AT&T voluntarily committed to file periodic reports to the FCC to verify that it isn't using Connect America Fund USF subsidies to support new broadband service enabled by its proposed takeover of DirecTV, said an AT&T ex parte letter posted Tuesday in docket 14-90. AT&T noted it was so confident of deal-related savings and synergies that it already had committed to expand and enhance high-speed Internet service to 15 million customer locations, mostly in areas where it currently doesn't offer broadband access, the filing said. AT&T said it wouldn't use CAF support to pay for these deployments, though it would use those funds to go beyond the 15 million-location commitment. "To allow the Commission to monitor AT&T’s broadband deployment, AT&T will voluntarily commit to submit to the Commission, for four years following the date the merger closes, periodic progress reports on the status of its broadband deployment commitment," the filing said. "These reports will verify that locations built to fulfill AT&T’s merger commitment are not funded with CAF. AT&T will submit its first progress report within six months after the merger’s closing. Thereafter, AT&T will submit a progress report 90 days after each anniversary of the merger’s closing." Meanwhile, Comptel met with FCC officials Friday about their concerns with the AT&T/DirecTV deal, said an ex parte filing also posted Tuesday. Comptel backed transaction conditions proposed by Cox and the American Cable Association to prevent AT&T/DirecTV from entering into programming contracts with "unreasonable volume discounts" that disadvantage competitors or from using its influence with programmers to interfere with the rates, terms and conditions they offer to competitors. Comptel also said it backed interconnection conditions proposed by Cogent and others, and said the FCC should bar AT&T/DirecTV "from charging terminating access fees or using broadband data caps" in a way that would harm the development and availability of online video programming.

NTIA missed an opportunity in not assessing which approaches to broadband adoption were the most effective while various Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program projects were in progress, GAO said in a report released Tuesday. “NTIA and FCC have limited information about the performance of their broadband adoption efforts and have not established goals articulating the outcomes these efforts should achieve,” GAO said. “Because BTOP has concluded, NTIA missed an opportunity to evaluate which grantees’ approaches were the most effective.” The FCC and NTIA both have programs to address broadband adoption barriers, “but it is unclear what outcomes they intend to achieve with these efforts because FCC’s strategic plan and NTIA’s performance plan do not clearly communicate the agencies’ desired outcomes for their efforts to address broadband adoption barriers,” GAO said. NTIA said in response it would “seek to develop outcome-based measures if it received funding for broadband adoption grants,” GAO said. The FCC also responded. “FCC states that to the extent that its strategic plan is unclear on the role of broadband adoption in FCC’s efforts, it is prepared to implement revisions that will help clarify this issue,” GAO said.

SES Americom continues to push against expanding the use of unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) devices in the 5.9 GHz band, as company officials met with FCC representatives to discuss it, SES said in an ex parte filing posted Friday regarding docket 13-49. U-NII devices in the 5.9 GHz band could lead to "harmful cumulative interference" to fixed satellite service operations, SES said. The FCC also needs to consider how using U-NII devices in that piece of spectrum might affect satellite service, or that the IEEE had so far not inspected fixed satellite service operations in looking at that spectrum sharing. In a related filing posted Monday, Paul Nikolich, IEEE 802 committee chair, said a "Tiger Team" looking at spectrum sharing between wireless local access networks and dedicated short-range communications had "examined some initial ideas for how band sharing could work." Nikolich also pointed the FCC to further documents about future testing that needs to be done to ensure 5.9 GHz band sharing will insulate dedicated short-range communications transmissions from interference.

