Robocalling and unwanted texts are a global problem requiring international coordination, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in a Monday blog post. In the U.S., more than 200,000 consumers complain to the commission each year about unwanted calls, including robocalls and telemarketing, and about 2.4 billion robocalls are made monthly according to the Robocall Index, he wrote, saying such calls "are used to perpetrate criminal fraud, phishing attacks, and identity theft" all over the world. "Those responsible for sending unwanted calls and texts often operate from outside of the United States, too often allowing them to evade our enforcement," said LeBlanc. He said the FCC works with international law enforcement partners and other regulatory agencies to combat illegal calls and texts and hold perpetrators accountable. Earlier this year, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding with members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network, a global network of "robo-cops" that share intelligence and best practices (see 1606140041). LeBlanc noted the commission last week signed a robocalling MOU with Canadian regulators (see 1611170054), and will continue to work with other federal and state agencies domestically.

IT experts assisting Neustar in the local number portability administrator (LNPA) transition said they're "increasingly concerned" that North American Portability Management and PwC -- NAPM's transition oversight manager (TOM) -- aren't sharing information on transition governance, risk and scheduling. "The failure to share this information has the potential to significantly delay project completion," said Michael Krieger, Priscilla Guthrie and Roger Loeb in a Neustar filing posted Monday in docket 09-109. "Although the requisite transition planning documents may exist, they have not, to date, been shared with Neustar. Without such communication and transparency, this project does not appear to be on a path to meet even the high-level milestones provided by the NAPM and the TOM in the most recent timeline." It cited a webcast in which PwC anticipated completing the LNPA migration to Telcordia's iconectiv by May 2018, with various milestones along the way. "This concern is compounded by the failure of the NAPM’s monthly transition reports to the FCC to provide a comprehensive and balanced assessment of the transition’s status. Without significant changes to the current transition process, it is reasonable to conclude that the transition will not be completed until sometime in 2019," they wrote. NAPM and PwC didn't comment. Separately, Neustar said in a release last week that the Canadian Local Number Portability Consortium picked the company to be the LNPA in that country through 2028.

The FCC shouldn't permit states to amend or supplement alternative FirstNet plans if opting out of federal radio access network (RAN) plans for the national public safety network, FirstNet and APCO said in separate reply comments Monday in docket 16-269. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and others said in initial comments that states should be able to file amendments and supplemental information (see 1610210049). But FirstNet said Monday it could cause delay. “In essence, this would give States multiple chances to develop and propose a plan that demonstrates compliance with the interoperability criteria established by the Interoperability Board and FirstNet, thereby delaying network implementation and frustrating Congress’s intent to ‘speed deployment’ of the nationwide public safety broadband network,” FirstNet said. “Such a process would add uncertainty to network planning, deployment, and sustainability.” APCO agreed, saying the statute didn’t include a provision for amendments. “Not only would permitting amendments or supplements be inconsistent with Congress’ intent, it would delay the statutory process for states to submit alternative RAN plans and undermine the need for a swift deployment of the network,” the public safety group said. “Time is of the essence for this much-needed network.” FirstNet and APCO also agreed states opting out must award a contract within 180 days of opting out. "While FirstNet recognizes that it takes some effort by an opt-out State to award a contract within the 180 days required by the Act, the FCC’s interoperability determination cannot be based on a draft proposal,” the network said. The authority voiced sympathy to concerns that states receive appropriate notice from FirstNet about interoperability requirements, but it said the law prevents the FCC from setting deadlines for FirstNet. The organization plans to finish an interoperability compliance matrix “after it has developed a solution with its future network partner, which is a virtual necessity as the establishment of network policies is inevitably reliant, at least to a degree, upon the network architecture, infrastructure, equipment and other considerations related to FirstNet’s future network partner,” the network said. “FirstNet will make every effort to ensure that States receive the network policies and interoperability compliance matrix as expeditiously as possible.”

The FCC has it backward in its concerns that AT&T's Data Free TV sponsored data service could hurt competition in the video market, the company said in a 14-page white paper it submitted Monday. The telco responded to an earlier letter from the Wireless Bureau raising concerns about the zero-rating service. "Cable companies, not AT&T or DirecTV, dominate the video marketplace," AT&T said, saying its Data Free TV service, which lets AT&T Mobility customers stream DirecTV over the AT&T wireless network without cutting into their monthly data allotments, is increasing video competition "by helping to challenge cable dominance." The company said the service is nondiscriminatory and thus not a violation of net neutrality since the open internet order didn't overrule the core Computer Inquiries principle that telcos can provide enhanced services via their transmission facilities as long as they offer that transmission component on a common-carrier basis. AT&T also said the order specificity declined to prohibit sponsored data arrangements as a general matter, and the FCC still hasn't issued guidance on sponsored-data activities. The claim that Data Free TV discriminates against unaffiliated providers "is economically incoherent," the ISP said, "given that telco monopolists have been free to do that very thing for more than three decades, whereas AT&T Mobility is neither a monopolist nor even the leading U.S. mobile provider." AT&T also disputed FCC arguments the company could take part in a predatory price squeeze, targeting unaffiliated providers with sponsored data charges. The notion that third-party competitors might have difficulty competing with the prices of DirecTV Now streaming service retail prices "reads like a request [that] DirecTV raise those rates, at its customer's expense, to give less efficient competitors a retail price umbrella," the company said. "That position is indefensible." AT&T also said the bureau "lacks any unilateral authority to attack this program" since delegated authority doesn't extend to new or novel issues. A bureau order aimed at Data Free TV "would chart a radical new legal and policy path," the company said. The white paper said the DirecTV Now over-the-top service won't carry data charges for AT&T mobile customers. In an accompanying letter, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President-External and Legislative Affairs Robert Quinn said the company more than meets the nondiscrimination requirement set by law by letting content providers specify how much data they want to sponsor and charging them the same regardless of the amount of data they buy. The FCC said it was reviewing the AT&T submission.

