CenturyLink is deploying Calix equipment for its gigabit fiber network in Omaha, said Calix in a news release Monday (http://yhoo.it/18FOVa8). CenturyLink will use the Calix E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and 700GE family of optical network terminals to connect homes and businesses, said Calix. CenturyLink will use the Calix Compass Flow Analyze software to measure usage trends and to optimize service performance, said the company.

Intel is starting a new program to promote digital literacy to young women in developing countries, starting in Africa, said the company in a news release Monday (http://intel.ly/18kLaIh). Intel released a report in January on the Internet gender gap in the developing world and the social and economic benefits of Internet access for women. The report issued a call to action for stakeholders to double the number of women and girls online in developing countries in three years, said Intel. The She Will Connect program will push “the concept of digital literacy forward through new, innovative and scalable models,” said the company. Intel said it’s developing an online gaming platform to deliver digital literacy content through “an engaging approach for smartphones and tablets in a game-infused environment.” Through the World Pulse platform, Intel said women can exchange ideas and find support and mentorship to push the field of digital literacy “so learning can take place not only as an individual in a shared computing environment but also through peers."

Proposed surveillance legislation on the table this week has spurred statements of backlash and support among different groups and observers. Demand Progress slammed a proposal by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., describing it as “legislation that would whitewash but preserve the illegal domestic surveillance of the National Security Agency,” said a Friday news release announcing its opposition. “A meaningless bill to calm angry Americans while doing nothing to meaningfully reform the agency is disingenuous and counterproductive,” Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal said of the proposed changes, which would update the rules surrounding bulk phone metadata collection. Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, took a swipe at legislation proposed by four other senators, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Mark Udall, D-Colo., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Wyden and Udall belong to Feinstein’s committee. In a Monday blog post (http://bit.ly/1fX4dfT), Granick applauded the parts of that proposal that would end Patriot Act Section 215 bulk collection of phone records but criticized Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 changes, which do “not go far enough to reassure other nations that their average citizen -- someone disconnected from official government policy, terrorism or other dangers to the U.S.’s national security interests -- will not be lawfully targeted by the NSA.” Also on Monday, the Center for Democracy & Technology sent a letter (http://bit.ly/18l6nSj) to the Senate and House Judiciary committees supporting proposals from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who backs the Surveillance Transparency Act, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who backs the Surveillance Order Reporting Act. CDT sent the letters on behalf of Internet companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Mozilla, Twitter and Yahoo, as well as organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, TechFreedom and TechNet. “Such transparency is important not only for the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of that surveillance, but also for international users of US-based service providers who are concerned about privacy and security,” the letter said.

Nielsen completed the buy of Arbitron, said Nielsen in a news release Monday about the $1.3 billion deal (http://bit.ly/14YgIDa). It said Arbitron is being rebranded as Nielsen Audio, and will be integrated into Nielsen’s U.S. Watch business segment that focuses on TV, online, mobile and radio. After the agency conditionally approved the deal, the FTC is accepting comments on the proposed conditions (CD Sept 30 p12).

Five organizations were selected to increase wireless connectivity in New York City to improve quality of life and bridge the digital divide as part of the Wireless Corridor Challenge, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an announcement Monday (http://on.nyc.gov/18FWhfA). The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Alliance for Downtown New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Gowex and Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership will work together to develop neighborhood plans to identify a commercial corridor area, potential users in the area, projected impact on populations, and will design, install and launch a wireless network, said Bloomberg. They will create free public Wi-Fi networks in 10 commercial districts in five boroughs, said the mayor. The city’s investment will be leveraged by private sector commitments of more than $3.4 million, and the city will provide $900,000 in additional funding to assist with implementation, said Bloomberg. All corridors are expected to launch by December. WiredNYC was also started Monday as a rating platform to evaluate broadband connectivity and infrastructure of office buildings, said Bloomberg. WiredNYC will “encourage and accelerate deployment” of broadband technologies and “create transparency about broadband infrastructure” in commercial real estate by creating a “LEED for broadband certification” to give business information about a building’s connectivity and to allow landlords to better market a building’s assets, said Bloomberg, referring to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., and members of his staff urged the FCC to resolve LightSquared’s license modification application, which asks for authority to share the 1675-1680 MHz band. Moran also encouraged proactive coordination between the FCC and NTIA on LightSquared’s request “to ensure that the concerns of federal stakeholders are presented in a timely manner such that they can be adequately addressed,” FCC Associate General Counsel Jennifer Tatel said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-340 (http://bit.ly/18EgHDO). The filing recounts a meeting last week with Moran, his staff and FCC staff.

Comments on an FCC rulemaking on broadcasting and adjacent channel interference are due Nov. 14, replies Nov. 29, in docket 13-209, said the agency in Monday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/16DdTei). It said the rulemaking deals with a Harris Corp. petition and proposes requiring terrestrial trunked radio-based technologies to comply with emission mask H when operated in the 800 MHz National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee band (806-809 and 851-854 MHz) and require equipment to have analog FM capability when operating in that band, UHF and public-safety mutual aid and interoperability channels. The FCC approved the rulemaking notice in August (CD Aug 28 p11).

Apple, Microsoft, Google and Cisco were the four most cash-rich U.S. companies at the end of the most recent quarter, Moody’s said Monday in a report. Those four companies, along with Pfizer, held a total of $379 billion in cash as of June 30 -- 26 percent of the total U.S. non-financial corporate cash balance, Moody’s said. Apple alone held $147 billion in cash, while Microsoft held $77 billion, Google $54 billion and Cisco $50 billion. The entire technology sector held $515 billion in cash -- 56 percent of total U.S. non-financial corporate cash, Moody’s said.

Apps that cable operators developed aren’t equipment, navigation devices or apparatus under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, NCTA reported Senior Vice President-Law and Regulatory Policy Rick Chessen and other association lawyers told FCC officials. But on-screen text menus supplied by operators and guides provided by navigation devices are subject to CVAA Section 205, Chessen and colleagues said during meetings with aides to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Ajit Pai and with a Media Bureau official. The filing posted last week in docket 12-108 comes as CEA and groups representing those with vision problems have been lobbying the agency on the CVAA and highlighting areas where they agree and disagree (CD Sept 19 p31). NCTA’s ex parte filing in docket 12-108 (http://bit.ly/19Qvp9V) included a copy of an earlier filing outlining areas of such agreement. The agency should reject some commenters’ requests to require pay-TV companies to include information in program guides that’s not already provided, NCTA said Thursday.

The SES Astra 2E satellite launched successfully on an ILS Proton Breeze M booster, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as expected (CD Sept 30 p21). It will be deployed at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc, SES said in a press release (http://bit.ly/18EgHDO). The satellite will enable the delivery of next-generation broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it said.