FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed he met with Trump transition team members. Responding to a reporter's question, Wheeler said he had two meetings, one with the FCC transition team of President-elect Donald Trump and a separate one with Jeffrey Eisenach, a member of the team. "They were good meetings," said Wheeler, at his Thursday news conference after his last FCC commissioners' meeting (see 1612150034). "It’s not my role to talk about what happened in those meetings. If they want to talk about that, that's great," he said. The Trump transition and its FCC "landing team" members didn't comment. Wheeler said the commission designated two staffers as transition contacts and set up an office for Trump team members. "I made clear to them that if there were any issues that came up along the way, that I was the guy to call first," he said. Trump team members also met this week with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, an aide told us. Aides to other commissioners didn't comment.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wouldn't comment Thursday on a Wireless Bureau preliminary conclusion that AT&T's Data Free TV sponsored data service hurts competition and consumers (see 1612020044). The company was due to file its response Thursday. “We have to wait and see what AT&T’s response is today,” Wheeler said during a news conference after the commissioners' meeting. Wheeler laughed when a reporter asked why the FCC was addressing zero rating this late in the administration. “For the last 10 months, I think, I’ve been standing here and people have been saying to me, ‘Why haven’t you done anything about zero rating?’” he said. “We had an ongoing process. Things percolated, worked their way through and we’re doing our jobs.” AT&T said in the filing it takes “sharp issue” with the Wireless Bureau’s preliminary conclusions. “The Bureau’s most recent letter accepts, as it must, that Data Free TV offers consumers enormous value at low prices,” AT&T said. “More than three million customers have enjoyed the benefits of Data Free TV in the short time since DIRECTV made it available. In the Bureau’s view, the very attractiveness of Data Free TV makes life too hard on DIRECTV’s video rivals when they compete for AT&T mobile customers … even though AT&T’s sponsored data program is available to those rivals at the same low wholesale rate that DIRECTV pays.” The telco-TV provider said the bureau “articulates no cognizable ‘price squeeze’ claim” and shutting down the service “would affirmatively harm consumers.” The company also raised procedural issues, saying the bureau couldn’t act on delegated authority on matters presenting “new or novel questions of law or policy which cannot be resolved under outstanding Commission precedents and guidelines.” Verizon also responded Thursday to a Dec. 1 letter from the bureau on FreeBee Data 360 offering. Verizon said it's “disappointed” by the query. “Verizon first rolled out our FreeBee sponsored data program last January,” Verizon said. “We discussed the program with you then, and have communicated regularly with you and your staff to answer any questions, address any concerns, and to keep you apprised as we gained experience with FreeBee and as the program has evolved. Only now, almost a year after we deployed this innovative offering and during a time of transition to a new Administration, you write to express concern.” FreeBee is “a non-discriminatory program that fully complies with the Commission’s Open Internet rules,” the carrier said. Wheeler was also asked during the news conference if the FCC would extend the net neutrality transparency waiver for small ISPs, which formally expired Thursday (see 1612140065). “We’re trying to take action,” Wheeler said. “There’s an item on the floor that we’re trying to get resolved.”

A hacker stole data from more than 1 billion Yahoo user accounts in August 2013, an incident that's "likely distinct" from one disclosed in September, said Chief Information Security Officer Bob Lord in a Wednesday blog post. In September, the company said 500 million user accounts were compromised in late 2014 (see 1609220046). "For potentially affected accounts, the stolen user account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords ... and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers," wrote Lord. "The investigation indicates that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information." He said Yahoo is notifying potentially affected users about securing their accounts and has invalidated unencrypted security questions and answers.

Broadband network capital expenditures by providers ticked down by $1 billion in 2015 to $76 billion, USTelecom said in a release Wednesday on its annual broadband investment research report. "To optimize the benefits for all American consumers and businesses, policymakers must seek to create an environment that encourages a return to growth in broadband investment," said the group, which has mounted a court challenge with others to the FCC's 2015 net neutrality and broadband reclassification order.

