Selected portions of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP are reproduced in this section with the firm's permission. 
| BloostonLaw Telecom Update | Vol. 16, No. 17 | May 15, 2013 |
Headlines Samsung Hints at 5G Technology by 2020; Development May Benefit LMDS & 39 GHz Samsung Electronics announced on Monday that it has made a key breakthrough in its mobile technology development that will ultimately pave the way for "5G" — and data speeds several hundred times faster than 4G. According to Samsung, this breakthrough comes in the form of "the world's first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for cellular communications." The term "millimeter-wave" refers to the radio waves in the extremely high frequency or "EHF" radio frequency band, so named because their wavelength is from ten to one millimeters. The technology, which uses 64 antenna elements to overcome the otherwise weak propagation characteristics of the millimeter-wave band, transmits data at a frequency of 28 GHz at a speed of up to 1.056 Gbps to a distance of up to 2 kilometers. Development of this technology for use in the 28 GHz could lead to the development of new equipment and improved business cases for holders of LMDS (28-31 GHz) spectrum, and may eventually benefit 39 GHz licensees as well. Samsung said it "plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G mobile communications technologies, including adaptive array transceiver at the millimeter-wave bands, to commercialize those technologies by 2020." The New York Times and other sources remind us that the the European Union announced a plan to invest €50 million, or $65 million, in research to deliver 5G mobile technology on the same timeline.
FCC Seeks Comment on Expanding In-FlightWi-FiOn May 9, 2013, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking targeted at increasing the availability of broadband services onboard airplanes by establishing an air-ground mobile broadband service. Comments are due 45 days after the publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register, and reply comments are due 30 days after that. According to the FCC, this air-ground mobile broadband service would operate in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, on a secondary, non-interference basis with Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) earth-to-space communications. Air-ground mobile broadband would be required to protect primary FSS in the band from harmful interference, and would be required to accommodate other Federal and non-Federal users in the band. The rulemaking got its start with a petition by Qualcomm to add a secondary mobile allocation in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band and adopt service rules to support air-ground mobile broadband operations. As a result, the FCC proposes allocation, service rules, and technical rules for air-ground mobile broadband based largely on that petition. Licenses for the 14.0-14.5 GHz band would be subject to assignment by competitive bidding, and licensees would be restricted in their use of the licenses for air-ground mobile broadband.
Law & Regulation Legislation Introduced to Eliminate Lifeline Support for Cell Phones On Tuesday, Sens. David Vitter (R-La.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) introduced the " Ending Mobile Phone Welfare Act of 2013 ," a short piece of legislation that would affirmatively prohibit Lifeline program support for commercial mobile services: "A provider of commercial mobile service may not receive universal service support under sections 214(e) and 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 for the provision of such service through the Lifeline program of the Federal Communications Commission." The legislation was originally introduced in the House of Representatives back in January, when Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ar.) re-introduced the " Stop Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act of 2011 ." Sen. Vitter then introduced it as an amendment to the Senate budget resolution in March, where it failed by a somewhat narrow margin of 46-to-53, before being independently introduced this week. In a press release issued by Sen. Vitter, the legislator said, "This phone program has expanded far beyond its original intent, and as so many middle class Americans struggle underneath this economy, it is really offensive for Washington to make taxpayers pay for free cell phones for others." Despite the FCC's recent reforms of the Lifeline program, Sen. Inhofe said, "[a]s with many federal government programs, the lack of proper oversight gives room for programs such as Lifeline to grow into a costly problem riddled with fraud and abuse. It is unfortunate when these programs become so expansive that it no longer addresses its primary mission to help those with the most dire needs. Our legislation will restore Lifeline to its original intent and also protect taxpayers from further excessive government spending." Both bills define commercial mobile service by reference to the definition of that term in the Communications Act (section 332(d)(1)). Both pieces of legislation have been referred to committees - the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in the Senate and the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in the House.
Non-facilities-based IXC Apparently Liable for $7.6m Over Cramming/Slamming On May 9, the FCC released a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture finding that Advantage Telecommunications Corp. (Advantage) apparently (i) violated Section 201 (b) of the Act by engaging in deceptive marketing practices by pretending to be a consumers' existing long distance carrier and misrepresenting the true nature of the transaction about which it was calling; (ii) placed unauthorized or "crammed" charges on numerous consumers' telephone bills, also in violation of Section 201(b); (iii) changed the preferred telecommunications service providers of consumers without their authorization, a practice commonly known as "slamming," in violation of Section 258 of the Act; and (iv) violated the Commission's truth-in-billing rules by failing to clearly and plainly describe charges on consumers' telephone bills as required by Section 64.2401(b) of the FCC's Rules. According to the NAL, Advantage contacted consumers and falsely represented that it was already the consumer's long distance carrier, and only needed confirmation to continue as the long distance provider under more favorable terms and prices. In actuality, Advantage would then switch the consumer to Advantage's service, a practice known as "slamming." In some cases, Advantage was not actually able to switch the customers service from their current long distance provider to Advantage, but Advantage nevertheless began billing consumers for charges neither authorized, nor actually provided - a practice known as "cramming." In addition to being unauthorized (and in some cases, wholly unprovided), the services billed by Advantage were not adequately described, including charges such as "MRC," "CCRF," and "PICC" with no indication of what these acronyms represent; nor is there any plain language description of the charges Advantage was assessing.
