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October 2018

Why feds can’t block California’s net neutrality bill

CA just passed the toughest state-level network neutrality law in the nation, and within hours, the Department of Justice sued the state to block the law from going into effect. It’s the start of a new chapter in the fight for net neutrality, as the federal government works hand in hand with the telecom industry to stop a wave of state-level net neutrality protections. But legal experts said that the effort to remove states from the consumer protection equation rests on shaky legal ground and may only buy the telecom sector time rather than rolling back the law completely.

Lifeline National Verifier Launch Public Notice

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces that effective November 2, 2018, the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier (National Verifier) will fully launch in the initial six participating states—Colorado, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

FCC Proposes County-Wide CBRS Licenses

The Federal Communications Commission will vote later in Oct on rule changes for the upcoming auction of spectrum in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band. According to a draft order released Oct 2, the proposed CBRS auction rules call for licenses to be awarded by county for a period of 10 years with the option to renew. The FCC is proposing lengthening license terms in the CBRS (3.5 GHz) band, "modestly" increasing the size of those geographic licenses--the plan is to auction the licenses sometime in 2019-and allowing them to be renewed.

Remarks of Commissioner O'Rielly before the Americas Spectrum Management Conference

I have been asked to discuss the Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS). The timing of this event is indeed fortuitous, because the draft order on this exact issue will be considered at the Oct Federal Communications Commission meeting and its text is being posted Oct 2.  I am fortunate that FCC Chairman Pai entrusted me with such a challenging and important project. Over the last many months, I employed sound regulatory principles to guide my review of the band. To put it mildly, there is a lot of interest in this spectrum, and there are many divergent and passionate opinions.

Commissioner O'Rielly CBRS R&O Fact Sheet: Fixing the Rules to Enable Mid-Band 5G

The Federal Communications Commission will consider an item at its next Open Meeting to revise its existing rules governing the Citizens Band Radio Services (CBRS), which will utilize spectrum between 3.55 to 3.70 GHz. In doing so, the focus will be on correcting policy mistakes made pertaining to the Priority Access Licenses (PALs) back when rules were adopted in April 2015 and May 2016.

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for October 2018 Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 23, 2018:

President Trump to host tech execs at White House

President Donald Trump, who has accused Google's search engine of being biased against conservatives, is planning to host a conference with executives of internet companies, said his senior economic adviser, Larry Kudlow. The meeting could take place as early as the middle of Oct, White House, Kudlow said.  "We're going to have a little conference – the president will preside over it – we will have big internet companies, big social media companies, search companies," Kudlow said.

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