The USF contribution factor for Q1 will drop to about 16.7 percent from Q4's 17.4 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end-user revenue, emailed industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg on Sunday. He said the Universal Service Administrative Co. projected the industry revenue base would fall by $247 million to $13.97 billion in Q1, but USF demand was projected at just $1.98 billion. "The decline in first quarter 2017 revenues continues the downward trend in the USF contribution base, which places upward pressure on the USF assessment factor. USF revenues for the four quarters ending the first quarter of 2017 are $2.641 billion lower than revenues for the four quarters ending the first quarter 2016, a 4.4% decline," he wrote.

The FCC incentive auction's upcoming fourth stage is "critical to measure whether or not we are getting closer for the demand from bidders to eventually exceed the cost of the supply from broadcasters," Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins emailed investors Tuesday. The day before, the commission said Stage 3 ended after one round, getting about half the $40 billion-plus needed to end bidding (see 1612050062). Citigroup expects "the amount sought by broadcasters in Stage 4 to decline substantially," the analyst wrote. Carriers and others bid on 89 percent of licenses available, up from 74 percent in Stage 2, Rollins calculated. "This continues the general trend of reallocating bidding units to smaller licenses." It appears "bigger bidders withdrew the vast majority of the $1.8bn drop in demand from Stage 2 to 3," he said. As part of posted information Monday, the Public Reporting System reminded those participating in the forward auction of the prohibited communications rule: "All applicants remain subject to the prohibition regardless of developments during the auction process, regardless of whether they qualified to bid or remain eligible to bid in the forward auction."

A tech initiative at the University of Colorado plans a broadband event with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez -- weeks after the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who will name others to run those agencies (see 1611180019 and 1611140066). CU's Silicon Flatirons program said Tuesday that Wheeler and Ramirez would be among those speaking at its Feb. 12-13 conference on broadband migration and the "First Principles of Information Policy." Ramirez is to give an "overview address" Feb. 12 at 10:30 a.m. MST, and Wheeler will give a closing keynote at noon the next day. Other participants include Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen, FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny, Deputy Assistant Attorney General-Litigation, Antitrust Division Jonathan Sallet, who used to be FCC general counsel, plus Mark Jamison, a member of Trump's FCC transition team. Also set to be there are some linked to Democrats, including Nielsen Executive Vice President-External Affairs Karen Kornbluh, a possible contender for FCC chairwoman if Hillary Clinton had won the presidential race (see 1611070063). Ramirez and Wheeler are confirmed to speak at the conference, and if things change, Silicon Flatirons' website will be updated, the initiative's Managing Director Anna Noschese emailed us. If Wheeler steps down as FCC member before the event, he will still take part in it, said a spokesman for that agency.

Senate Commerce Committee GOP telecom policy director David Quinalty questioned the FCC approach on cybersecurity issues Tuesday during a Media Institute event (see 1612060055). He pointed to the collaboration of such government agencies as the Department of Homeland Security but said the FCC approach seems more inclined toward mandates, whether in reporting or regarding equipment. He said he sees no directive to the agency on cybersecurity regarding any of these actions. “We would be remiss if certain agencies were to go far afield” and start “freelancing,” said Quinalty, who works for Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Commerce Committee staffers from both chambers dubbed the cybersecurity concerns an important issue to watch next Congress. “Legislation doesn’t necessarily need to take the form of mandates,” said David Goldman, counsel to House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., speculating on the possibility of providing incentives. “It’s a tough issue to legislate on,” said Kelsey Guyselman, Republican counsel for the House Commerce Committee. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has been backing off a controversial draft policy statement on cybersecurity that would have allowed confidential industry meetings with the agency on the subject (see 1611300063). As of Friday, that draft was on circulation, said the list last updated that day, though some expect it may be removed. One issue Hill speakers differed on was how much the next Congress might address media ownership. It “hasn’t been as hot a topic” in the Senate in recent years, Quinalty said. But Guyselman said “it’s something I anticipate we’ll continue to look at,” citing the attention from incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who has led the Communications Subcommittee for years. “Do the results still make sense? … It’s not like it used to be.” Pallone is “paying attention” to the state of the media since the elections, Goldman said. “He’s very concerned about the state of the press.” Pallone would be on the lookout for any changes that would diminish “dissenting voices” in the market, Goldman said.

Wireline and wireless telcos and others asked the FCC to repeal various rules as part of its latest "biennial review" of telecom regulations. USTelecom said the FCC had given "short shift" to its statutory biennial review mandate despite rapidly changing technology and markets. "This biennial should be a searching review and reevaluation of the Commission’s legacy rules to ensure that they do not interfere with the drive to build and upgrade broadband infrastructure," USTelecom said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-132 on Wireline Bureau rules. The ILEC trade group also made filings in dockets 16-128 and 16-131, and others filed in docket 16-138. Also filing were CenturyLink, CTIA, Mobile Future, Verizon, Sprint, Fast DAS and United Utilities. Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai -- who many expect to be the next FCC chairman, at least on an acting basis -- and Michael O'Rielly recently said the agency should be more assertive in its regulatory review (see 1611030042).

The Trump administration should preserve the FCC Lifeline program, create multilingual emergency alert system warnings and address employment discrimination in the communications industry, according to a list of 12 "imperatives" from the Multicutural Media Telecom and Internet Council to the president-elect's transition team Friday. Other imperatives included appointing an FCC that includes diversity concerns in its rulemakings, maintaining free data programs, and banning prison phone rate overcharging. Acting on the imperatives is "vitally important" to fixing the "dismally disproportionate levels of participation among diverse groups" in the communications industry, said MMTC in a release Monday. The group also wants a '"Glide Path' for the Short-Term Survival and Long-Term Humane Decommissioning of the AM Band in a Manner that Preserves Minority Ownership."

The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet Dec. 21, the FCC said in a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The meeting will be CSRIC's seventh under its current charter, which charges the council to work on issues such as cybersecurity and wireless alert platforms. CSRIC's charter is to expire March 18. The meeting is to begin at 1 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room at FCC headquarters.

President-elect Donald Trump plans to convene CEOs in early February for what he’s calling a Strategic and Policy Forum. Disney's Bob Iger, General Motors' Mary Barra and IBM's Ginni Rometty are to be among attendees. “My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America,” Trump said in a statement. The meeting will be at the White House, the transition team said: “Members of the Forum will be charged with providing their individual views to the President -- informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector -- on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity.”

Neustar rejected North American Portability Management accusations the incumbent local number portability administrator was to blame for the lack of information sharing by NAPM and PwC in the LNPA transition to Telcordia/iconectiv. Responding to complaints from Neustar IT experts (see 1611210039), NAPM counsel Todd Daubert had said Neustar was claiming a right to disclose confidential information it's receiving as the current LNPA and refused to sign a reasonable nondisclosure agreement (see 1611300026). