House Communications Subcommittee leaders have different measures of success for the floor vote on the joint resolution to disapprove FCC net neutrality rules under the Congressional Review Act. House Republicans are expected to pass the resolution with few Democratic votes, but Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., separately claimed early victories on Thursday. The floor vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was postponed until Friday due to budget negotiations. The House will meet at 10 a.m. and begin legislative business at noon, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Thursday.

The FCC lowered CLECs’ pole attachment rates to match cable companies’ rates, while setting deadlines to complete attachments, giving wireless carriers the right to attach to the top of poles and giving ILECs a chance to lower their rates under an FCC complaint process that previously was only open to CLECs and cable companies. The commission also issued a notice of inquiry Thursday asking a broad array of questions about rights of way and wireless siting. The commission acted without dissent, with all five commissioners saying their action would accelerate broadband deployment.

GENEVA -- Preparatory discussions for a 2012 treaty conference focused on changing provisions in the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) to account for the significant shift of the industry to a modern market-oriented environment, according to submissions. At least some of the new issues raised during the 2009 World Telecommunications Policy Forum appeared to gain traction with groups of developing countries (CD April 27/09 p6). Preparatory discussions are at an early stage, executives and officials said.

BERKELEY, Calif. -- “Technology is the only way forward” to eliminate the digital divide in poorer countries, Eric Brewer, an activist computer science professor at this University of California campus, said at a forum late Wednesday. “There is no alternative.” He added that “maybe economics” offers a path, but only as “used to buy technology to close the divide.” But others disagreed.

The FCC has many tools at its disposal to tackle spectrum constraints, whether it’s improving spectrum efficiency or freeing up more spectrum, Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman said at the Wireless Communications Association conference. The commission is looking at spectrum sharing and harmonization opportunities, and is willing to work with industry to come up with a solution to better inform consumers on throughput, she said Wednesday. It takes time to bring spectrum to auction, so “we have to start now” to avoid a spectrum crunch that will result in poor quality of service for consumers, Milkman said.

The FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on a proposal it let consumers use fixed and mobile consumer signal boosters, subject to restrictions designed to mitigate the risk of harmful interference. The commission, as expected (CD April 4 p5), approved the rulemaking on circulation in advance of Thursday’s meeting. “Although by one measure, 99.6 percent of the nation’s population is served by one or more mobile voice providers, and more than 98 percent of the nation’s population can now receive ‘advanced’ or ‘3G’ wireless services, coverage gaps exist within and at the fringes of those service areas and continue to pose a problem … particularly in rural areas,” the NPRM said. “Signal boosters are part of the solution to addressing coverage gaps in rural areas."

USTelecom’s proposal on dealing with phantom traffic was backed by CenturyLink Vice President Melissa Newman and NTCA Vice President Michael Romano. “It’s a great starting point,” Newman said Wednesday at the FCC’s day-long workshop on intercarrier compensation overhaul. The plan would create per-minute benchmarks for calls to signal what some in the industry call phantom traffic. “It’s all about costs and volumes and the original premise of these tariffs in rural areas was based on low volumes,” Newman said: She hopes FCC officials realize that “there’s agreement on this panel."

The White House turned up the heat Wednesday on Congress to approve incentive auction legislation. It held a spectrum event at the Old Executive Office Building, complete with a speech by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and a panel of economists. The White House released a letter signed by 112 economists supporting the administration’s spectrum efforts.

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The FCC will get some scrutiny in a delayed commission report (CD March 9 p4) about prospects for the media industry, its author told industry executives and lobbyists. Steve Waldman said Wednesday that his forthcoming Future of Media report will offer a close look at the regulator’s media policies and say which are working and which aren’t. “We also will try to be honest about the FCC and its own policies,” although such inward looks aren’t “always a welcome effort” at the institution examined, he said. At the FCC, “to my delight, I have found that very few want to hold onto things the way they are just because that’s the way they have been,” he said. “There is a very strong desire to make sure that policy is effective."