Industry A Question of Net Neutrality: ESPN Seeks to Subsidize Wireless Data Plans The Hill, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and other sources are reporting that that ESPN has had talks with at least one U.S. wireless carrier about a deal in which ESPN would subsidize wireless data plan costs for some of its users. According to USA Today, under the plan, "ESPN may pay a carrier to ensure that data consumed by subscribers to read or watch ESPN content would not be counted against its monthly data caps." Although no such arrangement is "imminent," according to the articles, ESPN's deal raises questions as to how, and if, the FCC's net neutrality rules will apply. The net neutrality rules require carriers to treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. As The Hill's Brendan Sasso points out, "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted net neutrality regulations in late 2010, but the order treats landline Internet providers more strictly than wireless service providers. Landline providers are required to treat all Internet traffic equally, but wireless carriers are only prohibited from blocking access to websites or apps." Verizon is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over the net neutrality rules.
Commissioner McDowell to Join Hudson Institute On May 14, the FCC issued a News Release announcing that Commissioner Robert M. McDowell will be joining the Hudson Institute's Center for Economics of the Internet as a visiting fellow after departing his post at the FCC. According to a statement by the soon-to-be-former Commissioner, "[a]s its mission statement articulates, the Hudson Institute is a nonpartisan policy organization dedicated to innovative research and analysis that promotes global security, prosperity, and freedom. Ensuring that the Internet marketplace remains free from unnecessary government and multilateral intervention will help achieve those noble goals. I have long admired the work of the Hudson Institute, especially its focus on how international trade can help spread liberty and improve the human condition. I look forward to joining such a distinguished group of scholars." Commissioner McDowell will officially step down on May 17th.
Deadlines AUGUST 1: FCC FORM 502, NUMBER UTILIZATION AND FORECAST REPORT: Any wireless or wireline carrier ( including paging companies ) that have received number blocks—including 100, 1,000, or 10,000 number blocks—from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), a Pooling Administrator, or from another carrier, must file Form 502 by August 1. Carriers porting numbers for the purpose of transferring an established customer's service to another service provider must also report, but the carrier receiving numbers through porting does not. Resold services should also be treated like ported numbers, meaning the carrier transferring the resold service to another carrier is required to report those numbers but the carrier receiving such numbers should not report them. Reporting carriers file utilization and forecast reports semiannually on or before February 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending December 31, and on or before August 1 for the preceding six-month reporting period ending June 30.
Calendar At-A-Glance May 23 - Final deadline for ILECs to have shapefiles submitted and certified.
May 24 – Reply Comments on Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I Auction are due.
May 28 – Reply Comments on US Telecom Petition for Reconsideration/Clarification of 54.313 Reporting Requirements are due.
May 28 – Reply Comments on 911 Reliability Rulemaking are due.
May 28 – Reply Comments on Rural Call Completion are due.
May 31 - FCC Form 395, Employment Report, is due.
May 31 - Reply Comments on Petition filed by a group of competitive carriers asking the FCC to Reverse Forbearance for Special Access are due.
Jun. 8 – Electronic filing deadline for Form 497 for carriers seeking support for the preceding month and wishing to receive reimbursement by month's end.
Jun. 11 - Reply Comments on Options for Disposition of UHF T-Band (470-512 MHz) are due.
Jun. 28 - Deadline for State Commissions to submit and certify the data included in shapefiles.
Jul. 1 – Annual High Cost ETC Report Due under Rule 54.313.
Jul. 1 – Annual Mobility Fund Phase I Report Due under Rule 54.1009
Jul. 8 – Electronic filing deadline for Form 497 for carriers seeking support for the preceding month and wishing to receive reimbursement by month's end.
Jul. 31 – FCC Form 507 due (Universal Service Quarterly Line Count Update).
Jul. 31 – FCC Form 525 due (Competitive Carrier Line Count Quarterly Report).
Aug. 1 – FCC Form 499-Q due.
Aug. 1 – FCC Form 502 due (Number Utilization and Forecast Report).
Aug. 8 – Electronic filing deadline for Form 497 for carriers seeking support for the preceding month and wishing to receive reimbursement by month's end. | 
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