The Communications Workers of America urged the FCC to require Verizon and Frontier to submit more information about Verizon's proposed sale to Frontier of local wireline systems in California, Florida and Texas, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-44 on a meeting CWA officials had with FCC staffers. In its filing, CWA said because state regulators have no authority in Florida and only limited authority in Texas, regulatory oversight of the deal affecting 6 million customers "falls heavily on the shoulders of the FCC." Because Verizon and Frontier hadn't given the FCC the information it needs to do its public-interest review, CWA said, the FCC should issue a comprehensive data request to the applicants for more information on: (1) Verizon FiOS and other broadband deployment and upgrade plans for the lines subject to the deal; (2) retail and wholesale service performance, including Frontier's staffing plans for the next five years; (3) the claimed synergies producing $700 million in savings; (4) Frontier financial and operational projections; (5) the details of the planned conversion of Verizon's operations to Frontier's systems; (6) Verizon's transition commitments to engage in capital spending and marketing prior to close of the deal; (7) employment ramifications, including job projections for the next four years; and (8) the transfer of assets and liabilities from Verizon to Frontier, including customer accounts, network assets, equipment, job functions, job titles and pensions. A Frontier spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the CWA filing. A Verizon spokesman didn't respond to our queries.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is pushing back at assertions that terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) for broadband will alleviate traffic congestion for Wi-Fi users, calling such claims “inaccurate and misleading.” In a filing posted Wednesday in RM-11685, Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa said the claim that using the 2473-2495 MHz band in TLPS would widen the Wi-Fi highway doesn't fly because there are no FCC-approved devices that would work on the proposed TLPS network. “There is no evidence that TLPS will be anything but a private, stand-alone, low-power network,” Figueroa said. “Unless Wi-Fi users pay for the privilege of accessing TLPS, they will have no additional spectrum on which to operate their Wi-Fi devices.” In fact, Figueroa said, TLPS could cause interference to Wi-Fi devices: “The very limited technical evaluation that has occurred to date has been rushed and constrained, and the results are inconclusive.” Globalstar has been lobbying for rules that would let it use its TLPS for broadband, arguing that it would ease Wi-Fi congestion. The Wi-Fi Alliance is among an array of industry groups that have raised concerns about TLPS, including the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, CEA, the Entertainment Software Association, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Wireless ISP Association (see 1505220048). In a statement Friday, Globalstar said those concerns "are rooted solely by anti-competitive motivations." The company in March said it "agreed to demonstrate the ability for TLPS to peacefully coexist with incumbent unlicensed operations and the opposition groups were also given a platform to showcase their results, followed by characterization testing at an FCC laboratory. The opposition was given the chance to demonstrate any technical basis for their concerns in a real-world environment. The results from this demonstration were clear and fully supportive of Globalstar’s contentions. Even the opposition’s own results, with an extreme and unrealistic network that was constructed with the sole purpose of trying to somehow show interference, failed to support their purported concerns. As there is no sound engineering support for the other side’s expressed concerns, in a process that has been open for public comment for over two and a half years, it is clear that the opposition is working only to suppress new and innovative entrants like Globalstar and TLPS."

Free Press, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge again urged the FCC to impose various requirements on AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV as conditions for approving the deal, said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-90 of a meeting their representatives had with staffers for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The groups' advocates repeated concerns about the "transaction’s impact on consumers and competition in the broadband and pay-TV markets -- particularly AT&T’s increased incentives to discriminate against over-the-top ('OTT') video marketplace rivals to AT&T’s legacy video services." While the groups believe the deal should be blocked, they urged the FCC to impose conditions in numerous areas: stand-alone broadband, net neutrality, interconnection and zero-rating of video services for data cap purposes. They also said the FCC should (1) be skeptical of -- and verify -- AT&T/DirecTV claims that the deal would deliver public-interest benefits, (2) ensure the deal does no harm to the agency's IP transition efforts and (3) require AT&T to maintain existing DirecTV video service tiers and pricing plans for seven years in order to address horizontal concentration in the multichannel video programming distribution market. AT&T recently filed a lengthy response disputing the arguments of public-interest groups and others seeking conditions on interconnection, data caps and other issues (see 1505270049).

