All rules for spectrum above 24 GHz approved by commissioners last year took effect Thursday, after OMB OK'd information collection requirements, said an FCC Federal Register notice. Other parts took effect in August (see 1807190046).
The Enforcement Bureau proposed a $25,000 fine against Lexington Coal Co. for allegedly taking control of 23 private land mobile radio stations from another company without FCC authorization. “Our action today advances the Commission’s longstanding goals of ensuring that the transfer, assignment, and operation of wireless authorizations are limited to instances ... in the public interest, convenience and necessity,” the bureau said. In October 2017, Lexington took over properties from Alpha in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. In February 2018, the two companies “brought this matter to the attention” of the Wireless Bureau and sought approval, the bureau said. Lexington didn't comment.
The Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers got the extra 30 days it sought to prepare a study on technological development, marketing and consumer use trends in the basic e-reader market (see 1902040030). The report is now due March 5, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau ordered Thursday.
Sprint representatives said they met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff to answer questions about the response last year to Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle. Sprint staff confirmed traffic was “a significant factor during disaster recovery as it caused delays in moving repair crews and equipment around the vicinity and, more importantly, prevented technicians from being able to access cell sites in a timely manner,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-339. Sprint discussed its use of temporary microwave links. “During restoration efforts, it is important to utilize assets very carefully and strategically,” the carrier said. “Following Hurricane Michael, it became apparent that Bay County, Florida, in particular, would not have backhaul restored for some time, so Sprint actively pursued a strategy to deploy microwave backhaul links.”
T-Mobile fired back at Dish Network complaints that T-Mobile and Sprint made overly broad use of the “highly confidential” designation under a protective order on their proposed deal, in docket 18-197. Dish complained Jan. 29. The carriers said in a filing posted Wednesday: “Without much analysis or specificity, DISH requests that the Commission designate as public: ‘[i]nformation from the public record in the Compass Lexecon Declaration; [e]stimates of outside economic experts describing price effects expected from the merger; [a]lmost the entirety of the Cornerstone Report; and any other information designated as highly confidential that is not specifically covered by Appendix A of the Protective Order,’” “DISH’s claims are flatly wrong. The Applicants’ Highly Confidential Information designations are consistent with both the plain language of the Protective Order and with past precedent.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved limited waiver of wireless emergency alert rules to permit carriers to participate in a March 4 Dallas test, with a March 8 backup. This will be the “first live test” of the WEA system there and will target a message “to a targeted polygon encompassing the Central Business District,” the bureau said Tuesday in docket 15-91. “We are persuaded by Dallas [Office of Emergency Management] that the proposed WEA test will help educate the public about WEA and improve the proficiency of emergency managers in the use of WEA before the initiation of an actual alert during an emergency.” The 30-minute exercise starts at 10 a.m. CST. The bureau also approved waiver for a three-part test March 19 in Montgomery County, Texas. The backup is March 26.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed VTDigger’s appeal of its Freedom of Information Act case against FirstNet after the local news publication missed Friday’s briefing deadline (see 1811270024). In two orders Tuesday in case 18-2819, the court dismissed the case then denied (in Pacer) as moot VTDigger’s Jan. 30 motion to extend the deadline. Filed two days before deadline, the motion got no opposition. “Any motion to reinstate the appeal must be accompanied by Appellants’ brief and appendix,” wrote court clerk Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe. The appellants plan to file such a motion with the brief, as instructed by the clerk, their attorney, Kelly McClanahan, told us.
Four appeals of the FCC’s September wireless infrastructure order at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit are headed to the 9th Circuit to join other small-cells cases, as expected (see 1901250010). The D.C. Circuit ordered transfer Tuesday of the consolidated cases brought by AT&T; the American Public Power Association; Eugene, Oregon; and Austin, Boston, Chicago and other big cities.
Pricing concessions T-Mobile offered the FCC Monday (see 1902040064) could show the carrier's proposed buy of Sprint faces difficulty winning clearance from the FCC and DOJ, New Street’s Blair Levin wrote investors Tuesday. “Generally when it comes to mergers, the first side to offer concessions is likely to be the side that is losing,” Levin wrote. “Implicitly conceding that market forces alone are not sufficient to constrain prices is not a sign that the economic arguments at the DOJ about the impact of the deal on competition are working.” The commitment goes against antitrust chief Makan Delrahim's views that regulators shouldn't impose behavioral remedies “like pricing commitments.” Such a remedy “supplants competition with regulation [and] replaces disaggregated decision making with central planning” and “most behavioral decrees cure neither the incentive nor the ability of the merged company to exert enhanced leverage gained through an anticompetitive merger,” Delrahim believes, Levin said. “Offering such a concession suggests the company is seeking to garner support in the political realm." Timing is also off, since such commitments usually come at a process' end and DOJ appears to still be gathering evidence, he said. Levin said T-Mobile’s hiring of former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn likely won’t have a major effect on how regulators treat the deal. She's recused from lobbying at the FCC, he said, and is "not close to the DOJ antitrust division staff or the states attorneys generals, where we think the risks to the deal are greatest."
CTIA made an economic case for allocating more spectrum for licensed use as 5G starts. Tuesday's report focuses on 3.45-3.55 GHz being studied by NTIA for possible reallocation, the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band and the C band. It said carriers will invest more than $154 billion on infrastructure to deliver 5G over mid-band spectrum over seven years. The report and economic model are by Analysis Group. The spectrum studied has “really fantastic propagation characteristics and is really well suited for 5G services,” Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs, told us. “It blends the ability to have very high capacity with also broader coverage.” Those bands are also getting the most focus from policymakers, he said. The report is consistent with CTIA’s comments at NTIA on a national spectrum plan (see 1902050054), Bergmann said. “There’s a lot of sense that mid-band spectrum is going to deliver benefits to that next generation of networks, that that’s going to have positive impact for the economy” but policymakers are also looking to better understand “how much that’s the case,” he said.