President Barack Obama signed into law Thursday HR-3819, a short-term transportation funding bill that will extend the Dec. 31 positive train control implementation deadline by three years. Many railroads have said they wouldn't have been able to meet the original deadline, citing problems in acquiring necessary spectrum and in past challenges of FCC siting approvals. The House and Senate unanimously signed off on the measure earlier this week. "Americans who depend on freight and commuter railroads for their livelihoods and critical deliveries can breathe a sigh of relief," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement. "This legislation prevents rail service disruptions that would have occurred had Congress not acted, while still ensuring that this critical safety technology is implemented as quickly as possible."

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation. The groups asked the 2nd Circuit to bar the government from collecting call records under the phone metadata program, to require the government to quarantine call records already collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and to prohibit the government from querying metadata obtained through the program using any phone number or other identifier associated with them. The opinion said that the “appellants’ claims are not moot at this time, we decline to disturb the decision by Congress to provide for a 180-day transition period to put an orderly end to the telephone metadata program.” The court remanded the case, ACLU v. Clapper to district court. Congress’ Nov. 29 shut-off deadline “should be respected” since it “balanced privacy and national security by providing for a 180-day transition period” in the USA Freedom Act, said Judge Gerard Lynch in the 2nd Circuit’s ruling. “Its intent in passing the Freedom Act was clear.”

There's broad support for finding more spectrum for mobile broadband, including in the UHF band, as the World Radiocommunication Conference gets ready to start next week in Geneva, the GSM Association said Thursday. “The GSMA is particularly encouraged by the importance that many governments have placed on ensuring flexibility for the UHF (sub-700 MHz) band, which has historically been used for TV broadcasting and is increasingly critical for meeting rapidly growing demand for mobile broadband from citizens and businesses around the world,” said John Giusti, GSMA chief regulatory officer. “The way we view video content is changing and mobile broadband is playing an ever more significant role in providing consumers with video when and where they want it.” New digital broadcasting technologies mean some TV spectrum can be freed up for broadband, said Giusti, former acting chief of the FCC International Bureau. Giusti said GSMA sees movement on the UHF band in the U.S., as well as Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. “By planning ahead now, countries that identify mobile allocations at WRC-15 will ensure they have the flexibility to satisfy future mobile data demand of their citizens,” Giusti said. “The more countries that support a band, the greater the possibility for global harmonisation, offering substantial economies of scale, reducing interference along country borders and delivering cost benefits for consumers.” NAB fired back. “GSMA’s talking points are tired and simply don't reflect any facts on the ground," an NAB spokesman said. "If the GSMA is looking for underused spectrum, it should look at its own bands."

The FCC urged a court to dismiss or deny Neustar’s challenge to an order giving Telcordia conditional rights to be the next local number portability administrator. Neustar, the incumbent LNPA, was simply outbid by Telcordia, the commission said in its brief responding to Neustar’s opening brief (see 1509210040) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Neustar v. FCC, No. 15-1080). The FCC said it held an “open, transparent and lawful” bidding process involving an industry consortium and a federal advisory committee. “The Commission acted reasonably and within its statutory mandate ... in approving the recommendation of its Advisory Committee that the industry consortium negotiate with Telcordia to complete a contract for it to become the new Administrator,” the FCC brief said. “Neustar lost this competition not because of any error by the Commission but because its bid was substantially inferior to Telcordia’s.” (Parts of the brief were redacted.) The FCC said Neustar’s challenge was premature because Telcordia was still negotiating the contract and the agency decision wasn't final. The commission also said the Telcordia decision satisfied a statutory requirement for an impartial LNPA, which oversees individuals and businesses switching carriers 100,000 times a day while keeping their phone numbers. The FCC disputed Neustar arguments that Telcordia directors’ fiduciary duties to corporate parent Ericsson precluded its selection. “Those fiduciaries have the duty to ensure that Telcordia does not violate the law -- including the neutrality requirements,” said the commission, saying it imposed or endorsed numerous contract conditions: “Ericsson must create a voting trust, with trustees subject to FCC approval, and to place all of its Telcordia stock in that trust,” and Telcordia must have an independent board majority and segregate numbering administration from other operations, among other safeguards. The FCC also disputed as “absurd” a Neustar argument that the agency acted “arbitrarily or capriciously in refusing to consider Neustar’s 'second best and final offer,’" which wasn't mandated by a request for proposal. The FCC reasonably concluded “a ‘best and final offer’ is just that: final,” it said. The agency said it reasonably accounted for transition costs and said Neustar’s “inflated claims” were contradicted in the record and would have the effect of giving the incumbent an advantage.

Indonesia will need to address certain localization practices, especially in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) Global Policy Director Ed Brzytwa said in a blog post Wednesday. Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with President Barack Obama Monday and expressed his interest in joining the TPP. Brzytwa said Indonesia tends to favor local companies and industries over foreign competitors in the ICT space and will need to change certain practices, including a new data localization requirement, to join the TPP. "The data localization requirement will impose higher costs on local companies, especially on small and medium sized enterprises," wrote Brzytwa. "It will also raise costs for U.S.-headquartered companies operating in Indonesia, as well as Indonesian businesses and consumers, undermining Indonesia’s global and regional competitiveness." ITI would "strongly support" including an affirmative statement in Indonesia's Digital Economy 2020 vision that it will avoid and roll back all forced localization measures, Brzytwa said. ITI will engage with Indonesian officials to find more trade and investment friendly approaches in order to meet its objectives, he said.

Google, Microsoft and several cable, Wi-Fi and wireless networking industry representatives are pushing the FCC on creation of standards and tests to ensure Wi-Fi/LTE-U coexistence. "LTE-U has avoided the long-proven standards-setting process" and runs the risk of degrading Wi-Fi service, they said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-105, pointing to CableLabs and Google interference testing. Meanwhile, the LTE-U specification lacks sufficient interference safeguards because of its unconstrained duty cycling, lack of coordination among LTE-U carriers and its impairment to consumer network selection, they said. The solution is for LTE-U backers "to work through internationally recognized, open and transparent standards-setting organizations" to help set those standards and tests, they said. The filing recapped a meeting between FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and representatives of Arris, Bright House Networks, Broadcom, CableLabs, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, Ruckus Wireless and Time Warner Cable. Broadcom, Google and Ruckus also signed a letter to the FCC last week urging the agency to adopt "straightforward rules of [LTE-U] device eligibility" (see 1510220028). Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, responded that the wireless industry also relies heavily on Wi-Fi and is "committed" to innovation in unlicensed spectrum. "We should all welcome technologies that will help address the continued increase in consumer demands for wireless broadband anytime, anywhere," he said. "As testing has repeatedly shown, LTE in the unlicensed bands coexists with Wi-Fi and will benefit consumers."

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and members of the FCC Connect2Health Task Force told the Beyond the Beltway series event in Detroit Wednesday of the value connected health services can have for individuals and communities. Clyburn and members of a panel cited challenges faced by many communities of a lack of digital inclusion, as well as the need for more investment in connecting individuals to the Internet. "Let's face the facts ... there are a lot of challenges to our communities in terms of opportunities," Clyburn said. "Just about every investment" in broadband expansion and various connected services, including connected health platforms, is going to pay some dividends, she said. Chris Gibbons, Connect2Health Task Force scholar in residence, said people are relying on more than just doctors and nurses to get well and stay healthy. Individuals value what doctors and healthcare providers have to say, but often they can't get to them, Gibbons said, saying the future of healthcare is going to look very different from how it does now. Gibbons also said the U.S. is making "no systematic improvement[s]" in all recognized disparities being measured over a 10-year period, and that environments are powerful determinants of opportunities in healthcare. Clyburn and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler met with local leaders yesterday in Detroit (see 1510270062).

Broadcasters considering participating in the reverse auction must begin planning now to have their forms in order by the Dec. 18 short-form application deadline, said Fletcher Heald attorneys Davina Sashkin and Ashley Ludlow in a post on the firm’s blog Monday. Broadcasters should also realize that some bids “will shrink, perhaps dramatically” over the course of the auction, the blog post said. “While some stations on some channels in some markets may not encounter such shrinkage, they will likely be in a slim minority,” said the blog post. “Would-be participants should be prepared to deal with eventual bids well below the tempting numbers dangled by the Commission to encourage participation.” Broadcasters should also take advantage of the commission’s planned mock auctions, the blog post said. “While the FCC has reportedly made extensive efforts to simplify the auction mechanics, whether or not those efforts have been successful remains to be seen. The best way -- and, perhaps, the only way -- to check that out will be to participate in the mock auction.”

The FCC can’t solve the problems of the digital divide on its own, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Chairman Tom Wheeler in a Tuesday blog post about their meeting with Detroit local leaders at the city’s Henry Ford Innovation Institute. “If we ever hope to achieve universal broadband in the United States, we will need a concerted effort from private sector leaders, the public interest community, and government officials at all levels,” said the blog post. Low-income residents of Detroit without internet access miss out on savings available to those who do have broadband, Clyburn said. People who can’t get online also don’t enjoy health benefits from tech like remote monitoring, the blog post said. Efforts the FCC is taking to address the problem include E-rate modernization and the Connect America Fund, the blog said. “Looking ahead, we spoke about the need to reboot the Commission’s Lifeline program for the Internet age, which will help connect low-income Americans.”

Two Democratic appointees and one Republican were named to the three-judge panel to hear oral argument Dec. 4 on challenges to the FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification decision. An order Tuesday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit identified the judges as David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan, both Democratic appointees, and Senior Judge Stephen Williams, a Republican appointee. Tatel has ruled both for and against the FCC in previous net neutrality cases. The order also set a format that appears to track the joint proposal submitted by most industry petitioners and the government respondents (see 1510230066). The court did not accept the proposal of Full Service Network to be included in the main discussion of the legality of the FCC's reclassification of broadband Internet access service under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1510260031). The case is USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063.