Network neutrality requirements for NTIA and RUS broadband grants could douse interest in the programs, the Telecommunications Manufacturer Coalition said. It said the “overwhelming majority” of telecom manufacturers oppose network neutrality. The group said in comments filed in the NTIA’s proceeding on grant rules that “a vast body of research” shows investors would be frightened away by the requirement.

There appeared to be little new in the more than 100 comments that flooded into the FCC this week about how to develop a comprehensive broadband strategy for rural parts of the U.S. The recommendations of the commission are expected to be given weight at NTIA and RUS as the agencies develop their respective broadband stimulus programs.

The communications sector spent $379 million on federal lobbying in 2008, according to CQ’s Political Moneyline. The industry ranked second behind health care, which spent $559 million in lobbying last year. Overall federal lobbying spending was $3.3 billion, with a monthly average of $280 million. Among top client payments, USTelecom was ranked second, $6.8 million, the amount the trade association spent in 2008. The top client payment was filed by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which paid $9.9 million to Americans for Balanced Energy Choices. Qualcomm’s $1.8 million paid to Covington & Burling ranked ninth. The top lobby firms in 2008 ranking by amount billed were Patton Boggs, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Van Scoyoc Associates, Cassidy & Associates and Ogilvy Government Relations.

Supercomm will be held Oct. 21-23 to coincide with the issuance of broadband stimulus awards, event organizers USTelecom and the Telecommunications Industry Association said last week. Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon’s CEO, and John Stankey, AT&T’s CEO of operations, will keynote the conference at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The show was originally scheduled for June 8-11. Event organizers also hired a new management team, EXPOCOMM Events, a joint venture between E.J. Krause & Associates and Reed Exhibitions. A Supercomm spokeswoman didn’t return a request for comment by our deadline.

Public Knowledge and three other public-interest groups sharply condemned Connected Nation, a broadband-mapping organization best known for its work in Kentucky and Tennessee. In a report released Monday, Public Knowledge, Common Cause, Reclaim the Media and the Media & Democracy Coalition accused Nation of acting in the interest of big telephone and cable companies and exaggerating its success in promoting broadband deployment. “It would be a setback for our broadband policy if Connected Nation were to take a prominent role in broadband mapping and data collection if it continues on its present policy course,” they said. Connected Nation replied that it had already knocked down the criticisms. Connected Nation isn’t “a neutral broker in broadband information,” the critics said. Eight of the group’s 12 outside directors work for big companies and telecom trade associations, such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom, they said. “Quite simply, Connected Nation’s strategy is to accept public funds for collecting information from its sponsors which is then kept largely private, hidden behind strict non-disclosure agreements.” Connected Nation has “overstated” its success in bringing broadband to Kentucky and other states, the groups said. The claimed results are based on a comparison of Kentucky and national broadband growth, they said. That’s misleading, because Kentucky started from a low base, they said. “If we are to measure broadband success using the Connected Nation standard, the rural areas of the United States are greatly outperforming the ‘national average’ and greatly outperforming the urban areas.” Public Knowledge offered a similar critique of Connected Nation in a January 2008 report. “Connected Nation has already refuted all of these claims in its multiple FCC filings in the public docket last year,” a spokeswoman said. “The only new information in this paper is pertaining to a document that the author claims to be a Connected Nation nondisclosure agreement, but which is not even a Connected Nation document.” To doubters, the spokeswoman recommended a study by Michigan State University employing a different measure of the group’s success.

Public-interest advocates urged the NTIA and the RUS to write rules ensuring that only projects that offer open access to the Internet will get money from the agencies’ broadband stimulus programs. The calls came in Washington Monday at the next to last public meeting that the agencies are holding. The activists squared off against NCTA, CTIA and USTelecom officials, who warned that a big fight now over network neutrality could derail the programs before money starts to flow.

Incumbent and competitive carriers split on whether access charges should apply to virtual NXX calls, a subset issue to the intercarrier compensation debate. In comments last week on a petition by Blue Casa Communications, most incumbents said access charges should apply. Competitors defended the existing practice of applying reciprocal compensation.

The NTIA, still in the middle of the DTV transition, is faced with another huge challenge in managing the $4.7 billion grant program it’s assigned under the economic stimulus law, said several former government officials and lawyers who follow the program. As an idea of the size of the job relative to the capacity of the NTIA, the agency is budgeted to get $19.2 million to cover salaries and expenses in fiscal 2009. The stimulus law allocated $141 million, or 3 percent of funds, to cover the costs of administration of the program.

All broadband companies should be eligible for NTIA and Rural Utilities Service money, USTelecom President Walter McCormick said in a letter late Monday to the agencies. The letter was sent to Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, the associate administrator of NTIA’s telecom office, and David Grahn, the associate general counsel of the Agriculture Department’s rural development office. McCormick called it “essential to include, at a minimum, any private entity that is currently operating a broadband network as eligible to receive funding,” because those companies are best qualified to find and serve areas where broadband investment is needed, and quickly create jobs. He asked the agencies to develop a rule on eligibility “as soon as possible,” so businesses can get started on applying. The definitions of “unserved” and “underserved” shouldn’t relate to the extent of competition in an area, McCormick said. “Funding focused on adding networks rather than on adding new consumer connections is likely to result in program expenditures that do little or nothing to increase the number of consumers on the network,” he said. The USTelecom president also asked agencies to “minimize red tape.” Agencies should adopt the FCC’s Internet policy statement in response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s nondiscrimination and interconnection provisions, McCormick said. “The agencies must not lose sight of the first and foremost goal of the ARRA -- job creation and near-term economic stimulus,” he said. Allowing policy debates risks “creating significant delay and injecting substantial uncertainty” in reaching the economic goals, he said.

State and industry officials debated possible limits to NTIA broadband grant eligibility in a Monday public hearing at the Commerce Department. In a morning roundtable, representatives of broadband providers and equipment makers urged a widely inclusive approach, while an official for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners suggested the NTIA mandate state involvement. Later in the day, officials discussed coordination between the NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service, and how to spur broadband adoption and public computer center capacity.