President-elect Donald Trump plans to convene CEOs in early February for what he’s calling a Strategic and Policy Forum. Disney's Bob Iger, General Motors' Mary Barra and IBM's Ginni Rometty are to be among attendees. “My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America,” Trump said in a statement. The meeting will be at the White House, the transition team said: “Members of the Forum will be charged with providing their individual views to the President -- informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector -- on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity.”

Neustar rejected North American Portability Management accusations the incumbent local number portability administrator was to blame for the lack of information sharing by NAPM and PwC in the LNPA transition to Telcordia/iconectiv. Responding to complaints from Neustar IT experts (see 1611210039), NAPM counsel Todd Daubert had said Neustar was claiming a right to disclose confidential information it's receiving as the current LNPA and refused to sign a reasonable nondisclosure agreement (see 1611300026). Daubert "offered a series of false accusations and ad hominem attacks," said Neustar counsel Marc Martin in a letter posted Monday in docket 09-109. "Mr. Daubert falsely asserts that Neustar began claiming over a year ago the right to disclose publicly confidential information it receives from the Parties." He said NAPM can safely deliver confidential information to Neustar under an existing agreement. "The Parties know that Neustar has repeatedly expressed its willingness to accept a commercially reasonable non-disclosure agreement, but for nearly a year the Parties have been unwilling to address Neustar's concerns regarding the transparency of testing that is essential to the success of the transition as well as the need to address false or misleading statements made by others that could undermine the transition," he wrote. "Mr. Daubert's suggestion that confidential information about critical national infrastructure cannot be shared with Neustar is baseless and absurd. It was Neustar who proposed making explicit that national security-related information must be protected. Mr. Daubert's argument is particularly rich given that it is well established that the selected vendor caused significant delays due to its own compliance failures with certain national security-related obligations." Daubert didn't comment Monday.

Verizon said it plans to participate in the FCC's Lifeline expansion to broadband, starting next year, but in the meantime it joined many telcos and cable companies notifying the commission they were accepting its offer of forbearance relief from Lifeline broadband service obligations. Verizon said it will participate in the FCC's broadband Lifeline program where it offers Fios fiber-to-the-home service. "We hope that providing qualifying low-income Americans with the choice to use their Lifeline benefit for our eligible broadband Internet access services will help address this affordability challenge and will be another useful step towards closing the remaining digital divide," wrote Verizon, among numerous filings posted in recent days in docket 11-42. "Although the Commission’s Lifeline support for broadband will soon go into effect, Verizon is still in the process of making the necessary system changes to support our participation in this program and to ensure compliance the Commission’s rules. We currently anticipate that we will begin offering Lifeline-supported Fios Internet access service in mid-2017," Verizon said, while providing the FCC with notification it was seeking "blanket forbearance" for areas where it's an eligible telecom carrier. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn tweeted Friday: "@Verizon commits to narrowing the #broadband affordability gap in FiOS areas by participating in @FCC#Lifeline program nxt yr! Great news!" AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated Communications, FairPoint Communications, Frontier Communications, Windstream, Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom and Alaska Communications notified the FCC they were exercising their rights to Lifeline broadband forbearance relief, though the price-cap carriers noted they were subject to Lifeline broadband duties under Connect America Fund Phase II rules. Cox Communications, Charter Communications and many others also exercised their forbearance rights. Some parties reserved the right to offer Lifeline-supported broadband voluntarily.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against the FCC landlord Parcel 49C in its protest of the General Service Administration's handling of bids for the commission's new headquarters, according to court documents (in Pacer). The court dismissed Republic Properties' affiliate Parcel 49C's allegations (see 1609280048) of conflicts of interest in the GSA's selection of a new FCC HQ site in the Trammell Crow owned-Sentinel Square, near North Capitol and L streets NE in Washington's NoMa section. Trammel Crow was an intervenor and defendant in the case. Parcel 49C bid to have the commission stay at its current home at The Portals and the landlord's allegations were based on GSA's having contracted CBRE to broker the FCC's search for a new home. CBRE owns Trammell Crow, the eventual winning bidder, and also represented Parcel 49C. This wasn't a conflict because the information and employees involved were kept separate at the intertwined companies, said Trammell Crow and the GSA. Parcel 49C also argued the FCC request for a higher first-floor ceiling and backup power supply were unreasonable. Parcel 49C filed a notice of appeal in the case. GSA, Parcel 49C and Trammel Crow didn't comment Monday.

Most of the FCC's broadband privacy rules will take effect Jan. 3, said a summary of the agency's order published in the Federal Register Friday. Not yet taking effect are four sections of the order that contain information collection requirements that haven't been approved by the Office of Management and Budget. Another section, 64.2005, takes effect March 2. The FCC adopted the broadband privacy order 3-2 (see 1610270036), but it's seen as likely to be reversed after the Republican election victory (see 1611090034). The privacy order was based on the commission's reclassification of broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, which itself is seen as highly vulnerable .

