FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the FCC should address so-called “twilight towers,” telecom structures which were built between March 2001 and March 2005 and never required to go through a historic preservation review process. FCC staff is working with industry to address the towers, which number between 4,000 and 7,000, he said. “Until this review is concluded, these towers remain in regulatory purgatory,” he said Wednesday before PCIA at the 2015 Wireless Infrastructure Show, according to his written remarks. “No antennas can legally collocate on these structures. We need networks to be deployed; we cannot afford to have towers that are not filled to capacity.” The FCC also has room to improve the efficiency of the historic preservation application and review process in Indian country, he said. “I hear that improvements can be made to provide Native Nations the information they need to protect their historic sites, while ensuring that the process allows for the prompt construction of facilities.” O’Rielly also said the commission needs additional data on current and estimated future demands for tower construction teams, especially in light of buildout tied to the AWS-3 and pending TV incentive auction. “We will need to take this into account as we consider the best timing for the start of the broadcast incentive auction,” he said. O’Rielly said the FCC’s track record has been better on infrastructure deployment than on net neutrality. “Let me suggest to you that it is in your best interest to be involved in the policy issues under consideration at the commission -- even those that may not appear to directly affect your company,” he told the PCIA attendees. “Don’t just sit on the sidelines and say it’s not my problem, because every burden placed on your partner or potential partner means less investment in infrastructure.”

The FCC is considering a draft order that would let Pandora own a broadcast station as long as the company is less than 49 percent foreign owned, said an agency official. Pandora asked the commission to sign off on its plan to buy KXMZ (FM) Box Elder, South Dakota (see 1411260042), even if it were 100 percent foreign owned, because the company has been unable to verify how foreign owned it is, said Garvey Schubert attorney Melody Virtue, who represents Pandora. “Most publicly traded companies are widely held.” She said the 49 percent threshold reportedly in the draft order would let Pandora proceed with the transaction. The order also includes a requirement that Pandora monitor its ownership going forward, said an FCC official. Pandora and FCC staff have been in contact over how the order would work, and the monitoring conditions are expected be acceptable to Pandora if the order is approved by the full commission, Virtue said. A Media Bureau spokeswoman had no comment.

Wireless medical networks and devices are at the very center of the shift in how healthcare is being delivered and received, said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at a Connect2Health event promoting medical technology. “In the same way X-rays used an invisible property in order to produce incredible changes to medicine, wireless networks, while invisible to the naked eye, power devices that are transforming healthcare,” she said. “Today’s innovative technologies are completely changing when, how and where medical care takes place.” As the transformation of the healthcare system continues, it’s imperative that all of these medical devices are safe and reliable, Clyburn said, according to prepared remarks. For that reason, wireless test beds are a critical piece of ensuring safe, reliable technologies, she said.

Matt DelNero will replace Julie Veach as chief of the FCC Wireline Bureau, effective May 22, the FCC said Thursday. Veach is leaving the agency, where she has worked since 2001, the agency said. DelNero has been deputy chief of the Wireline Bureau since February 2014 and was formerly a partner at Covington & Burling. In another change, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler named Alison Kutler acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and special adviser to the chairman for digital opportunity. A former senior vice president at Visa, Kutler also worked for the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. FCC veteran Kris Monteith, acting chief since February 2012, will be shifted to the Wireline Bureau as deputy chief.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will open the agency’s privacy workshop Tuesday, followed by an “Overview of the Collection and Use of Broadband Subscriber Data,” by University of Pennsylvania associate professor Matt Blaze, a commission news release said Wednesday. The first panel, on “Privacy Implications Associated with Broadband Internet Access Services,” includes Connecticut Assistant Attorney General Michele Lucan; Senior Policy Counsel for the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute Laura Moy; AT&T Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory & Chief Privacy Officer Robert Quinn; NTCA Vice President-Policy Joshua Seidemann; Catherine Tucker, associate professor of management science at MIT Sloan; and NTIA Director-Privacy Initiatives John Verdi. Panelists on the second panel, “Application of Section 222 of the Communications Act to Broadband Internet Access Services,” include Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld; DLA Piper high-tech and privacy lawyer Jim Halpert; Wilkinson Barker Knauer attorney Nancy Libin; Center for Democracy and Technology General Counsel Erik Stallman; and Georgia Institute of Technology professor Peter Swire. The workshop starts at 10 a.m. EDT at FCC headquarters, the FCC said.

