LAKE GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The FCC will consider whether it can support broadband directly through the Universal Service Fund without reclassification, Deputy Wireline Bureau Chief Don Stockdale told the CompTel convention Monday. He said some have filed comments mentioning that there’s already direct broadband support for schools and libraries. Others have pointed to a November 2008 rulemaking that required companies to agree to build-out requirements in exchange for high-cost subsidy. “This is an issue clearly the commission will be asking about,” Stockdale said. He spoke at two sessions at the CompTel conference. In the first, Stockdale discussed inter-carrier compensation and in the second, USF overhaul under the National Broadband Plan.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski faces a very different political playing field if, as many predict, Republicans take control of either house of Congress, or both, in the Nov. 2 elections. Genachowski has in effect pushed off decisions on net neutrality and broadband reclassification until after the election. History shows that the job of an FCC chairman whose party loses control of Congress changes considerably.

The FCC is no longer proposing 2012 as the year for all of the thousands of low-power TV stations to make the digital transition (CD June 10 p7), under recent changes to a draft rulemaking notice that’s likely to be made public soon, agency officials said. They said a recent draft of the item seeks comment on a transition for all low-power stations of 2012, 2015 as proposed in the National Broadband Plan, or other proposed dates. A version of the notice initially circulated in 2008 during Kevin Martin’s tenure as chairman with the 2012 analog cutoff. The current version may soon be approved by all FCC members and released as early as this week, agency officials said. Executives said the industry can meet a 2015 deadline, and may be able to do so for 2012.

Cloud computing will expand with the entry of major telcos, said companies and analysts we interviewed. Standards and user cases for the technology, still in its early stage, will change over time, they said.

The FCC’s Rural Health Care Support Mechanism should offer hospitals flexibility and not impose tough requirements on healthcare facilities to demonstrate that existing broadband resources are otherwise insufficient for healthcare delivery, the American Hospital Association (AHA) said in a filing on a July 15 FCC rulemaking proposal. The FCC approved the notice at its July meeting (CD July 16 p3), amidst concerns that many healthcare facilities have declined to participate. Commissioner Michael Copps noted that historically less than 20 percent of funds available are paid out each year. Healthcare was one of the key focuses of the National Broadband Plan, which the FCC submitted to Congress in March (CD March 17 p1).

The FTC suggested that the FCC adopt a “flexible” cybersecurity certification program that will allow companies to anticipate and “adjust to evolving security threats” while providing “a strong enforcement program."

The European Commission is eyeing a wide range of actions aimed at boosting broadband access and speed, spurring build-out of next-generation fiber networks and freeing up spectrum for new wireless services, draft documents show. The statements on broadband investment, regulating access to new networks and establishing a multi-year spectrum policy path make up a package of reforms the EC hopes will meet the goals of the digital agenda for a “smart, sustainable and inclusive economy,” it said. It’s unclear whether these are the final versions of the documents, which we're told the EC is expected to publish Sept. 20.

The first programming that showed up on the mobile DTV receiver was live from a news helicopter covering a hostage-taking at nearby Discovery Communications. The next day, the Washington Redskins game started at 10 p.m., a perfect opportunity for viewing mobile DTV with headphones in a darkened bedroom. The third day, it was all about watching live coverage of Hurricane Earl, at a desk.

The FCC got generally high marks for the National Broadband Plan and its creation of the first national spectrum target for broadband -- 500 MHz of new allocations in the next 10 years -- during a panel late Wednesday. Chairman Julius Genachowski has taken criticism for the FCC’s slow pace in carrying out the plan (CD Sept 1 p1). Speakers at a wireless conference sponsored by Silicon Flatirons in Boulder, Colo., said making decisions will be much harder than producing the rulemaking and inquiry notices that the commission has put out.

Cybersecurity still isn’t a priority for the U.S. government, and it may take a major attack to wake people up, cyberspace experts and industry executives said Thursday at the University of Nebraska College of Law’s Space and Cyber Conference. Some said a cyber attack could potentially cause as much havoc as an atomic bomb, at least in terms of damage to the economy.