The FCC put a hold on Lifeline USF reimbursement payments to Total Call Mobile, said a Wireline Bureau order Wednesday in docket 11-42 directing Universal Service Administrative Co. to carry out the action. "This temporary hold is a limited one," the bureau said. "It shall be effective beginning with TCM’s request for reimbursement in all states filed for the data month of May 2016, and shall remain in effect pending the Bureau’s receipt and evaluation of TCM’s final, complete response to the Bureau’s letter of June 1, 2016 and subject to the Bureau notifying USAC of any change in the terms of the temporary hold." The bureau noted the commission issued a notice of apparent liability for forfeiture and order resulting from an investigation by the Enforcement Bureau. The notice proposed fining Total Call Mobile $51 million for allegedly enrolling tens of thousands of duplicate and ineligible consumers into the low-income telecom support program (see 1604080032). Total Call Mobile General Counsel Mike Morrissey told us his company was "a bit surprised" by the FCC action "because we thought we had been responding" adequately. He said TCM had told the FCC it couldn't provide all the information the agency sought by June 13, but it provided over 120,000 documents, and planned to provide the rest by June 27. "Frankly, we hadn't heard there was a problem with that," he said, but the company is now trying to complete its submissions to the commission by Friday. "I think we’re working this out and believe we will be able to do so to their satisfaction and show that whatever happened back in 2013 and 2014, that we’re now in full compliance" with their reimbursement rules, he said, suggesting it could take weeks, not months.

Telecom heavyweights urged the FCC to promptly approve the Telcordia contract to be local number portability administrator that was negotiated by North American Portability Management (NAPM). Officials from AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, NCTA, T-Mobile, USTelecom and Verizon met with commissioner aides about the planned LNPA transition from Neustar to Telcordia (iconectiv). "The parties stated that the approval of the [master services agreement or MSA] is a prerequisite to the continued progress of the transition and that there are mounting costs to consumers for every day the transition is delayed," said a USTelecom filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-109. "The parties noted that all segments of the industry support the MSA and that those opposed to approval of the MSA and moving forward with the transition have had ample opportunity to be a part of the process." Neustar recently asked the FCC to force Ericsson-owned Telcordia to explain why it shouldn't be disqualified as LNPA due to possible misrepresentations about the citizenship of employees doing initial system coding work (see 1606020050). Telcordia and NAPM opposed the motion (see 1606130040 and 1606170027). The telecom officials told the commissioner aides "security issues have been exhaustively addressed and resolved and with the Commission staff and with the approval of relevant federal government stakeholders," said the filing. "In addition ... the cost savings in selecting Telcordia are exponential and would provide significant savings not only to companies of all sizes, but more importantly to consumers." In a separate filing, Neustar summarized a meeting with FCC officials about law enforcement authorities' transition to an "Enhanced Law Enforcement Platform." Neustar said it won't provide its Local Number Portability Enhanced Analytical Platform service in regions where it's no longer the Number Portability Administration Center administrator. Neustar said the MSA "sets the expectation that the ELEP service will not be available until after all NPAC regions are transitioned, thereby potentially creating a gap in the provision of the law enforcement service." Neustar also raised concerns about increased transition risk from the "compressed timeline and substantial reduction in testing" announced by PwC, NAPM's transition oversight manager.