Were the Trump administration to work out a deal with Congress on repatriation tax reform, that wouldn't be “positioned as a tax holiday,” but “a permanent solution, which we would be very happy with,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told his company’s annual shareholder meeting Monday. Major companies have a lot of money parked overseas that they can’t bring back to the U.S. because it would be taxed at a high rate, and “most of the companies with repatriation money are tech companies,” CTA President Gary Shapiro told us just after the election (see 1611090038). For Cisco, freeing up its repatriation money “would certainly give us more flexibility” to pay for mergers and acquisitions, shareholder dividends and stock buybacks, Robbins said in Q&A. The company would welcome more comprehensive corporate tax law overhaul under the new administration, he said. “Lower corporate tax rates really are the levers for investment in an operating environment,” said Robbins. “That’s actually where I think the jobs get created through that model, because we’re able to invest more, we’re able to put more money into innovation.” There’s also the hope of “returning some portion of that to our shareholders as well,” he said. “So we’re optimistic and we’ll see how it plays itself out.” Robbins sidestepped a question on the impact to Cisco if Trump sparks a trade war with China. The equipment maker does manufacturing in “I want to say, 12 different countries around the world,” so it has a very diversified “supply chain,” he said. “We’ve invested in China from a relationship perspective,” and “relative to our business and the partnerships in China, we’ve actually been very pleased with how it’s played out over the last year,” he said. “We’ll continue to do all the things that we can to ensure that our business in China is successful.”

Despite FCC reform of inmate calling service rates, some ICS companies “continue to fight to keep their excessive profits flowing,” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a blog post Tuesday. Some jurisdictions are as guilty as the provider, said Clyburn, who has backed past FCC actions in this area. “Exclusive contracts granted on the basis of the highest payment to correctional facilities represent one of the most glaring examples of market failure I have witnessed in my 18 years as a regulatory commissioner.” Clyburn remains hopeful the problem can be fixed, she said. “Some states and localities are actually moving forward, instituting changes, and making tough decisions to forgo financial gain for the betterment of the correctional officers, inmates and the loved ones left behind.” Praising a bill by House Democrat and Senator-elect Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and recent resolutions by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., Clyburn asked, “Given that the median income of a male inmate before incarceration is $19,650, how do you suppose he (or the family left behind) can be expected to pay a phone bill that is 8800% higher than before he began his sentence?”

The Competitive Carriers Association repeatedly “mischaracterized” the FCC 39-month post-auction repacking deadline as being dictated by Congress, NAB said in a letter posted in docket 16-306 Tuesday. "In fact, nothing in the Spectrum Act speaks to the timeframe for repacking. Rather, the Spectrum Act sets forth a time limitation in which the Commission may make reimbursements.” The statute gives the FCC three years after the auction to reimburse broadcasters for costs incurred during the repacking. CCA didn't comment. It had told the agency that antenna equipment makers were ramping up their work to prepare for the reshuffling of TV-station frequencies (see 1612090015). "As NAB correctly recognizes, the Spectrum Act expressly limits the reimbursement period to three years, and only Congress can change that," CCA President Steve Berry emailed. The carrier association has shown that ramp-up efforts "are pre-transition activities that can and should be done," he said. "Fortunately, the 39-month transition period has been deemed reasonable by Congress, the FCC and the Court of Appeals and facilitates reimbursement within the statute’s three-year limitation.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was scheduled to meet Tuesday with President-elect Donald Trump, said transition spokesman Jason Miller in a conference call with reporters. He provided no details, but said Gates had "fantastic things" to say about Trump during a CNBC interview. In that Tuesday interview, Gates said Trump could provide a "very upbeat message" in the education, energy and healthcare sectors, just as President John F. Kennedy did with the U.S. space program. Trump's "administration is going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation be one of the things that he gets behind," said Gates in the interview. Trump is planning to meet with several CEOs and executives of major technology companies on Wednesday 2 p.m. in New York (see 1612120026). Miller didn't provide details about the agenda nor a list of attendees, but said Trump wants to foster a business climate including access to capital and a tax structure that spurs innovation. Also, 19 music organizations, including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and RIAA, sent a letter to Trump, asking him to enforce IP laws to promote creativity and technology. "Search engines, user upload content platforms, hosting companies, and domain name registrars and registries should follow others' example to effectively stop theft and assure fair payment," said the letter. Encryption, free speech, mass surveillance and net neutrality are areas that tech leaders should stand firm on when they meet with Trump Wednesday, said the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a Tuesday blog post. EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn and analyst Karen Gullo wrote that tech leaders should tell Trump's transition team that it's "technically impossible" to engineer a back door for law enforcement to people's communications and devices without risking everyone's security. The two said Trump shouldn't get away with his attacks on free speech and internet freedom. "Any speech-limiting practices and policies must be narrowly applied, transparent, and easily correctable, or they will inevitably be targets for gaming and harassment," they wrote. Cohn and Gullo said they're disturbed by the nominations of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., for CIA director, considering their support to restore a mass phone surveillance program under the Patriot Act. "The program eviscerated the privacy rights of hundreds of millions of innocent Americans with no proof of a countervailing gain," said the post. Tech leaders also need to back the FCC open internet order and rules to stop companies from using people's personal data for profit, they said.

