The FCC has an Oct. 11 deadline to respond to an amended employment retaliation complaint brought by an employee, District of Columbia U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in an order Friday approving filing of the amended complaint. Plaintiff Sharon Stewart sued the agency in 2015, alleging she was penalized after complaining of a hostile work environment in the Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO) (see 1606010060). The amended complaint (in Pacer) includes a new count alleging Stewart was retaliated against when she was the only OCBO worker not to receive any award or merit increase in 2015, at the same time she was pursuing her lawsuit and equal employment opportunity complaints against her supervisors. The order said the FCC consented to Stewart's motion to file an amended complaint.

FCC staff offered guidance to potential Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs) under the agency's new federal streamlined designation process for entities seeking subsidy support under the USF low-income program. All petitions for LBP status must be sent to the Wireline Bureau, which won't accept or address LBP petitions before Federal Register publication of recent Office of Management and Budget approval of revised FCC-ordered information collection, said a bureau public notice Friday in docket 11-42. Although the commission gave the bureau six months to approve LBP applications, parties can qualify for 60-day streamlined treatment in which their requests will be deemed granted if they serve at least 1,000 non-Lifeline voice or broadband customers and have offered broadband services to the public for at least two straight years, the PN said. It also offered guidance to all providers on certain details for implementing minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported broadband service, and on state Lifeline roles. State authority to run their own Lifeline programs isn't affected, and they retain their oversight for the "eligible telecom carrier" relinquishment process for all non-LBP ETCs, said the PN, which clarified "that a provider’s designation as an LBP does not supersede any obligations the provider must fulfill as a result of any other ETC designation it has obtained." Similarly, the LBP process doesn't affect the authority states have exercised over the Lifeline marketplace, it said.

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said the FCC fails to do cost-benefit analysis despite executive orders requiring agencies to do so issued by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. "While other agencies seem to take seriously their obligation to evaluate objectively the consequences of their actions, the FCC consistently falls short," O'Rielly said in a Friday speech to TPRC 44, a communications research conference, according to written remarks. A 2015 Office of Management and Budget report to Congress showed that out of 14 major FCC rules issued from 2005 to 2014, none included information on benefits or costs, he said. Though the commission is aware of the executive order requirements, it "rarely does anything remotely close to detailed cost-benefit analysis," he said. "More often than not, all that is contained within items is a couple of sweeping assertions that the costs will be minimal but the benefits considerable. They are the kind of statements that you would expect to find in a press release, not the work of a so-called expert agency that has oversight over one of the most dynamic markets in the U.S. economy. Moreover, I have yet to see an item that assessed the costs and benefits of regulatory alternatives, including the alternative of not regulating." He detailed why he found various FCC "excuses" unpersuasive and said his push for cost-benefit analysis, like his process reform efforts, isn't intended to thwart the chairman's agenda. "I fully acknowledge and accept that the Commission will still adopt policies that I may not agree with," he said. "But if it does so after a full and fair consideration of the costs and benefits, the policies are likely to be better tailored to solve the problem at hand and less burdensome to companies and consumers."

The FCC asked a court to suspend its review of the agency's Lifeline USF overhaul, pending agency resolution of petitions to reconsider its order. When such petitions are filed for an order being challenged in court, "it is a common practice for the reviewing court, on request by the agency or other parties, to hold its review proceeding in abeyance pending agency action on the petitions for reconsideration," said an FCC motion (in Pacer) Thursday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hold in abeyance NARUC v. FCC, Nos. 16-1170 and 16-1219. The commission said the usual court considerations "are especially weighty in this case" because some recon petitions implicate two questions that judicial petitioners plan to raise before the D.C. Circuit: whether the agency should phase down stand-alone voice support and on state authority to designate USF "eligible telecom carriers" (ETCs). State judicial petitioners Thursday made a filing (in Pacer) saying they would oppose the abeyance motion and proposing a briefing schedule and format agreed to by all the parties, "subject, of course, to this Court's ruling" on the motion. The FCC March 31 adopted an order extending Lifeline low-income support to broadband service and streamlining program administration (see 1603310056). NARUC and individual states challenged the decision to create a federal Lifeline broadband provider designation process that bypasses state ETC reviews (see 1606030053 and 1607010057). CTIA, General Communication Inc., Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, NTCA/WTA, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, TracFone and USTelecom petitioned the FCC to reconsider or clarify aspects of its order (see 1608090023).

Three million people, 575,000 square miles of area and 750,000 road miles in the U.S. have no 4G LTE coverage or only coverage from a carrier receiving universal service support, said Jon Wilkins, chief of the Wireless Bureau, as the FCC released numbers Friday, based on Form 477 data. “These are the areas where our analysis shows there is a clear need for an ongoing subsidy to either expand 4G LTE coverage or continue coverage on a subsidized basis.” The FCC is starting to work on a new phase of a mobility fund. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Competitive Carriers Association annual meeting recently (see 1609200058) the release was coming and would show a mobility fund is necessary since too many locations remain unserved by LTE. Wilkins said the data is much improved over what was available to the FCC when it launched the initial mobility fund. “Our analysis shows that just under one and a half million people, approximately 470,000 square miles, and 550,000 miles of road in the U.S. do not have 4G LTE coverage," Wilkins said in a blog post. "We can overlay the actual area coverage data with publicly available data on universal service subsidies to determine at a sub-census block level where 4G LTE service is available only from a provider receiving support -- an indication that continuing support for service in those areas is needed.” It’s a positive development that the Wireless Bureau acknowledges the need to support mobile broadband through the USF, said Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry. As the FCC works toward a new mobility fund, it should “prioritize expanding service nationwide without stranding thousands of rural Americans who rely on service that is currently provided through USF support,” he said. “To meet Congress’s mandate of ‘reasonably comparable services in urban and rural areas,’ seamless wireless service must be available from a consumer’s carrier of choice to reach critical public safety services including 911.” The Form 477 data isn’t the “last word” on service availability, with Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn urging more-accurate and comprehensive measurements using the latest technologies and methods available, he said. “We appreciate the inclusion of a challenge process to make sure that the data used for any final decisions appropriately reflect the real on-the-ground services available to consumers,” he said. “CCA will continue to work with the FCC to ensure mobile broadband is available for all Americans, especially those in rural areas.” The Rural Wireless Association (RWA) applauded the FCC decision to analyze coverage in a census tract beyond the center point. Meanwhile, the USF program needs to continue to support mobile voice, the group said in a news release. “RWA is also pleased that the Bureau has committed to implementing a challenge process to allow service providers to contest coverage determinations,” RWA said. “RWA encourages the Bureau to ensure that this process is robust, and provides all parties (not just very large entities with nearly unlimited technological and personnel resources) sufficient time and opportunity to participate.”

