Almost all commenters predicted that CenturyTel’s proposed acquisition of Qwest would hurt broader wireline competition, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said in reply comments on an FCC public notice about the merger. But the association said it has little hope from the commission’s track record that the deal will be rejected. The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance urged approval. The $10.6 billion deal was announced in April.

Small businesses face barriers to selling cybersecurity services to the federal government, managers of such companies said at a hearing Wednesday of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities. Chair Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., agreed it’s tough for companies with limited money to break into the Washington government market and asked for specific suggestions “about what we might change."

The Universal Service Fund must be revamped to maximize the deployment of broadband and minimize the financial burden on consumers, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday. “When up to 24 million Americans don’t have access to a communications technology that is essential to participation in our 21st Century economy and democracy, I think that is unacceptable.” Speaking in Seattle to a conference of the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, Genachowski laid out five USF reform principles.

The FCC doesn’t seem close to additional large payola settlements after the commission and Department of Justice settled a two-year investigation late Monday (CD July 27 p12) with Univision Radio and its former music label, said agency and industry officials. They said the Enforcement Bureau doesn’t appear to have other cases set to be settled after entering a consent decree with Univision Radio that included a $1 million payment to the U.S. Treasury. The broadcaster’s former music label, now owned by Universal Music Group, agreed to pay a $500,000 fine to settle a department lawsuit, court documents show.

Sprint Nextel posted a $760 million Q2 loss, almost double the $384 million a year earlier. But it gained subscribers for the first quarter in three years. Sprint expects to keep adding customers the rest of the year, CEO Dan Hesse said Wednesday on a call with analysts. Sprint gained a net 111,000 subscribers, vs. a loss of 257,000 a year earlier, and ended the quarter with 48.2 million customers. It lost 228,000 contract subscribers, better than the 763,000 a year earlier. “Our improvements are foundational,” Hesse said. “You had a business that was in rapid decline. Now we got it to stable. Then the next phase will be growth.” He said he’s confident the company can add net subscribers in the second half.

There’s a duty to ask whether the average Internet user fully understands “what information is being collected about them and whether or not they are empowered to stop certain practices from taking place,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee during its first hearing on online privacy.

NTIA initially identified four bands for possible fast-track clearance in response in part to recommendations in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, Associate Administrator Karl Nebbia told the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Tuesday. Two of the bands, including 1755-1780 MHz, have already been taken off the list since no decision could be made by an Oct. 1 deadline. The 1675-1710 MHz band, which provides weather satellite downlinks, and the 3500-3650 MHz band remain on the agency’s list for possible quick clearance. Another chunk of spectrum, the 4200-4220 and 4380-4400 MHz band, was on the list but has also been removed because of potential complications.

The FCC still does not adequately understand and has not addressed concerns about the agency’s proposal for a national public safety wireless broadband network and the need the public safety community has for control of the 700 MHz D-block, public safety officials said Tuesday during a hearing by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Communications. But Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, defended the agency in his testimony before the panel. Subcommittee Chairwoman Laura Richardson, D-Calif., said she was troubled by the concerns expressed by the public safety officials and would ask the FCC to respond directly.

USTelecom deflected accusations broadband isn’t being deployed in a timely manner to all Americans. The finding of the National Broadband Plan “is at odds with the findings of this more recent report that says that broadband deployment is not reasonable,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said on The Kojo Nnamdi Show Tuesday on WAMU(FM) Washington. McCormick referred to the FCC’s Section 706 report that estimated 14 to 24 million Americans, many of whom are living in rural areas, still lack access to broadband. “We think [the report] was intended to alarm” and “we are concerned that this report is going to be used as a predicate for increased regulation,” he said.

The Senate will focus on cybersecurity legislation proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., over that offered by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., as the lead for cybersecurity reform, predicted Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., at a cybersecurity forum Tuesday in Washington. Rockefeller’s bill will get the nod because it’s more comprehensive than Lieberman’s, Mikulski said: It protects the .com realm, not just the .mil and .gov. But the Senate will probably spend next week working on the Kagan Supreme Court nomination and won’t have enough time to address cybersecurity until returning to Washington after Labor Day, she said.