Section 706 of the Telecom Act “remains available as an effective enforcement mechanism for anti-consumer practices, including specifically but not limited to redlining,” said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council in a Friday filing in docket 17-108 on a meeting with FCC Chairman Pai. It's "vital that the Commission include broadband in Lifeline so that the maximum benefit of this program is realized in connecting the unconnected.” MMTC said there's a need for apprenticeship programs, “including a program MMTC is operating in conjunction with the Wireless Infrastructure Association.” The group said it “discussed the importance of secondary markets and the impact that these transactions can have on new entrants, particularly minority entrepreneurs,” and "will follow-up regarding additional means to foster these transactions, including legislation.” MMTC President Kim Keenan and President Emeritus David Honig were among participants.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation further disputed a National Legal and Policy Center report that EFF submitted 100,000 fake comments to FCC net neutrality docket 17-108 (see 1705310019). "NLPC’s report is false. Not one name, email address, or email domain cited in the report matches to any of the comments that came through EFF's comment tool," EFF, which denied the claim earlier in the week, blogged Thursday. "Unfortunately, NLPC didn’t reach out to us before publishing its report. If they had, we would have been able to share our evidence with them and they could have avoided publishing a flawed report." NLPC stands "behind our analysis 100%," emailed President Peter Flaherty. "EFF is denying an accusation we did not make. We never said they sent the comments or that the comments went through their website. We are glad EFF confirms one of our key findings." He pointed us to a response. Meanwhile, the Federal Register published a summary of the NPRM that proposes to reverse Title II broadband reclassification and revisit net neutrality rules under the Communications Act. Comments are due July 17, replies Aug. 16. Paperwork Reduction Act comments are due Aug. 1.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a Thursday confirmation hearing for NTIA Administrator nominee David Redl and nominees to two other posts. Redl, currently the House Commerce Committee's chief counsel and a former CTIA official, has broad industry support. Lawmakers also view Redl's nomination as a potential opportunity to move on contentious spectrum legislation and other issues (see 1705170056). NTIA's top challenges include modernizing federal spectrum systems “to maximize spectrum use” for all users, Redl said in responses to a Senate Commerce questionnaire. “Spectrum continues to be a finite resource in increasing demand. Left unaddressed, the challenge of balancing mission and commercial demands could impact the nation's leadership in 5G technology.” Redl is concerned about “improving broadband availability” and addressing U.S. digital economy needs. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. Senate Commerce is expected to also consider undersecretary of transportation-policy nominee Derek Kan and National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman nominee Robert Sumwalt during the hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be simultaneously voting on a trio of DOJ nominees, including Antitrust Division head nominee Makan Delrahim (see 1706020014).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the FCC jointly released Thursday a “Communications Tower Best Practices Guide.” The document notes it was the result of joint work that started with an October 2014 conference at the FCC (see 1410140172). Officials said then that most tower deaths can be prevented. Curbing deaths was a push of then-Chairman Tom Wheeler. “As more Americans use mobile devices to call, text and stream content, the safety of workers who maintain and construct communications towers is more critical than ever,” said a statement by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Assistant Deputy Secretary for Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dorothy Dougherty. “Every day, communications tower workers face potential hazards that can be deadly if not performed safely, and dozens of fatalities have occurred over the past few years. Every tower climber death is preventable.” The document stresses it's advisory: “It is not a standard or regulation, and it neither creates new legal obligations nor alters existing obligations created by OSHA standards or the Occupational Safety and Health Act.” Wireless Infrastructure Association supports the best practices document, said President Jonathan Adelstein. “The Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program played a vital role in providing these agencies with the most relevant and useful information from the private sector.”

Correction: Robert Quinn is a senior executive vice president of AT&T (see 1705310027).

Local interests supported a consumer group motion to extend comment deadlines on FCC wireline infrastructure deployment proceedings: "Local governments support, and adopt by reference, each of the Movants’ assertions as to why it is in the public interest to grant an extension of time to file in the above-captioned matter." It also would "ensure the full participation by local governments nationwide," said a filing Wednesday in docket 17-84 by NATOA, the National League of Cities, Government Finance Officers Association, National Association of Towns and Townships, National Association of Counties, U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of Regional Councils and International Municipal Lawyers Association. Public Knowledge and others last week asked for a 30-day extension on filing comments and replies, currently due June 15 and July 17. Responding to a request from wireless industry groups, the Wireless Bureau last week provided a slight extension of June 9 and July 10 deadlines for comments and replies on wireless infrastructure deployment proceedings, pushing them back to June 15 and July 17 (see 1705260058).

The FCC agreed to a waiver sought by Amtrak on the rules under which its Wi-Fi network operates so it can offer more robust service along its key Northeast Corridor (NEC). Amtrak requested the waiver in December (see 1612220013). “This action will permit Amtrak to deploy operations on its wireless trackside network (TSN) within the Northeast Corridor under the specifications that apply to fixed point-to-point operation in both the 5.15-5.25 GHz (U-NII-1) and 5.75-5.85 GHz (U-NII-3) bands,” said an order signed by Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. The waiver applies only to the NEC's core Boston-Washington portion. The order specifies the total number of radios that can be used with the system and sets forth the boundaries of permissible communications. OET said it wouldn't condition the waiver on Amtrak’s use of any particular equipment for its TSN, provided the equipment complies with FCC equipment authorization rules. “The TSN bears many characteristics of a fixed point-to-point network,” OET said. “Both the access points and train-based radios transmit in a highly directional manner. Because Amtrak’s operations will be exclusively within the bounds of the NEC [right of way], its mobile operations will essentially be operating at a series of fixed linear points along a defined path.” In March, the Wi-Fi Alliance raised concerns (see 1703010027) on the proposed waiver, saying the passenger railroad must first “demonstrate that the benefit its customers will receive will not impose a cost on other users of the 5 GHz band.”