The Entertainment Software Association joined the list of now-former opponents to Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) broadband plans. In a filing Tuesday in FCC docket 13-213, ESA said the out-of-band emission limits the satellite company proposed in revised TLPS plans "would likely address" the trade group's technical concerns about TLPS interference to wireless gaming console controllers. Wi-Fi Alliance also filed that it doesn't object to the adopting of TLPS rules if the FCC imposes Globalstar's suggested limits, after suggesting last week it might be changing its opposition (see 1612090043). The ESA filing, in a footnote, specified that members Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Sony Interactive Entertainment America all agreed with it. The three had been critical of Globalstar's original TLPS plans and the potential for gaming console interference (see 1609160070). In recent weeks such former opponents as the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, Sprint, NCTA and Wireless Communications Association International also signed off, leading some watchers to speculate the proceeding might have crossed the line into uncontroversial territory and possibly be acted on before the administration transition. Globalstar recappped a meeting between General Counsel Barbee Ponder and Vice President-Finance, Business Operations and Strategy Tim Taylor with FCC staffers including Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp about the revisions. Globalstar clarified that its proposed rules would apply only to low earth orbit mobile satellite service licensees authorized to operate in the 2483.5-2495 MHz band under Part 25 rules on satellite operation or TLPS operators in that band under Part 25, and not to broadband radio service licensees operating above 2495 MHz under Part 27 rules on miscellaneous wireless communications.

TracFone Wireless reported "significant delays" in verifying consumer Lifeline eligibility and de-enrollments through a national database for the low-income subsidy program after various new FCC rules took effect Dec. 2. TracFone, which calls itself the largest provider of Lifeline service, said it understands other providers may also have had problems with the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD). "For a prolonged period (Sunday, December 4 and Monday, December 5), all of TracFone's IP addresses used in connection with NLAD were disabled which prevented TracFone from having any access to the NLAD system," said a company filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. "TracFone was unable to process any transactions, download reports of NLAD activity, or even to make inquiries as to the status of transmitted orders. ... TracFone was completely shut down without notification during a critical period following implementation of the rule revisions." The provider said it brought the problem to the attention of Universal Service Administrative Co. Dec. 5, but it wasn't able to get its IP addresses enabled until the next day. "That only occurred after TracFone was required by USAC to significantly reduce the throughput of transactions sent for NLAD verification," the company said. "These delays caused many qualified low-income households not to have their applications for enrollment processed and approved and service commenced in a timely manner." TracFone said it and USAC had a series of calls aimed at resolving the problems, and it understood server capacity was being added. The carrier said the problems could have been avoided if NLAD revisions had been "thoroughly tested with Lifeline provider participation and adjusted as necessary." It urged testing of new systems and procedures to prevent similar problems from occurring under a national verifier authorized by the FCC and being developed by USAC. The FCC and USAC didn't comment.