Commissioner Mike O’Rielly chided the FCC after President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address (see 1601130057) said his administration had protected net neutrality. "Not Surprising: Admin took full credit for #NetNeutrality in #SOTU, thereby destroying @FCC pretense of independent process. #SOTUSwitcheroo," O’Rielly said in a tweet Wednesday. The White House had no immediate comment.

A Republican presidential victory would likely usher in new wireless consolidation and head off any broadband pricing regulation, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a note to investors Wednesday. They also expect the upcoming incentive auction to attract no more than $20 billion, and called over-the-top monetization a big opportunity. The 2016 election looks to be "the most consequential" for the telecom industry in recent memory, said the analysts, noting the Democratic-run FCC's resistance to wireless carrier consolidation and its approval of broadband reclassification under Title II of the Communications Act. “Over-simplifying, a Republican presidential win is much more likely to see a potential 4 to 3 wireless industry consolidating transaction and light touch, or no-touch, broadband pricing regulation which we believe would be taken very positively for the sector,” they said. The analysts expect a Q2 court ruling that “supports the FCC’s position on regulating wireline as a Title II service, but casts some doubt" on its wireless authority. An appeal would extend uncertainty unless broadband legislation is enacted or a GOP president appoints an FCC chair that doesn’t enforce Title II, they said. The analysts were skeptical of aggressive bidding in the auction “given a) Sprint will not participate, b) AT&T and Verizon face strict balance sheet limits without facing debt downgrades, and c) DISH is most likely chastened by its AWS-3 experience and already has more spectrum than it knows what to do with now.” T-Mobile could bid up to $10 billion, but the analysts assume overall maximum bids of $20 billion, below other estimates of up to $60 billion. To reach higher levels, they said, nontraditional bidders will be needed: cable (e.g., Comcast) and tech companies (e.g., Google, Apple) "could participate but we remain highly skeptical of the rationale for them to put billions to work parking spectrum or, even more improbably, building out national wireless capacity.” The analysts expect creative new wireless efforts to monetize video data consumption, including through sponsored data. They called AT&T a top pick as it integrates DirecTV, generating $2.5 billion in synergies by year three under a "very conservative" estimate. American Tower and Frontier Communications are among their other top picks. The wireline sector is “more stable than you think” and tower companies offer a “pure play on data consumption,” they said.

Tracfone drew a line in the sand with AT&T and the FCC on Lifeline USF, as the agency considers expanding the low-income support program to broadband and overhauling its administration. Much of AT&T’s view is built on the belief that Lifeline is not a “service” but a “benefit” to be provided to consumers, such as provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps), Tracfone said in a filing posted Monday in docket 11-42, responding to a recent AT&T letter (see 1512220050). But “Lifeline is not a benefit; it is a service provided by eligible telecommunications carriers to qualified low-income households,” the wireless reseller said. It said the service designation was expressly spelled out in sections 54.401(a) and 54.401(c) of the FCC’s rules and Section 254(b)(3) of the Communications Act. "The Lifeline program was conceived by the Commission as a service program; it was codified as such; and any conversion of the program from a service program to what AT&T calls a ‘benefit’ a la SNAP, would require enabling legislation,” Tracfone said. “Nothing in the Communications Act ... provides any authority for the Commission to re-invent Lifeline as a direct government to consumer benefit.” Tracfone also disputed AT&T arguments that switching carriers under Lifeline is complicated. It said AT&T’s “real reason” for proposing to convert Lifeline to a SNAP-type benefits program is stated in its letter: "The information and processes required to achieve this discounting is unique to Lifeline consumers and has no other business purpose. As a result, much is performed through manual methods." AT&T added a footnote saying it was "uneconomic" to automate related systems, said the reseller. "AT&T is candidly stating that investment of the systems needed to provide Lifeline service to consumers is more trouble to it than it is worth," Tracfone said.

NAB expects "robust broadcaster participation" in the reverse auction, it said in a released statement on the closing of the Form 177 filing window Tuesday. "We hope to see similarly robust participation from wireless bidders in the forward auction," NAB said. "While we’ve expressed our concerns, we hope that the rules and systems the FCC has in place will ensure that this voluntary auction goes off without a hitch, and we look forward to the close of a successful auction."

