Correction: What Covington & Burling attorney Monika Kuschewsky said on safe harbor was that European Commission guidance doesn't prevent national data protection authorities from acting during a grace period (see 1511060016).

USTelecom and ITTA asked the FCC to further extend the special-access comment period due to various complexities in the proceeding examining ILEC rates for dedicated circuits, particularly regarding sensitive industry data submitted on the business service market. “The commission’s data collection effort is a unique and massive undertaking. Providing three months to properly analyze and understand the data is consistent with the fact-based approach the commission has taken. The potential value of this information should not be squandered by a rushed analysis,” said USTelecom Senior Vice President Jon Banks in a Tuesday blog post. Although the Wireline Bureau "recently extended the comment schedule -- with comments now due January 6, 2016, and reply comments due February 5, 2016 -- the current schedule does not provide the opportunity for the careful and searching analysis that this proceeding requires," the telco groups said in a filing Tuesday in docket 05-25: "As clearly and carefully detailed [in an declaration submitted by an industry expert], the current data set is not yet stable, and the necessary tools to fully analyze the data are not in place. Given the enormity of the data set, the complexity of the industry and the importance of it to our economy, once the data are stable and the necessary software and tools are available, twelve weeks will be necessary to provide the meaningful opportunity to analyze the data and prepare comments required by the Administrative Procedures Act. ... Specifically, we request that the Commission extend the due date for opening comments until at least twelve weeks after two criteria have been satisfied: (1) the Commission issues a Public Notice confirming that the data set has been finalized and a change control process has been instituted for any further modifications (including explanations for all future changes); and (2) all software and tools necessary to conduct relevant data analysis have been made available by NORC [National Opinion Research Center, a University of Chicago institution]." ILEC representatives recently raised concerns about data's reliability (see 1511050053).

The FCC shouldn't delay the incentive auction, former Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden said in a post on his blog Friday. “Hundreds of TV Stations owners are far down the road of preparing for the FCC’s Incentive Auction.” The time to consider delay has passed, Padden said. Padden told us the blog post is a response to a speech by Commissioner Ajit Pai Thursday (see 1511050033) stating that the commission could delay the auction if it's necessary to ensure that the auction software is prepared. “March 29 wasn’t etched onto a tablet, Biblical or electronic,” Pai said. “If we are not 100% confident that the software will perform flawlessly as we make our way to the end of March, we must have the courage to postpone the auction rather than charging ahead and courting disaster.” The commission should “double-check and triple-check” the auction software, Pai said. “Chairman [Tom] Wheeler himself acknowledged in December 2013 that we want to avoid a software debacle of the kind the country witnessed during Obamacare’s rollout.” Pai also said the FCC should hold three mock auctions well before the incentive auction, as suggested by CTIA.

AT&T updated a blog post in response to the concerns of Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. In the original blog Tuesday (see 1511030066), which suggested the commission’s special-access tariff investigation and broader rulemaking could undermine broadband investment, AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn took note of Sohn's reported comments “at a recent CLEC gathering exhorting the crowd to apply ‘the same kind of consumer activism that helped drive the Open Internet rule changes earlier this year -- including pickets at [Chairman] Wheeler’s home and the White House.’” In the updated blog Wednesday, Quinn said Sohn objected to the use of the word “exhort” in characterizing her comment at an Incompas conference. “Out of respect to Ms. Sohn’s concerns, we removed the word ‘exhort’ from the blog," Quinn said. "It doesn’t change any of the analysis, however. We’re still not rocket scientists, and we still see where this is headed. And it’s not good for private investment.” Sohn had no comment Thursday. Her Incompas comments addressed Wheeler’s overall agenda to promote competition (see 1510200052).

Any spectrum sharing with mobile operators needs to avoid including C-band satellite bands, SES said in a white paper Wednesday in conjunction with this week's start of World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva. "C-band satellite networks are extremely reliable -- even in rainy regions -- and cannot be replaced by bands with different propagation characteristics and narrower beams, such as Ku- and Ka-bands," SES said. Numerous studies "have clearly concluded that sharing C-band between mobile and satellite operators is not feasible in the same geographical area since a minimum separation distance between the operations cannot be guaranteed," it said. That sharing would lead to interference that could affect everything from emergency response communications to video distribution, it said: "The risks and losses of sharing C-band to the global community far outweigh the gains to the mobile communications sector." Satellite executives have been saying for months they expect C-band reallocation issues to be a "tough battle" at WRC (see 1501150050).

Correction: The date of the American University law school IP program event fair use with Judge Pierre Leval is Nov. 12.

Presentations to the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) are exempt from ex parte disclosure requirements, a commission public notice said Monday. FCC staffers sometimes participate in CAC meetings and activities, the PN said. “In light of this, we are announcing that … presentations to the Committee, including to its task forces, subcommittees or working groups, and presentations between Committee members and FCC staff, will be treated as exempt presentations for ex parte purposes,” it said. “This treatment is appropriate because presentations to the Committee, like comments on a Notice of Inquiry, will not directly result in the promulgation of new rules.” The FCC recognized that some issues discussed at CAC events may be the subject of agency proceedings. “The Commission will not rely in these proceedings on any information submitted to the Committee, or to any of its task forces, subcommittees, working groups, or information conveyed by Committee members to FCC staff unless that information is first placed in the record of the relevant proceeding,” the PN said. CAC covers areas including net neutrality, and Tuesday the agency released the committee's recommendations on Web transparency.

Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman defended the FCC’s decision to set aside some incentive auction spectrum for companies that don’t have significant low-band spectrum holdings in a particular market, in a speech Tuesday to Evercore Tech Change Conference. “With more than 70 percent of low-band spectrum in the hands of just two providers, this reserve assures that multiple providers without significant amounts of low-band spectrum have a meaningful opportunity to compete to acquire these valuable airwaves,” Milkman said, according a text posted by the FCC. “Where competition cannot be expected to exist, we will not hesitate to act to protect consumers and advance the public interest.” Milkman said the TV incentive auction is now the biggest single item on the FCC agenda, noting the World Radiocommunication Conference is underway in Geneva (see 1511040040). She stressed the potential significance of the FCC recent NPRM on spectrum frontiers (see 1510220057), as the WRC looks at new bands for wireless broadband. “We’re talking about 3,800 megahertz of spectrum that we are going to look at,” she said. “That’s six times all of the commercial spectrum that the Commission has authorized for broadband. And we’re potentially doubling the amount of high-band unlicensed spectrum.” Milkman also emphasized the importance of the USF program. The new Connect America Fund “is moving forward with plans to invest $9 billion over 6 years to preserve and expand broadband deployment to 7.3 million rural Americans,” she said. “These investments are targeted and fiscally responsible. These contributions leverage investment from private ISPs. We will only fund one service provider per area, and we won’t provide funding in areas where there is an unsubsidized competitor.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly are making the trip to Geneva this week as the World Radiocommunication Conference starts, commission officials said. As of Tuesday, 148 members of the delegation had arrived and been badged for the international spectrum conference, out of a total 194 who registered, said a spokesman for the U.S. delegation.

The 1Q USF contribution rate for carriers could for the first time top 18 percent of interstate and international telecom revenue, said industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg in an update Tuesday. The USF contribution rate could jump from its current 16.7 percent to 18.1 percent if the industry revenue base is the same as for the current quarter, Gregg said. He said interstate/international telecom revenue is expected to be $15 billion for 4Q and $60.5 billion for all of 2015, which he said would be the lowest quarterly and annual amounts in the program's history. “If the trend of declining quarterly revenues continues, the USF assessment factor for the first quarter will be higher than 18.1%,” he said. Gregg said the Universal Service Administrative Company will project 1Q revenue at the end of November, which will allow him "to accurately calculate" the new contribution rate. He said projected 1Q demand for USF support is $2.28 billion, up $155.2 million from 4Q, led by a Lifeline support increase of $74.4 million and a high-cost support increase of $49.5 million. Much of the hike was due to “out of period adjustments,” he said.