A report on “Cybersecurity Risk Management and Best Practices” from the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council is “the most comprehensive Framework implementation proposal for any industry to date,” CTIA said in comments on a public notice on the framework. “The Report goes beyond merely offering guidance for reducing cybersecurity risk to critical infrastructure, enterprises, and consumers; it provides detailed, scalable recommendations designed to apply to each segment of the communications industry.” The Telecommunications Industry Association also said the report is on the right track. “This report not only provides guidance to communications sector stakeholders, but also serves as a model for industry members and policymakers globally, and reinforces the success of the voluntary public-private partnership model which TIA and many others advocate as the most effective means to improve cybersecurity for critical infrastructure,” TIA said. Comments were due Friday on the PN, released by the Public Safety Bureau March 19. The comments were filed in docket 15-68.

The FCC is working on rules, educational campaigns and telecom billing issues, as well as on partnering with grassroots and advocacy groups for aging Americans, to try to help improve their digital literacy, agency officials said during a webinar Thursday. The webinar is the first in a series tied to Older Americans Month, which was created with partners to highlight resources for professionals who work with seniors to address their digital literacy and broadband adoption needs, officials said. "It's so very important that seniors understand and appreciate how technology can be used to help improve lives," said Kris Monteith, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau acting chief. For many older Americans, digital literacy isn't a part of their lives, for a number of reasons, said Gwenn Weaver, NTIA program officer. Individuals may not have access to the technology or can't afford to acquire it, she said. They may not feel that the current technologies are relevant to them and their lives, or it just may be too unfamiliar and too scary. Access to and the ability to use information and communications technologies is critical for older Americans, as well, Weaver said. Seventy-seven percent of older adults say they would need assistance before using a new high-tech device, said Dina Lehmann-Kim, Department of Housing and Urban Development program manager. For those older Americans who use HUD services, the cost of devices and accompanying services are also a barrier, she said. HUD can help open and operate neighborhood networks or computer centers and hire staff to support those initiatives, she said. In-unit routers may also be purchased with some HUD funds, Lehmann-Kim said. Service coordinators can link residents in HUD housing to services or bring services on-site, she said. Software and hardware purchases from community centers or computer labs are also an available service from HUD that can benefit the aging population, she said.

Guggenheim analyst Paul Gallant said he believes the odds are 1 in 3 that a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will stay two parts of the FCC net neutrality order: broadband reclassification under Title II of the Communications Act and an Internet conduct standard. He said his reasons were: "1) Carriers don’t appear to have a strong argument that Title 2 would cause 'irreparable harm' if it takes effect on June 12. The FCC didn’t actually regulate prices or prohibit any services that carriers are currently selling. 2) Title 2/net neutrality was enacted by a Democratic FCC on a 3-2 party line vote, and two of the three judges on the panel are Democrats." Both Democrats were nominated by President Barack Obama, who in November urged the FCC to use its full authority to uphold net neutrality. Gallant said in an email to investors that most of them probably don't even realize a stay is possible, but it would be "clearly positive for cable."

Despite AT&T's pushback, Cogent continues to urge the FCC to impose an interconnection condition on any approval of the AT&T/DirecTV transaction, according to a May 27 Cogent ex parte filing in docket 14-90. During a teleconference with Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer and others repeated Cogent's belief that "AT&T-created congestion at interconnection ports" continued to result in "degraded broadband experiences for its customers," the filing said. They also said AT&T's proposed buy of DirecTV and its video distribution business will increase its incentive to use its ability to "impair broadband Internet access." "Accordingly, we emphasized the need for a clear, robust and enforceable interconnection condition as a prerequisite to a determination that the proposed transaction comports with the public interest," the filing said. "In particular, Mr. Schaeffer underscored the need for a durable interconnection solution that not only solves congestion today, but ensures that as broadband usage continues on its upward trajectory congestion will not reappear in short order." AT&T recently disputed in detail the arguments of Cogent and others for an interconnection condition (see 1505270049.