NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service sought comment by June 10 on the Broadband Opportunity Council's objectives, said a notice in Monday's Federal Register. It said the council's objectives are to engage with industry and other stakeholders to understand ways the government can better support the needs of communities seeking to expand broadband access and adoption; identify regulatory barriers that unduly impede broadband deployment, adoption or competition; survey and report back on existing programs that support or could be modified to support broadband competition, deployment or adoption; and take all necessary actions to remove these barriers and realign existing programs to increase broadband competition, deployment and adoption.

Clarification: The Fiber to the Home Council hasn't take a position for or against FCC net neutrality rules, per se, though the group has maintained they should not apply to FTTH providers (see 1504280040).

AT&T and its former subsidiary Southern New England Telephone agreed to pay $10.9 million in penalties for allegedly overbilling the FCC’s Lifeline program, the FCC said Wednesday in a news release. “An FCC investigation showed that AT&T and its affiliates continued to provide service to landline customers in the program without recertifying the eligibility of the customers within the 35 days required by Lifeline program rules,” the agency said. The violations were uncovered two years ago. An audit found that a number of Lifeline subscribers no longer qualified for the program hadn't been de-enrolled after the annual recertification process for 2012 and 2013, the FCC said. “These subscribers were given one extra month of Lifeline support, and AT&T improperly claimed reimbursement from the government for this extra month.” AT&T said the problem was self-reported. "We discovered this issue in the course of an internal review, voluntarily reported it, and reimbursed the Universal Service Fund about a year ago. We also have implemented process enhancements so this does not happen again."

The FCC Wireless Bureau accepted for filing the long-form applications of nearly a thousand additional winners of AWS-3 licenses, including those by the two designated entities (DEs) used by Dish Network -- Northstar and SNR Wireless -- to buy spectrum at reduced prices. The development doesn't mean the FCC has signed off on the spectrum buys. Petitions to deny the applications are due at the FCC May 11, oppositions May 18. The bureau accepted for filing applications by nine bidders, eight of which claim DE status and eligibility for bidding credits. Dish indirectly captured the second-most spectrum of any bidder in the auction, behind AT&T, but at a discounted price through the two DEs (see 1501300051). Earlier this month, the FCC gave final approval to AWS-3 licenses bought by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and other carriers (see 1504080058). “I expect the Commission to do the necessary due diligence to explore any and all issues as to whether Dish, SNR and Northstar Wireless, as well as any other potential licensees, fully complied with its rules,” FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a written statement. New market entrant SNR “is looking forward to the FCC's review of its applications for licenses that it won in the AWS-3 auction,” the company said in a statement. “SNR, founded and controlled by John Muleta, is poised to become the largest minority controlled spectrum licensee in FCC and US history.” Muleta is former chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau.

Verizon is working with a handful of the top telecom equipment firms on software defined networks, which SDN advocates have said can cut carrier costs by using hardware-controlled software. With Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Juniper Networks and Nokia Networks, the carrier said it's "transforming its network" through SDN, "laying the groundwork for new innovative services and applications." Centralized network control will lead to "network-wide service creation and near real-time service delivery," said Verizon in a news release Tuesday. It said Verizon and the vendors wrote a document with specifications and reference architecture. "Cloud technologies hold the promise for true innovation in our industry," said Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri. Cisco CEO John Chambers said his company and Verizon will work on making money from what his firm calls the Internet of Everything, which he has said could be worth a cumulative $19 trillion by 2020 (see report in the Jan. 9, 2014, issue).

North American Portability Management released a transition oversight plan, as required by the FCC March order (see 1503260043) authorizing the start of local number portability administrator contract negotiations with Telcordia. NAPM said it plans to hire an independent manager “with communications infrastructure, project management, and change management experience” to oversee the transition. “The Manager will assist the NAPM LLC throughout the transition in, among other things, (i) determining and enforcing the relative responsibilities of Neustar and iconectiv to maintain all porting, law enforcement assistance, and other services, and (ii) establishing a plan to ensure that, throughout the transition, network security and public safety are protected,” the plan said. NAPM hopes to work out on an agreement with a manager by May 22. Telcordia filed at the FCC a draft agreement under which its parent Ericsson will transfer all its voting stock in Telcordia to a voting trust before the execution of a final LNPA contract. “The identity of voting trustees as well as their compensation arrangements remain to be determined,” the company said. “Telcordia will update this filing once Trustees have been identified.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the FCC should address so-called “twilight towers,” telecom structures which were built between March 2001 and March 2005 and never required to go through a historic preservation review process. FCC staff is working with industry to address the towers, which number between 4,000 and 7,000, he said. “Until this review is concluded, these towers remain in regulatory purgatory,” he said Wednesday before PCIA at the 2015 Wireless Infrastructure Show, according to his written remarks. “No antennas can legally collocate on these structures. We need networks to be deployed; we cannot afford to have towers that are not filled to capacity.” The FCC also has room to improve the efficiency of the historic preservation application and review process in Indian country, he said. “I hear that improvements can be made to provide Native Nations the information they need to protect their historic sites, while ensuring that the process allows for the prompt construction of facilities.” O’Rielly also said the commission needs additional data on current and estimated future demands for tower construction teams, especially in light of buildout tied to the AWS-3 and pending TV incentive auction. “We will need to take this into account as we consider the best timing for the start of the broadcast incentive auction,” he said. O’Rielly said the FCC’s track record has been better on infrastructure deployment than on net neutrality. “Let me suggest to you that it is in your best interest to be involved in the policy issues under consideration at the commission -- even those that may not appear to directly affect your company,” he told the PCIA attendees. “Don’t just sit on the sidelines and say it’s not my problem, because every burden placed on your partner or potential partner means less investment in infrastructure.”

The FCC is considering a draft order that would let Pandora own a broadcast station as long as the company is less than 49 percent foreign owned, said an agency official. Pandora asked the commission to sign off on its plan to buy KXMZ (FM) Box Elder, South Dakota (see 1411260042), even if it were 100 percent foreign owned, because the company has been unable to verify how foreign owned it is, said Garvey Schubert attorney Melody Virtue, who represents Pandora. “Most publicly traded companies are widely held.” She said the 49 percent threshold reportedly in the draft order would let Pandora proceed with the transaction. The order also includes a requirement that Pandora monitor its ownership going forward, said an FCC official. Pandora and FCC staff have been in contact over how the order would work, and the monitoring conditions are expected be acceptable to Pandora if the order is approved by the full commission, Virtue said. A Media Bureau spokeswoman had no comment.

Wireless medical networks and devices are at the very center of the shift in how healthcare is being delivered and received, said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at a Connect2Health event promoting medical technology. “In the same way X-rays used an invisible property in order to produce incredible changes to medicine, wireless networks, while invisible to the naked eye, power devices that are transforming healthcare,” she said. “Today’s innovative technologies are completely changing when, how and where medical care takes place.” As the transformation of the healthcare system continues, it’s imperative that all of these medical devices are safe and reliable, Clyburn said, according to prepared remarks. For that reason, wireless test beds are a critical piece of ensuring safe, reliable technologies, she said.

Matt DelNero will replace Julie Veach as chief of the FCC Wireline Bureau, effective May 22, the FCC said Thursday. Veach is leaving the agency, where she has worked since 2001, the agency said. DelNero has been deputy chief of the Wireline Bureau since February 2014 and was formerly a partner at Covington & Burling. In another change, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler named Alison Kutler acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and special adviser to the chairman for digital opportunity. A former senior vice president at Visa, Kutler also worked for the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. FCC veteran Kris Monteith, acting chief since February 2012, will be shifted to the Wireline Bureau as deputy chief.