The federal government should “dissolve the FCC and go away,” Liberty Media Chairman John Malone said Wednesday at a Bank of America conference in California when asked what the commission should do about regulating broadband service. He said the U.S. political system is “for all practical purposes broken,” and he blamed the FCC for endowing the country with what he called the world’s worst cellular system. “The problem is, you can’t separate politics from the regulatory environment and it always becomes a short-term misallocation of assets,” he said. On broadband regulations, “I would much prefer the FCC stay out if it and allow competitive forces to evolve,” Malone said. “The cable industry is now back to where the only thing it has to worry about is regulation."

"Controlling the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] is essential to winning wars and protecting our service members,” said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash. Better spectrum policy is critical to national security, economy and U.S. competitiveness, said other panelists at a Center for Strategic & International Studies conference Wednesday.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law approved Wednesday the Cell Tax Fairness Act, HR-1521, by voice vote, with only one objection, from a member concerned about the effect on local and state government. The measure would place a five-year moratorium on new state and local taxes and fees imposed only on wireless services.

Senate negotiators are looking to a lame duck session instead of September to pass an omnibus cybersecurity bill, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., told us Wednesday. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is undecided about attaching cyber measures to the fiscal 2011 Defense Department appropriations bill, said an analyst, though Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., is considering it.

The FCC denied Globalstar’s extension request for a deadline to reach compliance with the agency’s ancillary terrestrial component rules, in a decision late Tuesday by the International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology. The denial prevents the company from offering terrestrial services until it regains compliance with the ATC rules. Satellite industry executives found the order surprising, considering recent moves the agency has made to make the MSS/ATC spectrum more usable for mobile terrestrial broadband services. Some consider the move a demonstration of the commission’s commitment to enforce buildout requirements as the agency seeks to increase development in the band (CD July 16 p1).

The telephone and cable industries “endorse” Universal Service Fund legislation by Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., USTelecom and NCTA executives said in written testimony for a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday morning. HR-5828 “balances many competing interests to modernize universal service and to bring robust broadband to areas of rural America where today’s business case would not support such deployment,” said USTelecom President Walter McCormick.

The FCC is asking more academics for more help on a wider array of issues under Chairman Julius Genachowski than under predecessors, though the relationship between the agency and academia is inconsistent, said many professors we asked. Systematic and wide-ranging efforts were made in summer 2009, after Genachowski took over in late June, some researchers said. Outreach continues, but not in any way that appears coordinated, and deadlines to contribute to the development of some policies were too short to accommodate academics, they said. There was ample time to respond and there’s “mutual benefit” to the agency and academia when they work together, said FCC Chief Deputy Economist Jonathan Levy.

VILNIUS, Lithuania -- The growing arsenal for cyberwarfare in the hands of countries and their citizens and statements by some military officials, including those of the U.S., that attacks on the critical network infrastructure would justify armed responses has raised concerns among diplomats. When the Council of Europe presented a draft on “Duties of States” on protecting Internet resources at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), international law experts warned about possible consequences.

The FCC’s proposal to allocate more spectrum to wireless broadband has broad support and could face an easier time politically than most key communications issues before Congress and the FCC, Qualcomm Vice President Dean Brenner said Tuesday at an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation conference. The commission’s National Broadband Plan recommended that 500 MHz of additional spectrum be allocated for wireless broadband within 10 years.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee said it marked up Tuesday a fiscal 2011 appropriations bill for the Department of Defense without major amendments on cybersecurity in the chairman’s mark. The measure could be used to attach cybersecurity reform amendments if Senate negotiations on an omnibus reform bill break down, said an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.