AT&T expects to close its buy of DirecTV this quarter and its purchase of Nextel’s wireless properties in Mexico should also be wrapped up “shortly,” AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Wednesday during an earnings call. Stephens declined to detail why the carrier believes the DirecTV deal will soon close. On the Mexican deal, the remaining hurdle is sign-off from Mexican regulators, he said. AT&T reported 61 cents diluted earnings per share in Q1, compared with 70 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue was $32.6 billion, up 0.3 percent vs. the year-earlier period, and up 1.2 percent after adjusting for the sale of Connecticut wireline properties, AT&T said. AT&T reported 1.2 million total wireless net adds, including 441,000 postpaid adds and 684,000 connected cars. Churn came in at 1.02 percent for post-paid subscribers, which Stephens said was the lowest rate ever for AT&T despite a “noisy” environment in the wireless market.

The FCC is still working on the cybersecurity assurance process that the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) recommended last month in its report on suggestions for communications sector cybersecurity risk management, but assurance meetings “won’t be depositions,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler during a speech Tuesday. The CSRIC report was meant to adapt the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework for communications sector use (see 1503180056) “We do not envision an adversarial process in which corporate officials are cross-examined in an attempt to draw out embarrassing admissions about security lapses,” Wheeler said during an RSA Security conference, according to a prepared version of the speech released by the FCC. “The sweet spot is a process that is open, honest, and interactive, with the parties working as partners in addressing a matter of national concern.” Adequate safeguards will need to be in place to ensure that sensitive information that companies disclose during assurance meetings doesn’t go public, Wheeler said. The FCC also will need to assure companies that the information they disclose won’t be used to “generate regulatory proposals,” he said. Wheeler said information sharing will be the “biggest challenge” to implementing the CSRIC report’s recommendations, noting that the FCC has established a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center that allows the FCC to share outage information. Information sharing is “essential” and “my view is that there are no insurmountable barriers to making this work, and the public interest demands nothing less,” Wheeler said.

Correction: The office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reported the voting schedule for the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (HR-1560) and the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (HR-1731) (see 1504200047).

The FCC is getting set to launch a new website by the end of September, said Chief Information Officer David Bray Monday in a blog post. More changes are also on the way, he said. By the end of May, the agency will offer a new search application aggregating results for both FCC.gov and the FCC’s Electronic Document Management System, he said. By Sept. 30, the commission will “launch an improved FCC.gov featuring the new design, information architecture and search application,” Bray said. “The initial site launch will include website content approximately three levels deep into the new site. Work will continue after launch to integrate the more complex content and data not originally included at site launch. This content and data is currently being assessed and prioritized for integration into the new website.” Bray emphasized that the site is tailored to smartphone and tablet use. The FCC last made major changes to the website in 2011, to widespread complaints from industry (see 1106060097). Bray said the new website was developed based on interviews and other research. It recognizes the site isn't used the same way by all users, he said. “We learned typical website users do not come to FCC.gov to browse content; they want to get the information they are looking for quickly and in as few clicks as possible,” he said. “Practitioners use the website daily and prefer ‘cut and dry’ information. General consumers prefer informational content on a broad range of topics.” The FCC has already put a version of the prototype online, complete with a Twitter feed on the agency's main webpage.

While 82.5 percent of homes with school-age children have broadband access, 5 million such households don't, Pew Research Center said in a report released Monday. “Low-income households -- and especially black and Hispanic ones -- make up a disproportionate share of that 5 million,” Pew said. “Roughly one-third (31.4 percent) of households whose incomes fall below $50,000 and with children ages 6 to 17 do not have a high-speed internet connection at home.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel flagged the report in a statement released Monday. “There was a time when doing basic schoolwork required no more than a little bit of quiet, a clear workspace, and a pencil,” she said. "No more. Today, 7 in 10 teachers assign homework that requires Internet access. Kids may be connected in the classroom, but if they are disconnected at home getting basic schoolwork done is hard.”