It’s in “everyone’s interests” that 5G benefits be “clearly and consistently communicated,” said Opensignal Thursday. “Diverging 5G deployment and marketing strategies risk leading to 5G consumer confusion,” said the mobile analytics firm. It worries polarization could develop between carriers offering “very wide 5G reach but slower mobile network experience” and others “delivering on pockets of extremely fast high-capacity.” Confused consumers “may hold off adopting 5G ... and carriers may end up not seeing the returns on their 5G investments that they expect.” New streaming services “will force operators to rethink their mobile video strategies,” said Opensignal. Verizon's recent offer of a free year of Disney Plus to existing 4G and 5G unlimited-data customers typifies carrier aggressiveness, it said. Such new streaming services “will force operators to take a closer look at their network optimization practices and their caching systems to ensure consumers have a great mobile video experience at high resolutions,” the firm predicted. Smartphone owners in states that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 will have a "better mobile experience" than those that went for Donald Trump, said Opensignal. The average download speeds in blue states is 19 percent faster than those in red states.

The Rural Utilities Service takes applications Jan. 31-March 16 for a second round of ReConnect broadband funding, says Thursday's Federal Register. Applicants must demonstrate financial and technical feasibility of a project. Feedback or comments on the pilot are due March 16.

That Nikon is “killing” its authorized repair network after March 31 cries out for the enactment of right-to-repair legislation, blogged iFixit Monday. Nikon won’t renew the contracts of 15 factory-authorized repair shops nationally and will channel service functions to facilities it runs in Los Angeles and Long Island, New York, said iFixit. “In addition to parts, tools, manuals, and training on the latest models at Nikon’s facilities, repair shops will likely lose access to Nikon’s proprietary calibration software.” This typifies “the kind of repair restrictions” that right-to-repair legislation would curb, said iFixit. “Rather than demand that customers ship their cameras to one of only two places in the U.S. with official parts and tools, Right to Repair laws would provide repair shops and individuals access to the same equipment as used by Nikon’s facilities.” Nikon didn’t comment Tuesday.

The FTC should expand its definitions of personal information to include biometric data, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general wrote Monday. The agency is collecting comments on its review of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule, extended through Wednesday (see 1912090061). The agency should “clamp down on companies that embed code in children’s mobile applications and collect data in order to serve children behavioral advertising” and “examine how the rules apply to school-issued laptops that are ‘free’ so long as companies get to collect information from the students using them,” the group said. Signing were law enforcement chiefs in Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state and the District of Columbia.

The FCC launched an application programming interface Lifeline carriers can use to verify a potential enrollee's eligibility, the agency said Tuesday. The API connects a carrier's enrollment system to the Lifeline program's national eligibility verifier run by Universal Service Administrative Co. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that now, "Lifeline will be a more efficient tool for connecting some of our most vulnerable citizens to broadband." The API initially launched in a test (see 1910100007). CTIA thinks these efforts "to enhance the National Eligibility Verifier with new features that can make it easier for millions of low income Americans" using the subsidized wireless, said Matt Gerst, vice president-regulatory affairs, in a statement. It's "a positive step forward which can serve as a building block to make the National Verifier more efficient and effective for all stakeholders," emailed Lifeline lawyer John Heitmann of Kelley Drye. The FCC and USAC didn't provide details of what's involved with the API.

The Supreme Court won't hear a CTIA challenge of an RF disclosure law by Berkeley, California, denying petition for writ of certiorari Monday, it said in docket 19-439. CTIA said it's disappointed. "We encourage consumers to listen to the FDA, the American Cancer Society, and the international scientific community when it comes to radiofrequency (RF) exposure," it said. It noted last week's FCC order saying there's no evidence of a causal link between wireless device use and cancer (see 1912040036). Berkeley didn't comment. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July upheld for a second time Berkeley’s law that requires the wireless industry to provide a warning about possible dangers of overexposure to wireless frequencies (see 1907020059).

New York awarded $45 million to 57 counties and New York City for emergency communications under the 2019 Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant program, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Friday. New York City got about $5.4 million, more than any one county. Monroe County got about $1.6 million, followed by Albany ($1.26 million), Onondaga ($1.25 million) and Erie ($1.16 million).

State and federal governments should link arms on USF programs, including more syncing up between the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) and the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and Connect America Fund (CAF), the California Public Utilities Commission told the FCC. Staff from the CPUC Communications Division and the FCC’s Wireline Bureau and Office of Native Affairs had a call Tuesday, said a Thursday-posted filing in docket 19-126. FCC staff say they plan to wrap RDOF meetings by month’s end and hope to start taking bidding applications late next year after auction rules are adopted, the CPUC said. Statestaffers said it’s hard to know how many CAF Phase II subscribers are in California because carriers don’t report it, so they use subscribers to 10/1 Mbps as a proxy. “CPUC staff noted that subscribership to CAF II appears to be fairly low, below 15%, with some counties at 0%.” Thursday, the CPUC scheduled a Jan. 22 en banc hearing on how California should update rules and processes to keep up with the communications market, following up on a May meeting (see 1905200052). The commission wants providers to weigh in on affordability, rural and tribal challenges, grant programs and network sharing. The hearing is 10 a.m. PST.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission got more details about a settlement on Northwest Fiber’s proposed buy of Frontier Communications wireline, video and long-distance operations. The companies, PUC staff and the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board filed a stipulation Wednesday saying they support the deal with conditions. The agency typically rules within six to eight weeks, but there's no statutory deadline, a spokesperson emailed Thursday. The companies made commitments including about expanding broadband deployment, keeping wholesale agreements, and reporting on finances and service quality. Beyond Connect America Fund Phase II funding, Northwest agreed to spend at least $50 million enhancing and expanding 1 Gbps fiber symmetrical service within five years. That should cover at least 60 percent of locations in the combined ILEC territories in Oregon. Northwest would spend at least $10 million outside the Portland area. Northwest would ensure existing Frontier fiber customers have such access within a year. The companies and Montana Consumer Counsel filed their own pact Tuesday at that state’s Public Service Commission (see 1912040050). Settlement was earlier announced in Washington state, the last state OK needed. Details are due Dec. 19 to the Utilities and Transportation Commission, with a hearing Jan. 27.

Montana parties reached a settlement on Northwest Fiber’s proposed buy of Frontier Communications wireline, video and long-distance operations. The companies and Montana Consumer Counsel filed a stipulation Tuesday about the pact in docket 2019.06.39. Settlements were earlier announced in Oregon and Washington state, the other two states reviewing the deal (see 1911130051). The companies agreed to conditions, including expanding broadband deployment, keeping wholesale agreements and reporting on finances, outages and service quality.