AT&T said it's ending an internet data-collection program that allowed consumers to receive lower broadband rates in exchange for targeted advertising. "To simplify our offering for our customers, we plan to end the optional Internet Preferences advertising program related to our fastest internet speed tiers," AT&T said in a statement Friday. "As a result, all customers on these tiers will receive the best rate we have available for their speed tier in their area. We’ll begin communicating this update to customers early next week.”

The FCC said it reauthorized its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee for another two-year term and is seeking nominations for membership in a public notice Thursday. The current term of the IAC expired July 14. “The mission of the IAC is to provide advice to the Commission on the many telecommunications issues affecting local, state and Tribal governments that are within the jurisdiction of the FCC,” the notice said. “These issues can range from major FCC policy priorities such as broadband adoption and deployment, especially in unserved and underserved rural areas and Tribal lands, strengthening public safety communications infrastructure and emergency response capabilities, streamlining facilities siting, while respecting public rights-of-way, monitoring the transition from ‘legacy’ telecommunications services to emerging wireline networks and wireless networks, and ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the universal service programs.”

CenturyLink said the FCC should effectively look before it leaps into new regulation of business data serves. The BDS rule changes the FCC is considering "would have far-reaching operational and procedural impacts, broadly affecting business systems, regulatory procedures, and compliance efforts and necessitating an appropriate implementation glide-path," said a CenturyLink filing Thursday in docket 16-143 on a meeting with Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel staffers. "Proposals now under consideration would require multiple follow-up proceedings and would consume significant agency resources. The competitive market test, for example, will require close monitoring of the services provisioned, which in turn will entail extensive ongoing work by ILECs and CLECs alike." The incumbent telco said "transitions from one regime to another tend to take substantially longer than expected," and it attached a 20-page overview of BDS complexities that it said the FCC must consider. BT Americas provided additional information (some of it redacted) supporting its proposal that "minimum revenue commitments ('MRCs') should be capped at 50 percent or less with respect to contracts entered into with ILECs and/or their affiliates" providing dominant services, including BDS, and nondominant services. The MRC levels in existing ILEC BDS tariffs and contracts are generally set at or above 80 percent of a customer’s previous spend," said a BT filing. "This commitment level does not allow a wholesale purchaser to migrate BDS from ILEC circuit-based data services to packet-based data services sold by either ILECs or CLECs." Comcast discussed what it saw as the limitations of prescriptive rate regulation with General Counsel Howard Symons, Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero, an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and other staffers. The commission should adopt NCTA's proposal to apply rate regulation only where monopoly conditions are present and competition is unlikely, said a Comcast filing. If a regulatory backstop is needed to ensure wholesale BDS access, Comcast suggested the FCC give providers "a baseline duty to deal on a commercially reasonable basis," similar to its wireless data-roaming requirement.

Telecom and cable representatives are expected to be a part of a Trump campaign transition team meeting in Washington Thursday, a communications industry official told us. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has rarely weighed in on tech and telecom policy, and unlike his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, he has released no agenda on the topics. The Trump for America transition team scheduled an hourlong “information session” promising “an inside look on the work underway on planning for the transition” at the Baker Hostetler law firm’s offices and featuring transition team leader Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, said an invite to the tech sector. Transition team member Andrew Bremberg, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a policy director for the Republican National Committee platform committee this year, sent the invite. Likely attendees include CTA, the Internet Association, MPAA, Information Technology Industry Council and CTIA, plus people representing individual companies, said officials. Officials said this is the first big formal outreach from the GOP national election forces since a summer RNC meeting with tech and telecom stakeholders (see 1606060035). One suspected this Thursday meeting will be as large as in that earlier meeting, which featured at least 75 or so people. An official confirmed that room size range of about 75-100 people for the earlier RNC meeting and said that during it, attendees all offered their key policy goals. The Trump campaign didn’t confirm the event, nor did spokespeople for certain trade organizations in these areas.

A series of votes at Thursday's FCC meeting on personnel matters became protest votes for the two GOP commissioners, who voted no on the six items. The personnel actions themselves weren't made public, but one FCC source told us the "no" votes had to do with personnel issues traditionally being handled differently and not on a meeting agenda. The other three commissioners voted "yes" on the six. At a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing earlier this month (see 1609150045), Commissioner Mike O'Rielly complained about FCC process reform, referring to a reform instituted days earlier by Chairman Tom Wheeler on disposal of personnel matters. "The Chairman contemplated, decided and declared a new procedure for addressing personnel changes that he believes are taking too long," O'Rielly said, in testimony made available online. "The Commission will now vote on these items at its monthly Open Meetings, without discussion or comment."