The U.S. must take action to ensure the long-term success of its weather satellite system, said the Space Foundation in a report released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/17BfkWl). The research was conducted by Mariel Borowitz, a research analyst for the organization, it said. The foundation made recommendations, including increasing international cooperation on weather satellite programs and working with commercial weather satellite data providers, “to augment current weather satellite capabilities and improve weather forecasting,” it said. Weather satellites provide an excellent opportunity for international cooperation, “because all countries require the same types of global data for numerical weather forecasting models,” it said. The report suggested joint constellation planning, “in which each partner is responsible for developing satellites for one portion of the constellation.” Russia and China could be included in the nation’s current polar orbiting agreement with Europe, which could promote cost-sharing and other benefits, it said. Despite strong interests from industry, there are numerous challenges to using commercial data sources to supplement the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s core satellite systems, the report said: The agency’s open data policy “may conflict with the proprietary data management incentives of the commercial space sector.” Despite the challenges, benefits from partnerships with industry are still possible, it said: Commercial entities are thought to be more efficient, “with incentives to reduce operating costs to increase profits.” The U.S. also should provide accurate and stable budget estimates, “choose forward-looking budget savings rather than shortsighted options and provide full and stable funding for existing programs,” it said. With billions of dollars of property and productivity, the U.S. “must determine whether it is providing the correct level of funding, management and strategic direction for its weather systems,” it said.

Remote peering could extend the life and value of peering and peering exchange points, said DrPeering International Executive Director William Norton in a Tuesday webinar sponsored by USTelecom. Norton said as the price of purchasing transit continues to fall, traditional peering has made less and less economic sense for companies focused on minimizing the cost of sending traffic to customers, since transit is an alternative to peering. But since remote peering can eliminate colocation costs, capital expenses and operational expenses associated with traditional peering at exchange points, it offers an alternative to traditional peering that could convince more companies to engage in peering. Remote peering can be deployed more quickly and less expensively, which could increase the amount of existing peers, increase the traffic available through peered connections, and make public exchange points more valuable, he said. One international company peering in Europe was able to save $1.1 million in capital expenditures and $15,000 per month in operational expenditures by choosing remote over traditional peering, he said. “It’s a new technology, but it’s being rapidly adopted by the masses.”

The FCC should continue to release key information about the incentive auction repacking process, said Verizon in a blog post Monday (http://vz.to/13Yp60w). The carrier praised the commission for releasing that day (CD July 23 p15) information on the TVStudy repacking software and data on Canadian and Mexican TV allotments (http://bit.ly/14DmMlQ). The carrier and other stakeholders had chided the FCC and its Wireless Bureau for a lack of transparency about the auction process in previous blog posts (CD May 22 p4). “Releasing this repacking information is yet another important step in addressing the challenge of how to assign frequencies to TV broadcasters that choose to remain on the air after the incentive auction,” said Verizon. CEA and CTIA also praised release of the information. The agency said the information could be used to calculate how channels could be assigned to a given set of stations, for “feasibility checks” or to “optimize channel assignments.” CTIA commended the agency for “their continued efforts to advance this important proceeding.” CEA praised it for updating the previous OTA-69 software to produce the current TVStudy version “to reflect current technology and accurate, real-world coverage and interference effects.” Although the repacking process public notice doesn’t include comment deadlines, the agency said it released the data to get input on how channel assignments will be determined and to ensure that its databases of station information are correct. “Releasing this material also provides a common set of input values that interested parties may use to generate new analyses based on different assumptions, should they wish to do so,” said the PN. Familiarity with the technical side of the auction isn’t a requirement for participation, said the PN. “The Commission has announced the principle that incentive auction participation, particularly for broadcasters, should be as simple as possible.”

The Office of Management and Budget approved the revised information collections for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service terrestrial repeaters adopted by the FCC last year. The revised information collections are approved for three years and went into effect Tuesday, the FCC said in a Federal Register notice.

National Religious Broadcasters repeated its call for the FCC to protect programming choices for Americans, “specifically the religious and family programming that NRB TV members provide free of charge to local communities,” NRB said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1bcJYuC). NRB urged the commission “not to auction away wholesome programming from the airwaves,” referring to the FCC voluntary incentive auction of TV broadcast spectrum. Low-power TV stations have an important role in meeting the local news, information and service needs of their communities, NRB said. The organization also urged the House Communications Subcommittee to inquire about the steps the commission will be taking to keep low-power stations from simply being forced off the air, it said.