AT&T accused Sprint and other rivals of engaging in doublespeak on special access. The proceeding has become a "showcase" for "both sides of our mouth" (BSOM) advocacy as some parties press the FCC to regulate their competitors, said Frank Simone, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, in a blog post Wednesday. "But one company truly rises above the rest when it comes to saying one thing to the FCC and another to investors -- Sprint," he said. "Not even two months ago, Sprint came to the FCC and argued that it has no choice but to purchase business broadband services from incumbent carriers because only they provide those connections for the vast majority of buildings with business data service (BDS) demand in the country." Simone said Sprint executives had made candid statements, including in a recent article, touting the company's ability to tap cable Ethernet over DOCSIS and other competitive alternatives to fill out its Ethernet footprint in most of the country. "Yet at the Commission, Sprint continues to discredit cable DOCSIS services as an alternative to incumbent carrier special access services," he said. "While Sprint’s economists completely ignore the impact of cable BDS in their filings at the Commission, their business executives have already negotiated agreements with these very same cable companies." Simone urged the FCC to ignore Sprint's "hollow arguments" and focus on encouraging the industry to invest in deploying more fiber and other facilities. But he said the commission's recent Further NPRM "looks to make it easier for companies" to lease other providers' networks, which will discourage investment. With BDS comments due Tuesday, Sprint and others will undoubtedly "bog down the docket with their bald-faced special brand of BSOM advocacy," he said. "Let’s just hope the Commission ignores their tall tales of woe and focuses on policies that encourage the investment necessary to bring high-speed broadband to more American businesses." Sprint didn't comment.

Frontier Communications' entry into California and Texas is being met by "false and misleading" claims by Charter Communications about its HDTV and data offerings and phone service, Frontier said in a lawsuit (in Pacer) Monday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The suit asks for Charter to be enjoined from its advertising claims, ordered to disseminate new ads "designed to correct the false and misleading claims" and forced to pay unspecified damages. The suit said Frontier's buy of Verizon's wireline operations (see 1604010036) has been followed by Charter radio and print ads targeting former Verizon Fios customers in Texas and California, falsely claiming Frontier charges additional fees for HDTV service and puts limits on the amount of domestic calling available monthly. The suit also says the ads understate the speed of Frontier's internet offering, and Charter has run radio spots and mailed out ads claiming former Verizon Fios customers are being "ripped off by Frontier." Charter didn't comment Tuesday.

Neustar plans to split into two publicly traded companies in a tax-free spinoff, with one providing order management and numbering services and the other focused on information services, said a company release Tuesday. "As the market opportunities in the information services and telecommunications sectors continue to evolve, today’s announcement is the logical next step for Neustar. Each business will be better-positioned to grow as focused and sustainable companies," said CEO Lisa Hook, who will become CEO of the information services company. The order management and numbering services company will retain the Neustar name while the information services company will be rebranded, said Hook on a webcast. Neustar expects the spinoff to be completed in a year, subject to customary conditions, including final approval by the company's board and the effectiveness of a Form 10 to be filed with the SEC, said Chief Financial Officer Paul Lalljie, who will become CEO of the order management and numbering services company. He said order management and numbering service revenue was $580 million in 2015, with a compounded annual growth rate of 8 percent over the last four years. That includes Number Portability Administration Center revenue, which he said is expected to total $496 million annually for the duration of Neustar's contract as local number portability administrator. Lalljie was "bullish" on the opportunities for order management and numbering services, despite the looming loss of the NPAC business to Ericsson's Telcordia, which the FCC chose to be the next LNPA. He said Neustar's information services had revenue of $470 million in 2015, with a compounded annual growth rate of 25 percent over the past four years.

The FCC's revamped Electronic Comment Filing System was "online and running" on schedule Monday, a commission spokesman emailed us. "The modernized system seems to be effectively receiving and processing comments." Though most archived comments successfully have migrated to the new system, some files still were being moved Monday, the spokesman said, but the migration should be complete by Tuesday: "We continue to seek feedback from users as to any concerns or bugs they might encounter." Feedback can be sent to ECFSfeedback@fcc.gov.

Correction: The "pragmatic argument" that Donald Trump is bad for the presidency, but that Hillary Clinton "is worse, in terms of both her policy positions and ethics," is an opinion held by a "camp" of congressional Republicans who on that basis support Trump’s nomination, CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a Medium.com blog post Friday blasting Trump as "unfit" for the White House (see 1606170031). It's not the view of Shapiro on Clinton, he said, and he has taken no position on her candidacy.

