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FCC chairman Ajit Pai endorses T-Mobile / Sprint merger
The proposed merger of Sprint and T-Mobile is inching ever closer to being complete, after the Department of Justice gave its conditional endorsement last month. Now, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai is formally recommending that the agency's commissioners approve the deal. Pai said that after the FCC reviewed the details of the merger, "the evidence conclusively demonstrates that this transaction will bring fast 5G wireless service to many more Americans and help close the digital divide in rural areas."
FCC announces 5G airwave auction and $20 billion rural broadband fund
The FCC has announced a spectrum auction and a $20.4 billion rural broadband fund to bolster connectivity across the US. The auction is scheduled to start December 10th, and it will be the largest slice of airwaves the FCC has auctioned for commercial use at one time, with 3,400 megahertz in three different spectrum bands up for grabs. Providers have been urging the FCC to open mid-band airwaves that can project signals over greater distances, which should bolster connectivity in rural areas.
House of Representatives passes bill to restore net neutrality
The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would restore net neutrality rules the Federal Communications Commission repealed in 2017. Representatives approved the bill by 232-190 (with a sole Republican voting in favor), but the legislation still seems doomed.
FCC loses bid to cut tribal broadband subsidies
Things definitely aren't going the FCC's way this week. A federal appeals court has reversed the FCC's attempt to cut broadband subsidies in tribal lands, citing both a lack of supporting evidence as well as a lack of considerations when making the decision. The regulator didn't show how pulling the $25 Lifeline discount would lead to carriers filling the void like it claimed, according to the ruling. It also didn't acknowledge that resellers were leaving the program, and didn't factor in the potential loss of access to internet service or the wireless rollout data related to the services they use.
Senators demand investigation into carrier location-selling scandal
Several senators are calling on the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how carriers share customers' real-time phone location data, following a Motherboard report this month suggesting it's a cinch for bounty hunters to snag that information. A group of 14 Democrats (including Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, who are running for their party's presidential nomination) and independent senator Bernie Sanders signed a letter addressed to the agencies.
Ajit Pai refused to discuss carrier tracking scandal with lawmakers
Lawmakers want to know why the FCC still allows mobile carriers to share their subscribers' location data with aggregators, but they won't be getting answers from its chairman anytime soon. Ajit Pai has refused to attend an emergency briefing requested by the Committee on Energy and Commerce chief Rep. Frank Pallone. The committee head was hoping to discuss the phone location tracking scandal that blew up last week. If you'll recall, a Motherboard reporter was able to get someone's real-time location from a bail bond agent for just $300, and that information came from a company that purchases data from mobile carriers.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cancels CES appearance
For the second year in a row, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has cancelled his appearance at CES, though this time around, it's under very different circumstances. According to Politico Pro, both he and Commissioner Brendan Carr have had to cancel their CES plans due to the partial government shutdown that's still ongoing. Pai was supposed to discuss FCC plans with the Consumer Technology Association's Gary Shapiro while Carr was scheduled to take part in a roundtable discussion.
FCC believes mobile carriers may have lied about coverage
Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that one or more major mobile service providers are being investigated for potentially lying about their coverage maps. While the agency undergoes the inquiry, it is suspending its Mobility Fund reverse auction that will allocate subsidies meant to help companies build out high-speed broadband networks in rural areas.
FCC chairman admits Russia meddled in net neutrality debate
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has admitted that around 500,000 comments submitted during the net neutrality public comment period were linked to Russian email addresses. Pai noted in a court filing that most of the comments were in favor of net neutrality, which the FCC repealed last December.
FCC proposal would limit robocalls to reassigned phone numbers
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is continuing his seemingly relentless quest to rid the US of robocalls. The regulator has proposed more measures that would fight spam calls and texts, particularly people with reassigned numbers. The first proposal would create a database of reassigned numbers that would stop businesses (law-abiding businesses, at least) from calling numbers after they've been changed. You'd hopefully get fewer sales pitches intended for others.
FCC pushes carriers to implement caller ID authentication by 2019
Even if you don't agree with Ajit Pai's stance on some important issues, you might still want to hear about his latest campaign against robocalls. The FCC chairman has demanded (PDF) the adoption of a robust call authentication system to prevent caller ID spoofing, telling American carriers to implement the technology no later than 2019. Pai has sent letters to the CEOs of 14 voice providers to ask them to conjure up concrete plans to adopt the SHAKEN/STIR framework, which would validate legitimate calls across networks before they reach recipients. That would block spam and scam robocalls from going through, so you don't have to be wary of answering calls anymore.
