Phone industry trade groups want the FCC to expand call blocking safe harbor protections to allow network level blocking of robocalls deemed illegal or unwanted. Calling originators with ongoing customer relationships urge commissioners to take a more cautious approach when they vote on an order at Thursday’s meeting (see 2006250062), according to interviews and filings in docket 17-59. The rulemaking stems from the Traced Act.

The Utilities Technology Council raised similar questions as USTelecom and NTCA (see 2007080047) on the draft broadband mapping order and Further NPRM set for a commissioner vote Thursday (see 2006250062). The maximum buffers proposed “are not appropriate for fiber to the premises networks in rural unserved areas,” UTC said: “Instead, the Commission should increase the maximum buffer distance for fiber to the home technologies to 20-60 kilometers (km) from the aggregation point.” In rural areas, “many homes and businesses are located miles apart from each other, which is why fiber runs are typically longer than in suburban or urban environments,” UTC said. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association expressed similar in a call with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. In markets today, providers are “consistently seeing” gigabit passive optical network equipment serve customers at distances of 40 km to 45 km or more,” NRECA said. ACA Connects said it “takes issue” with the buffer distances.

States and privacy advocates hailed a federal court ruling Tuesday that said Maine’s ISP privacy law isn’t preempted by Congress or the FCC. The U.S. District Court of Maine order (in Pacer) is a preliminary win for Maine’s 2019 law countering Congress’ 2017 Congressional Review Act (CRA) repeal of 2016 FCC broadband privacy rules. It could pave the way for more state privacy laws and may have implications for state net neutrality laws, said the state law's supporters.

The FCC proposal that C-band earth station technology upgrade costs be reviewed and approved after MVPD earth station operators opt for lump sum reimbursement will deter the operators from going that route and "eviscerate the myriad policy benefits of the lump sum mechanism," ACA Connects representatives told Wireless Bureau staffers, per a docket 18-122 posting Monday. Such a review process is unnecessary because the necessity and degree of technology upgrades for MVPDs transitioning earth stations into the upper portion of the C-band is highly predictable, it said. The group urged integrated receiver/decoder replacement costs stay within the lump sum reimbursement.

Few MVPDs, particularly small ones, can shoulder the big risk that comes with the FCC saying some C-band earth station relocation costs will be reviewed after those stations' operators opt for the lump sum, ACA Connects told aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr as recapped in a docket 18-122 posting Thursday. It repeated its call (see 2006300085) to seek comment on a new proposed lump sum amount and to rework Wireless Bureau proposals.

The FCC is proposing lump sum payments to C-band MVPD earth station operators that could cover as little as 7% of the expected average relocation costs, and that "unjustifiably inadequate" amount undermines the whole point of the lump sums letting MVPDs do the transition on their own instead of involving C-band satellite operators, said ACA Connects. Its docket 18-122 posting Tuesday was on a conversation including ACA President Matt Polka, ACA Chairman and Boycom Vision President Patricia Jo Boyers and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. ACA said the FCC proposal that the lump sum amount would differ depending on the number and type of antennas and tech upgrades needed at each earth station, and that some relocation costs would be reviewed after the MVPD earth station operators opt for the lump sum, goes against FCC design of the lump sum option as it requires declaration of a single, per-earth station lump sum amount to be available upfront. The association said the Wireless Bureau should seek comment on a proposed new lump sum amount for MVPD earth stations that's more consistent with the C-band order, and the bureau should disclose its assumptions and methodologies underlying its revised lump sum proposal. That wouldn't delay the transition because MVPD earth stations are a minority of those that will need transitioning, it said.

The end of the FCC's Keep Americans Connected (KAC) pledge -- which was to have expired Tuesday -- won't necessarily mean a universal end of ISPs offering a safety net of modified broadband subscriber terms during the pandemic, companies and consumer advocates told us. They expect a patchwork response of a rollback of some terms and more emphasis on setting up payment plans. Resumption of data caps is expected, as reported in a previous installment in this series of stories about the novel coronavirus (see 2006180002).

The FCC is sending contradictory messages how it will calculate C-band earth station lump sums in the band's repurposing, saying the sums will be based on estimated average costs for relocation but also on the number or types of antennas or technology upgrades needed by each specific such station, said ACA Connects. The latter formula runs contrary to the C-band order, said a docket 18-122 posting Friday on a Wireless Bureau call. ACA said bureau assertions the payment clearinghouse will verify the need for a component part of an earth station operator’s lump sum election have no order basis. It said the FCC is proposing a lump sum amount available to MVPD earth station operators "significantly lower" than the group's estimates of $764,500 each. Cox told the bureau the order mandates lump sum amounts reflect average, estimated costs of relocating incumbent earth stations to the upper 200 MHz of the band. It said the modulation and encoding technology upgrades proposed in satellite operators’ plans are a direct result of the transition. Citing Intelsat's C-band order petition for reconsideration (see 2005270031), NAB said if the FCC decides satellite operators don't have responsibility for ensuring same-quality service to earth station users after the transition, it must clearly state flexible use operators must remediate any harmful interference. There can't be any ambiguity about that earth station operators and their viewers and listeners need protection through and after the move, the group said.

Some 800 ISPs suspended broadband data caps during the FCC's Keep Americans Connected pledge. In many cases, they'll be back after KAC expires at month's end, experts said in interviews. Data caps aren't directly part of the commitment. The agency did urge ISPs to "relax" them. Providers including AT&T and Comcast opted to provide unlimited data through the pledge. Asked what happens after June 30, they and numerous other major providers, plus the FCC, didn't comment Thursday.

C-band satellite operators' transition plans now are due June 19, after the FCC Wireless Bureau ordered a seven-day extension. Eutelsat (see 2006100005) and Claro (see here) sought extensions for their plans, and the bureau said Friday a delay for all satcom operators won't delay the transition process. It said it's not altering other transition plans deadlines. The bureau denied an NCTA and ACA Connects petition asking for an extended comment deadline on the C-band lump sum (see 2006100005).