The FCC should move with care as it considers rules for federal debt collection that are at odds with the protections consumers receive under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), said a filing by the staff of the FTC Consumer Protection Bureau. The FTC said in a news release Thursday its commissioners approved the filing. “FTC staff recommends that the FCC proceed with caution, and only incrementally, with any expansion of permissible robocalling,” the filing in docket 02-278 said. “We also recommend that the FCC attempt to harmonize its rules as much as possible with existing laws governing debt collection and telemarketing.” The FTC staff said the FCC should allow such calls: “(1) only to those regarding debts in ‘default,’ (2) only to persons who actually owe the debts, (3) only to collect government debt and no other type of debt, and (4) only for collection purposes.” The FTC comment was on a May rulemaking on rules that would provide an exception to the TCPA for companies hired by the federal government to collect funds that are owed the government (see 1605090037).

When the DOJ challenges a merger, one of its goals is proving the risk of injury to competition regardless of whether the new entity gives rise to a presumption of antitrust harm, said acting Associate Attorney General Bill Baer in remarks made available online of his talk at the American Antitrust Institute's annual conference. Baer said the U.S. "is in the midst of a merger wave, with the number, size and complexity of mergers among the highest they have been" in the last 10 years. "We will not bring a case based on the presumption where a holistic view of the evidence shows an anti competitive effect is unlikely," Baer said, saying market share alone might not illustrate all the likely anti-competitive effects of a transaction. Baer walked through DOJ thinking on numerous merger reviews. He said Comcast's attempted buy of Time Warner Cable would have given Comcast too much power over content providers relying on interconnecting to its network and too much ability and incentive "to thwart disruptive innovators such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sling TV." Baer highlighted the increased competition in the wireless industry after DOJ's rejection of AT&T's buy of T-Mobile in 2011. The case informed how the agency looked at subsequent proposed mergers, he said. When T-Mobile sought approval to buy MetroPCS, the agency concluded it would benefit consumers more than reduce competition, and post merger MetroPCS rolled out its low-price plan across T-Mobile's footprint, he said. Conversely, he said, when faced with Sprint's proposed buy of T-Mobile, "we made clear such a deal involved an unacceptable risk-reward proposition for consumers." Baer also said the DOJ antitrust suit against Bazaarvoice after its buy of consumer review site rival PowerReviews shows antitrust laws apply equally even in new markets: "We made the point that even non-reportable, consummated deals can risk competition." Baer also said Bazaarvoice shows DOJ assessments of competitive effects look beyond quantitative analyses to such evidence as testimony and party documents, pointing to documentation from executives indicating the PowerReviews deal revolved around eliminating a chief competitor.

The FCC International Bureau is giving extra time for replies on Ligado's application for its proposed terrestrial LTE network. In a public notice Wednesday, the bureau said it granted Garmin's request for three extra business days, extending the reply deadline to June 21. Garmin in its motion for time extension Tuesday said the original deadline, June 16, left only 10 days for preparation of replies and was "insufficient given the volume of the record and the significance of the issues."

Dish Network and Tribune Broadcasting continue to blame each other for the blackout of 42 Tribune channels in 33 markets on Dish. Tribune in a news release Wednesday said the direct broadcast satellite company "has been totally unresponsive in negotiating a new contract" since receiving a proposal from Tribune Sunday. “We repeatedly offered Dish an extension through the end of August, more than 60 days, for precisely this reason -- they drag their feet in negotiations,” Tribune said. “Dish rejected every offer, which demonstrates a total disregard for their customers and our viewers.” NAB Associate General Counsel Scott Goodwin in a blog post Wednesday said Dish was "trying to manipulate the regulatory process," deliberately stalling negotiations and rejecting Tribune's offer for an extension so as to make a case for the FCC requiring interim carriage. "These just happen to be exactly the same rule changes DISH and its pay-TV brethren have been pushing for at the FCC, rule changes that DISH hopes will effectively eviscerate any broadcaster leverage in retrans negotiations," Goodwin said. In its own statement Wednesday, Dish said it "offered to extend the contract so that consumers would have continued access to the Tribune channels while negotiations continued. Tribune rejected our offer. Only Tribune can cause a channel blackout. Rather than continuing to negotiate in good faith, Tribune chose to remove their channels from DISH. Rather than negotiate in the press, we suggest that Tribune respond to our last offer with a meaningful and fair offer for our customers." The blackout began Sunday (see 1606130018).

