don’t know that you can recover on your investment, you won’t make it. The investment shortfall would then flow downstream, landing first and squarely on technology companies like ours, and then working its way through the economy overall.” Groups advocating a Title II approach dismissed the letter. “The companies that hope to profit from a non-neutral net by selling hardware and software that support prioritization hate the idea of an open Internet. Shocking,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "There are a couple of four-letter words that leap to mind," said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood in an email. “Zero, and dumb.” The companies, “who chiefly supply hardware and spying technology to broadband providers, obviously have no problem parroting ISPs' empty claims about Title II," said Wood. "But there is zero evidence to support them.” Free Press also announced it will hold a rally before the commission’s Thursday morning meeting urging quick adoption of net neutrality rules under Title II, a release said. FCC Chairman Tom “Wheeler claims he needs more time to mull over Net Neutrality, but he should have all the info he needs right now to safeguard the open Internet,” Free Press Field Director Mary Alice Crim said in the release. “Americans can't afford any further delays. The overwhelming public support for Title II protections is all the agency needs to take immediate action."
Communities in Mississippi and around the country should take the fact that 100 million Americans aren't using broadband as an “opportunity and a challenge,” FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told the Mississippi Broadband Coalition Summit. She urged those trying to increase broadband usage to frame the discussion on the possibilities it brings, in Dec. 2 remarks posted on the commission's website Wednesday. “The goals here are economic development, decreases in unemployment, gains in education, and improved healthcare,” she said. “Too often, we think of these as happy by-products of broadband access. But, how you frame a problem, makes all the difference in finding a solution.” The FCC’s multidisciplinary Connect2Health Task Force’s vision of everyone being connected “to the people, information and services they need to get well and stay healthy” is an example of focusing on the goals, she said. The “benefit of a grand vision is that it can help people who haven’t drunk the broadband Kool-Aid better understand the value proposition of broadband,” Clyburn said. “It can help Mississippians who have to choose how to spend limited discretionary income, choose to spend it on broadband. It can transform the conversation from one about surfing the Internet (which some people may not fully value), to one about improving the health of all Mississippians -- imagine the economic value that could be created if there were no lost days at work due to illness. It can take a [medical] provider network stretched thin and give it more tools to fight obesity and diabetes before the Mississippi safety net cracks under the weight of chronic disease. And, it will give hope to a nation filled with other communities facing these same problems.”
An unusual amount of network congestion occurred the last two weeks of September, which seemed to affect measurements for the Measuring Broadband America program, FCC officials told an industry meeting in October, said an agency notice released Wednesday. SamKnows, which is doing measurements for the FCC, had to extend the collection period for results to the first three weeks of October to collect enough data for the 2015 broadband measurement report, the FCC said. “The cause of this unusual network congestion was suspected to be the software release by Apple of iOS 8,” officials said.
The FCC pushed back the comment deadline on an October notice of inquiry on the potential for the provision of mobile radio services in bands above 24 GHz. Comments were due Dec. 16, replies Jan. 15. The new deadlines are Jan. 15 and Feb. 17, said a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The FCC approved the NOI at its October meeting (see 1410170048).