California delays net neutrality law while federal lawsuit plays out
Last month, California's governor signed the state's net neutrality bill into law, legislation that restores the net neutrality protections the FCC repealed last year. However, the state was quickly hit with a lawsuit from both the Department of Justice and industry groups representing companies like AT&T, Charter and Verizon, which claimed the law ran afoul of the FCC's regulations. California's law was set to take effect at the start of next year, but the state has now agreed to delay its implementation and stay the litigation until a federal challenge to the FCC's decision is settled.
CA governor signs net neutrality bill into law, Justice Department sues
A net neutrality bill that its sponsor Scott Weiner calls "the strongest in the nation" (after being restored to its original form) is now state law in California after being signed by governor Jerry Brown. SB 822 is intended to restore the protections put in place by a (now-rescinded) 2015 FCC Order, as well as closing "loopholes" that its backers said could have allowed anti-competitive forms of zero-rating. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai captained the effort to repeal those rules, and has called the bill "illegal," setting the stage for a squabble between the state and federal government. And just as quickly as the bill has been signed, the New York Times reports that the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against it. In a statement, the department claimed "Senate Bill 822, an Internet regulation bill signed into law earlier today by Governor Jerry Brown, unlawfully imposes burdens on the Federal Government's deregulatory approach to the Internet."
FCC gives cities 90 days to process 5G carrier applications
The FCC is enacting an order that limits how long cities have to review the rollout of 5G and how much they can charge carriers for deploying the technology. Cities will have a 90-day "shot clock" to approve or deny carriers' applications to install small wireless facilities (cell sites that connect your devices to their networks) or 60 days if the companies want to attach 5G equipment to existing infrastructure. If cities can't meet those deadlines, the carriers have grounds to sue.
FCC’s Ajit Pai labels California net neutrality law 'illegal'
FCC head honcho, Ajit Pai, didn't mince words in comments regarding California's recent passing of a tough net neutrality bill. In his keynote speech for neoconservative policy organization Maine Heritage Policy Center, Pai called California's SB 822 "illegal" and said it "poses a risk to the rest of the country." Pai also hinted that he'd be coming for California should SB 822, seen as the toughest net neutrality law in the nation, receive the governor's signature, as it's expected to in the next two weeks.
The US government comes for Google, Facebook, and Twitter
Facebook, Twitter, and Google were threatened by lawmakers from three distinct quarters on Wednesday. A leaked email from the largest US telecom lobbying group tells us where this is headed. One threat came during testimony from Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey to Congress when Senator Mark Warner told the pair of executives that "Congress is going to have to take action here. The era of the Wild West in social media is coming to an end."
FCC chairman pushes for internet content transparency laws
The FCC isn't involved in the latest round of tech companies' congressional testimony, but that isn't stopping Chairman Ajit Pai from chiming in. The regulator has written a blog post effectively calling for laws requiring internet companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter to disclose how they decide on bans, demonetization and other policy decisions. People have "virtually no insight" into how tech giants make their decisions, he said, arguing that people should "seriously think" about forcing companies to "abide by new transparency obligations."
Lawmakers demand answers after Verizon throttled firefighter data
Lawmakers have asked Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai to investigate after Verizon throttled the data of firefighters who were tackling wildfires in California. The company was criticized this month for throttling Santa Clara County Fire's unlimited data plan to the point that it made the service essentially useless, hampering the department's response to the Mendocino Complex Fire. Verizon later removed speed caps for first responders on the West Coast and in Hawaii.
FCC investigator says Pai didn't give Sinclair preferential treatment
More than a few people thought FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was acting suspiciously ahead of the failed Sinclair-Tribune merger. The regulator's Office of the Inspector General, however, would beg to differ. The watchdog has published a report determining that Pai hadn't shown "favoritism" or other forms of shady dealing in his decisions around the abandoned takeover. Pai's choices, such as relaxing media ownership limitations, were "consistent" with his public statements, according to the report. Moreover, Pai's punishments for Sinclair (including a $13.3 million fine and the decision to kill the merger) suggested to the Inspector General that the Chairman was being fair.
Lawmakers ask Ajit Pai about false DDoS claims
A handful of Democratic lawmakers have some questions for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai regarding claims of a DDoS attack that the Inspector General recently concluded were false. Specifically, they want to know when Pai became aware that disruption to the agency's net neutrality comment system may not have been due to a DDoS attack and why the agency didn't correct its public statements alleging a DDoS attack before now. "It is troubling that you allowed the public myth created by the FCC to persist and your misrepresentations to remain uncorrected for over a year," they wrote in a letter to Pai today. The letter was signed by Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ), Mike Doyle (PA), Jerry McNerney (CA) and Debbie Dingell (MI).
