A California bill proposing to modernize the state’s LifeLine program runs counter to how such modernization should be done, said the staff of the California Public Utilities Commission in a memo (http://bit.ly/11KWc4o) that recommended the CPUC oppose the bill. Assembly Bill 1407 proposed allowing wireless and non-traditional voice service providers “to voluntarily offer state LifeLine service, if they offer ‘voice telephony service’ as defined by the FCC and collect lifeline surcharges,” including interconnected VoIP, as the memo said, among other modernization facets. But the CPUC is already in the midst of a rulemaking on modernizing the California LifeLine program, which is “a better vehicle for consideration of major changes to the LifeLine program,” staff said. The commission is in the middle of several workshops examining the program’s issues. The memo highlighted the regulators’ intimate knowledge and expertise, the forum they provide stakeholders and the virtues of the CPUC process. “Unlike AB 1407, the CPUC process will include a thorough review of the program, including consideration of the comments of all stakeholders, thus leading to reasoned and sound revisions to the program that ensure that consumers have access to high quality voice services,” the memo said. It outlined the different ways the bill would affect and sometimes hurt the program and the ability of the regulators to move forward as well as the program’s “viability and long-term sustainability” and encourage “waste, fraud and abuse.” The bill was introduced in March and unanimously passed the California Assembly in May. It is scheduled to be heard before the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee July 2, the memo added. The CPUC will address this staff recommendation at its meeting Thursday.

The FCC is processing a request from Broadcast Co. of the Americas to renew authorization to deliver programming to Mexican AM station XEPRS Rosarito, said a public notice Tuesday (http://bit.ly/10RHjC8). Objections are due in 30 days.

Intelsat requested an additional 60 days of a previously granted special temporary authority to drift Intelsat 8. The company wants to drift the satellite from 166 degrees east to operate at 169 degrees east, it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/121mRK5). Telemundo, meanwhile, applied for a new satellite earth station “for transmission and reception of digital video, audio and data for use in the production of live or recorded programming and related activities,” said another application (http://bit.ly/12nyTMC).

ViaSat urged the FCC to grant Boeing’s petition to make some changes to its rulemaking on earth stations aboard aircraft (ESAA) rules. The language in the rule imposing a shutoff requirement on ESAA systems, which “use variable power-density control of individual simultaneously transmitting co-frequency ESAA earth stations, should be clarified to more closely track the intent of the report and order,” it said in comments in docket 12-376 (http://bit.ly/14pqdsa). ViaSat said it supports clarifying in the text of the rule that emissions must cease “within 100 milliseconds of receiving the appropriate command from the system’s network control and monitoring center.” The company also supports Boeing’s request to provide greater certainty to licensees’ compliance with the antenna pointing error, it said.

The killer app to justify the high speeds emerging in U.S. gigabit communities may come in the form of “high-performance knowledge exchange,” Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin said at the U.S. Ignite meeting in Chicago Tuesday, according to his speech’s prepared text. He talked of the transformative power of big data and put that in historical context, with references ranging from the Big Bang to the Library of Alexandria, from the printing press to the Industrial Revolution. “The horizon point to which we should set our compass is high-performance knowledge exchange,” he said. “That is, we don’t just do data dumps. We exchange that knowledge which is meaningful and actionable. And through efficient feedback loops, test the actions to continually improve performance.” Bandwidth has failed to keep up with our knowledge exchange, constraining innovation opportunities, he added, pointing to areas such as genetic sequencing and the “bottleneck” of slow bandwidth.

