Correction: Ligado CEO Doug Smith's column was on the Fortune website (see 1704240055).

The Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity that President Donald Trump established through executive order Tuesday will count the FCC chairman among its members, said the order text. Other members will include the secretaries of commerce and agriculture and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. “A member of the Task Force may designate a senior‑level official who is a full-time officer or employee of the member's department, agency, or office to perform the member's functions on the Task Force,” the order said. The group’s goal is to “identify legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to promote in rural America agriculture, economic development, job growth, infrastructure improvements, technological innovation, energy security, and quality of life,” with an eye toward advancing “the adoption of innovations and technology for agricultural production and long-term, sustainable rural development,” the order said. A report is due in 180 days of the order, coordinated by USDA.

Wireless companies see room for state and federal rules on siting of 5G small-cells infrastructure, said CTIA and Wireless Infrastructure Association officials on a NATOA webinar Wednesday. Four states have passed small-cells bills, and several more bills are moving in other states (see 1704240023), and the FCC approved a rulemaking last week on ways to speed wireless infrastructure deployment (see 1704200037). States should have autonomy to act decisively now, said CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings. CTIA recognizes “cookie-cutter” legislation doesn’t work and is proud state bills passed so far have different language, addressing concerns specific to localities in each state, she said. States can be a good “incubator” for policies and there’s room for states to act now to codify policies, said WIA Senior Government Affairs Counsel Van Bloys. It’s important to have a national set of guidelines as well, but there are areas where state legislation may go further or be more tailored than FCC rules, he said. Localities should view the proposed laws not as wireless bills but as "jobs and economic development bills," Hastings said. Cities and towns will retain local oversight over the permitting process and the right to deny applications that don't meet objective requirements, said CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Beth Cooley. Municipalities will retain a key role, especially for siting of new structures, added Bloys.

Government subsidies of satellite-provided broadband services, such as the FCC's Connect America Fund or the U.K.'s Better Broadband subsidies, require ongoing analyses of the comparative costs of different solutions and due diligence in looking at various technology combinations to see what's effective in different situations, said a draft report on broadband satellite by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Working Party on Communication Infrastructures and Services Policy, provided to Communications Daily. The report catalogs the current state of the satellite industry and looks at subsidy and regulatory considerations in satellite-provided broadband. The report also says the uncertainty that comes with new satellite technologies might create a larger need for market-based subsidy mechanisms like auctions to choose providers and technologies in broadband subsidy plans. Laying out a variety of satellite policy and regulatory changes going on by regulators worldwide, the report also said the expected growth of non-geostationary orbit systems will necessitate further changes in regulations. A satellite industry executive told us the report is to be discussed at the Working Party's May meeting.

Correction: Randolph May is the president of the Free State Foundation (see 1704240049).

Look for more congressional action on copyright reform, an aide to House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told an NAB Show panel. Such efforts would come amid House consideration (see 1704240066) of the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act (HR-1695). "I am optimistic about copyright reform later this year," said Issa aide Tyler Grimm. "There has been a lot" of debate about the appointment process for a register of copyrights, with some uncomfortable about the departure of the last register, he said. Grimm is optimistic HR-1695 will pass the House, he said, noting it then goes to the Senate. "I think you’re going to see more [Copyright] Office modernization bills," he said. "I think that debate is going to take hold." On the potential for an overhaul of the Telecom Act, other congressional aides noted here in Las Vegas widespread agreement that some of the regulatory silos created by the act need to be changed. But prospects for quick work on a comprehensive revamp may not be good, based on their comments. Updating the act "is still something that we think is important," said House Commerce Committee Republican aide Kelsey Guyselman. "Everyone agrees that the law is outdated and needs to be fixed." She, like others, also noted partisan divides aplenty on Capitol Hill: "If that means narrower pieces of legislation, I think that’s something we are open to." House Commerce Democratic aide Jerry Leverich said, "You’re going to be hard-pressed to find anyone who says the silo approach embodied by the Communications Act" is ideal. He said ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., "would be willing to negotiate on some things … making sure that consumers are protected." On FCC issues, Hill aides generally backed process changes by Chairman Ajit Pai and called the incentive auction a success. "We’ve appreciated the efforts that Chairman Pai has undertaken" in terms of processes, said Senate Commerce Committee GOP aide Cort Bush. "There certainly probably is more work that can be done statutorily." Guyselman called the auction an overall success, with "an optimal outcome" where "consumers benefit from both services in robust ways," she said of TV stations and wireless carriers. "The proof of concept played out well." Leverich agreed on the successful proof of concept, noting much work remains with repacking of stations. "We’re not all the way across the finish line yet," he said, with almost 1,000 TV stations needing to change channels and radio stations potentially being affected. "There will be a lot of things we will focus on," Leverich continued, "to make sure this next phase is as successful as the first phase."

