The FCC lacks Communications Act Section 706 authority to pre-empt state laws that pose obstacles to municipal broadband projects, said groups including the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). USTelecom flipped the debate, arguing that the agency should use the pre-emption authority it does have to remove local governments’ barriers to private investment.

The FCC should deny petitions seeking a waiver of Connect America Fund Phase II requirements to provide proof of a current or past customer to have a census block be deemed served, said Century Link (http://bit.ly/1tQylin) and USTelecom (http://bit.ly/1wwY2db) in comments posted in docket 10-90 Tuesday. The agency previously ruled against waiving the requirement and the petitioners have not shown “special circumstances warranting deviation from the evidentiary standard,” a requirement for granting the waivers, CenturyLink said. The waivers would not be in the public interest, CenturyLink said, because “the only thing that can be definitively concluded from these waiver petitions is that these petitioners are not providing service to any consumers in these census blocks. In short, the consumers in these census blocks are already being left behind.” The petitions rehash arguments that by the FCC, USTelecom said. By seeking to have the census blocks deemed served and ineligible for CAF, the petitioners “are seeking to deny the benefits of CAF Phase II funding to rural, high cost households that incontrovertibly do not have broadband today,” USTelecom said. The petitions were filed by Allen’s TV Cable Service, Armstrong Utilities, Bright House Networks, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Shenandoah Cable Television, Shentel Communications, Suddenlink, Vyve Broadband and WaveDivision Holdings, CenturyLink and USTelecom. There were nearly 200 challenges total against all CAF Phase II funding requests (CD Aug 21 p2).

The special access data gathering effort that the FCC last week (CD Aug 19 p2) said it would begin soon should produce a lot of data that may help resolve disputes, said industry lawyers in interviews this week, but they said commission staff have a lot of work ahead. It’s a “really extraordinary” amount of data about the prices and connections for every building across the nation, said Thomas Jones, a Willkie Farr attorney who has represented competitive carriers in urging some form of rate regulation for the service.

A lobbying frenzy surrounding the Senate Commerce Committee draft of Satellite Television Localism and Extension Act reauthorization legislation is heating up ahead of its September release and markup. Industry officials are obsessing -- even during the long August recess -- over the many possible items the STELA bill may include, notably a bipartisan proposal from committee leadership to end TV blackouts by overhauling retransmission consent rules. The proposal was circulated this month and known as Local Choice (CD Aug 13 p4; Aug 11 p12).

As the reply period ended Friday for the selection of the next Local Number Portability Administrator, a fundamental question about the recommended bidder, Telcordia, remains unresolved because of a change made in the request for proposal (RFP) process two years ago, said rival Neustar and a group of small- and medium-sized carriers.

In the final days before the end of the reply period for the selection of the Local Number Portability Administrator Friday night, Neustar is trying to hold on to the contract by arguing there could be national security risks should the FCC award it to rival Telcordia. The FCC should pause and issue another NPRM to examine how well equipped the companies are in protecting the security of the network from infiltration and in working with law enforcement, Steve Edwards, Neustar senior vice president-data solutions, told us. He noted that Telcordia’s parent company, Ericsson, is a Swedish company. “Foreign ownership increases the risks,” said Edwards, who added that it “raises the potential that software codes could be written by employees and consultants overseas.” In the interim, Neustar should continue as the LNPA, he said.

USTelecom slammed Free Press in a Friday blog post for its arguments in favor of reclassifying broadband as a Title II service. Reclassification “would create unambiguously negative pressures on broadband provider investment that would not exist absent reclassification,” wrote Patrick Brogan, USTelecom industry analyst (http://bit.ly/1nX9zbp). Imposing common carrier regulation on broadband “seems unnecessarily risky and potentially counterproductive for policy goals dependent on more investment, such as expanding deployment to all parts of the country and enhancing U.S. global competitiveness,” he wrote. “The post is full of mischaracterizations, and it still doesn’t hang together,” Free Press fired back in an email. “Getting the Facts Wrong might be a better title for it.” Free Press isn’t interested just in the “investment choices” of a few telcos, the group said. Internet freedom is good for the entire economy. “Avoiding common carriage principles and giving ISPs the green light to discriminate certainly is not going to promote investment by anyone —- neither the edge companies, nor the network providers who'd be able to profit from artificial scarcity in a world of access tolls,” Free Press said.

Local Choice, a Senate proposal circulated Friday (CD Aug 11 p12) set to overhaul retransmission consent rules, will likely face an uphill battle and may not become attached to the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process this year, industry observers told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., floated the discussion draft, which broadcasters have attacked and other observers questioned, despite praise from retransmission rule overhaul advocates. Some will lobby to ensure Local Choice advances, they said.

Wireless carriers asked the FCC to revise Connect America Fund (CAF) rules to remove any discrimination against wireless. The request came in filings at the FCC, most of which were posted Monday. The FCC sought comment on rules for the CAF II program, which will provide up to $1.8 billion per year in support to providers that offer broadband service in commission-identified eligible areas. The FCC also sought comment on the Mobility Fund Phase II program (MFII).

Tech companies united to tell Congress to ensure broadband Internet providers don’t engage in any “market abuse” of paid peering arrangements. The Internet Association submitted comments Friday in response to the House Communications Subcommittee white paper issued as part of its Communications Act update process, one of many comments from stakeholders such as Comptel, T-Mobile and USTelecom (CD Aug 11 p7).