Lifeline reseller TruConnect asked FCC officials to pause Lifeline minimum service standards set to take effect in December, in support of a joint petition asking the agency to wait for the results of a pending market study, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-287. Representing TruConnect, ex-Georgia Republican legislator Judson Hill had meetings Thursday with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, and bureau staff and aides including to Geoffrey Starks, asking that the Lifeline national verifier program revert to a soft launch until all relevant databases are secure and operable at the state level. Hill said non-facilities-based eligible telecom carriers should be able to participate in providing broadband connections as part of the upcoming telehealth pilot program for low-income consumers.

Lifeline reseller TruConnect asked FCC officials to pause Lifeline minimum service standards set to take effect in December, in support of a joint petition asking the agency to wait for the results of a pending market study, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-287. Representing TruConnect, ex-Georgia Republican legislator Judson Hill had meetings Thursday with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioners Mike O'Rielly, and bureau staff and aides including to Geoffrey Starks, asking that the Lifeline national verifier program revert to a soft launch until all relevant databases are secure and operable at the state level. Hill said non-facilities-based eligible telecom carriers should be able to participate in providing broadband connections as part of the upcoming telehealth pilot program for low-income consumers.

CEO Issa Asad and other Q Link executives met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and Wireline Bureau staff on a pending petition by CTIA, the National Consumer Law Center and others to pause December implementation of Lifeline minimum service standards, pending a market study. “Q Link is part of a wide and deep coalition of stakeholders supporting the Joint Petition’s request to pause any increases in the mobile broadband minimum service standard and to retain full Lifeline support for standalone voice and voice-centric bundles until the Commission can study the impact of such changes on access to and affordability of Lifeline services for low-income consumers and report on such findings,” it filed, posted Friday in docket 17-287. “Failure to grant the Joint Petition would result in less broadband for Lifeline subscribers.”

CEO Issa Asad and other Q Link executives met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and Wireline Bureau staff on a pending petition by CTIA, the National Consumer Law Center and others to pause December implementation of Lifeline minimum service standards, pending a market study. “Q Link is part of a wide and deep coalition of stakeholders supporting the Joint Petition’s request to pause any increases in the mobile broadband minimum service standard and to retain full Lifeline support for standalone voice and voice-centric bundles until the Commission can study the impact of such changes on access to and affordability of Lifeline services for low-income consumers and report on such findings,” it filed, posted Friday in docket 17-287. “Failure to grant the Joint Petition would result in less broadband for Lifeline subscribers.”

The Wireless Infrastructure Association plans a push in coming months to get the FCC to move forward on an additional wireless infrastructure order, focused on rules for approving collocations, President Jonathan Adelstein said in an interview last week. Last year, the agency, where he used to be a Democratic commissioner, approved two major wireless infrastructure orders. Both are targets of court actions.

NARUC, CTIA and consumer advocacy groups asked the FCC to postpone plans to change minimum service requirements for Lifeline until it can review a market study that's underway. That's per replies posted through Friday to docket 11-42. NARUC at the most recent meeting of state telecom commissioners asked the federal regulator to postpone such changes (see 1907230040).

One of the top concerns of the U.S. firearms industry is the delay in transitioning export controls of firearms and ammunition from the State Department to the Commerce Department, said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. As the wait for Export Control Reform has increased -- beginning in 2009 under the Obama administration and continuing under the Trump administration -- the U.S. firearms industry increasingly feels as if it has been left behind, Keane said.

Five of the top eight consumer tech product categories in terms of 2018 customs value temporarily escaped 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure at least until Dec. 15 (see 1908130015), well after imports will have arrived for the peak holiday selling season, per Office of the U.S. Trade Representative documents released Tuesday. Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, smart speakers and finished TVs from China face immediate 10 percent tariff exposure Sept. 1.

Five of the top eight consumer tech product categories in terms of 2018 customs value temporarily escaped 10 percent List 4 Section 301 tariff exposure at least until Dec. 15 (see 1908130015), well after imports will have arrived for the peak holiday selling season, per Office of the U.S. Trade Representative documents released Tuesday. Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, smart speakers and finished TVs from China face immediate 10 percent tariff exposure Sept. 1.

The FCC will create grounds for a legal challenge based on the Administrative Procedure Act if Chairman Ajit Pai circulates an order approving the T-Mobile/Sprint/Dish Network deal without seeking additional comment, Rural Wireless Association Counsel Carri Bennet told us. RWA and NTCA formally asked the FCC to seek comment on T-Mobile's DOJ-supported buy of Sprint and the sale of assets to Dish (see 1908050061). FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks also sought another pleading cycle (see 1907260071). Bennet said the transaction itself isn’t subject to the APA, but the Dish license transfers and extensions that are part of the larger deal are. The companies and the FCC declined to comment.