The FTC on Oct. 21 will deliberate over whether to publicly share evidentiary findings from an agency study on the privacy practices of major ISPs, the commission announced Thursday. Publishing of the findings is subject to a commission vote. In 2019, the FTC issued Section 6(b) orders to AT&T, Comcast, Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon and advertising affiliates. Staff will present study findings at the virtual open meeting, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. EDT. Speaker registration and comments are due Monday.

The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) asked the FCC to act on rules allowing use of 5030-5091 MHz by drones, in comments posted Wednesday in RM-11798. Others stressed dynamic spectrum access in the band. The FCC initially took comment on the band in 2019, responding to a request by AIA (see 1912270039). In August, the Wireless Bureau asked for comments for a record refresh (see 2108230034). “The record overwhelmingly demonstrates support for permanent access to the 5030-5091 MHz band to provide [unmanned aircraft system] command and control,” AIA said. “AIA agrees with the Bureau that the time is ripe to address the technical, operational, and regulatory questions that AIA’s Petition poses.” The UAS industry needs to "access the entire band as soon as practicable" and the regulatory regime should be "appropriate for aviation safety spectrum,” Boeing said. It wants to “condition license eligibility for UAS operators on use of certificated pilots,” under a “dynamic frequency assignment model that prioritizes efficiency” and no "altitude restrictions.” The band is “central to successful domestic/international UAS development and advancement, particularly for larger UAS” operating in FAA-controlled airspace, said Aviation Spectrum Resources. It supports a “flexible spectrum access model developed and guided by the end user community in conjunction with the FAA.” Federated Wireless said its spectrum access system (SAS) technology “can dynamically assign any number of bands for UAS communications, depending on the mission and the needs of the UAS and the operator, including the 5030-5091 MHz band." SAS systems can "provide authoritative and virtually real-time decisions on requests to transmit or assign usage rights, enforce the use of authorized devices, and monitor spectrum assignments and, in some cases, actual usage,” the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said. The Commercial Drone Alliance also supported a rulemaking.

Different antitrust interpretations of the FTC and Sherman Acts create a “dangerous” enforcement divide between the FTC and DOJ, ex-FTC Chairman Tim Muris told a NetChoice panel Wednesday. Companies can expect different sets of rules based on agency, he said. Noting all chairs take over with their own agendas, ex-FTC acting Chief Technologist Neil Chilson, now a researcher at Stand Together, said Chair Lina Khan’s approach seems to be to “move fast and break things.” Khan has taken procedural measures, limited bipartisan potential and given herself more power, said Muris, noting Democrats made it easier for the agency to pursue rulemaking. It’s a move away from consensus antitrust enforcement, said ex-acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, now at Baker Botts. This embracing of more rulemaking and regulation is a departure from the consumer welfare standard, said Ohlhausen: Some people feel antitrust has become too difficult to enforce, so this is a sidestep, creating questions about dual enforcement. The three panelists led the agency under Republican presidents. The agency didn't comment.

FCC 3.45 GHz auction bids climbed to $2.24 billion Tuesday, after 15 rounds. The auction has to raise almost $14.8 billion to close and cover expected sharing and relocation costs for federal users.

The FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council -- formerly the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment -- plans its first meeting Nov. 3, says Friday's Federal Register. The charter for the committee was renewed for a two-year period that began June 29. The meeting will involve introducing the members of the CEDC and establishing working groups, the FR says.

T-Mobile asked to strike a Dish Network official’s testimony at last month’s California Public Utilities Commission hearing on the wireless carrier’s planned CDMA shutdown (see 2109210040). T-Mobile filed a motion Wednesday in docket A.18-07-012 to remove from the record Sept. 20 testimony by Dish Executive Vice President-External and Legal Affairs Jeffrey Blum, who was the satellite company’s only witness. Blum’s testimony was “irrelevant” to issues raised by the CPUC’s order to show cause, T-Mobile said. “He did nothing more than offer his own personal opinion about how to interpret agreements between the parties and testimony from the prior proceedings.” Blum gave “false testimony ... including fabricated assertions about a three-year CDMA maintenance commitment, and abused the process of this Commission and other government agencies in a bad-faith attempt to hold T-Mobile to this non-existent commitment,” it said: T-Mobile was denied due process because its cross-examination of Blum was “abruptly cut short” when the hearing ended. T-Mobile Technology President Neville Ray "repeatedly testified about a three year migration period during the CPUC’s review of the merger," and the carrier negotiated for an option to lease back 800 MHz spectrum for an extra two years, a Dish spokesperson emailed: "Instead of making meritless claims, T-Mobile should focus on upholding the promises made under oath and ensuring low-income consumers won't be disenfranchised" by a Jan. 1 CDMA shutdown.