The U.S. International Trade Commission is beginning a pilot program to test whether early decisions on pivotal questions in intellectual property and other cases under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 would expedite ITC infringement investigations. The commission’s administrative law judge would make an early initial determination (ID) on a key issue, like whether the ALJ thinks a domestic industry practices a patent, within 100 days of the beginning of the investigation. The early decisions on dispositive issues “could limit unnecessary litigation, saving time and costs for all parties involved,” the ITC said Monday. Issues ripe for an early ID would include existence of a domestic industry, standing, and whether the allegedly infringing product is being imported, it said. Negative determinations on any of those factors prohibit the ITC from providing remedies like exclusion and cease and desist orders, even if all it finds are violations of all other aspects of Section 337. Domestic industry, standing and importation now are decided along with all other issues in Section 337 cases. But through the pilot, by getting to these issues sooner, long and costly investigations on petitions for relief that never had a chance would be avoided, said the ITC. Only investigations the ITC thinks contain a dispositive issue will be selected for the pilot, the ITC said. If designated for the pilot program, the commission will direct the ALJ to issue an early ID within 100 days of the beginning of the investigation. Limited extensions will be possible. After the early ID is issued, parties will have five days to request review by the full commission. The commission then has 30 days after the early ID to decide whether to review. A decision not to review would make the early ID final, and any reviews would have to be completed within 30 days. The ITC said it already began one investigation under the pilot program. On March 22, it began a Section 337 patent investigation on laminated packaging, and designated the question of existence of domestic industry for early review.

Texas is devoting this week to digital literacy skills, local computing centers and how to connect residents with affordable broadband options. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the Texas Connects Coalition have taken charge of what is the second Broadband Across Texas week, said the Texas State Library and Archives Commission Monday (http://bit.ly/136Goz6). “Libraries are on the front lines of digital inclusion and digital literacy efforts,” the commission said. “Nearly every Texas library offers free access to computers and the internet, and increasingly they are also providing computer classes, one-on-one help with email, and e-reader/gadget assistance.” The commission also spotlighted the 38 Texas libraries taking part in the Technology, Expertise, Access and Learning for all Texans, funded by federal stimulus dollars to help close the digital divide. This week, organizers will hold events in Austin, Houston and San Antonio as well as throughout rural Texas, with computer centers holding courses on digital skills, said the commission.

T-Mobile executives spoke with FCC Wireless Bureau Deputy Chief John Leibovitz about an industry roadmap for opening up the 1755-1850 MHz band, which had been presented to the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (http://bit.ly/133et1O). “The roadmap ... assesses the entire 1755-1850 MHz band in a manner that considers making the lower band (1755-1780 MHz) available first, but also addresses the rest of the band up to 1850 MHz in order to meet federal agencies’ concerns,” said a filing on the call with Leibovitz (http://bit.ly/11KFQsD). “The plan takes into account the NTIA instructions given to the CSMAC Working Groups, which were directed to consider a plan that lowers the repurposing costs and/or improves or facilitates industry access while protecting federal operations from adverse impact."

Increased broadband connectivity is “not a top priority” for the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care (NASL), but it could be in the future, association officials told the FCC in May, said an ex parte filing dated Monday (http://bit.ly/19lPXwe). NASL members are focused on “the development standards” for exchanging health information; telemedicine is a “lesser priority” for the group, it said. In the future, NASL expects that consumer preferences for broadband adoption may drive skilled nursing facilities (SNF) adoption, it said. “NASL is beginning to see a shift with ‘baby boomers’ that want the SNF to have broadband connectivity to enable more interactive communications (e.g., Skype) with their families while receiving care at a SNF,” it said. Staffing shortages in rural areas could also drive future broadband adoption “to enable remote care by qualified medical professionals,” it said.

Free Press continued to push for the FCC to collect broadband pricing data as it takes over National Broadband Map duties from NTIA. In a meeting Wednesday, Free Press told an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai that the commission must “collect and disseminate better data to facilitate competition analysis.” The commission “can and must” collect pricing data, “even if it begins to do so on a less granular basis using an approach similar to the Media Bureau’s annual pricing survey in the multichannel video market,” said the nonprofit in a filing posted Monday to docket 10-131 (http://bit.ly/12lyQB0). The commission should also take “definitive” steps to make Form 477 data available to researchers, and increase the granularity of its reporting for deployment and subscription data, it said. The commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on a report and order designed to improve and streamline the collection of broadband data.