The FCC urged the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a district court ruling that sided with the FTC in finding AT&T Mobility inadequately informed customers of its data-throttling program. The FCC was backing an FTC en banc appeal of a three-judge 9th Circuit decision that threw out its case against AT&T. The FCC said the two agencies "have worked cooperatively" to ensure the division of authority between them didn't subject parties to conflicting agency demands or create a regulatory gap. The panel decision overturning the district court ruling "gravely upset this careful balance, potentially creating a regulatory no man's land that is exempt from both FTC and FCC jurisdiction," said an FCC amicus brief Wednesday in AT&T Mobility v. FTC, No. 15-16585. The FTC has certain authority ("Section 5") to address unfair or deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce, subject to certain exceptions, including for Communications Act "common carriers." FCC 2015 reclassification of broadband as being under Title II common-carrier regulation effectively exempted broadband providers from the FTC jurisdiction. The brief noted the FCC's proposal to undo the Title II broadband reclassification, but said that wouldn't resolve the 9th Circuit issue because the panel ruling extended the FTC's exemption to the non-common carrier activities of common carriers, and AT&T would retain common-carrier status as a telco. "If the en banc Court were to adopt AT&T’s position that the FTC Act’s common-carrier exception is 'status-based' rather than 'activity-based,' contrary to the reasoned analysis of the district court below, the fact that AT&T provides traditional common-carrier voice telephone service could potentially immunize the company from any FTC oversight of its non-common-carrier offerings, even when the FCC lacks authority over those offerings -- creating a potentially substantial regulatory gap where neither the FTC nor the FCC has regulatory authority," said the FCC brief. "That approach is contrary to a common-sense reading of the relevant statutes and could weaken or eliminate important consumer protections. While AT&T may prefer to offer services in a regulatory no man’s land, the law does not dance to AT&T’s whims." En banc reversal is seen as a potential game changer for both agencies (see 1705100063).

CTIA and a group of satellite broadband operators continue to joust over proposed changes to the FCC spectrum frontiers order. In a docket 14-177 filing Tuesday, the satellite interests said CTIA is being disingenuous when it argues upper microwave flexible use systems will be deployed in rural areas to extend broadband services, since the record shows UMFUS use will be for mobile operations in denser population centers. They called "baseless" CTIA arguments that satellite proposals for amending spectrum frontiers would preclude terrestrial mobile services since there hasn't been an explanation of why UMFUS operators couldn't still deploy in urban areas even under satellite proposed changes. Those suggested modifications were aimed at avoiding UMFUS interference in areas where use of 28/39 GHz spectrum use is most likely, they said. The companies were Boeing, EchoStar, Inmarsat, Intelsat, O3b, OneWeb and SES. CTIA, meanwhile, in a filing Friday, argued satellite and unlicensed uses have more spectrum available than there is for licensed mobile broadband, and the FCC should address that imbalance via "an investment-friendly sharing approach for the 37-37.6 GHz band" and reconsideration of its making the 66-71 GHz band available on an unlicensed basis.

Regulating broadband providers under Title II of the Communications Act is more anachronistic than most argue, said Tad Lipsky, acting director of the FTC Competition Bureau, at the Free State Foundation conference Wednesday. Many in industry say reclassifying saddled broadband providers with a regulatory approach from 1934 when the Communications Act was passed, Lipsky said. In reality, the regulation is modeled on the Interstate Commerce Act, signed by President Grover Cleveland in 1887, he said. The act “has been the model for all of the economic regulatory agencies at the federal level in our history,” he said. “I’m a cheerleader for the light regulation approach,” Lipsky said. “I endorse the philosophy that the temptation to look at the problems of a dynamic and quickly developing industry, and to immediately apply the structure of economic regulation” to guard against future problems “has been a fail.” The Interstate Commerce Commission was eliminated in 1996 and the Civil Aeronautics Board was terminated earlier, he said. “It is in many respects a dubious and highly questionable … system of regulation.” Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC Consumer Protection Bureau, remembers an era when people had party-line phones, his parents had to visit travel agencies to plan family trips, and there were no YouTube videos on performing simple household repairs. “My teenage son cannot even imagine living under those circumstances.” Pahl said. The internet transformed daily life, he said. “In large part, a free-market, limited-regulatory approach has fostered this transformation while protecting consumers from harm.” The FTC is protecting data security, bringing hundreds of privacy and data security cases, Pahl said. The cases “involved offline and online information and companies large and small,” he said. “They covered all parts of the internet ecosystem, including social networks, search engines, ad networks, online retailers, mobile apps and mobile handsets.” If the FCC returns broadband to a Title I regime, the FTC is “ready, willing and able to protect the data security and privacy of broadband subscribers,” Pahl said. “We have a wealth of consumer protection and competition experience and expertise, which we will bring to bear on online data security and privacy laws.” The standards would then apply to all internet companies, not just ISPs, he said. “Our approach would ensure that the standards the government applies are comprehensive, consistent and pro-competitive.” Companies would be held responsible for the promises they make to consumers and accountable for the misuse of information, he said. “We hold companies responsible for not having reasonable data security practices.”