More critics of a draft business data service order are pressing the FCC to delay a vote planned for the April 20 meeting of commissioners, so far to no effect. The U.S. Small Business Administration and others said more time is needed to address deregulatory BDS proposals in the draft they say would harm business market competition and customers. If nothing else, the agency should create a three-year transition for implementing a new framework, some said. Some are skeptical there will be a pause.

More critics of a draft business data service order are pressing the FCC to delay a vote planned for the April 20 meeting of commissioners, so far to no effect. The U.S. Small Business Administration and others said more time is needed to address deregulatory BDS proposals in the draft they say would harm business market competition and customers. If nothing else, the agency should create a three-year transition for implementing a new framework, some said. Some are skeptical there will be a pause.

An Electronic Frontier Foundation report raising concerns about students' privacy being compromised by major tech companies without parents' knowledge underlines worries shared by others even as one tech/privacy advocate noted many parents are OK with such tradeoffs. U.S. schoolchildren who use apps, devices and services provided at heavily discounted prices or for free have names, birth dates, browsing history, search terms and behavioral information collected and kept indefinitely, EFF's report said (see 1704130064). Google said it takes privacy concerns seriously, and other companies didn't comment.

Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability's work on recommendations about the organization's jurisdictional issues appears to be progressing. U.S. officials tell us they're more confident the working group won't seek to move ICANN's place of incorporation from Los Angeles. CCWG-Accountability is examining ICANN's jurisdiction as part of its work on a second set of recommended changes to the organization's accountability mechanisms (see 1610030042). U.S. interests raised concerns earlier this year about the CCWG-Accountability Jurisdiction Subgroup's work (see 1701030021).

Some kind of major space conjunction event, such as a cubesat collision with a far larger satellite, seems almost inevitable, and regulators and policymakers need to be planning for that now, said Mike Gold, chairman of the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, at an FCBA event Thursday. However, an overreaction "will be sending jobs and capabilities overseas" to other regulatory regimes, he said.

President Donald Trump lifted the federal hiring freeze Wednesday, even while the administration is pushing most agencies to cut staffing levels. Industry and FCC officials said the change means Chairman Ajit Pai has some additional wiggle room to staff up in areas with unfilled positions and to bring in his own people in some key positions. Some observers had expressed concerns that Trump’s Jan. 23 freeze could slow work on Pai’s agenda (see 1703220041).

President Donald Trump lifted the federal hiring freeze Wednesday, even while the administration is pushing most agencies to cut staffing levels. Industry and FCC officials said the change means Chairman Ajit Pai has some additional wiggle room to staff up in areas with unfilled positions and to bring in his own people in some key positions. Some observers had expressed concerns that Trump’s Jan. 23 freeze could slow work on Pai’s agenda (see 1703220041).

President Donald Trump lifted the federal hiring freeze Wednesday, even while the administration is pushing most agencies to cut staffing levels. Industry and FCC officials said the change means Chairman Ajit Pai has some additional wiggle room to staff up in areas with unfilled positions and to bring in his own people in some key positions. Some observers had expressed concerns that Trump’s Jan. 23 freeze could slow work on Pai’s agenda (see 1703220041).

