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.

Jockeying by fixed satellite service (FSS) operators and allies to elevate the rights of secondary satellite services are "thinly-veiled attempts to confuse and delay the Commission's deliberative process" for 5G sharing in the 28 GHz band, CTIA said in a filing Friday in docket 14-177. The group said it and its members have worked with the FSS industry and made progress, but the Satellite Industry Association's push for a three-party technical meeting (see 1606020035) when FSS operators haven't been providing information requested by terrestrial wireless operators would only delay the rulemaking process. It also said the record contains sufficient information for an FCC decision. CTIA said the FCC should follow through on plans to adopt new technical and licensing rules for the 28 GHz and 37-40 GHz bands at its July open meeting that include spectrum sharing technical requirements. It said the agency should affirm terrestrial fixed and mobile services have primary status in the 27.5-28.35 GHz bands: "The secondary status of FSS incumbents is a bedrock principle of this proceeding." SIA didn't comment. In an ex parte filing in the docket Friday, EchoStar recapped a meeting between Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel about FSS and upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) sharing in the 28 GHz and 37-40 GHz bands. Manner said that under domestic and international tables of allocations, FSS is co-primary and satellite operators in the 28 GHz band have used that as the basis for coordinating their gateway earth stations, making co-primary protection necessary. EchoStar also said 28 GHz sharing can limit future gateway deployments outside urban cores but FSS operators need access to urban infrastructure and flexibility in earth station placement. It said the FCC needs to let FSS do good-faith coordination with UMFU operators to site earth station deployments.

The FCC redesigned Electronic Comment Filing System will go online 8 a.m. Monday, and the current ECFS was planned to have been offline starting just before midnight Friday (see 1606080060). “The legacy system will no longer be available after the modernized system goes live -- and ECFS will be unavailable over the weekend,” an FCC spokesman emailed Friday. Details about the new system are on the FCC website here.

Union workers voted to ratify four-year Verizon contracts reached after their 45-day strike on the East Coast, the Communications Workers of America said in a news release Friday. CWA said workers “overwhelmingly” supported the new contracts (see 1605310032). The votes were conducted by union locals between May 31 and June 17, with local votes done through mass membership meetings, mail-in ballots, or walk-in voting at various polling places near work locations, the union said. “It was a tough strike, but this contract, which secures good jobs in our communities and preserves workers’ standard of living shows what can happen when we stand together,” said Ed Mooney, CWA vice president, District 2-13.

North American Portability Management urged the FCC to deny Neustar's motion to order Telcordia to show why it shouldn't be disqualified as the next local number portability administrator. NAPM said Neustar, the current LNPA, is simply trying to delay the transition to Telcordia. "For each day that Neustar is able to delay transition, Neustar holds on to additional revenue of at least $1.4M, and the public loses out on approximately $1M in savings," said NAPM, the commission's LNPA overseer, in a filing Thursday in docket 09-109. Neustar and the FCC didn't comment Friday. Neustar's show-cause motion suggested Ericsson-owned Telcordia made misrepresentations to the FCC about the use of U.S. citizens to develop software code for Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) systems (see 1606020050). Telcordia denied it assured the FCC over a year ago it would, as LNPA, use only U.S. citizens to work on the code, but said the commission interpreted an "ambiguous statement" to that effect (see 160613004). Telcordia also noted it had agreed with the FCC to discard the preliminary work anyway and had started coding anew (see 1604290056). In a reply Wednesday, Neustar said Telcordia's response showed a public review is needed because Telcordia didn't deny it (1) misled the FCC, (2) violated a 2015 LNPA selection order or (3) failed to disclose the violation "until after the NAPM and/or the Commission discovered it." In its Thursday filing, NAPM urged the FCC to approve Telcordia's LNPA master services agreement (MSA) and deny Neustar's motion. Telcordia "committed to building the NPAC in America from the ground up using only U.S. citizens"; the proposed "MSA requires Telcordia to build the NPAC in America from the ground up using only U.S. citizens"; and NAPM with FCC oversight "will ensure that the NPAC delivered by Telcordia [is] in fact built in America from the ground up using only U.S. citizens," NAPM wrote. "Telcordia has not made any misrepresentations to anyone, and Neustar's filings have no basis in fact or applicable law." NAPM also submitted a lengthier rebuttal to Neustar's motion.

The Patent and Trademark Office has acted to help inventors and entrepreneurs, including those who merge fashion with technology within the wearable industry, said PTO Chief of Staff Vikrum Aiyer at a Fashion Innovation Alliance event Wednesday evening. Other speakers included Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. Aiyer said PTO created a multilateral forum with other countries to specifically focus on design patents and keep pace with new inventions, implemented a new fast-track program to get patent applications fully resolved within 12 months and is developing an intellectual property assessment tool to help people better understand their strategy. He said the Department of Commerce, DOD and the White House launched a national research and development hub for "advanced textiles and revolutionary fabrics" in April. He said such wearables are "going to be quite game changing for our entire economy." Fashion Innovation Alliance CEO Kenya Wiley said the social and economic value of fashion tech is "increasing rapidly. By the end of 2019, the wearables market will be worth $25 billion." She said companies and entrepreneurs need strong intellectual property protections and policies to guard their brands and protect their inventions. DelBene said that "there's incredible opportunity [in the IoT industry] as we think about devices that can provide us with important information, are connected, but also can look good and are stylish and really make a statement."

The 3rd Generational Partnership Project signed off on band 70, with the next step being creation of 3GPP specifications to allow development of LTE band 70 devices and infrastructure, Dish Network said in a news release Thursday. Band 70 -- made up of Dish's AWS-4 and H block spectrum and unpaired AWS-3 spectrum -- "packages together what would otherwise be underutilized spectrum," said Dish Executive Vice President-Corporate Development Tom Cullen. Dish earlier this month said it was opting to reverse its 20 MHz of AWS-4 from uplink to downlink, which some said could make it or its spectrum more valuable for takeover (see 1606020031). In a note to investors Thursday, analyst Jonathan Chaplin of New Street Research said with the 3GPP approvals of bands 70 and of 66 in December (see 1512100062), Dish seems increasingly likely to sign a deal to monetize its spectrum holdings in the next 12 to 18 months. He said any discussions likely won't start until after the incentive auction.