The FCC’s contention that low-power TV isn't protected by the Spectrum Act is false, said Free Access Broadcast and Telemedia in a brief filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “The FCC’s policy contradicts the Spectrum Act’s explicit, unambiguous language ensuring LPTV licensees’ spectrum usage rights, statutory terms whose meaning is reinforced by the Act’s structure and legislative history,” it said. The commission also disregarded the regulatory flexibility act by not assessing the auction’s impact on LPTV, FAB said. The agency didn't quantify the adverse economic impact on LPTV owners and hasn't described the steps it has taken to minimize those harms, FAB said. The auction also violates administrative procedure rules, FAB said. "The FCC exceeded its administrative discretion by proposing to wipe out LPTV service in many major markets in order to achieve policy goals rooted not in Congress’s enabling legislation but, rather, in the agency’s own National Broadband Plan proposals,” FAB said.

The Competitive Carrier Association's objections to a proposed loosening of the 39-month FCC repacking deadline and an expansion of the associated reimbursement fund for broadcasters are “unreasonable and unbalanced,” said NAB in a filing in docket 12-268 Monday. CCA’s “unwillingness to engage in a factual discussion of the repacking challenge” is exposed by its recommendation of punishments for broadcasters who don't complete relocation inside 39 months, NAB said. “None of the sanctions CCA proposes depend on whether a broadcaster’s inability to complete its transition was within its control.” A CCA suggestion that broadcasters could abide by the timeline by beginning preparation work for the repacking now misunderstands the facts of the situation, NAB said. “Obviously, stations cannot possibly know in advance whether or not they will be repacked or to which channel they may be reassigned.” The CCA letter also wrongly dismisses broadcaster concerns about the availability of qualified tower crews, NAB said. The idea that more crews can easily be trained ignores the difficult “unique tasks” associated with broadcast antennas and “the tragic consequences of the wireless industry’s own experience with crash programs of antenna installation using unqualified personnel,” NAB said. Repacking deadlines shouldn't be set until the results of the incentive auction are known, NAB said. "It is irresponsible and unreasonable to take a 'fingers crossed' approach to one of the most complex transitions the Commission has ever undertaken.” “CCA continues to believe that the budget set by Congress and the FCC’s planned timeline based on the Spectrum Act, which was approved by the D.C. Circuit, for broadcaster relocation are reasonable and should be re-affirmed,” said CCA President Steve Berry in an emailed response. “Setting a definitive transition period and enforcing the congressionally mandated budget will encourage forward-auction participation, reallocate more spectrum for mobile broadband use that consumers crave, and help create next-generation technology investment. We continue to support the FCC’s transition timeline and look forward to a successful auction and transition.”

Correction: The date of ICANN's webinar on the WHOIS system is Jan. 12.

President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union speech, to be delivered Tuesday night, is “a marker for his last year in office and... a reference point (and foil) for candidates on both sides of the 2016 presidential race,” Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson said in a blog post Monday. He flagged ITIF’s policy wish list for 2016 contenders, a set of priorities “to foster innovation, boost productivity, and make the United States more competitive in the global economy,” and hoped to hear those same issues raised Tuesday: “So the State of the Union speech that ITIF would hope to hear the president deliver and the campaign stump speech we would hope to hear his would-be successors deliver are one and the same.” CTA President Gary Shapiro wrote a Monday blog post stressing his own policy goals for Obama’s speech -- the president should “set his sights” on the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal awaiting congressional approval; “renew his call for congressional passage of patent reform legislation to stop patent trolls”; and “push for regulations that help promote disruptive innovation,” including a repeal of Department of Labor rules on overtime-pay thresholds. The Software & Information Industry Association sent Obama an open letter advocating its own priorities. The administration must recognize the value of IoT and the “new U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework must be finalized and new trade agreements should build upon the data flow provisions in the Transpacific Partnership Agreement,” SIIA said. It also urged patent litigation overhaul and “support for strong encryption.”

Since June, 46 additional state and local organizations obtained permission to send wireless emergency alerts, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Program Management Office in an FCC filing in docket 15-91. That makes 622 organizations with such permission as of Wednesday. Forty-eight organizations have actually sent the alerts, an increase of two since Nov. 18 and 14 since June, FEMA said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has sent 21,357 WEA alerts since 2012, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has sent 589, it said. The Jan. 28 FCC meeting will see a vote on an emergency alert system item on state and local EAS participation (see 1601070061).

FirstNet plans to release its request for proposals during the week of Jan. 11, CEO Mike Poth said Thursday during a presentation at a Citigroup investor conference in Las Vegas. A spokesman confirmed Poth's comments, and told us Friday that FirstNet "remains committed to releasing the RFP in the first part of January, as planned." FirstNet has been "working with our federal partners to review and finalize all elements in order to successfully release the RFP sometime next week," the spokesman said.