Federal Communications Commission

We believe there is a new regulatory paradigm where the Commission relies on industry and the market first while preserving other options if that approach is unsuccessful.

For all the ways the Internet has already transformed our lives, today’s network revolution is constantly creating enormous new opportunities to grow our economy, to enhance US competitiveness, and to improve the lives of the American people. Yet, these changes also raise new security challenges -- challenges that must be addressed if we hope to seize the opportunities.

So what, exactly, is the FCC’s role in this shared endeavor? The challenge of the FCC is to deliver on the national security and public safety effects mandate as the networks that enable those effects evolve from analog to digital. Foremost, the FCC must build upon past Federal and private sector work in cybersecurity. This new paradigm must be based on private sector innovation, and the alignment of private interests in profit and return on investment with public interests like public safety and national security. We will be guided by a top notch team, led by the Chief of our Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Admiral Dave Simpson.

Our work on cybersecurity in the communications sector will be guided by a set of principles:

• First and foremost is a commitment to preserving the qualities that have made the Internet an unprecedented platform for innovation and free expression. That means we cannot sacrifice the freedom and openness of the Internet in the name of enhanced security.
• Second is our commitment to privacy, which is essential to consumer confidence in the Internet. We believe that when done right, cybersecurity enables digital privacy -- personal control of one’s own data and networks.
• Third is a commitment to cross-sector coordination. Particularly among regulatory agencies, we must coordinate our activities and our engagement with our sector stakeholders.
• Fourth, we continue support the multi-stakeholder approach to global Internet governance that has successfully guided its evolution, and we will oppose any efforts by international groups to impose Internet regulations that could restrict the free flow of information in the name of security.

On May 18, 2014, AT&T and DIRECTV announced an agreement pursuant to which AT&T seeks to acquire DIRECTV in a stock-and-cash transaction. As part of the transaction, AT&T also plans to divest its interest in América Móvil, a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico.

Applications seeking Commission consent to the assignment or transfer of control of the licenses and authorizations held by DIRECTV are expected.

The purpose of this public notice is to announce the opening of a docket, MB Docket No. 14-90, and to establish the ex parte status of discussions related to the proposed transaction. When the applications have been accepted for filing, we will issue a separate public notice announcing that fact and setting forth a pleading schedule.

This report is submitted in accordance with the requirements of the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act (the ORBIT Act) which has an objective of ensuring that intergovernmental satellite bodies INTELSAT and Inmarsat are privatized in a pro-competitive manner.

To this end, the Act requires the submission of annual reports to Congress as noted below. The Commission has undertaken a number of proceedings required by or related to the ORBIT Act. The Commission will continue to implement and enforce the requirements of the ORBIT Act.

On the whole, we believe that US policy goals regarding the promotion of a fully competitive global market for satellite communications services are being met in accordance with the ORBIT Act. The Commission will continue to inform Congress of the actions it takes to implement the requirements of the ORBIT Act and the impact of those actions in its next annual report

On May 27, 2014, T-Mobile USA filed a petition for an expedited declaratory ruling that would provide guidance on the criteria used for determining whether the terms of a data roaming agreement meet the “commercially reasonable” standard set forth in the Federal Communications Commission’s data roaming rule ( requires facilities-based providers of commercial mobile data services to offer roaming arrangements to other such providers on “commercially reasonable terms and conditions.”

T-Mobile contends that providers need this guidance to evaluate the commercial reasonableness of terms offered in individual negotiations and to reach agreements. In this public notice, we seek comment on the Petition. Interested parties may file comments and reply comments on the above Petition on or before July 10, 2014. Reply comments are due August 11. All pleadings must reference WT Docket No. 05-265.

The Federal Communications Commission has launched a video consumer support service, the ASL Consumer Support Line, specifically designed to enable consumers who are deaf and hard of hearing to engage in a direct video call with a consumer specialist at the FCC.

The service will allow deaf and hard of hearing consumers to communicate in their primary language, American Sign Language (ASL). Until now deaf and hard of hearing consumers only had the option to communicate using relay services or by filing a complaint form online.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced winners of the third annual Awards for Advancement in Accessibility (Chairman's AAA), which honors innovators who develop communications technology for people with disabilities.

The Chairman presented the awards at a ceremony on June 9, 2014 at the M-Enabling Summit in Arlington (VA), where the award- winning technology was displayed. The Chairman’s AAA, a project of the FCC’s Accessibility and Innovation Initiative (A&I Initiative), recognizes outstanding private and public sector ventures in communications technology accessibility and innovation.

Part of the A&I Initiative’s goal to facilitate ongoing exchanges among industry, assistive technology companies, app developers, government representatives and consumers to share best practices and solutions for accessible communications technologies.

“The potential of broadband-enabled technology to improve the lives of Americans living with disabilities is almost limitless -- but only if that technology is accessible,” said Chairman Wheeler. “I’m glad that these awards can help spark the development of new and creative technologies that furthers the important goal of making communications accessible for all Americans.”

Winners were chosen for seven categories: Advanced Communication Services (ACS), Employment Opportunities, Closed Captions, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Mobile Web Browsers, Social Media and Video Description.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on June 13, 2014.

