As Chinese telecom investments in the U.S. face tight scrutiny, common ground might occur if the Chinese firms become more open and transparent, several panelists said at the American Enterprise Institute Thursday. As Chinese telecom companies are expected to continue to expand and remain major global players, U.S. policy on Chinese telecom investment should be a work in progress, some said. The panelists also debated the benefits and security risks of Chinese telecom firms like Huawei.

AT&T overcharged U.S. businesses millions of dollars by improperly handling and billing thousands of Internet Protocol relay calls made by Nigerian scammers, the Department of Justice alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday. The DOJ says AT&T violated the False Claims Act by seeking payment for IP relay calls made by international callers who sought to use the system for fraudulent purposes. The Telecommunications Relay Services Fund has reimbursed AT&T more than $16 million since December 2009, of which up to 95 percent of payments were made for non-compensable IP relay calls, the complaint said.

An FCC advisory panel is the latest entity to back text-to-speech emergency alert system warnings (CD March 14 p8). All levels of government can trigger EAS in a format that starts June 30 without sending audio files that take bandwidth and time for broadcasters and pay-TV operators to download, the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council said. It voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the commission rework an order on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to OK text to speech.

Set-top boxes with a “deep sleep” feature that will further improve energy efficiency will be ready for field testing in 2014, the NCTA told the Department of Energy. Opposing federal mandates on the energy uses of boxes, the association said cable operators are deploying boxes with “light sleep” capabilities and providing software upgrades to embed that feature in existing boxes, which is projected to save 350 kilowatt hours in the first year. NCTA last week commented (http://xrl.us/bmy52a) on a DOE rulemaking on possible efficiency standards for set-tops and network equipment after a finding that the devices are covered products under the Energy Act.

SILICON VALLEY -- The Defense Department is puzzling over how to get ahead of unauthorized internal use of mobile devices, a cybersecurity official said. Department policy seeks to tightly control what hardware employees use, but “I think some bring-your-own-device stuff is happening anyway,” conceded Richard Hale, DOD’s deputy chief information officer for identity and information assurance. The department hasn’t figured out how to deal with the threat, he acknowledged at the IT Security Entrepreneurs’ Forum at Stanford University. “We hope to start experimenting based on some virtualization ideas over the next year,” Hale said late Wednesday.

The FCC is launching a task force to oversee the work the agency has to do to get ready for the upcoming auction of broadcast spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday. The task force will be overseen by former Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman. The announcement came amid questions about how quickly the FCC will be able to move forward on the auction, which is expected to be the most complicated in the history of the agency.

Senators asked Comcast and Verizon Wireless to respond to fears that their spectrum and marketing deals might harm competition. Testifying Wednesday at a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing, officials for the top telco and top cable company said the spectrum acquisition is about putting unused frequencies to better use, and the marketing agreement is about consumer convenience. But other witnesses painted a darker competitive landscape with higher prices and fewer competitors.

The FCC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking Wednesday asking questions about interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said regulation may not be the answer. The FCC committed in its AT&T/Qualcomm order in December to release the rulemaking in the first quarter (CD Dec 27 p1). The notice also asks if the FCC should expand its focus to also consider interoperability beyond the lower 700 MHz band, as was urged by Public Knowledge and a few small carriers despite (CD March 9 p7).

Nothing brings disparate interests together like the prospect of a six-month extension to comply with new FCC rules. Often at odds, post-paid wireline carriers, pre-paid wireless carriers and state commissions unanimously supported a waiver request by incumbent local exchange carriers to postpone until Oct. 1 the implementation of several rules established in the Lifeline Order -- as long as the waiver applies to everyone else, too. The petition, filed by USTelecom, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, NTCA, OPASTCO, the Western Telecommunications Alliance and the Eastern Rural Telecom Association, asked the FCC to waive the effective date of a new rule implementing a flat $9.25 Lifeline benefit and eliminating the Link-Up discount on non-Tribal lands from April 2 until Oct. 1 (CD March 12 p9).

SILICON VALLEY -- Companies working on products that use the location data in mobile devices plan to make money from advertising and premium subscription fees, executives at the GPS-Wireless conference said Wednesday. Some companies, such as Foursquare, will rely entirely on advertising, while others plan to bring a mix of ad and subscription revenue, they said.