Gov. Bill Haslam (R) plans to sign broadband legislation passed Monday by the Tennessee legislature, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The House voted 93-4 Monday for the broadband bill -- proposed by Haslam -- allowing nonprofit electric cooperatives to provide retail broadband and video service within their footprints and providing $45 million in broadband grants and tax credits (see 1704040023). The Senate last week passed the bill, which doesn’t reverse the state ban on municipal broadband expansion that held back Chattanooga Electric Power Board. “This bill gets us further along than we've ever been,” Rep. David Hawk (R) said on the House floor Monday. Most state legislators supported the bill, but some from each political party raised concerns. Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D) said $45 million isn’t much for broadband. “I wish we were putting some real money and resources … to expand and enlarge this grant program to make sure that the unserved and underserved communities are going to get connected,” he said. A Republican, Rep. Andy Holt, opposed using public money and said the state should instead “deregulate as much as we possibly can.” Hawk replied, “Deregulation is a substantial part of this legislation.” Rep. Jason Zachary (R) said he worried the bill would encourage cooperatives to compete against companies in areas that have sufficient speeds already while neglecting unserved areas. Haslam praised the bill’s passage, in a Monday evening news release. “More than 800,000 Tennesseans don’t have access to broadband, and one in three businesses identified it as essential to selecting their location,” he said. “Spurring deployment in our rural, unserved areas will open them up to economic investment and growth.” The bill “provides a reasonable, responsible path to improve broadband access through investment, deregulation and education,” he said. Once House and Senate leaders formally send the bill to Haslam, the governor has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to make the bill law, the Haslam spokeswoman said. Tennessee legislators probably won’t do anything more this session on broadband, even though there are several bills, including to reverse the state ban on municipal broadband expansion, emailed Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Director Christopher Mitchell. “They have achieved their goal -- they can tell constituents that they acted and the state can write more checks to AT&T.” He said it’s shortsighted that the Haslam bill requires a provider to offer only 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds to be eligible for grants. Taxpayers may end up subsidizing AT&T to build "slow DSL into Bradley County rather than letting Chattanooga's EPB building a service 1000 times faster at no cost to the taxpayer,” he said. AT&T praised the Haslam bill. "Building on the work and investment of private providers like AT&T, this legislation will help bridge the gap to those remaining unserved Tennesseans," a spokeswoman emailed. The Tennessee Telecommunications Association and the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association (TECA) applauded in a news release. “With our joint dedication and presence in these rural areas, electric and telephone cooperatives have a great opportunity to work together to meet this challenge,” said TECA General Manager David Callis.

Gov. Bill Haslam (R) plans to sign broadband legislation passed Monday by the Tennessee legislature, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The House voted 93-4 Monday for the broadband bill -- proposed by Haslam -- allowing nonprofit electric cooperatives to provide retail broadband and video service within their footprints and providing $45 million in broadband grants and tax credits (see 1704040023). The Senate last week passed the bill, which doesn’t reverse the state ban on municipal broadband expansion that held back Chattanooga Electric Power Board. “This bill gets us further along than we've ever been,” Rep. David Hawk (R) said on the House floor Monday. Most state legislators supported the bill, but some from each political party raised concerns. Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D) said $45 million isn’t much for broadband. “I wish we were putting some real money and resources … to expand and enlarge this grant program to make sure that the unserved and underserved communities are going to get connected,” he said. A Republican, Rep. Andy Holt, opposed using public money and said the state should instead “deregulate as much as we possibly can.” Hawk replied, “Deregulation is a substantial part of this legislation.” Rep. Jason Zachary (R) said he worried the bill would encourage cooperatives to compete against companies in areas that have sufficient speeds already while neglecting unserved areas. Haslam praised the bill’s passage, in a Monday evening news release. “More than 800,000 Tennesseans don’t have access to broadband, and one in three businesses identified it as essential to selecting their location,” he said. “Spurring deployment in our rural, unserved areas will open them up to economic investment and growth.” The bill “provides a reasonable, responsible path to improve broadband access through investment, deregulation and education,” he said. Once House and Senate leaders formally send the bill to Haslam, the governor has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to make the bill law, the Haslam spokeswoman said. Tennessee legislators probably won’t do anything more this session on broadband, even though there are several bills, including to reverse the state ban on municipal broadband expansion, emailed Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Director Christopher Mitchell. “They have achieved their goal -- they can tell constituents that they acted and the state can write more checks to AT&T.” He said it’s shortsighted that the Haslam bill requires a provider to offer only 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds to be eligible for grants. Taxpayers may end up subsidizing AT&T to build "slow DSL into Bradley County rather than letting Chattanooga's EPB building a service 1000 times faster at no cost to the taxpayer,” he said. AT&T praised the Haslam bill. "Building on the work and investment of private providers like AT&T, this legislation will help bridge the gap to those remaining unserved Tennesseans," a spokeswoman emailed. The Tennessee Telecommunications Association and the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association (TECA) applauded in a news release. “With our joint dedication and presence in these rural areas, electric and telephone cooperatives have a great opportunity to work together to meet this challenge,” said TECA General Manager David Callis.