The FCC will hear:

• a presentation with an update on the efforts to transition circuit-switched networks to Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The presentation will include a status report on the voluntary experiments proposed by AT&T designed to assess how the transition to IP networks affects users.
• a presentation with an update on the continuing efforts to launch new and diverse voices to the American public via increased access to Low Power FM radio stations.

The FCC will consider:

• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by ADX Communications of Escambia and Pensacola seeking review of Media Bureau decisions granting assignment applications.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by The Curators of the University of Missouri seeking review of the Media Bureau’s dismissal of its rulemaking petition to reserve Channel 252C2 in Columbia, Missouri, for noncommercial educational use.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Smile FM seeking review of the Media Bureau’s dismissal of its application for a new noncommercial educational FM station at Yates, Michigan.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by TJN seeking review of a decision by the Media Bureau dismissing its application for a new noncommercial FM station at Gold Beach, Oregon.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Dr. Glenn W. Cherry and Charles W. Cherry, II, seeking review of several decisions by the Media Bureau.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Chicago Public Media seeking review of a decision by the Media Bureau granting a new noncommercial educational FM station in Antioch, Illinois to BVM Helping Hands.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by World Revivals, Inc., seeking review of a several decisions by the Media Bureau.

Matrix Telecom, a telecommunications company headquartered in Irving, Texas, will pay $875,000 to resolve an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau into whether the company failed to complete long-distance calls to rural areas on a just, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis.

Matrix will also implement a three-year plan to ensure compliance with FCC requirements designed to combat the serious problem of long-distance calls failing to complete in rural areas.

“Our nation’s telecommunications laws are based on the fundamental promise that all Americans should be able to call each other wherever they may be located,” said Travis LeBlanc, Acting Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “Rural America should not be treated differently, and we will continue to enforce the law to fulfill this promise.”

In its consent decree with the Enforcement Bureau, Matrix has agreed to:

• Make a payment of $875,000 to the US Treasury;
• Develop and implement a comprehensive compliance plan designed, among other things, to ensure future compliance with applicable laws;
• Designate a senior corporate manager to serve as a compliance officer focusing on rural call completion issues;
• Cooperate with the FCC and rural local exchange carriers to establish a testing program to evaluate rural call completion performance whenever complaints or data indicate problems;
• Notify intermediate providers (companies that Matrix uses to deliver calls) that may be causing call completion problems and analyze and resolve such problems as soon as practicable;
• Cease using intermediate providers that fail to improve their performance;
• Report to the FCC any noncompliance with the consent decree within 15 days; and
• File an initial compliance report in 90 days and annual reports for three years.

To remain relevant, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must stay on top of current technologies and serve as a model both for industry and other federal agencies. The FCC loses credibility when it seeks to impose rules or standards on the private sector but does not adhere to the same or similar commitments in its own operations. To this end, I suggest that two important areas are ripe for improvement:

1. Direct access to 911. Our employees and any visitors must dial 9-911 to reach help in an emergency. I asked that the agency look into options for fixing this problem. Since then, we have learned how simple reprogramming our telephone system would be. While the new dialing procedures may require some minor education of staff, this can be done relatively quickly. Also, we should hold ourselves to the same cost-benefit standards that we apply to regulatees.
2. Transitioning to IPv6. Where is the FCC in its transition? Well, it issued a consumer guide on IPv6 in 2012 to encourage the private sector to quickly move to the new standard. But the agency itself has a ways to go. In fact, only 12% of its linked subdomains are IPv6 operational. For an agency that just proposed rules and questions that aim to micromanage the way the Internet works, this is seems ironic. I am hopeful that as the FCC modernizes its website and IT infrastructure, it will also quickly complete the transition to IPv6.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to implement the Broadcast Television Incentive Auction. The two-sided auction will use market forces to recover spectrum from television broadcasters who voluntarily choose to give up some or all of their spectrum usage rights in exchange for incentive payments, in order to auction new spectrum licenses to wireless providers.

The Incentive Auction will help meet consumers’ skyrocketing demand for mobile broadband services.

Across the country, in both rural and urban areas, consumers and businesses expect to have access to wireless connectivity anywhere, anytime. Today, there are more connected devices than there are people in the US, and about 60 percent of Americans use data-hungry smartphones. By making more spectrum available for mobile broadband use, the Incentive Auction will benefit consumers by easing congestion on wireless networks, expediting the development of new, more robust wireless services and applications and helping fill in coverage gaps particularly in rural America.

Broadcasters that choose to participate in the auction will bid to receive some of the proceeds from auctioning that spectrum to wireless providers. The auction is a once in a lifetime opportunity for broadcasters, but the decision of whether or not to participate is entirely voluntary.

The adopted rules establish the foundation for the incentive auction. Based on these rules the FCC will develop and seek additional public input on detailed, final auction procedures in the pre-auction process.

There are four parts to the rules implementing the Incentive Auction:

1. The reorganized 600 MHz Band, including repacking and unlicensed operations;
2. The Incentive Auction process and design;
3. The post-auction transition for all incumbents in the 600 MHz band; and
4. Post-transition regulatory issues, including channel sharing.

Specifically, the report and order addresses the 600 MHz band plan, incentive auction design, post-auction transition, and post-auction regulatory issues.