FCC commissioners approved 5-0 an order making railroad police eligible to use various interoperability channels to communicate with public safety officers already using the frequencies (see 1509010044). The change had the support of both the railroads and public safety groups when the FCC sought comment last year (see 1511160026). The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council sought the rule change. “Promoting interoperability -- to ensure that emergency responders from different jurisdictions and disciplines can communicate with each other -- is a critical goal of the Commission’s public safety objectives,” said the order, Tuesday. The FCC is permitting railroad police to use VHF, UHF, 700 MHz narrowband and 800 MHz National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee interoperability channels. The order had broad support, including from the Department of Transportation, the FCC said. “We agree with commenters that adoption of our proposal to give railroad police access to the interoperability channels is warranted,” the commission said. “Train derailments can result in significant passenger injuries and loss of life as well as property damage, and can require large, multi-jurisdictional responses.” The FCC said it expanded slightly the Federal Railroad Administration’s definition of railroad police officer to ensure the rules cover “Amtrak police, freight railroad police, commuter railroad police, passenger rail transit system police, and part-time railroad police officers.” But the FCC turned down a request by the American Petroleum Institute that the agency extend its railroad police proposal to oil and gas companies and other critical infrastructure industry entities: “API’s proposal is outside the scope of this proceeding, which is focused on railroad police eligibility to access the interoperability channels, and thus will not be further addressed here.”

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn a decision to regulate prices for business data services, “particularly fiber-based BDS, will deter incentives for the rapid deployment of 5G wireless technology in rural America,” said a filing in docket 05-25. Stephenson and other top AT&T officials met with Clyburn Friday, when the CEO was at the FCC to chair the initial meeting of the industry-led Robocall Strike Force (see 1608190034). A much longer AT&T filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-143 provided extensive arguments against heavy BDS regulation presented by ILEC economists and lawyers, who had a "constructive and wide-ranging discussion" at the FCC on economic analysis in the BDS proceeding. The filing on a meeting with FCC staffers and consultant Marc Rysman said recent market data contradict claims that ILECs exercise broad BDS market power. Even by 2013, non-ILECs earned more than half of BDS revenue, and the market is quickly transitioning from legacy TDM-based BDS to Ethernet-based BDS, and the most recently available Ethernet market share data from Vertical Systems isn't compatible with claims of broad ILEC market power, the filing said. Further data show CLECs and cable operators were delivering more than 60 percent of new connections in the first half of 2016. "These data also shine a spotlight on the absurdity of the CLECs' proposals to regulate ILEC Ethernet services, but not their own Ethernet services," it said. "Level 3, for example, would have the Commission regulate ILECs but not Level 3, notwithstanding that Level 3 has a higher market share than Verizon and CenturyLink, and only slightly lower market share than AT&T. Moreover, ILEC Ethernet market shares have consistently fallen since 2010, while those of the CLECs and cable MSOs [multiple system operators] have consistently increased." The data are "consistent with the more general metrics" from the FCC's 2013 data collection, which showed providers compete for customers at locations within a half mile of their networks, the filing said. The record shows that even in 2013 "at least two providers had deployed competing networks in more than 95 percent of MSA [metropolitan statistical area] census blocks with BDS demand, and that those census blocks cover 97 percent of the BDS connections and 99 percent of business establishments in MSAs." In another filing posted Tuesday on a meeting with FCC staffers, Windstream detailed its support for Incompas/Verizon proposals for "reforms that produce real and meaningful price reductions and prevent backdoor price increases."

The FCC Disability Advisory Committee meets Sept. 22, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT, in the FCC Commission Meeting Room, the agency said Monday in a public notice. The DAC last met in June (see 1606160023). Earlier this year, the DAC played a big role in getting the FCC to move forward on an NPRM that examines effectively ending text technology in favor of real-time text (see 1604280055).

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a 38-page Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review opinion from April that confirms that some government surveillance involving collection of phone numbers is legal. The opinion from the court (which often rules in secret) “confirms the legality of the government’s continued collection of post-cut-through digits (PCTD) using a pen register and trap and trace (PRTT) device, authorized pursuant to Title IV of FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act],” the ODNI said in a Monday blog post. “Title IV authorizes the government to use a PRTT device to seek and capture dialing, routing, addressing or signaling (DRAS) information. Title IV does not authorize the use of a PRTT device to seek the contents of a communication.” ODNI said it released the opinion in conjunction with DOJ. The FISA court of review “concluded that FISA authorizes and the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit collection of all PCTD obtained with a PRTT device to acquire non-content DRAS information, so long as the government is prohibited from using any incidentally collected content,” the blog post said.