An order on updating the table of allotments would incorporate changes from the broadcast incentive auction, the repacking, and from after a freeze on changes was lifted in November, says the draft the FCC released Tuesday. The order is set for commissioners' Oct. 26 meeting (see 2110040068). The table was last updated in 2018. The order would remove language in regulations that became outdated with the auction’s reallocation of channels and the DTV transition. The order doesn’t stem from a preexisting notice and comment process because the revisions “merely correct outdated information from the 2018 Table as a result of channel reassignments and/or community of license changes that have already been approved by the Commission,” the draft says. A third round of connected care pilot program winners will treat "high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, COVID-19, and chronic conditions," says a draft public notice on docket 18-213. Selected participants would have six months to file their initial funding requests with Universal Service Administrative Co.

The 3.45 GHz auction opened Tuesday with $672.4 million in gross bids after the first two rounds. That compares with $1.9 billion in bids in the C-band auction after the initial day in December (see 2012080040). The bidding after the first round “suggests all four national carriers are bidding for 40MHz in the auction, meaning the auction is on the right track to close,” New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors. Three rounds are scheduled for Wednesday. The auction has to raise almost $14.8 billion to close and cover the expected sharing and relocation costs for federal users. “We are moving with record speed and collaboration to free up more mid-band spectrum for 5G,” said FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, announcing the start of the auction.

Congressional Democratic leaders moved back the deadline for enacting the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) and a related budget reconciliation package to Oct. 31, after renewed infighting between the party’s liberal and moderate factions over the latter bill (see 2110010001). Oct. 31 also is expiration of a 30-day extension of the surface transportation statute (HR-5434) enacted Saturday in a bid to buy more time to pass HR-3684, which includes $65 billion for broadband. “Not every member will get everything he or she wanted” in HR-3684 or reconciliation still under negotiations, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York Monday in a letter to the chamber’s Democratic caucus. “At the end of the day, we will pass legislation that will dramatically improve the lives of the American people. I believe we are going to do just that in the month of October.” A final reconciliation deal needs to happen “within a matter of days, not weeks,” for Democrats to meet that goal, Schumer said. President Joe Biden indicated during a Friday meeting with House Democrats that they'd likely be "working with a lower topline number" for the reconciliation bill than the $3.5 trillion originally envisioned "and decisions must therefore be made regarding the size and scope" of the measure, Pelosi said in a Monday letter to the caucus.

A virtual hearing on Hurricane Ida headlines a skinny agenda for the Oct. 26 commissioners’ meeting. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the hearing last week when the FCC approved 4-0 NPRM on making networks more resilient during disasters (see 2109300069). “The information gleaned from this hearing will serve as a foundation for recommendations and actions to make our networks more resilient before the next unthinkable event occurs,” she said in a Monday post: “We’ll be hearing from a variety of viewpoints.” The agenda includes an unspecified national security item, Rosenworcel said. “Since January we’ve maintained a proactive and meaningful response to security threats to our communications networks, and this item will continue that effort.” Rosenworcel said an item slated for a vote will update the TV table of allotments and “delete or revise rules rendered obsolete” by the end of the broadcast incentive auction and the DTV transition. A third round of funding for the Connected Care Pilot program will be considered, Rosenworcel wrote. It would help "a range of nonprofit and public health care providers connect with their patients" and "support internet access for patients and providers, focusing on maternal health and high-risk pregnancy, public health epidemics, opioid dependency, mental health, and chronic conditions," she said.