Weather and earth observation groups are raising red flags about Ligado's proposed terrestrial LTE network. Among those saying the spectrum is sacrosanct are the American Weather and Climate Industry Association (AWCIA), the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). AWCIA Monday in RM-11681 said the interference that could come from terrestrial downlinks sharing the same spectrum as signals from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) "would have a devastating impact on our members" and it urged no commercial sharing with the 1675-1680 MHz band. GEO -- made up of numerous nations and organizations that share Earth observation data -- said GOES collects data that would be used by the Global Earth Observation System of Systems being developed that would tie together a number of earth observation systems. GEO also cited the World Radiocommunication Conference decision not to select 1675-1695 MHz for worldwide consideration to support international mobile telecom, saying domestic use of parts of that spectrum in the U.S. "may result in actions in other countries which could further destabilize the consistent access to the data that is critical to public safety, welfare and the economy at large" and opposing commercial sharing in that band. IAEM said it's "puzzled why the 1675-1680 MHz band is now being reconsidered for 'shared use' with a for-profit entity at the risk of public safety." It said the Ligado proposal first needs to be evaluated and tested by an outside third party, not one paid for by Ligado. IAEM said it's "concerned that if the decision is made for this band to be auctioned as 'shared use,' there will be no going back, no way to 'un-share' the spectrum and no accountability when interference does occur." Ligado in a statement said it "believes that technology can enable this spectrum to be shared for next-generation mobile services while protecting the vital mission of NOAA and the delivery of important weather data that public and private institutions use.”

New Street Research thinks the communications fallout from the likely presidential nominees of the two major parties will probably break down along familiar lines. An FCC chaired by Democrat Hillary Clinton's choice "would be generally good for what might be seen as attackers, including Tech and CLECs," while an FCC chaired by Republican Donald Trump's choice "would be generally good for incumbents, including ILECs and Cable," said New Street analysts in a lengthy note to investors Sunday, elaborating on previous notes (see 1603020020 and 1605020031). "Either outcome will generally be mixed for broadcasters, programmers and rural telephone companies. ... While the reactions of a Trump or Clinton presidency are fairly predictable as to the current set of issues, ... either Administration is likely to face issues which defy the simple regulation v. deregulation narrative." A recession, depending on the severity, could cause Democrats to "look more favorably upon policies that carriers argue incent network capital expenditures, perhaps modifying some policies that carriers have claimed depress investment," they wrote. "A Trump FCC might use a recession as a justification but we don’t think the outcome would be different, other than to soften Democratic resistance to the change in policy." The analysts said the litigation cycle from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's decisions "is just beginning"; a Clinton FCC "will attempt to continue to achieve the Wheeler policy objectives within the parameters" of court opinions. Congress could re-emerge as a major player, they suggested: "A Trump victory would likely lead to an effort to rewrite the Telecommunications Act, addressing, among other things, net neutrality, privacy, business data services and a host of other issues. Any such legislation would be largely deregulatory, and would favor ILECs over CLECs and tech interests. Of course, the question of whether Trump would actually be willing to sign a law passed [by Republican Hill leaders] challenges us more than usual in thinking about a party controlling all branches of government. A Clinton victory would be less likely to lead to legislation, particularly given that the Title II court victory removed what would have been the Democrats’ strongest incentive to negotiate legislation."

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday he won't commit to stepping down at the start of the next administration, despite the agency’s win last week on net neutrality rules. He was asked at a National Press Club luncheon specifically about whether he had changed his mind on the topic in light of the court’s ruling (see 1606140023) upholding the 2015 rules. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel should be confirmed “standing on her own” for another term, Wheeler said. “I understand that it is traditional for the incoming president to have an opportunity to name the new FCC chairman. … As a fellow who studies history, I understand the precedent and I respect the precedent.” Wheeler also said emphatically the net neutrality rules won't lead to traditional rate regulation for broadband providers. "That's not changing." he said.