Verizon said it will invest more than $200 million more toward “providing immersive next-gen technology, teacher training, STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] curricula and connectivity to under-resourced students across the United States.” Verizon already had invested $200 million, and said it's giving schools "access to 5G" plus exposing students to "skill-building in augmented reality, machine learning, coding, 3D printing and more."

Comments are due May 29 at the FCC on disaster information reporting system duties, which now affect wireless, wireline, broadcast, cable, VoIP and ISP entities, said a notice in the Federal Register Wednesday. The commission is to review comments on the DIRS burdens for industry under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and make any appropriate adjustments, which the Office of Management and Budget must approve. The FR is to publish several FCC items Thursday, including: a notice seeking PRA comments by May 29 (calendar) on Lifeline USF information-collection requirements; a notice seeking PRA comments by May 29 on telecom relay service information-collection requirements; and a rule requiring short-form applications to be filed by Friday in the Connect America Fund Phase II fixed service subsidy auction to start July 24.

Union workers voted to ratify a four-year contract with AT&T Mobility covering about 10,000 southeastern employees in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, AT&T said Friday. The carrier and Communications Workers of America District 3 reached agreement Feb. 15. The contract includes a compounded 10.1 percent base wage increase and a $1,000 ratification bonus to all employees, said a CWA summary.

Striking Frontier Communications workers plan to rally 1-4 p.m. Saturday in Charleston, West Virginia, Communications Workers of America said Thursday. The 1,400 union workers represented by CWA have been on strike since March 4; Frontier won a temporary restraining order against them last week (see 1803160050). The workers are protesting job cuts and claim network problems are untreated and customer complaints are growing. The telco says it offers above-average pay and inexpensive medical benefits.

The FCC approved Shentel's request to give up nTelos' USF eligible telecom carrier status in Virginia. When it acquired nTelos, Shentel agreed to assign Sprint all the spectrum licenses held by nTelos, plus certain spectrum leases nTelos acquired, said a Wireline Bureau order Tuesday in docket 09-197. It said Shentel indicated it will continue to manage the former nTelos wireless network "through its affiliate relationship with Sprint, and Sprint will continue to provide service as a non-ETC in these areas." Shentel also indicated it provided advance notice to nTelos' Lifeline customers "to migrate to the Assurance Wireless Lifeline service, which continues to be offered throughout the former [nTelos] service area; thus, any affected Lifeline customers will continue to be served by an ETC," the order added.

A court set a briefing schedule on Lifeline USF resellers' challenge to an FCC order targeting enhanced tribal support to "facilities-based" service and restricting support to "rural" tribal areas under a new definition (see 1801290020). The brief of petitioners is due April 25, the FCC's is due June 11, and petitioners' reply is due June 25, said an order (in Pacer) Friday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in National Lifeline Association et al. v. FCC, No. 18-1026. NLA, a trade group representing Lifeline providers and vendors, was joined on a petition by Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless (enTouch) and Easy Telephone Services.

The FCC should create a separate wireless emergency alert classification for Blue Alerts, said DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 15-94 Monday. The FCC order that created the BLU Blue Alert emergency alert system code authorized temporary use of the existing “imminent threat” classification to allow Blue Alerts to be disseminated through the WEA system (see 1712140045), but the COPS Office now wants a dedicated classification for WEAs as well. A separate classification “would further enhance the promulgation of succinct guidance and allow for additional safeguards to ensure that Blue Alerts are issued in an effective and consistent manner,” the letter said. “The WEA Imminent Threat classification is more of a ‘one size fits all’ tool whose usage is subject to broader interpretation.” A separate classification would minimize improper use of the alerts, it said.

DOJ's slight shift on theory in its AT&T/Time Warner litigation gives it an easier argument (see 1803150030), possibly reducing the stakes, American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Daniel Lyons blogged. Justice initially argued New AT&T would be able to raise consumer prices by making rivals pay more for TW content; now it's focusing on the costs to AT&T competitors, since the government's expert found merger efficiencies are likely to reduce AT&T subscriber pricing, Lyons said. Meanwhile, AT&T dropped its selective prosecution arguments, in which it claimed it was being singled out because of Trump administration antipathy to CNN, since the court signaled skepticism, he said. One must for the government is to show its estimated increase in rivals' subscriber prices -- 45 cents per month -- is significant enough to constitute harm to competition, he said. He said DOJ could face difficulty in proving New AT&T would have incentive to coordinate with Comcast and "may have a path to victory" since Judge Richard Leon of Washington also presided over the 2011 Comcast/NBCUniversal and thus is familiar with the government's theory in the case, he said. Also Friday, telecom lawyer/consultant Jonathan Lee criticized DOJ's case as not reflecting contemporary video distribution business realities. Being an MVPD "simply isn't as profitable as [the agency] seems to remember," and MVPDs now lack the ability to pass on programming price increases without losing customers, Lee blogged. He said DOJ arguments that New AT&T will be able to raise prices ignores that blackouts are on the rise, which indicates MVPDs are far less willing to accept programmers' price demands, and declining subscriber numbers show customers reject current price levels. The trial is to begin Monday and is expected to last 15 days (see 1803080047).

The FCC will examine Matanuska Telephone Association's application to discontinue "basic exchange telecommunications radio service" to 215 customers in a remote area of Alaska. After the agency received 10 comments and one informal complaint, the application "will not be automatically granted," said a public notice in docket 17-363 in Thursday's Daily Digest. "Removal of MTA’s application from the automatic grant process should not be construed as a final determination on the merits."

Attempts to replace vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws with regulation -- such as in the form of antitrust exemptions or immunity -- should be met with "heavy skepticism" because of the dangers that come from government limits on competition, DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim said Wednesday, according to remarks prepared for the division's competition and deregulation event. The roundtable, along with others set for April 26 and May 31, are aimed at helping Justice frame "effective and appropriate competition policy" and identify related regulatory burdens, Delrahim said.