Broadband ISPs excoriated the FCC for adopting unrealistic standards for its Section 706 report on the state of broadband deployment, in comments filed Thursday and Friday in docket 12-228. In response to a notice of inquiry asking what factors the commission should consider for its ninth report (http://xrl.us/bnqtzn), the telcos and cable companies aired some longstanding grievances about the commission’s findings the last three years that broadband was not being deployed on a “reasonable and timely fashion” (CD Aug 22 p1). States spoke of the need for the commission to tweak its USF rules to enable faster deployment of broadband, and interest groups expressed a need for a faster definition of broadband to enable more data-hungry applications.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday approved S. Con. Res. 50 (http://xrl.us/bnqhzd). It expresses the chamber’s support for “the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today” in response to ITU proposals that seek to change that model. The resolution passed by voice vote. The House passed an almost identical concurrent resolution in early August (CD Aug 3 p10). “Giving the U.N. unprecedented power over Internet governance will open the door for repressive regimes to undermine today’s reality of Internet freedom,” Software & Information Industry Association President Ken Wasch said in a written statement. “Granting this proposal will hurt individuals and the global economy by granting undue power to governments that seek to undermine Internet freedom and international trade. We applaud Sen. Marco Rubio and this bipartisan group of senators for vocalizing these concerns. They join esteemed colleagues in the House and industry groups across the country in urging Administration officials to continue working vigorously in opposition to efforts to enact harmful Internet governance reforms at the World Conference on International Telecommunications this December.” The resolution’s passage “is an important step forward in expressing the sense of Congress that it would be a catastrophic mistake if actions are taken to water down or replace the multi-stakeholder governance process under which the Internet has thrived,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said. “We pledge our continuing support in working on this effort to ensure restrictions are not placed on the Internet at this critical meeting in December.” After the vote, Rubio, a Florida Republican, told reporters: “I want to be clear that America is on the record ... we don’t want to see sort of any nationally recognized right to government interference of the free flow of information on the Internet.”

Neutrality in local number portability administration is crucial to ensure the integrity of the porting process, telecom officials agreed in documents posted Friday in response to the FCC’s request for comment on the procurement documents submitted for the LNP database platforms and services. Most commenters encouraged quick approval of the documents submitted by the North American Portability Management’s “Future of Number Portability Administration Center Subcommittee” (FoNPAC). But Comcast asked for a revision to enable more competition on the regional level, and Telcordia Technologies said it wanted more guidance on how the neutrality provisions would be applied.

The FCC Office of Native Affairs sought comment on a USTelecom petition for reconsideration of the Further Guidance Public Notice regarding the Tribal government engagement obligations adopted in the USF/intercarrier compensation order (http://xrl.us/bnnedk). Comments are due Sept. 26 in WC docket 10-90; replies Oct. 11.

Windstream’s request for a waiver of certain Connect America Fund Phase I rules got broad support from ILECs, but others questioned what they said were attempts to expand the limited Phase I funding beyond its intended scope, when broader Phase II funding is on its way. Wireless carriers questioned the numbers, and said the money would be better spent on wireless buildout. Windstream, which only accepted one percent of the commission’s $60 million offer, sought a waiver of the requirement to connect to one unserved location for each $775 received, and a waiver to let it use funds to deploy second-mile fiber (July 25 p3).

Special access providers, free-market think tanks and congressional Republicans criticized the FCC for suspending pricing flexibility triggers before obtaining meaningful data (CD Aug 22 Bulletin). But in its Wednesday order the commission said it already had enough data to know the market was broken. CLECs and other purchasers of special access services commended the commission for taking what they called long overdue action. Congressional reaction was split along partisan lines, as written statements from House GOP members denounced the decision, while Democrats commended the commission for taking steps to suspend what they called its outdated special access rules.

CTIA and USTelecom called on the FCC to act on their request for clarification and reconsider, or alternatively waive, broadband reporting requirements for eligible telecommunications carriers under the Commission’s USF/intercarrier comp transformation order. “Specifically, the Commission should limit the obligation to file relevant broadband performance data and to prepare five-year service quality improvement plans and associated progress reports to those ETCs receiving Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II support; ETCs whose universal service support is being eliminated or that receive CAF Phase I support or Phase II Mobility Fund support should not be subject to such obligations,” the groups said in reply comments to the FCC (http://xrl.us/bnmsgs). “The Commission also should eliminate any requirement that an ETC certify that ‘frozen’ Interstate Access Support (IAS) was used, at least in part, for broadband deployment (or actually use IAS support for this purpose) -- a certification that cannot be reconciled with the Commission’s rules which require that IAS support be used for interstate access rate reductions.” CTIA and USTelecom noted that in the initial comment round, all agreed the reporting requirements are “ambiguous and confusing.” Also, “there is universal concurrence among commenters that extending broadband reporting requirements to ETCs whose universal service support is being eliminated would be ‘inappropriate,’ ‘unnecessary,’ and ‘unduly burdensome,'” they said.

The 2012 version of the FCC’s annual Section 706 report released Tuesday said once again that broadband “is not yet being deployed ’to all Americans’ in a reasonable and timely fashion.” Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai issued blistering dissents. McDowell said the FCC majority has “co-opted” the 706 process, using it to justify a “'cynical cycle’ of regulation,” including the approval of net neutrality rules in December 2010.

Executives from USTelecom, CenturyLink, AT&T and Verizon met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell Wednesday to urge the commission to quickly issue a mandatory data request to assess the level of competition in the market for special access services, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnjbf9). “The Commission must avoid making substantive findings concerning competition for these services until after a comprehensive data request is issued and complied with by the competitive industry."

The U.S. formally opposed attempts to wrest control of the Internet away from its current governing organizations in favor of the United Nations’ ITU, the U.S. delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) said in documents filed Friday. The Dec. 3-4 meeting in Dubai will focus on revising the ITU’s treaty-level International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), last revised in 1988. The U.S. State Department released the documents to the public after the filing (http://xrl.us/bnjbef).