The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit clarified it didn't reject all of an FCC tribal Lifeline order in February when it sent the 2017 limits on such government subsidies back to the agency (see 1902010051). Wednesday's one-page per curiam order (in Pacer) amended the earlier ruling to say that "because the Commission's adoption of the Tribal Facilities Requirement and Tribal Rural Limitation was arbitrary and capricious, the court grants the petitions and vacates the 2017 Lifeline Order as challenged in the petitions, and remands the matter to the Commission for a new notice-and-comment rulemaking proceeding." Industry lawyers and others watching the proceeding noted it's a somewhat procedural matter, rather than a new ruling on the merits. The FCC is "pleased that the DC Circuit granted our unopposed motion and amended its opinion to make clear the Court vacated only the challenged portion of one section of the five-section item,” emailed an agency spokesperson.

The House Rules Committee appears likely to clear at least some of 17 amendments to the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill for floor consideration this week, said communications sector lobbyists and officials in interviews. A final vote on HR-1644 is expected Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

The House Rules Committee appears likely to clear at least some of 17 amendments to the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill for floor consideration this week, said communications sector lobbyists and officials in interviews. A final vote on HR-1644 is expected Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on an application by TracFone to expand areas where it’s designated as eligible telecom carrier in the Lifeline program to certain tribal areas in Alabama, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina and Virginia. Comments are due April 22, replies April 29, said a public notice Thursday in docket 09-197.

A Havasupai leader told FCC officials the tribe needs certainty on educational broadband service rules. Using an EBS license provided on special temporary authority, the tribe in partnership with MuralNet built an LTE network that brought “for the first time” high-speed internet access to Supai, Arizona, “the most remote community in the continental” U.S., said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-120. The Havasupai are “eager to launch additional educational, health, criminal justice and economic programs to meet critical community needs -- but cannot do so until the FCC takes action on their permanent application for an EBS license, which has been pending since April 24, 2018,” it said. A tribal representative, the Water and Power Law Group, MuralNet, Voqal and Mobile Beacon attended. They met aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks and with Wireless Bureau staff.

The Navy plans to start using FirstNet across U.S. installations, per a February memo publicized Monday by AT&T's Chris Sambar, senior vice president-AT&T/FirstNet. Military interoperability “remains a vexing issue,” Sambar wrote: “While DOD leaders recognize they’ll never again fight alone, they don’t yet have all the solutions for coalition operations and communications. But we’re seeing forward motion.” U.S. military bases house an estimated 150,000 first responders, but emergency response personnel generally maintain their own infrastructure, he said. “Given that those teams’ surrounding civilian communities often rely on military first responders, it makes sense to further connect the state, local, tribal and other entities under the same communications network and platform.” A guidance memo by Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said the Navy and Marine Corps installation commands will “engage with FirstNet agents to initiate the development of each installations public safety communications data interface and interoperability requirements.” The Navy "must align with their planning actions and ensure no technology gap materializes within its public safety communications architecture supporting the [Navy] first responders and their mutual aid partners on and off its installations,” it said. The memo is "a promising first step toward eventual procurement, deployment and management of FirstNet-based services," said Mike Leff, vice president-defense, AT&T Public Sector. Questions arose at the March FirstNet board meeting on progress in selling the service to federal agencies (see 1903200050). The General Service Administration announced last week that AT&T and Verizon completed their operational business support system testing under the new federal Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. That lets the carriers “accept and process task orders or service orders, provision or deliver services, and bill for services,” GSA said.

The California Public Utilities Commission sought comment on a broadband competition study and questions about its review of the state High Cost Fund-A (CHCF-A) program. Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves asked for comments 60 days from a fourth amended scoping memo released Friday, with replies due 45 days after comments. The CPUC plans to vote Thursday on extending to Oct. 4 its statutory deadline for reviewing the program (see 1903180030). Questions include if CHCF-A eligibility should be limited to rate-of-return regulated carriers; if the agency should re-examine basic service rates; and if the program should fund wireline and broadband services for tribal communities.

The California Public Utilities Commission sought comment on a broadband competition study and questions about its review of the state High Cost Fund-A (CHCF-A) program. Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves asked for comments 60 days from a fourth amended scoping memo released Friday, with replies due 45 days after comments. The CPUC plans to vote Thursday on extending to Oct. 4 its statutory deadline for reviewing the program (see 1903180030). Questions include if CHCF-A eligibility should be limited to rate-of-return regulated carriers; if the agency should re-examine basic service rates; and if the program should fund wireline and broadband services for tribal communities.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the April 12 commissioners’ meeting will focus on 5G for a second straight month. It includes the public notice for the auction of the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands and a plan for sharing the 37 GHz band between industry and DOD. 5G is “the next big thing in wireless,” Pai blogged. He plans votes on nixing a rural telco USF rate floor and granting part of a USTelecom forbearance petition seeking ILEC relief from certain structural-separation and reporting duties. And there's a media modernization item, among others in the pipeline (see 1903210072).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai extended the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee's term by six months to Sept. 24, the agency said Wednesday: It account for "the expansion of the IAC during the course of its two-year term from 15 to 30 members, and will allow the expanded IAC to complete tasks that were assigned during its October 2018 meeting.” The FCC decided in December to double membership of the group representing local, state, and tribal interests; the change took effect in January (see 1801050034).