Early moves by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stir optimism for the CEO of the owner of Cablevision, Suddenlink and other operators. Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei, in a rare cable executive keynote speech at the NAB Show, cited the agency under Pai undoing net neutrality ISP privacy rules, while saying he hasn't seen anything public about what the chairman may next do with the net neutrality rules overall and no public disclosure of possible plans there (see 1704250056). "Everyone in our industry where I sit today is cautiously optimistic that we will be able to operate in a fair and efficient way," Goei said in Q&A Tuesday here in Las Vegas. "Chairman Pai has done a terrific job ... clarifying some issues that were an overhang on our industry which potentially misaligned us with some people who were tangential to our industry." Goei cited privacy rules, in which non-ISPs weren't subjected to the same regime as broadband service providers that Goei said generally aren't engaged in commercial activities around data on users' IP addresses. The agency "has moved at a very quick pace in the first few months here, so we remain cautiously optimistic," he said. On Altice's heavy spending on fiber deployments in the U.S. and in Europe, where it got its start before entering America, Goei said he expects those capital expenditures to prove worthwhile. "Fiber today remains the most robust and efficient and reliable technology," he said. Investing in "little steps to eventually get to fiber makes no sense," he added. Such fiber deployments aren't just about future needs, "when one understands this is the present," he said. Altice USA has said it's building a fiber-to-the-home network capable of 10 Gbps across most of its footprint by 2022 (see 1611300029). On the company's initial public offering plans (see 1704110009), Goei said it wants "to be ready to the extent that it makes sense that someone wanted to talk about any type of combination or strategic" issues, but "we are very happy where we are today." Even amid rising programming costs, a trend he said is "going in the wrong direction," Altice USA has "a good relationship with our programming brethren." The executive was the first cable speaker in recent memory to be an NAB Show keynoter, noted his questioner Mark Robichaux, editorial director of publications including Broadcasting & Cable. Said Goei later: "I’m surprised that more of my peers haven’t been able to come to the show previously."

An FCC draft rulemaking notice on the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for fiscal year 2017 is now before commissioners, according to the agency's circulation list, which was updated Friday. A commission spokesman had no comment Monday on the draft NPRM.

The FCC sought comment and data on actions to speed broadband healthcare solutions. The commission "seeks information on how it can help enable the adoption and accessibility of broadband-enabled health care solutions, especially in rural and other underserved areas of the country," said a public notice Monday in docket 16-46. "We expect to use this information to identify actions that the Commission can take to promote this important goal. Ensuring that everyone is connected to the people, services, and information they need to get well and stay healthy is an important challenge facing our nation. Technology innovations in clinical practice and care delivery coupled with burgeoning consumer reliance on mHealth and health information technology (or healthIT) are fundamentally changing the face of health care, and a widespread, accessible broadband infrastructure is critical to this ongoing shift." The PN is "an important step in advancing the mission of the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force," said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in a statement, thanking Chairman Ajit Pai for his commitment to the task force and Commissioner Michael O'Rielly for his support of the item. “The emerging broadband health ecosystem includes health care providers, public health and social service agencies, innovators and entrepreneurs, academic and research facilities, state and local policymakers, patients and their caregivers, as well as fixed and wireless broadband companies," she said. "I encourage entities from each of these sectors to provide us with detailed comments ... By working together, I know we can narrow the digital and opportunities divide to ensure much needed health and wellness solutions reach all Americans.”

President Donald Trump’s administration is “close” to finalizing its long-anticipated cybersecurity executive order, with an eye toward intertwining it with other plans for the federal government’s IT modernization, said White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Robert Joyce during a Monday event. The White House continued to revise the anticipated order in the months since officials first delayed Trump's planned late January signing of it. Then, the order would have directed the Office of Management and Budget to assess all federal agencies' cybersecurity risks and required agencies to manage their risk using the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Cybersecurity Framework (see 1701310066). Later drafts of the EO included language that would direct the Department of Commerce to explore ways to encourage “core communications infrastructure” companies “to improve the resilience of such infrastructure and to encourage collaboration with the goal of dramatically reducing threats perpetrated by” botnets (see 1702280065). Trump administration staffers are ensuring the text of the executive order is “closely aligned” with Trump son-in-law and White House Office of Innovation Director Jared Kushner’s plans to develop “approaches for the president’s consideration to modernize federal IT systems, retire outdated systems and move to shared services,” Joyce said during the Georgetown University event. “We must make sure that innovation and cybersecurity are intertwined.” The White House wants to ensure that the EO “emerges with the time and attention it needs … and at the same time is sequenced with other things the administration is rolling out so we don’t distract from other important messages that are out there,” Joyce said. The White House’s bid to revamp federal IT systems “offers important opportunities to improve our cybersecurity posture, because it’s no secret that there are outdated and indefensible IT components in the federal government today,” Joyce said.