FCC Says It Didn't Urge Licensees to Challenge September Small-Cells Ruling/Order
Neither Chairman Ajit Pai “nor his staff urged any FCC licensee to challenge” the September ruling/order to remove local barriers to small-cell deployment (see 1809260029) in a bid to reduce the probability the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would…
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ultimately hear the case, said Office of Legislative Affairs Director Tim Strachan in letters to House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders released Monday night. House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., wrote Pai in January on concerns the FCC attempted to “game the judicial lottery procedure” for challenges to the small-cells order (see 1901250010). Those challenges have since been consolidated at the 9th Circuit (see 1902050030). Pai and staff didn't make “any threats, implied or otherwise, against any licensee regarding such challenges,” Strachan wrote. “And as indicated in the attached documents, the Office of General Counsel only had standard communications with litigants related to its role in collecting petitions for review for transmission to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. As you know, this is a multimember agency, and [Pai] cannot speak on behalf of his colleagues.” The FCC attached “correspondence between FCC employees and FCC licensees with respect to the legal challenges” to the small-cells order, but those documents weren't available Tuesday. House Commerce is “reviewing the information we received from the FCC and expect additional information soon,” a spokesperson said.