FCC commissioners should declare their support for a rulemaking seeking comment on extending the procurement rules for cable to all FCC entities in their signing statements on the upcoming quadrennial review order, said Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig in an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-50 Monday. Honig called aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly to ask them to back the rule change in their signing statements. Cable procurement rules require carriers to widely advertise procurement opportunities in an effort to encourage diversity. If commissioners express support for the NPRM in their signing statements, it's more likely the commission will pursue the matter, Honig told us. The procurement rules are part of a "diversity docket" of items that MMTC had been seeking to have included in the media ownership order. Four former chairmen -- Julius Genachowski, Bill Kennard, Reed Hundt and Michael Copps -- sent a letter to the FCC endorsing the proposal to extend in the draft order now on circulation (see 1608050058).

The FCC likely will appeal its court setback on municipal broadband regulation, said CCMI consultant Andrew Regitsky Friday in a blog post. He noted the commission could ask the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for en banc rehearing of a three-judge panel's decision reversing the agency's pre-emption of two state laws blocking municipal broadband providers from expanding into nearby communities in State of Tennessee, State of North Carolina v. FCC, Nos. 15-3291/3555 (see 1608100049). Such requests "are rarely granted and since the Court primarily consists of Republicans, the Commission is likely to lose even if the request is granted," he said. Regitsky said the FCC is "more likely" to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. "The Sixth Circuit Court has had more of its decisions overturned by the High Court than any other appeals court," he said. "If Hillary Clinton becomes president, she will most probably appoint a left-leaning justice likely to side with the Commission. That would provide a 5-4 majority at the Supreme Court for justices appointed by Democratic presidents and increas[e] substantially the chance the decision is overturned." Most attorneys we talked to recently said FCC appellate prospects are dim (see 1608110014).

Correction: LabMD is still an active company with an office and Michael Daugherty remains CEO and its sole employee, though the company no longer tests specimens (see 1608120002).

A federal court rejected an FCC request to hold up inmate calling service litigation after the commission Aug. 4 approved an order to increase ICS rate caps currently under judicial review (see 1608110020 and 1608040037). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also revised the remaining briefing schedule in an order Friday by Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Cornelia Pillard, a motion panel in the case (Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461). ICS provider, state and sheriff petitioners challenging the commission's previous ICS orders filed their opening briefs earlier this summer (see 1606070030). Response briefs are now due from the FCC and DOJ Sept. 12, and from Network Communications International and other intervenors supporting the FCC Sept. 29. Reply briefs from petitioners and supporting intervenors are due Oct. 31. The parties were directed to file motions governing further proceedings within seven days of the deadline for challenging the FCC's Aug. 4 order. "I expect new petitions for review, new stay motions and new briefs. I imagine the new cases will catch up to the old ones," emailed Andrew Schwartzman, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation senior counselor, who represents intervenors supporting the FCC. GlobalTel*Link already said it intends to challenge the Aug. 4 order. “GTL applauds the action of the court, which offers all parties the shortest timeline to resolve the central issues of this proceeding -- rates below costs and whether the FCC has jurisdiction to control security policy in state, county and municipal corrections facilities,” emailed a GTL spokesman. “After years of discussion and debate, GTL looks forward to the definitive resolution of these questions and the end of uncertainty in the market.” The FCC didn't comment.

NTIA sought comment Thursday on factors influencing industry adoption of IPv6, amid the near-complete exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. Though adoption of IPv6 is increasing, only 32 percent of U.S. internet services are IPv6-capable, said NTIA Office of International Affairs Telecom Policy Specialist Ashley Heineman in a blog post. “As IPv4 addresses become more scarce, companies and other organizations that have yet to transition to IPv6 may find it difficult to expand their Internet presence.” NTIA said in a Federal Register notice it's particularly interested in feedback from firms that have adopted IPv6 on the “benefits, costs and challenges they have experienced, as well as any insight into additional incentives that could aid future adoption, implementation, and support of IPv6.” The Department of Commerce intends to use the comments to “inform” its work to promote IPv6, including a planned IPv6 best practices forum set to be held during the Internet Governance Forum's December meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico, NTIA said. Comments are due Oct. 3.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson will be at the FCC Friday to chair the first meeting (see 1608120032) of the industry-led Robocall Strike Force, the agency said Thursday. Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will join him to make opening remarks during the public part of the meeting, the agency said. AT&T volunteered to lead the group, the FCC said. Meanwhile, lawyers at Kelley Drye said many questions remain about the task force. “Notably, this group is not a formal federal advisory committee, and does not have the process or procedural requirements that would accompany such a group,” Steve Augustino and Jennifer Rodden Wainwright wrote in a blog post. “It is not clear what the group will address, or how it will operate going forward. To us, the primary take-away from the existence of the group is the FCC’s high-profile involvement in it.” They also said Wheeler appears intent on “driving the introduction of blocking techniques in the wireless industry” while he's still chairman.