There’s “tension” between the “proof of concept” broadband speed testing that FCC contractor SamKnows is doing and the agency’s “apparent intent to publish provider-specific test results based on the first set of data,” cable companies and telcos said. Representatives of AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, NCTA, Qwest, Time Warner Cable, USTelecom, Verizon and Windstream met with an aide to Commissioner Meredith Baker about ISP efforts on speed testing. It’s important that the agency ensure the accuracy of test results “to avoid misleading consumers by distorting true network performance,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 09-158. “There are still a number of outstanding issues that SamKnows and the Commission need to address in advance of any public disclosure of data, including issues regarding the sampling methodology used to select panelists and the validation of panelists’ service tiers.” The groups said there could be “damaging consequences” to consumers and ISPs if the agency “rushed to release data publicly before resolving these critical technical and operational issues."

The House Democratic Caucus voted Thursday to reject President Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans in its current form. It was unclear how much the package may need to change. Telecom and tech groups urged passage of the package, citing provisions of the proposal that they said would encourage R&D and investment.

As it assesses the special access market, the FCC must collect data about competitors, said USTelecom and several of its members in a meeting Tuesday with the Wireline Bureau. Such data wasn’t “clearly included” in the current data request (CD Nov 1 p1), USTelecom said in Wednesday ex parte notice. The FCC should seek data about “potential competition, the competitive bidding process” and “self-supply,” it said. In future data requests, the commission should ask for information about “all areas in the [metropolitan statistical area] where competitive providers currently offer or are capable of providing high-capacity services.” The FCC should collect data on areas where competitors plan to offer such service in the next two years, USTelecom said. And it should request data “about competitive providers that may have submitted bids to provide backhaul services to wireless providers or dedicated high-capacity services to other types of customers.” USTelecom also urged the FCC to consider the most current data available given “dynamic changes currently happening in this marketplace.” The FCC’s request sought data that will be more than a year old by the time it’s filed, USTelecom said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski formally announced Wednesday that he'll bring a net neutrality order to a vote at the Dec. 21 meeting. The draft had been expected for several days. Genachowski and his staff said they have broad support from industry, public interest and other stakeholders. Senior officials said privately that they had secured no commitments not to challenge the proposed rules in court. Nonetheless, the chances of being sued by a major ISP are much lower if the commission doesn’t reclassify broadband and instead proceeds with net neutrality sticking with its Title 1 authority, industry executives and lawyers said.

The FCC should move quickly to reclassify Internet access under Title II of the Communications Act, Free Press said in a report released Monday. “It should also pair that action with tailored forbearance.” Without reclassification, the commission won’t be able to move forward on the National Broadband Plan, Free Press said. Seconding the motion was former Obama telecom adviser Susan Crawford, who said the controversy over net neutrality “is a subset” of the issue of a need for reclassification. “To take a Title I approach in this context is to do a ‘once more, with feeling'” approach that has already failed with the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the Comcast case, she said. “The only sustainable path is to re-label these services as telecommunications.” The public and industry “should not lose sight of the outstanding threshold question of why the FCC would disrupt good broadband Internet access policy that has worked well to date,” said Vice President Joshua Seidemann of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, which opposes reclassification. Despite Free Press’s assurances that reclassification doesn’t concern regulating the Internet, many in the industry are worried that reclassification is “a Trojan Horse,” Seidemann said. “Title I has been invoked successfully to address a variety of ’social’ issues, including CPNI, access by persons with disabilities, and E911,” he said. “The FCC should avoid attempts to impose broad overreach where that sort of involvement is not only not necessary, but has been predicted to portend negative impacts on investment.” USTelecom Senior Vice President Jonathan Banks said Free Press’s reasoning “flies in the face of respected legal opinion.” He said by e-mail, “There is no clear case that further Internet rules would benefit consumers, job creation or innovation, as regulators in both the European Union and the United Kingdom have recently recognized.”