Although FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler didn't say he would step down, his speech at the FCBA Chairman's Dinner Thursday had a farewell atmosphere, as he heaped praise on and cracked jokes about FCC staff, and referred to himself as “the drum major in front of great band.” It is “the band that makes the music,” Wheeler said. The chairman's tributes to his staff were preceded by a joke-filled monologue that targeted numerous communications industry institutions, from the U.S. Copyright office (Wheeler said his set-top plan would be a “job-killer” there) to Communications Daily. “Facebook has been taking a lot of heat for fake news,” Wheeler quipped: “I don't think Comm Daily is that bad.” Wheeler also sprinkled in quips about the “set-top box regime,” which he noted outlasted both the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and the word “cable” in the name of cable's trade association NCTA. Many of Wheeler's jokes concerned the 2016 presidential election, which he referred to as “the elephant in the room ... and the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.” Wheeler called the dinner the “2016 Democratic Job Fair,” and took aim at himself, comparing his selection as chairman to President-elect Donald Trump's win by calling himself a 70-year-old man with no prior government experience and an “inflated sense of self” who is “provoked by criticism into overreacting,” and is known to use “foul language” and “bullying” to get what he wants. Midway through the speech, FCC General Counsel Howard Symons came onstage and spoke with Wheeler, and the chairman said he had been ordered to stick to “noncontroversial“ topics, which is when he switched to praising and joking about his staff. Wheeler called Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman “just the best,” and Senior Aide Phil Verveer “the ambassador of antitrust,” and needled FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp for approving the infamously incendiary Galaxy Note7 phone. He referenced his aide Gigi Sohn's “sharp elbows” and said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc was the only person who had managed “to piss more people off than me.” Being chairman and working with his staff was “the greatest professional honor” of Wheeler's life, he said. At the end of his speech, Wheeler referenced a song from current Broadway hit musical Hamilton, comparing the current environment in the communications industry to a pivotal revolution. “How lucky we are to be alive right now,” Wheeler said, quoting lyrics from the song "The Schuyler Sisters."

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn kicked off a "12 Days of #PhoneInjustice" campaign Thursday with a series of tweets. "Today we launch the 12 days of #PhoneInjustice -- pointing out how high #inmatecalling rates tear families apart," she tweeted. "On the 1st day of #PhoneInjustice, no pear trees in #CowlitzCounty WA where inmates pay $13.69 for 15 min. call. That's almost a $1 per min!" She tweeted: the holidays "won't be cheery nor bright for nearly 3 million children w/ an incarcerated parent," and it's "Time to deliver the gift of #PhoneJustice," which "= reasonable phone rates. Proven to reduce poverty, recidivism, and generational incarceration." On Dec. 13, the campaign will shift to the "12 Days of #Phone Justice," to share stories of reforms helping combat inmate calling problems and their consequences, said an email from her office. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler noted Clyburn's efforts and tweeted, "Glad she keeps raising awareness of this crucial issue."

NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling plans to depart Jan. 20 at the end of the Obama administration, an agency spokeswoman said. Strickling has had the job since June 2009 and oversaw the agency’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Wednesday, in what Strickling said might be his last speech on broadband, he advised President-elect Donald Trump about possible broadband funding in the next administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan (see 1611300047).

The FCC's loss in a court case to AT&T on VoIP issues doesn't undercut the agency on net neutrality rules, the regulator told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The commission responded (in Pacer) Thursday to CTIA's telling (in Pacer) the D.C. Circuit Nov. 23 that the loss five days earlier in AT&T v. FCC (see 1611180063 and 1611180011) had bearing on the association's petition for the full court to reconsider the net neutrality case. AT&T shows the phone and internet networks are distinct, not as a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel found in a 2-1 USTelecom v. FCC net neutrality ruling for the agency that they are "an interconnected, single network," said CTIA, which also backed cases against net neutrality rules. Not so, said the commission, contending AT&T broke no new ground and the facts were understood before the net neutrality ruling. "AT&T confirms that the [USTelecom] panel properly upheld the agency’s classification of mobile broadband as a telecommunications service," said the FCC. "While AT&T largely hinged on exactly how a call is transferred between traditional telephone and VoIP providers, there is no dispute that such a call is in fact transferred, allowing traditional phone users and VoIP users to reach one another." CTIA didn't comment Thursday.

The reverse auction portion of Stage 3 of the FCC incentive auction concluded Thursday, as expected (see 1611280055), at a clearing cost of $40.3 billion to clear 108 MHz, said the Public Reporting System. That’s within the range expected (see 1610250060), and a further stage is considered likely, said Justin Nielson, senior researcher for S&P Global Market Intelligence, in an interview. The Stage 2 reverse auction clearing cost was $56.5 billion, and Neilson said a reduction into the $30 billion range for Stage 4 likely will bring the spectrum on auction into line with what forward auction bidders are looking to pay. Stage 4 is expected to have a clearing cost of 84 MHz, according to the FCC's band plan. The forward auction generated $20.9 billion in Stage 2, and closed in a single day. That’s not likely to occur this time because the prices are likely low enough for some bidders to make a serious grab for spectrum, Nielson said. Stage 3 of the forward auction is expected to start Monday.