Wireless net neutrality rules could hamper the ability of small carriers to compete, said Cellcom CEO Patrick Riordan and Bluegrass Cellular CEO Ron Smith in a series of meetings at the FCC. The two carried the message for CTIA in meetings with Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn, Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and others at the agency, said filings in docket 10-127. “They both explained that adopting onerous open Internet rules could make it more difficult to raise capital and invest in their communities, at the detriment of service to rural America, areas where cable and telecommunications broadband companies often do not reach,” said the filing made by CTIA on the Pai meeting. It said the CEOs “also explained that adoption of expansive open Internet rules for mobile broadband would hinder their ability to offer the alternative business models at the heart of competitive differentiation and engage in practices designed to improve network performance.”
T-Mobile USA General Counsel Dave Miller pressed the FCC to act on the carrier’s May petition for a declaratory ruling containing guidance and “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted in a 2011 data roaming order (see 1408220055). Miller and others from T-Mobile met with FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet to make their case, said a filing posted Friday in docket 05-265. “Action is needed now, as T-Mobile and other carriers are negotiating new data roaming agreements -- many of which are replacing legacy agreements negotiated prior to the release of the Data Roaming Order.” T-Mobile isn’t seeking rate regulation, the carrier stressed. “Instead, it requests a ruling well within the Commission’s authority and which was, in fact, anticipated in the Data Roaming Order.”
The FCC should stay the course and allow robust unlicensed use of the TV band, Google and Microsoft said in an FCC filing. Unlicensed should be allowed to use a channel in the duplex gap, guard bands separating LTE from incumbent licensed services, and Channel 37, they said. The firms opposed petitions by GE Healthcare, Qualcomm and others for reconsideration of the incentive auction order. “Several of these parties base their petitions on the claim that unlicensed services cannot coexist alongside licensed services under any set of technical rules,” said a filing in docket 12-268. “This is plainly incorrect. It is always possible to avoid harmful interference by adjusting operating parameters such as transmit power, signal timing, spectral separation, and physical separation, and unlicensed devices in the 600 MHz band are no exception.” Also posted in the same docket Friday, Mobile Future opposed various recon petitions seeking changes to the rules. “The Commission should reject requests to reimburse Low Power television stations or wireless microphone users for the costs associated with relocation following the Incentive Auction, because those entities are not eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses under the Spectrum Act,” Mobile Future said. “The Commission similarly should reject requests to protect LPTV and TV Translator stations in the repacking process as inconsistent with the Spectrum Act.”
The FCC requested more information from AT&T about its proposed takeover of DirecTV. The FCC wants data about AT&T’s current plans for fiber deployment, specifically the current number of households to which fiber is deployed, “and the breakdown by technology and geographic area of deployment,” the commission said Friday in a letter to Bob Quinn, senior vice president-federal regulatory. It requested a description of whether the AT&T fiber-to-the-premises investment model demonstrates that fiber deployment is now unprofitable, and asked for all documents concerning the company’s decision to limit its deployment of fiber to 2 million homes following the acquisition. “We are happy to respond to the questions posed by the FCC,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement. “As we made clear earlier this week, we remain committed to our DirecTV merger-related build-out plans,” he said, referring to comments by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson that it would pause fiber deployment efforts not knowing under what rules that investment would be governed.
The FCC, with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly approving and concurring only in part, denied the American Cable Association’s petition to review the cost model used to determine funding for Connect America Fund Phase II, an order released Wednesday said. The dispute was over the model used to come up with the amount price-cap carriers will be offered to serve locations in their service territory that are above a specified funding benchmark, but below an extremely high-cost benchmark, said the order adopted Nov. 5 and posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. The area also can't be served by a competing, unsubsidized provider to be eligible for funding, the order said. ACA had argued the 8.5 percent cost of money used in the model was too high because it assumed interest rates will increase. Though ACA believed the rates will remain low, the commission was not persuaded “ACA’s predictions regarding future interest rates are more valid than the Bureau’s well-reasoned predictive judgment,” the order said. The commission was also not persuaded that “using a slightly lower cost of money would have a material impact on achievement of the Commission’s universal service goals,” the order said. The Wireline Bureau didn't overstep its authority and its decisions were not “clearly in error,” O’Rielly said in a statement, but he believed a lower cost of money would “be a more accurate prediction of interest rates over five years.” O’Rielly also said he disagreed with “the assumption, implicit in the analysis" that the CAF should aim to support more locations even if they're lower cost. The program's purpose shouldn’t be to “maximize the number of locations that receive a subsidy,” he said, but to “focus support on locations that are truly high-cost and are in areas that are not served or are unlikely to be served by a competing provider.” ACA declined comment on Thursday.
