As part of the Internet Society’s World IPv6 Day, federal agencies, ISPs and other technology organizations are trying to help other entities understand the importance of preparing their services for the IPv6 transition of the Internet. There are 435 participants, including Google, Mozilla, the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau. Although they're attempting to motivate entities that are slow to transition, the participants also are expecting to continue educating themselves about the benefits and challenges of the new protocol, they said.

The price of public safety legislation is a major concern for Senate Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim DeMint, R-S.C., going into Wednesday’s markup of S-911 in the Senate Commerce Committee. While the bill by Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, promises to send $10 billion to the U.S. Treasury, the bill’s cost could be an issue for other budget hawks as well, telecom industry lobbyists said. Meanwhile, public safety pushed back against a campaign to add language requiring interoperability across the 700 MHz band.

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The FCC will recommend some of what amounts to deregulatory actions, in what’s been called the Future of Media report which is slated to be released Thursday, agency and industry officials said. They said the document, which the commission of late has referred to by another name, will include some possible actions the regulator can take to communicate with the public. Report author Steve Waldman will spend some time during Thursday’s commissioner meeting discussing the document, and FCC members will issue statements responding to the study, agency and industry officials said.

The FCC needs more specific broadband and telephone service data to perform a solid competitive analysis of the markets it regulates, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division said in an ex parte filing. The National Broadband Map isn’t a precise enough tool to meet the commission’s needs, DOJ said. The department weighed in more than a month after the close of the FCC’s comment period on how its Form 477 Data Program could be improved.

AT&T will use 700 MHz spectrum licenses it proposes to buy from Qualcomm to expand its network’s downlink capacity by late 2014, AT&T said in a letter responding to a series of questions about the transaction posed by the FCC Wireless Bureau. AT&T estimated that handsets and equipment incorporating the Qualcomm spectrum won’t be available before 2014-2015. The carrier said it’s still “collecting the tens of thousands of pages of documents requested by the Commission” and argued again that the information must be protected because it’s commercially sensitive (CD June 6 p14).

Government procurement rules are stymieing the FCC’s efforts to build an auctions program, Commission economist Evan Kwerel said Monday. “We've been trying for a year to get some auction experts,” Kwerel said, but contracting and procurement rules “are nothing but an obstacle to good policy.” Kwerel spoke in a question and answer session at Georgetown Law Center after a speech by Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s top regulatory adviser. Sunstein had given a round-up of the administration’s efforts to eliminate overly burdensome regulations.

TORONTO -- The major Canadian wireless carriers continued to fight late last week over the government’s upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, as Bell Canada and Telus came out strongly for an open auction with no restrictions while Globalive pushed for a full spectrum set-aside for newer entrants. In dueling speeches and sessions at the Canadian Telecom Summit, executives of the three companies made their cases, joining officials from Rogers Communications and Videotron, who presented their arguments earlier in the conference.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski defended in a May 31 letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the process behind the International Bureau waiver granted to LightSquared in January that allows it to offer terrestrial-only services. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member had requested information on the process and any FCC communications about the waiver decision (CD May 18 p9). The Chairman’s letter didn’t address the requested FCC communications involving the decision.

The Internet Society’s Internet Protocol version 6 Day on Wednesday won’t be as successful as it could be unless there’s more ISP input, IPv6 Forum President Latif Ladid said Monday. Over 400 organizations, including major players such as Google, Facebook and Comcast, were signed up to test the new Internet addressing technology as of Monday, ISOC’s website said. But without ISPs “lighting up for IPv6 end-users” the way Luxembourg operator P&T did this month, the level of participation will be limited, Ladid said. However, he said, the event will build momentum for a service that will eventually take hold.