The public interest push for opportunistic public access to Wi-Fi channel 14 as a condition for approving Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service is explicit about being conditional on the FCC first finding that TLPS "does not unduly disrupt the current Wi-Fi or Bluetooth ecosystem," Michael Calabrese, director-Open Technology Institute's (OTI) Wireless Future Project, emailed us. Wireless Communications Association International has been critical of the channel 14 plan pushed by OTI and Public Knowledge (PK) and separately by the Wireless ISP Association (see 1606130053). "Since Globalstar is asking for incredibly valuable new spectrum rights without an auction, the FCC can both ensure that the new Wi-Fi channel is intensively used and secure a return to the public by allowing its use when and where Globalstar is not using it," Calabrese told us Monday. "This is extremely straightforward to implement given the availability of the geolocation database that the FCC is about to certify to govern opportunistic access to unused licensed spectrum as part of the new 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service.” In an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-213, OTI/PK recapped a meeting with Wireless Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins and staff in which the groups reiterated the push for public access to channel 14 in areas where TLPS isn't deployed and where Globalstar has determined channel 14 creates no interference risk to its mobile satellite device customers. Under such a "use or share" approach, the public interest groups said, third parties could register with Globalstar or an extension of a spectrum access system certified by the FCC and get permission to operate, with Globalstar able to revoke that permission where the third parties cause interference of a type or manner that would necessitate the company to abate the interference if it was the one running the access point or when it begins its own deployment in that market area. That opportunistic access wouldn't happen immediately but only if/when Globalstar gets indefinite nationwide authorization to deploy TLPS, they said. The company didn't comment. Also during the bureau meeting, OTI/PK said if the FCC can't adopt a final order this year on technical details about sharing the 5.9 GHz band between Wi-Fi and non-safety dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) uses, it should nonetheless move quickly on rechannelization of the band. Sharing the remaining 40 to 45 MHz of the band between DSRC non-safety applications and low-power unlicensed operations on an equal basis best serves the public interest. Automakers petitioning the FCC to reconsider parts of its order relaxing the out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits for the operation of U-NII-3 (5.725-5.85 GHz) band devices (see 1605090052) "do not even pretend to show that the rule changes they protest would cause harmful interference to DSRC," OTI/PK said. The groups said the petition is more evidence for moving the 10 MHz DSRC basic safety messaging channel to the top of the 5.9 GHz band, separate from sharing by non-safety DSRC and unlicensed applications.

The FCC shouldn’t leave states in the cold as the commission mulls changes to rate-of-return rules for carrier cost recovery, said the Michigan Public Service Commission. The regulator and others filed reply comments that were due Monday in docket 10-90. The Michigan PSC said the FCC shouldn’t reduce or eliminate existing reporting requirements including Form 481, and urged the federal agency to reject the tentative conclusion that eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) shouldn't file a copy of Form 481 with states. Filling out and sending the form doesn’t cost much to telecom companies, but provides valuable information used by state regulators to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, the PSC said. Developing an online tool to permit access to all information submitted by ETCs is a good idea but shouldn’t exempt providers from filing a copy of Form 481 with states, it said. The PSC opposed removing service quality standards and consumer protection rules for ETC certification. “Many states, including Michigan, no longer have service quality and consumer protection standards due to deregulation,” it said. “Eliminating this requirement could create an environment for fraud and abuse and have the opposite effect of what the FCC intends.” Separately, rural carriers continued to warn about possible unintended consequences from sweeping changes, as they had in the first round of comments (see 1605130035). The FCC should “avoid injecting substantial administrative burdens and regulatory uncertainty into time-tested systems through subjective changes that will end up becoming a form of ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacking’ with respect to carrier operations,” NTCA said. “Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on providing targeted prospective clarity where needed under existing rules to achieve policy objectives, promote certainty, and ensure accountability.” WTA said efficient USF spending is an important goal, but it shouldn't come at the cost of effective broadband deployment in rural areas. Acknowledging the complexity of the docket, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association urged the FCC to tackle tribal broadband issues first and separately from other issues. “The acceleration of broadband deployment on Tribal lands must be addressed as soon as possible and should not be delayed while the Commission resolves the multitude of additional complex issues raised in the Notice,” NTTA said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the FCC should clarify its limited role in a follow-up order on a narrow aspect of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act -- providing an exception for companies hired by the federal government to collect funds that are owed the government (see 1605090037). Congress provided a special exemption for federal debt collectors in last year’s budget deal, the Bipartisan Budget Act, and the FCC is drawing up rules. The CFPB said it has broad authority to oversee debt collection. The FCC NPRM “appropriately does not suggest in any way that Section 301 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was intended to weaken consumer financial protections under the Bureau’s authority or to limit the Bureau’s exercise of its authority,” the CFPB commented. “It would provide greater certainty to many stakeholders if the FCC in connection with this rulemaking were to state expressly its understanding that Section 301 affects the TCPA and its implementing regulations but does not affect other laws, including specifically those for which the Bureau has responsibility.” The CFPB is the independent federal agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector, created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was approved in the wake of the near collapse of parts of the financial sector in 2007-2008.