Broadband services should be added to Lifeline, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at an American Enterprise Institute panel Wednesday on reforming the program. Internet access is “the greatest equalizer of our time” and “key in helping to break the cycle of persistent poverty,” Clyburn said. She said 70 percent of American adults have connectivity at home, but only 64 percent with incomes of less than $30,000 have online access. Saying adding broadband alone is “insufficient” in reforming the program, Clyburn also proposed establishing minimum service standards for any provider getting the $9.25 monthly Lifeline subsidy, to “ensure we get the most value for each universal service dollar and better service for Lifeline recipients.” Providers shouldn't be responsible for determining customer eligibility, Clyburn said, saying such a change would eliminate incentives for waste, fraud and abuse. Customers would also not have to provide sensitive financial information to providers, she said. As the commission did with the E-rate program, Clyburn said, allowing consumers to apply for Lifeline at the same time they apply for other government benefits would “provide a better experience for consumers and streamline our efforts,” Clyburn said. The FCC should also enter into public-private partnerships to coordinate outreach efforts for the program, she said.
Two library groups opposed extension of an e-reader accessibility waiver at the FCC requested by Amazon, Kobo and Sony that other industry stakeholders backed, according to comments and replies in docket 10-213. The Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers, representing the three makers of the devices, had sought what it called an "ongoing extension." The Association of Research Libraries and American Library Association oppose the request. "While disabled persons already must routinely (and unacceptably) wait several years before various mainstream technologies become accessible, the proposed waiver extension would leave basic e-readers in a near-permanent state of inaccessibility," said the library groups in a filing last week. "The record contains ample evidence that basic e-readers are designed with, marketed, and used for advanced communications services [ACS]." CEA said an ongoing extension would serve the public interest by permitting the continued availability of the e-readers "while recognizing that accessible alternatives are available in the marketplace," according to its comments. There's no evidence that ACS is the primary purpose of the class of devices, said the association. The library groups disagreed, saying the products are designed for ACS, pointing to use of email and social media. The Internet Association backs the waiver extension request and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau's Jan. 28 order saying uses like for social media aren't evidence of ACS. "Our thriving industry would benefit from the certainty that merely adding a browser does not mean that future smart, non-ACS devices will be limited by potentially product-altering, ACS accessibility regulations," said the association, which has members including Amazon, AOL, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo.
The informal working groups of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Advisory Committee will meet this month by teleconference. The space services and regulatory issues working groups will meet Friday, the FCC International Bureau said in a public notice Friday. The terrestrial services working group will meet Nov. 18, it said. "The meetings are open to the public."
Gogo continued to urge the FCC to take action on the air-to-ground mobile broadband service proposed by Qualcomm. Gogo repeated its preference for dividing the proposed 500 MHz band into four nationwide 125 MHz licenses, it said in an ex parte filing in docket 13-114. With a 125 MHz license, each ground station could support forward link capacity of about 400 Mbps, Gogo said. The number of ground stations in a network can be increased “through cell splitting without additional interference to satellites operating in the band,” it said. Auctioning four nationwide licenses wouldn’t increase the potential for harmful interference to primary services in the band, it said. Licensees wouldn’t be operating co-frequency with one another “and aggregate interference would be limited on a per-Hertz basis,” it said. The filing pertained to a meeting with the Wireless Bureau.
The FCC should seek comment on “the full range” of possible consequences before modifying the definition of multichannel video programming distributor to include over-the-top video, NCTA said in an ex parte filing posted in docket 12-83 Friday. The commission should consider whether foreign OTT services would qualify, and the definition of “for purchase," NCTA said. Changing the rule wouldn’t give OTT services access to content since they wouldn’t qualify for the compulsory copyright licenses that the Copyright Act specifies go to cable systems, NCTA said. “There is no statutory license for 'MVPDs' generally. This hole cannot be filled by the Commission.”