Q2 lobbying disclosure filings showed T-Mobile and Sprint continued to increase their spending versus the same period a year prior, according to documents filed Tuesday. T-Mobile spent $1.4 million, an 18 percent bump, while the former Sprint Nextel spent $650,000, 17 percent more than the same period last year. AT&T spent $3.74 million, a 7 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago. Verizon lobbying spend decreased 17 percent to $3.27 million. CTIA lobbying fell by nearly 21 percent to $1.89 million. USTelecom spent $1.3 million last quarter, a decrease of 6.5 percent. NTCA spent $270,000 in the second quarter, up nearly 23 percent. Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance Q2 lobbying spending decreased 44 percent to $19,000. The Telecommunications Industry Association spent $50,000, nearly 62 percent less on Q2 lobbying than one year ago. The Competitive Carriers Association spent $120,000 in Q2, a 14 percent increase. Netflix lobbying spending was up 122 percent in Q2 to $300,000. Comcast increased Q2 lobbying spending by 37 percent to $5.47 million. Dish Network spent $360,000, a 20 percent increase. NAB spent $3.19 million last quarter, a drop of nearly 3 percent. NCTA lobbying spending increased 2 percent to $4.66 million, while CEA lobbying spending jumped 34 percent to $1.1 million. CompTel spent $126,000, a nearly 10 percent drop. Facebook increased its Q2 lobbying spending by 10 percent to $1.06 million. Yahoo’s lobbying spending decreased 1 percent to $720,000. Intel spent $730,000, a 15 percent decrease from the same period a year before. The Recording Industry Association of America spent $1.25 million, a 6 percent increase.

The House Communications Subcommittee will mark up two bills this week aimed at reforming FCC operating procedures, despite Democrats’ complaints that the bills are aimed at “gutting” the agency’s authority. The subcommittee will convene for opening statements Wednesday at 5 p.m. in 2322 Rayburn and then reconvene Thursday at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn to vote on the legislation. The first bill is called the FCC Process Reform Act (http://1.usa.gov/15gadcj) which would require the FCC to consider market forces before regulating, publish its decisions promptly, create “shot clocks” for resolving agency matters and allow more than two commissioners to discuss commission business without issuing an ex parte report, among other reforms. The second bill is the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (http://1.usa.gov/15wUIzc) which would consolidate requirements for the commission reporting to Congress. The bills are similar to FCC reform legislation (HR-3310, HR-3309) that failed to advance last session (CD March 27/12 p1).

Comments on a petition by KGAN Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to move to Channel 29 from 51 are due, in docket 13-182, Aug. 22, replies Sept. 6, said an FCC notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/136fxMK). The station has a “voluntary relocation agreement with King Street Wireless” that the petitioner said “would remove any potential interference with a wireless operation located directly adjacent to channel 51 in Cedar Rapids,” said the notice. Such moves off Channel 51 are the only ones not frozen for TV station channel changes (CD July 17 p18).

The global average Web connection speed rose 4 percent to 3.1 Mbps between Q4 2012 and Q1 2013, said the Akamai State of the Internet report released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18AzSTy). Since Q1 2012, average connection speeds increased by 17 percent, it said. Average connection speeds on mobile platforms ranged from a high of 8.6 Mbps to a low of 0.4 Mbps in Q1 of this year, it said. Akamai also increased its Internet penetration in that quarter: more than 733 million unique IPv4 addresses from 243 countries and regions connected to the Akamai platform, an increase of 10 percent year over year, it said. IPv6 adoption in general slowed, it said: The rate of growth in Q1 2013 was 5 percent, half as much as Q1 2012 and a quarter of that during Q1 2011, it said. Akamai also said it observed attack traffic, or suspicious connection attempts, from 177 unique countries and regions during Q1. Thirty-four percent came from China, down from 41 percent the previous quarter, and 8.3 percent came from the U.S., down from 10 percent the previous quarter. Akamai customers reported 208 distributed denial-of-service attacks, up from 200 in the previous quarter.

The Alaska Wireless Network formed Tuesday from a transaction between Alaska Communications and General Communications Inc., said Alaska Communications (http://yhoo.it/12JkYSN). Both parties “have each contributed their respective wireless assets, including spectrum licenses, cell sites, backhaul facility usage rights, and other assets necessary,” so the entity can “design, build, and operate a statewide wireless network,” the company said. The wireless network will cover more state residents than any wireless provider, said the carrier. “Alaska Communications and GCI will independently sell these services to their respective retail customers and continue to operate as competitors in Alaska.” Alaska Communications owns a third of the Alaska Wireless Network and will get $100 million in cash, with eligibility for “preferred distributions totaling up to $190 million over the first four years of operation,” it said. GCI owns the other two-thirds of the network and will get the remaining distributions over those first four years, with distributions distributed on a pro rata ownership basis between the two companies after that, it said. The FCC approved the deal to form Alaska Wireless Network earlier this month (CD July 18 p3).