Restricting future fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations operating in the 28 GHz band to predetermined locations would hurt satellite-provided broadband services, broadband satellite operators said in a filing Monday in docket 14-177. The filers -- EchoStar, Inmarsat, Lockheed Martin, O3b, OneWeb, SES and ViaSat -- said there's little basis for thinking collocation of 28 GHz FSS earth stations would be practical with terrestrial antennas. They said that earth stations and terrestrial antennas point in different directions, making vertical collocation impossible. They said FSS earth stations are far less dense than terrestrial transmitters, meaning there's little business incentive for third-party site developers that take care of terrestrial transmitter issues like real estate or pole attachment rights and infrastructure build out. They also said grouping FSS earth stations in limited locations per upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) license area would require power flux-density limits at each collocation site, and putting those on retroactively would require operational and physical modifications to the earth station operations and would end up limiting FSS deployment to one 28 Hz band antenna per earth station location, defeating the purpose of setting up a single location for deployment of multiple 28 GHz band antennas. The satellite companies said different site infrastructure and site size needs would make the idea of clustering multiple FSS earth station licensees in particular spots unworkable. They also said UMFU deployment "would be unlikely at best," particularly in low population density areas, and FSS operators should be allowed to choose where to put earth stations based on system design and technical characteristics, to modify and add transmitters to those earth stations on a co-primary basis and to deploy those facilities on a five-year basis after licensing. In a separate ex parte filing Friday in the docket, O3b recapped meetings of CEO Steve Collar and Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Suzanne Malloy with Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, along with Chairman Tom Wheeler's front-line staff, to discuss FSS sharing in the 28 GHz band. O3b said exclusive geographic licenses are inappropriate for the 28 GHz band, and sharing with terrestrial use is feasible since FSS needs small areas for earth station uplinks, and terrestrial use "will also be confined to relatively small geographic areas." O3b also said it needs "reasonable access" to build new earth stations beyond one site per county, but at customer premises. It said its satellites need protection from terrestrial uplink interference, and the threshold when aggregate terrestrial emissions would cause interference is now a question mark, so the FCC needs to act to ensure emissions are below that threshold and can be reduced if the threshold is passed. O3b urged the agency to push for industry consensus on FSS/UMFU sharing and "not rush to adopt technical sharing parameters that do not have broad consensus among UMFU proponents and satellite operators."

The push for opportunistic public access of channel 14's licensed and unlicensed portions -- as has been advocated by Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute (see 1603250042) and by the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) (see 1606100048) -- is apparently motivated by the belief two wrongs make a right, commented Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) Monday in docket 13-213. WCAI said Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service plans in channel 14 pose a big interference threat to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, educational broadband service (EBS) and broadband radio service (BRS) spectrum. PK, OTI and WISPA don't try to address the evidence of interference, WCAI said. "Their position, in effect, is that if Globalstar can cause interference, Wi-Fi users should be allowed to, too." WCAI said if the FCC let anyone other than Globalstar use the 2483.5-2495 MHz band, that decision would have to be vacated since that "was neither proposed nor a logical outgrowth of anything that was proposed" in the Globalstar NPRM. Beyond that, WCAI said, the opportunistic access proposal "is, at best, half-baked," since details on how access would work and how it would be controlled to protect EBS and BRS aren't addressed. Any unlicensed use in the band must come after a public notice and opportunity to comment, WCAI said. PK, OTI and WISPA didn't comment Monday. In an ex parte filing Monday, WISPA recapped a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel aide Johanna Thomas, saying it opposes the draft Globalstar order on circulation because it seemingly grants the company conditional operating authority without any requirement for testing for adjacent-channel interference. WISPA said that would let Globalstar initially deploy TLPS "in 'safe' areas" and leave the FCC and public with little usable data at the end of the conditional licensing period about interference and degraded broadband service. Some commissioners have voted against the draft order (see 1606030041).

Globalstar and a critic of its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) proposal, the Wireless ISP Association (WISPA), made their cases in recent days to eighth-floor FCC staff. Globalstar CEO Jay Monroe and General Counsel Barbee Ponder were among company representatives who met with Chairman Tom Wheeler aide Edward Smith to make the case for TLPS permission, the company said in an ex parte filing. And in a conversation with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's staff recapped in an ex parte filing, WISPA said the draft order doesn't tackle its primary concerns about a lack of any guard band between channels 11 and 14, which raises the likelihood of interference to fixed wireless ISPs. WISPA said the draft order apparently gives Globalstar conditional operation authority without the need for testing for adjacent-channel interference. That lets Globalstar initially deploy TLPS "in 'safe' areas (and perhaps even indoor only)" during the conditional license period, and meanwhile undercuts any ability to determine at the end of that period how much wireless ISP customers are affected, the group said. The draft order should be amended to give Globalstar an experimental license that requires it to do cooperative lab and field testing against outdoor devices to gauge channel 11 interference, WISPA said: Or if the FCC approves the draft order, it said, it should be required to vote whether to give full TLPS authority at the end of the one-year conditional term, with that vote based on such testing. If the FCC goes forward without a required testing regimen, WISPA said, it should consider allowing channel 14's licensed and unlicensed portions be available for opportunistic public access. Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute have been pushing that provision before the FCC (see 1603250042). Some commissioners have voted against the draft order (see 1606030041). The filings were posted Friday in docket 13-213.