A tech-communications industry coalition plans to publish a white paper this quarter proposing baseline IoT security standards, said CTA Vice President-Technology and Standards Michael Bergman Tuesday. The document for the so-called C2 Consensus on IoT Device Security will parallel similar IoT baseline setting efforts (see 1908010054) from NIST, he said during a workshop at agency headquarters.

USTelecom wants the FCC to adopt the group's broadband serviceable location fabric mapping proposal "simultaneously as it moves forward with the establishment of the new shapefile broadband availability reporting capability." CEO Jonathan Spalter and Senior Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Patrick Halley met last week with Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel to share preliminary findings from the Broadband Mapping Consortium Pilot Program. "Preliminary analysis indicates that structure counts per census block in the pilot states versus 2011 census housing structure data is both over inclusive and under inclusive," the group filed, posted Monday in docket 19-195. USTelecom and NCTA have different proposals for improving broadband mapping data (see 1907260039).

The FCC is eliminating ex ante regulation for lower-speed TDM transport services rates offered by price cap regulated carriers, having found widespread competition in the marketplace for business data service TDM transport (see 1902110027), says a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register and in docket 16-143. The rule is effective Sept. 6, it says. The ruling was sought as part of a larger USTelecom petition for forbearance from regulations related to price protections to competitive LECs (see 1908050009).

The FCC granted forbearance from unbundled network element (UNE) analog loop obligations for incumbent LECs to help encourage the continued move away from legacy TDM voice service and to spur further development of next-generation facilities-based networks, it said in an order issued Friday in docket 18-141. The forbearance is conditioned on a two-part transition. Competitive LECs are allowed to order new UNE analog loops for six months after the order's effective date and will grandfather any existing customer relationships for three years. An exception was made for Puerto Rico, where market transition was extended to five years.

The FCC late Friday issued an order of forbearance in a USTelecom petition on accelerating investment in broadband and next-generation networks, posted in docket 18-141.

U.S. broadband providers invested about $80 billion in network infrastructure in 2018, according to research and analysis published by USTelecom Wednesday. Since 1996, the industry, including wireline, cable and wireless providers, made capital investments totaling more than $1.7 trillion, it said. The trade group also said Wednesday that USTelecom, ITTA and Wireless ISP Association completed the initial phase of their broadband mapping initiative showing "serious discrepancies" with a current data collection approach "that relies on existing census block level data" to determine which areas of the country are unserved with high-speed broadband. The FCC is to address broadband mapping and a proposed $20.4 million Rural Digital Opportunity Fund at Thursday's meeting.

Telecom companies and healthcare providers in Alaska continued their push over the past week for changes in a rural telehealth draft report and order the FCC is scheduled to address at Thursday's commissioners' meeting (see 1907230005). In a filing to docket 17-310, USTelecom said Thursday that the rate setting mechanism described in the report and order "creates a false median rate for Alaska" because all but a small number of locations served by the state's rural healthcare providers would be grouped in the same "extremely rural" tier and receive the same median rate "regardless of whether the location is on-road, off-road or served only by satellite." It said the methodology "would effectively cut off all of the highest cost Alaska locations" from service supported by the FCC's Rural Health Care program "and severely impair the public interest by de-funding telehealth services for the neediest rural Alaskans." Alaska is unique in the nation because 82 percent of its communities are inaccessible by road, said Alaska Communications in a Thursday letter. The company asked the FCC to create a fourth rural tier, carved out of the "extremely rural" tier, for the most rural parts of Alaska that aren't accessible by road. It said the state's Commerce Department publishes a list of communities indicating which have road access and which don't, and the list could be used to help inform the program. Alaska-based GCI Communications suggests in its letter four subcategories for the "extremely rural" tier: road-system/fiber-served, off-road-system/fiber-served, off-road-system/terrestrially (non-fiber) served, and satellite-only served. Among the healthcare providers that also contacted the FCC on the draft order was Yukon-Kuskokwim Health, which recommends in a Thursday letter that the agency do in-state analysis on "the wide variations of 'rural' areas in Alaska" to examine the additional gradations of remoteness required for accuracy.

In the days before the sunshine period for August's FCC meeting, the eighth floor had a parade of parties urging tweaks or changes to the broadband mapping draft order on this coming Thursday's agenda. That's according to docket 19-195 postings.

Rural ISPs are optimistic on FCC plans to distribute up to $20.4 billion over 10 years through a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Chairman Ajit Pai floated earlier this year (see 1904150066). Sectors asked for modifications to a draft NPRM on rules on how to distribute the USF subsidies through a two-step reverse auction (see 1907110031). Commissioners are expected to vote at their Aug. 1 meeting on the NPRM.

AT&T, Comcast and Google were among several tech and telecom companies reporting major drops in their Q2 lobbying expenditures from the same period in 2018, though Facebook and others had major increases. Facebook was the top tech and telecom spender in Q2, reporting $4.1 million -- almost 12 percent up from 2018. Amazon said it spent $4 million, up more than 15 percent from the same period last year. AT&T said it spent $3.31 million during Q2, down more than 27 percent from 2018. Comcast spent $3.18 million in Q2, a decrease of 10 percent from 2018. Google said it spent $2.94 million, a drop of almost 50 percent from last year. Verizon spent $2.44 million, a drop of 17 percent. Charter said it spent roughly the same amount, an increase of 2 percent from the same period in 2018. Apple reported $1.8 million, up more than 11 percent. Fox said it spent $990,000, up more than 43 percent from what the former 21st Century Fox spent in 2018. Cox said it spent $910,000, up 30 percent. Disney said it spent $840,000, down 20 percent from 2018. Sprint spent $740,000, down 7.5 percent from the same period last year. Twitter paid $440,000, up more than 37 percent. NCTA was the top spender among communications groups. It said it spent $3.35 million in Q2, up more than 1 percent from 2018. NAB said it spent $2.96 million, a decrease of 17 percent from last year. CTIA said it spent $2.61 million, up 9 percent from last year. USTelecom reported $500,000 in spending, up 4 percent from 2018. The Information Technology Industry Council reported $370,000, down about 14 percent. NetChoice reported $60,000, up 50 percent.