The FCC should “stay the course” with its National Broadband Plan, spend “significant effort … to open the broadband provider market to small businesses” and set standards on advertising broadband -- “including actual (not theoretical) upload and download speeds” -- a new Small Business Administration report recommended. The SBA’s Office of Advocacy’s long-awaited report on the broadband climate for small businesses said small businesses “are dissatisfied with the choices they currently have available.” Nearly half of rural businesses and more than one-third of urban businesses said their Internet speeds weren’t fast enough, the SBA said. The report was commissioned in 2008 by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and John Kerry, D-Mass. In a joint release with Kerry, Snowe called Tuesday’s report “critical” and said it proves “that we simply must do more to make broadband accessible and affordable.” Kerry said the report illustrates the need to “implement the National Broadband Plan as quickly as possible.” Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky called Tuesday’s report “a stunning indictment of the current state of the broadband market.” But USTelecom Vice President Patrick Brogan noted the report found up to 95 percent of small businesses were already using broadband -- without the benefit of the National Broadband Plan. And small rural carriers can’t support competitors in remote areas, which is what would be required under the broadband plan, said Jill Canfield, senior regulatory counsel for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. Satellite broadband offerings received a poor review in the report as too slow and expensive. Satisfaction for speed and cost among current satellite broadband subscribers was among the lowest of the technologies surveyed. Some of the conclusions on satellite broadband are based on “outdated” research, said Lisa Scalpone, WildBlue’s general counsel. For instance, the report said satellite broadband prices range from $60-$400 per month, even though WildBlue’s cheapest package starts at $40. The report appears to have relied solely on Hughes’ subscription information. The claim that prices have gone up is also mistaken, Scalpone said. She said the report ignores progress in the industry, including soon-to-launch satellites that offer major speed increases. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said he felt vindicated by Tuesday’s report, according to a spokesman. She said he feels that connecting small businesses to fast, affordable broadband will ensure that the jobs and industries of the future start in the U.S. -- and stay here.

The Supreme Court turned aside Core Communications’ challenge to the FCC’s rate cap on dial-up Internet service. The justices declined Monday without further comment to hear the case. The decision closes the door on two years of litigation that began in 2008, when the FCC denied Core’s request for forbearance from the cap. Core had sought to replace access charges with reciprocal compensation. In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against Core’s appeal, saying the CLEC lacked standing in part because it had failed to demonstrated that it would be harmed by the FCC’s decision. A lawyer for Core declined to comment. Commission General Counsel Austin Schlick said the commission was glad the court had put the case “to bed.” Glenn Reynolds, vice president of policy for USTelecom, said the Supreme Court’s rejection was “a timely affirmation of the FCC’s authority to undertake comprehensive intercarrier compensation.” He said he hopes the commission will “take this opportunity to address current arbitrage schemes, such as traffic pumping.”

ATLANTA -- The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecommunications Committee approved a resolution urging Congress to ensure NTIA and RUS have adequate funds to continue oversight of the BTOP and BIP grant and loan awards. Also at the group’s annual meeting, it passed a resolution supporting expeditious FCC action on abusive so-called traffic pumping.

Netflix may become the new corporate champion of net neutrality now that Google has made its peace with Verizon, industry officials said. In recent months, Netflix has made its first filings with the FCC on issues like net neutrality and opened a Washington lobbying office and hired its first full-time employee in the city. The company’s market clout and ambitious business model make it a formidable presence, analysts and others said.

African-Americans and Hispanics are still less likely to use broadband Internet in their homes even when they attain the same education and income levels as whites, a government report said. Nearly 87 percent of urban and nearly 76 percent of rural, college-educated white families used broadband in their homes in 2009. But for black families with the same education, the percentages were about 77 percent in cities and 56 percent in the countryside; for college-educated Hispanics, the percentages were almost 78 percent in cities and about 69 percent in the country, the Commerce Department said in a report released Monday.