BRUSSELS -- There are “severe imbalances” in the growth rate of Internet traffic, with more revenue generated by traffic that’s not monetized by network operators, London School of Economics (LSE) Professor-Technology Management Jonathan Liebenau said Monday. Different business models apply to the different segments that generate traffic, and network operators aren’t part of the most profitable business activities, he told the Financial Times/European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association digital agenda summit. Given EU goals to boost broadband build-out, the reluctance to invest in next-generation networks threatens the ability of network operators to respond, he said. That won’t change until investors are sure network owners will eventually benefit from traffic growth, he said. Speakers also urged regulators to safeguard net neutrality.

BRUSSELS -- Telecom companies must stop bickering and speak with a single voice if they want to reach their potential as a driver of growth in the European economy, several speakers said Monday at the Financial Times/European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association digital agenda summit. Considering the “tremendous investments” needed to accomplish the digital agenda, “critical mass is required,” said ETNO Executive Board Chairman Luigi Gambardella. “The minor fights between incumbents and the cries of newer entrants over a few eurocents of access charges belong to the past,” because both sides have a common interest in rolling out the new networks needed to meet consumer demand for new services, he said. But incumbents and their rivals sparred at the meeting over a European Commission proposal to dictate access charges to copper networks.

Top FCC officials may decide to discuss ways the agency will implement some of the many recommendations in the report on the future of the media industry at an event Monday in Phoenix, agency officials watching the deliberations said. They said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Steve Waldman, who wrote the 478-page report finished in June, may talk about concrete steps the agency will take to act on its suggestions on the broadcasting industry. Genachowski’s office and Waldman appeared to be working out the details on Friday of the extent of the recommendations that will be implemented, with a view to possibly discussing some at the hearing, agency officials said. Waldman leaves the agency at week’s end.

The Commerce Department’s Inspector General is auditing the effectiveness of NTIA’s BTOP Booz Allen Hamilton contract, according to a memo to NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling. The audit could be a standard procedure, several former federal officials said. Meanwhile, federal regulators suspended a $30 million BTOP project in northern Florida due to concerns regarding deployment progress, project management and vendor oversight.

Cable operators could encrypt all channels in their basic lineups on all-digital systems if they take steps to give customers the equipment they'd need to get the programming, under a draft FCC proposal. The Media Bureau rulemaking notice on cable encryption is meant to supplant a waiver process, commission and industry officials said Friday. They said it has not been voted on by all FCC members yet, but that approval ought to be noncontroversial.

Universal service lobbying was intensifying at the FCC as the deadline for the October open meeting drew near, filings on docket 10-90 showed. Comcast, Cox Communications, Northeast Colorado Cellular, U.S. Cellular, USTelecom, NTCA, NECA, Free Press, Dish Network and CompTel posted ex parte notices Friday. If the commission is to adopt an order for the Oct. 27 meeting, drafts must circulate by Thursday. Most industry observers expect such an order, but weren’t certain how many changes staff would make from the incumbent-backed ABC and rural consensus plans. The most-contested provisions remained the right-of-first-refusal provision for wireline carriers and the size of the mobility fund, but Free Press also filed a lengthy denunciation of the plans.

LightSquared remains confident it can meet the FCC buildout requirements despite the request for additional testing from the FCC and NTIA, said LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja during an interview on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. LightSquared, which is required by the FCC to cover 260 million people by 2015, will be able to reach that number about a year early, said Ahuja.

Three public interest groups that are strong proponents of building out broadband in the U.S. came to the defense of local governments in a filing at the FCC responding to the commission’s April acceleration of a broadband deployment notice of inquiry (http://xrl.us/bmeu7w). The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, the Media Access Project and Public Knowledge said the FCC should not impose “sweeping, standardized federal regulations on states and municipalities” in the interest of providing broadband providers easier access to public rights of way. Access Humboldt also signed the filing.

AT&T filed motions in the U.S. District Court in Washington asking the court to dismiss complaints filed by Sprint Nextel and C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South) against AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile. Judge Ellen Huvelle is expected to consider later this month following oral argument whether to allow the two to join the Department of Justice’s case against the deal (CD Sept 22 p1).

Some contraction of TV stations’ footprints as part of voluntary broadcast spectrum auctions is a possible and acceptable scenario, said Sherrese Smith, an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Speaking for herself and not the FCC, Smith was responding to concerns for the voluntary auction process raised by Marcellus Alexander, president National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. He said the voluntary incentive auction process may significantly lessen the reach of broadcasters who don’t choose to auction of their spectrum. They spoke during a National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications panel at NCTA Thursday night.