E-rate school and library USF support has done much, but more efforts are needed, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at an E-Rate event Wednesday. She praised Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., for spearheading the 1996 legislation that authorized the program's creation 20 years ago. "Connecting our schools and libraries is not enough. Because preparing the next generation for digital success now requires connections not just at school -- but at home," she said according to written remarks. "More can be done to address the Homework Gap. Carriers across the country are pitching in by making available low-cost broadband service. Libraries everywhere from Maine to Missouri are loaning out wireless hot spots -- and letting students borrow connectivity for schoolwork. Rural school districts are putting Wi-Fi on buses and turning ride time into connected time for homework. Communities are mapping out where free online access is available for student use. These efforts deserve applause. More importantly, they deserve expansion."

AT&T's proposal for Congress to pursue an “Internet Bill of Rights” on net neutrality that “applies to all internet companies” drew swift condemnation Wednesday from the Internet Association and praise from several communications sector groups. “End the debate once and for all, by writing new laws that govern the internet and protect consumers,” said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in an open letter. “Legislation would not only ensure consumers’ rights are protected, but it would provide consistent rules of the road for all internet companies across all websites, content, devices and applications. In the very near future, technological advances like self-driving cars, remote surgery and augmented reality will demand even greater performance from the internet. Without predictable rules for how the internet works, it will be difficult to meet the demands of these new technology advances.” AT&T is running such advertisements. “It is impossible to believe that AT&T is serious when they have such a long track record opposing consumer protections like net neutrality,” an IA spokesman emailed. “IA and our members support” planned Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval aimed at undoing the FCC's order to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules and that has support of all 49 Democratic senators and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “We support strong, enforceable net neutrality rules, which were consumer protections on the books until AT&T and their allies had their way” via the FCC rescission order, the IA spokesman said. USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter lauded AT&T's proposal “and encourage[d] our Congressional leaders to work together to enshrine net neutrality principles into law.” The Internet Innovation Alliance said it has “long advocated for Congressional legislation that would make permanent the core principles of an open Internet. Only Congress can craft a unified regulatory framework that would apply to all entities in the Internet ecosystem and provide the nation’s consumers and businesses with the online protections they deserve.”

Calls to update U.S. competition policy aren’t grounded in sound economic analysis, said speakers at a Heritage Foundation event Tuesday examining Trump administration antitrust policies. “A lot of substance has been happening on antitrust in the Trump administration,” said Jeffrey Eisenach, an American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar who helped lead the transition to the Trump-era FCC. The “populist energy” around antitrust isn’t new, it’s just moving locations -- away from the FCC and to the FTC, Eisenach said: “Welcome to net neutrality.” Eisenach praised FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s commitment to providing more robust economic analysis at the commission, which he said will complement the FTC’s ongoing work in examining competition. The FTC has several major matters that could go to litigation within the next few months, said Bruce Hoffman, Competition Bureau acting director. “The volume of information coming into the FTC is huge, and the sophistication of information has grown,” Hoffman said, rejecting arguments (see 1712010027) there's growing industry consolidation that requires a revamp of antitrust laws: “The system has a lot of safeguards.” A "lot of what is going on is the effort to protect labor,” said William Blumenthal of Sidley Austin and former FTC general counsel. “What seems to get lost is that the interests of labor and interests of consumers are at odds.” A transaction may lead to lower prices, which helps consumers, but harms those whose jobs are lost, he said, suggesting that policymakers balance both interests.

An FCC draft NPRM seeks comment on the jurisdictional separations proposals of a federal-state joint board, an agency spokesman told us Tuesday. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, joint board chairman, has voted the item, which circulated last week, an aide said. The joint board in October recommended largely "ministerial" tweaks to Part 36 separations rules for allocating costs between the federal and state jurisdictions (see 1710270059). It responded to a commission request to make the rules consistent with the agency's new Part 32 telco accounting rules (see 1704250018 and 1702230051).

John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Barrack Obama, is questioning the direction of the office under President Donald Trump. Holdren emailed his response Tuesday to our questions from last week (see 1801180055). “Most of what OSTP has been doing, as best I can tell, has been about a few areas in technology with wholly obvious connections to the economy,” Holdren said. He listed spectrum, artificial intelligence, drones and self-driving cars. Holdren noted no positions requiring Senate confirmation are filled. “There are a few scientists among the 40-45 staff there now, but not many, and they’re not poking their heads above the trenches,” he said. “There has been little if any indication that anybody now at OSTP has been in a position to make the case to [Office of Management and Budget] or the West Wing that science is the foundation on which technological advances are built, as well as a major source of understanding about what technological advances are needed, for what purposes.” If OSTP hadn't been created by statute, the Harvard Kennedy School professor guesses Trump would “rename it the Office of Technology Policy.”

President Donald Trump plans to nominate acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen as a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the White House announced Tuesday evening. Trump announced in October that he planned to nominate Paul Weiss antitrust lawyer Joseph Simons as FTC chairman, raising new questions about how long Ohlhausen would choose to remain (see 1710190001 and 1710190055). The White House has yet to formally submit nominations for Simons and two other intended nominees to the FTC -- former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Assistant Director Rohit Chopra and Noah Phillips, chief counsel to Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas -- to the Senate. Ohlhausen said she will remain at the FTC until the Senate confirms her to the judgeship.

The credit outlook this year for cable and telecom infrastructure companies remains stable, but wireline and wireless companies have a negative outlook, S&P Global Ratings said in a news release Monday. It said recent tax changes will help the balance sheets of some U.S. cable and telco operators, and the big issues facing the wireless sector are pricing and competition, while for wireline it's accelerating revenue declines and for cable it's the growth of over-the-top services. It said 5G could be a future threat for cable.

It's time for Facebook and Google to pay publishers carriage fees "similar to the model adopted by cable companies," News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch said Monday. Amid "much discussion about subscription models," there hasn't been a proposal "that truly recognizes the investment in and the social value of professional journalism," Murdoch said, and he plans to "closely follow" Facebook's latest shift in its news feed (see 1801120030). News publishers are "obviously enhancing the value and integrity of Facebook through their news and content but are not being adequately rewarded for those services," Murdoch said. Facebook and Google didn't comment.

FirstNet scored its final opt-in as Northern Mariana Islands Gov. Ralph Torres (R) agreed Friday to AT&T’s radio-access-network plan, the authority said in a news release. The decision completed AT&T’s clean sweep of all 56 states and territories (see 1712290021).

Comments are due at the FCC March 19 on ISP transparency rule disclosures adopted in the "internet freedom" order, said a notice in the Federal Register Thursday. The commission estimated 1,919 ISP respondents would take a total of 49,894 hours to meet their disclosure duties at a total annual cost of $560,000. The information-collection requirements are subject to Paperwork Reduction Act provisions and must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget before FCC actions rolling back network neutrality regulations can take effect. The FCC ruling and orders in docket 17-108 were adopted by commissioners Dec. 14 and released Jan. 4 (see 1712140039 and 1801050031).