AT&T said it's buying AppNexus, an internet advertising company. “AT&T is investing to accelerate the growth of its advertising platform and strengthen its leadership in advanced TV advertising,” the carrier said Monday. “AppNexus has an experienced management team and employee base that includes more than 400 software engineers and product managers. This team brings leadership and vertical expertise in machine learning and predictive analytics, advertising technology and video.” The ISP expects the deal to close in Q3.

A Vault Consulting audit found 182,198 people from 160 countries, including 6,645 media, attended January CES, said CTA Thursday. It was the second straight CES to attract more than 182,000 “as the show expands to represent every major and emerging industry,” said CTA. The January show also had a record 63,784 international attendees, it said.

Intel shares closed 2.4 percent lower Thursday at $52.19 after the announcement that Brian Krzanich resigned as CEO because of a “past consensual relationship” with an unnamed Intel employee that violated the company’s “non-fraternization policy.” Chief Financial Officer Robert Swan will be interim CEO until a permanent chief is hired either from inside or outside Intel, said the company. Krzanich hosted his fifth annual shareholder meeting as CEO May 17, giving himself high grades on his self-described five-year “report card.” Intel drew two-thirds of its revenue from PCs when he became CEO in 2013, but Krzanich successfully supervised the company’s transformation to a “data-centric” model, he told shareholders. Under his watch, Intel turned from a “flat revenue profile” at the beginning of his term into a company with a 4.5 percent compound annual growth rate in sales, he said. A November SEC filing shows Krzanich bought and sold 644,000 shares of Intel stock by exercising his options and sold an additional 246,000 shares that he already owned. At the meeting, a shareholder asked Krzanich whether his “recent stock sell” reflected his confidence in Intel's future. “I can say absolutely the sale is not a reflection at all of my confidence in the company,” he responded. “My view of the company is stronger today than it ever has been in my 35 years here.” Krzanich used the CES keynote stage to announce a “diversity initiative” that would make the Intel workforce mirror the demographic makeup of the U.S. population, tweeted CTA President Gary Shapiro Thursday. “Intel is almost there. He is a visionary and great leader despite his reason for leaving.” Krzanich's departure raises the possibility that Intel could celebrate its 50th birthday July 18 without a permanent CEO. "I want to give you a quick kind of sneak that I encourage you to look to the skies above our headquarters here in Santa Clara," so that shareholders can "celebrate with us as our anniversary approaches that week," he told the annual meeting.

Comments are due July 20, replies Aug. 20, on progress in fighting illegal robocalls and what hurdles remain, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. CGB said it's seeking data and input on how providers are responding to the rules adopted in last year's call blocking order (see 1711200055) and what progress is being made toward the Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens and Secure Telephone Identity Revisited protocols for caller ID authentication. The call blocking order also directed the bureau to prepare, along with the FTC Consumer Protection Bureau, the robocalling report.

Arizona’s self-named “Bitcoin Baron” got 20 months in prison for directing 2015 distributed denial of service attacks at computer networks of Madison, Wisconsin, DOJ said Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes in Arizona also sentenced 23-year-old Randall Tucker to pay more than $69,000 in restitution to victims, the department said. Tucker pleaded guilty April 17 to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer, admitting to executing DDoS attacks against Madison and other city websites, DOJ said. “The attack crippled [Madison’s] Internet-connected emergency communication system, causing delays and outages in the ability of emergency responders to connect to the 911 center and degrading the system used to automatically dispatch the closest unit."

FCC staff provided guidance to Lifeline eligible telecom carriers choosing to have Universal Service Administrative Co. recertify their low-income subscribers in 2019. All ETCs wishing to have USAC carry out the annual recertification must give notice to USAC between July 16 and Aug. 31, including those that previously elected USAC, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 11-42. ETCs not making a USAC election by Aug. 31 "will be responsible for conducting recertification of their subscribers, except for those subscribers where the National Verifier, a state Lifeline administrator, or another state agency is responsible for the annual recertification of Lifeline eligibility," said the PN. "For the 2019 recertification process, ETCs will perform their elections via an online form. USAC will post information on this process on its website, and ETCs are encouraged to subscribe to the Lifeline Program Newsletter for updates on the program and for further instruction on the election process." TracFone Wireless said it has "significant concerns regarding certain aspects" of the national verifier plan. "A primary concern is the unexplained and inexplicable refusal to include an Automated Programming Interface (API) for Lifeline service providers to use to make eligibility determinations using the National Verifier," said a filing. It said an API allows Lifeline providers to screen potential applications to a National Lifeline Accountability Database, reducing administrative burdens.

Annual telecom relay service complaint log summaries are due July 2, covering June 1, 2017, through May 31, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau reminded state administrators and interstate TRS providers in a public notice in docket 03-123 in Monday's Daily Digest.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said automated speech recognition technology would improve IP captioned telephone services (IP CTS), speeding the delivery of captions to consumers with hearing loss. In remarks to the M-Enabling summit Tuesday, he said last week's ruling approving the technology made clear "that the FCC won’t approve any application to provide ASR unless the provider shows that it will meet our mandatory minimum standards for functional equivalency, including those relating to the confidentiality of IP CTS calls" (see Notebook at end of 1806070021). Pai highlighted actions to improve access for people with disabilities: implementation of video relay service interoperability and a centralized database to improve program accountability and fiscal responsibility; encouragement of direct video calling in customer call centers; a national deaf-blind equipment distribution program; improvements to 911 calling and other emergency communications; an increase of about 75 percent in the number of programming hours that must be video-described on certain channels; and efforts to spur the videogames industry to make communication services more accessible. Pai announced winners of the chairman's awards for innovations that advance accessibility (Chairman's AAA): Orbit Reader 20, Captioning and Description Editing Tool, Content Clarifier and Seeing AI.

North American Portability Management's final monthly report on the local number portability administrator change from Neustar to iconectiv said the three-year transition was completed successfully in May and new number portability administration center "is now processing porting transactions for NPAC users in all regions." No "critical or high severity defects for the iconectiv NPAC are currently outstanding," said the report in docket 09-109 Friday. Contributing to the "smooth and on-time completion" foremost was "active engagement and collaboration of industry, regulatory, and public safety stakeholders."

U.S. robocalls totaled 4.06 billion in May, up 20 percent from April and the third straight monthly record, YouMail said Thursday. It said Americans received 15.2 billion robocalls in the first five months of 2018, a 27 percent increase from the year-ago period, despite government and industry efforts to crack down. "The barrage of robocallers clearly has consumers not answering their phone for unknown numbers, or using apps to block calls, which in turn is causing the robocallers to call even more to try to get through," said CEO Alex Quilici. "It's sad, but the phone call now appears to be in a slow motion death spiral."