FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly asked American Samoa Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga why the territory failed to respond to requests for information on whether it used 911 fees collected from consumers as intended. O'Rielly's letter Monday said American Samoa was the only state or territory not to respond to the latest FCC request for information (see 1912190077). "Given that American Samoa has responded to requests in the preceding four years, it is disappointing that we did not receive any responses to our 2019 request," he said. He noted a 2018 filing indicated American Samoa doesn't collect 911 fees from consumers, and "unless this has changed, filing this information with the Commission should not be a difficult or time-consuming process." The governor's office didn't comment. "We will be submitting our report on this matter" to the governor, emailed CEO Lewis Wolman of American Samoa Telecommunications Authority, one of the territory's two service providers.

To increase broadband adoption, examine costs more closely, ConnectME Authority Executive Director Peggy Schaffer told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a podcast released Friday. Citing data from NTIA's Broadband USA program, Schaffer said 2 percent of Maine's population has access for under $60 monthly. "We are a poor state, and our connectivity is so expensive," Schaffer said. ConnectME asks groups seeking infrastructure grants what they will charge for service, she said. Due to a grant to a local ISP, residents of Sherman, "in the middle of nowhere," has gig service availability for $49.99 monthly, she said.

Five advertising associations asked California to delay enforcing its privacy law that took effect Jan. 1. State attorney general enforcement of California Consumer Privacy Act starts July 1, but that office hasn’t finalized implementing rules. The American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Interactive Advertising Bureau and Network Advertising Initiative urged AG Xavier Becerra (D) Wednesday to delay enforcement until at least six months from the date rules are finalized. “Given the extraordinary complexity of the law and the wide range of open issues to be clarified from the draft guidance, there will not be sufficient time for many businesses to effectively implement the final regulations prior to the anticipated enforcement date of July 1, 2020.” The AG didn't comment. Don’t delay, countered Consumer Reports Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney in a Wednesday interview: “The problem isn’t that there’s a threat of too much enforcement. The problem is that enforcement just isn’t strong enough and that companies aren’t incentivized enough to comply." Consumers must take affirmative action to exercise privacy rights under CCPA, “so any company that’s acting in good faith to respect consumers’ wishes doesn’t have anything to worry about with respect to enforcement,” Mahoney said. “These companies should be more focused on how to respond to consumer requests rather than trying to avoid compliance.” Companies are finding loopholes to CCPA, including by making it harder for consumers to exercise rights by burying or not clearly labeling “do not sell” links on their websites, or by forcing consumers to navigate multiple webpages to fully opt out, she said. While enforcement hasn’t started, companies should be complying now because the AG said he will look back to the law’s Jan. 1 effective date, she said. The AG or state legislature should clarify that transferring data for ad purposes falls under the definition of sale, so when consumers opt out of selling data, that also stops targeted advertising, Mahoney said. Legislators should give the AG more resources to enforce CCPA, and remove the “right to cure” that lets companies address violations within 30 days to avoid penalty, she said.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission cleared Frontier Communications' transfer of its northwestern states telecom assets to Northwest Fiber. Chair Megan Decker and Commissioners Letha Tawney and Mark Thompson adopted a settlement reached by the two companies, commission staff, the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board and Charter Communications, said a Monday order in docket UM-2028. The pact includes 75 conditions on “consumer protections, maintenance of services, financial conditions, oversight, and broadband investment proposed to benefit Frontier’s existing customers and the people of Oregon,” the PUC said. The Montana Public Service Commission said OK earlier this month; the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission held hearings Monday and is the last state whose OK needed (see 2001070031).

NARUC plans to vote next month on a resolution about the FCC’s 5G Fund that would ask the commission to require current and accurate wireless coverage maps before awarding any support from the replacement for Mobility Fund Phase II. Areas without at least 5 Mbps speeds should be prioritized, said the draft resolution released Tuesday. The item for NARUC’s Feb. 9-12 winter meeting in Washington is sponsored by state Commissioners Chris Nelson, South Dakota; Randy Christmann, North Dakota; Sarah Freeman, Indiana; and Tim Schram, Nebraska. States that spent time and money challenging MF-II coverage maps voiced frustration about the FCC last month announcing the program’s termination (see 1912060010). The draft says “there has been little indication regarding what areas the 5G Fund would target and there is concern that without current and accurate mapping these dollars may end up exacerbating the digital divide rather than solving the mobile wireless access problems that currently exist in rural America.” The FCC declined comment.

Sixteen North Dakota broadband stakeholders said gigabit download speeds will constitute baseline broadband by the end of 10-year Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, posted Friday in FCC docket 19-126. Derrick Bulawa, CEO of BEK Communications submitted the letter, responding to MidCo saying the joint commenters argued for fiber only. The stakeholders "argued simply that the Commission should weight auction bids in favor of technology attributes that best serve the ultimate goal of closing the rural digital divide," the new filing said. Bulawa asked in September the FCC give preference to gigabit tier service in RDOF (see 1909180067). Other CEOs signing on included Dakota Carrier Network's Seth Arndorfer, Northwest Communications Cooperative's Jeremy Becker and North Dakota Telephone's Rodney Hoffmeyer.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a petition by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for waiver of entity eligibility rules to apply for 2.5 GHz licenses during the upcoming tribal window (see 2001150072). Comments are due Feb. 10, replies Feb. 20 in docket 20-21. The Bureau of Indian Affairs maintains a list of federally recognized tribal entities, which doesn’t list any in Hawaii, the bureau said Friday.

New York state shouldn't be categorically excluded from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Verizon said. The telco backed the state's request, and the company's filing posted Friday in FCC docket 19-126 (see 2001220017).

Most North Dakota consumer complaints about CenturyLink involve “prolonged outages or customers who experience frequent outages,” the North Dakota Public Service Commission reported Thursday. Complaints increased by three to 36 in 2019, said the PSC, which received 530 consumer contacts in all of last year. CenturyLink declined comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was to discuss the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Wednesday and Thursday in Marietta and Albany, Ohio, and Tecumseh, Michigan, the agency said. Wednesday, Pai and Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, toured wireless ISP Intelliwave in Athens County, the Wireless ISP Association said. Commissioners vote Jan. 30 on the RDOF draft order (see 2001090025). In Ohio, Pai will also attend a telehealth event in Perrysburg and visit a national suicide prevention lifeline crisis center in Toledo.