More Texas companies want money from the state’s USF to make up for federal high-cost support lost due to the FCC November 2011 USF order. The Texas Public Utility Commission issued two notices Wednesday noting requests from Alenco Communications and West Texas Rural Telephone co-op. The PUC granted a similar request to Hill Country co-op this spring after a lengthy proceeding that began last fall, which inspired other Texas telcos to follow suit (CD April 4 p5). Alenco wants $146,049 (http://bit.ly/11e1gRt) and West Texas (http://bit.ly/18Bpp6m) wants $173,069 to replace lost revenue in 2012, according to the notices. Neither request involves any rate increases. The notices said there will be an opportunity to comment and intervene on the requests.
California may change how it subsidizes broadband deployment and adoption in several ways, under legislation on the table this session. Senate Bill 740 and Assembly Bill 1299 seek to expand how California grants broadband subsidies -- one focusing on expanding how hundreds of millions of dollars in grant money is spent in building out the state’s broadband infrastructure, the other on connecting public housing. Some stakeholders worry about changes hurting the fund and limiting funds to the bigger players as the bills evolve.
Monday’s Supreme Court decision that the FCC is entitled to deference in interpreting ambiguous statutes about its jurisdiction (CD May 21 p1) bolsters the commission’s position in the net neutrality court battle, the FCC said in a letter filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday. Attorneys and law professors we spoke to agree that the decision in the case, Arlington v. FCC, could help the commission -- but only if the court thinks the statutes in question are ambiguous in the first place. A Verizon spokesman said the company will file a response with the D.C. Circuit.
Old and new methods of distributing emergency alert system warnings need improvement, said a new GAO report. It recommended the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency work to get an Internet-based EAS message system rolled out by states. “Weaknesses” in the traditional broadcast-based method of distributing warnings from government agencies to radio listeners, TV viewers and multichannel video programming distributor customers persist after a GAO report found problems in 2009, said the study. It said the FCC and FEMA have taken limited steps to improve traditional EAS after a first-of-its-kind nationwide test of the system in 2011.
The FCC formally published a final rule that implements provisions of Section 718 of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). The order, released by the commission April 29 (CD May 1 p6), requires “Internet browsers built into mobile phones to be accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired,” the FCC said in a Federal Register notice Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/168DDhK). In the Federal Register posting, the commission also reaffirmed previous rulings that “section 716 of the Act requires certain Internet browsers used for advanced communications services to be accessible to people with disabilities.” The final rule will be effective Oct. 8.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld FCC authority to impose in 2009 a shot clock on cell tower zoning decisions, rejecting the arguments of cities, led by Arlington, Texas. When the case was argued in January (CD Jan 17 p1), the main question was whether the high court would add to already complicated case law on the Chevron doctrine, in a case examining whether federal agencies should receive deference in interpreting their own jurisdiction. In January 2012, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the order, which set up a showdown before the Supreme Court. The court’s conservatives split on the decision Monday. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion, while Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, joined by justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Senate unanimously confirms Ernest Moniz as Energy secretary … Hearst Television promotes Michael Hayes to senior vice president/group head … Departing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski names to Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council: Larissa Herda, tw telecom, chairman; and members include Brian Allen, Time Warner Cable; Robert Azzi, Sprint Nextel; Donna Bethea-Murphy, Iridium; Lynn Claudy, NAB; Donna Dodson, National Institute of Standards and Technology; David Donovan, New York State Broadcasters Association; Andy Ellis, Akamai; Brook Fitzsimmons, AT&T; Laurie Flaherty, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Peter Fonash, Department of Homeland Security; Brian Fontes, National Emergency Number Association; Robert Gessner, American Cable Association; Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Center for Democracy and Technology; Rodney Joffe, Neustar; Brian Josef, CTIA; Omar Khan, NQ Mobile; Brett Kilbourne, Utilities Telecom Council; Alice Lippert, Department of Energy; John Madden, National Emergency Management Association; Kyle Malady, Verizon; Sam Matheny, Capitol Broadcasting; John McCoskey, PBS; Danny McPherson, Verisign; Ann Miles, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Michael Mosher, T-Mobile USA; Mehran Nazari, Rural Telecommunications Group; Henry Wayne Pacine, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Mark Paese, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Damon Penn, Federal Emergency Management Agency; Brian Peretti, Treasury Department; Francisco Sánchez Jr., Harris County, Texas, Homeland Security and Emergency Management; William Schully, DirecTV; Bill Smith, PayPal; Gigi Smith, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials; Myrna Soto, Comcast Cable; Steve Souder, Fairfax County, Va., Department of Public Safety Communications; Dorothy Spears-Dean, Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board; Rao Vasireddy, Telecommunications Industry Association; Christian Vogler, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network; Tim Walden, CenturyLink; Geoffrey Why, NARUC; Pamela Witmer, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission … Mindspeed Technologies adds Fared Adib, Sprint Nextel, to board.
NTIA urged the FCC to avoid proposing rules or procedures that would increase the burdens placed on non-federal satellite operators in its proceeding to improve interference protection for communications between commercial satellites and federal earth stations. The commission adopted an NPRM on the issue last week (CD May 10 p1). The FCC also should not consider imposing any requirements “affecting federal agencies that are not applicable to non-federal applicants and licensees,” NTIA said in a letter to Chairman Julius Genachowski (http://bit.ly/104MTva). The proceeding stemmed from an NTIA petition (CD May 6 p5). NTIA wants a modification of the national table of frequency allocations so that federal earth stations are treated the same as non-federal earth stations, “but we are not expecting the FCC or non-federal users to consult or coordinate with NTIA or other federal agencies to any greater extent than they already do under current rules and procedures,” it said.
Delegates to the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF) Thursday adopted by consensus a non-binding report by ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré and six opinions from the ITU-initiated Informal Experts Group (IEG) on Internet-related issues. That ended the conference after extensive debate on governments’ role in Internet governance. Delegates chose not to act during the conference on a seventh opinion, introduced by Brazil but also containing controversial Internet governance language from an earlier Russian Federation contribution, because they couldn’t reach a consensus in the allotted time. Touré told delegates at the end of the conference that he would send that opinion to the ITU Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues (CWG-Internet), which will decide on the best forum for continuing the debate.
The cities of New York and Los Angeles told the FCC having to move their operations out of the T-band, as required by last year’s spectrum law, would pose a huge burden. In February, the FCC’s Wireless and Public Safety bureaus sought comment on implementation of Section 6103 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which requires public safety to leave the 470-512 MHz band within nine years of enactment (http://bit.ly/142X3QG).