Overnight Tech: FCC tees up airwaves auction

LEDE: The Federal Communications Commission will vote on three items at its July 16th meeting aimed at setting the stage for 2016’s spectrum auction.

The agenda formally released on Thursday includes Chairman Tom Wheeler’s recommendation that the reserve for spectrum for small careers be kept at 30 MHz. T-Mobile has been waging an aggressive campaign to increase the size of the carve-out to 40 MHz, which they say will improve competition.

The commissioners will also consider Wheeler’s proposed reforms to the discounts given to small and minority-owned businesses. In the last spectrum auction, DISH bid through two smaller entities and was able to obtain billions of dollars worth of discounts.

{mosads}A third item tackles proposed procedural rules for the auction.

The July agenda also includes an unnamed item from the Enforcement Bureau and several items from the Media Bureau.

FCC DEM SAYS BROADBAND A ‘NECESSITY’: Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn pushed back on her Republican colleagues assertion that broadband Internet is not a necessity in today’s world. In a speech Wednesday, Clyburn seemed to allude to Republican Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, who last month said broadband is not a human right or even a necessity.

“Not a necessity… during a time when the majority of Fortune 500 companies post new job listings strictly on websites? And where if you are fortunate enough to secure a position, your new boss expects you to have an e-mail address?” she said, also noting the importance of broadband in universities, the healthcare field and government aid.

PHRMA BOLSTERS PATENT LOBBYING: The pharmaceutical advocacy group PhRMA, which employs numerous lobbyists, hired Kent Hance of the firm Hance Scarborough to lobby on patent reform as the House plans a vote on a patent bill opposed by the industry.

SESSIONS HITS MICROSOFT OVER IMMIGRATION: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) took aim at Microsoft for announcing the layoff of 7,800 workers this week after the company previously advocated increasing the U.S. cap on visas for high-skilled immigrants. Sessions, who has been one of the most vocal critics against increasing the cap, said “any increase to the H-1B visa [program] would only quash the dreams of more talented Americans.” Microsoft announced the layoffs, in addition to 18,000 cuts last year, which will mostly be felt from its acquisition of Nokia. Reports noted that most of the layoffs announced Wednesday would not come from its U.S. headquarters in Washington state.

HOUSE WANTS FCC CLARITY ON PHONE NUMBERS: The entire House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications and Technology asked the Federal Communications Commission to clear up confusion about phone customers’ ability to keep their phone number when switching providers. Citing a recent white paper, the House members said people might have trouble keeping their number if they switch to a “non-nationwide wireless carrier.”

COGENT STILL WANTS TERMS ON AT&T-DIRECTV DEAL: Despite it’s newly-minted interconnection agreement with AT&T, Cogent Communications hasn’t backed off its request for conditions on AT&T’s merger with DirecTV. “In sum, the Cogent/AT&T agreement will benefit customers of both networks while it remains in effect. However, because AT&T broadband customers access a vast array of Internet content which does not traverse Cogent’s network, this agreement on its own is not sufficient to protect the public interest. That is why in an environment of continuously growing Internet usage the proposed interconnection condition continues to be of paramount importance,” they wrote in an FCC filing released Thursday.

APPEALS COURT RULES IN HUGE PATENT CASE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a patent on a method for pricing products  — which is at the center of a multimillion dollar case — was invalid, upholding a prior ruling by the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The company Versata, which owns the patent, had previously sued and won nearly $350 million from rival SAP.

NELSON TO UNDERGO SURGERY ON MONDAY: Senate Commerce Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) will undergo surgery for prostate cancer on Monday. His office said it will not affect his plans to run for reelection in 2018. We have more here.

ON TAP: 

At 10 a.m., CSIS will host an event focused on “IEA’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2015.”

At noon, the Congressional Internet Caucus will hold a discussion on how frivolous defamation suits can harm the Internet.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Uber fired its latest salvo Thursday against three California drivers who say in a class-action lawsuit they have been inappropriately classified as independent contractors.

NASA on Thursday named the four astronauts who will begin training for the agency’s first commercial space flights, which are expected to begin in 2017.

The New York Stock Exchange said Thursday that a software update was to blame for the “technical issue” that shut down trading for more than three hours on Wednesday.

More than eight in 10 U.S. smartphone owners report keeping their device near them during their entire waking day, and a majority report checking their phone multiple times per hour, according to a new survey.

Jawbone is asking a trade regulator to block rival firm Fitbit from importing its fitness trackers into the United States.

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