The FCC Technological Advisory Council will hold its final meeting of the year Dec. 7, with an early starting time of 10 a.m. EST, it said in a Friday public notice. TAC is slated to take up a number of final recommendations during a scheduled six-hour meeting. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler previously chaired TAC.

NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling emphasized the importance of future discussions around multistakeholder internet governance, including during the upcoming Internet Governance Forum in Guadalajara, Mexico. Internet governance is one of several issues set to come up during the IGF meeting, which is set for Dec. 6-9. Discussions about the multistakeholder model took on greater importance in the wake of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition in early October (see 1609300065 and 1610030042), Strickling said during a U.K. Internet Governance Forum event. The model “is a diverse, multi-layered system that thrives only through the cooperation of many different parties, operating through consensus, in a bottom-up manner,” Strickling said in a prepared version of Thursday's speech. “Unequivocally, the success of IANA functions stewardship transition serves as a validation of that premise, and of our ongoing and unrelenting commitment to the multistakeholder model.” Stakeholders should build on the handoff's success to “tackle other internet policy challenges,” Strickling said. The multistakeholder approach has worked in the allocation of critical resources like IP addresses and domain names, “but can we bring stakeholders together to address some of these other thorny issues through the consensus decision-making that characterizes the multistakeholder approach? Can the multistakeholder approach help make progress on questions of data protection, software vulnerability research, artificial intelligence, and other emerging issues? I think it can.”

Mobile Future said Diane Smith will become interim chairwoman Jan. 1, replacing Jonathan Spalter, who has been tapped to become USTelecom's CEO then (see 1610040059). She was CEO and co-founder of a Montana IPTV company. In a related move, USTelecom said Allison Remsen, Mobile Future's executive director, would be joining Spalter at USTelecom as executive vice president and chief of staff, starting Jan. 1. Before joining Mobile Future, Remsen was vice president-media relations at USTelecom from 2001 to 2008, press secretary for House Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan, and worked in government affairs for NCTA when the 1996 Telecom Act passed Congress, said a release. Succeeding Remsen at Mobile Future meanwhile as executive director is Nydia Gutiérrez, who works in the Latinovations practice of Dewey Square Group, where she advises clients on telecom and other issues. Gutiérrez is no stranger to the carrier group, where she used to be in its strategic communications group. She starts at Mobile Future in the new year and will be leaving her job at Dewey Square.

American Action Forum Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Will Rinehart told us that he and his group are providing "outside guidance" to the Donald Trump transition team but he isn't formally part of the transition team or its FCC "landing" team, as some said (see 1611170041). He said AAF recently put out a tech policy agenda and has been gearing up for the transition, but the group is "more focused on policy than the politics." Also as of Friday, Jeff Eisenach's status on the team seems in limbo, two knowledgeable people told us, a day after speculation and rumors circulated widely that he might have been removed. "It's not so much that he's been definitely dumped," said an industry source, who noted it's unclear if Eisenach will be removed as leader of the Trump transition's FCC team. There does appear to be a short "pause" in the FCC transition team's effort as some sort of review is conducted, the industry source said. An attorney agreed: "There is a pause and review going on. After the pause and review, nobody knows what will happen." Eisenach didn't comment. The Trump transition team didn't comment to us on Eisenach or its FCC team. The Trump team is expected to announce its economic policy landing teams Monday, and those dealing with domestic policy and independent agencies Tuesday, transition officials earlier said (see 1611180020).

NTIA released a report Thursday offering a quantitative analysis of various federal bands for potential sharing. “The release of this report today is an important milestone in our activities aimed at continuing to improve how NTIA manages scarce radio spectrum resources as demand increases from all sides,” NTIA officials said in a blog post. “The results of the quantitative assessments will help NTIA, in consultation with the agencies, determine the extent to which any of these frequency bands should be further evaluated for sharing with commercial users, particularly in major metropolitan areas.” Among its conclusions, the report found that the 3100-3550 MHz band “could be examined more closely to determine if it can be used by commercial providers,” while the 1675-1695 MHz band could also be looked at for sharing, but in only in certain areas.

Sprint and the Wireless Communications Association International threw their weight behind approval of Globalstar's pared-back broadband terrestrial low-power service plans. In a joint filing Thursday in docket 13-213, Globalstar and the two urged the FCC to adopt the proposal. They also said that since the satellite company put forward its revised TLPS plan earlier this month (see 1611100031), the three have talked about the out-of-band emissions limit at the upper edge of its licensed spectrum at 2495 MHz and have worked out emissions limits above 2495 MHz. Globalstar said its TLPS service at 2483.5-2495 MHz shouldn't cause interference issues for Sprint or other broadband radio service (BRS) operators at 2496-2502 MHz or for any educational broadband service (EBS) operators above 2502 MHz. The company also said if it happened to cause BRS or EBS interference, it would "meet its absolute obligation ... to mitigate and resolve such interference." The three also said that they would work together on technical issues during a follow-up FCC proceeding on Globalstar's application to modify its mobile satellite service licenses to provide TLPS.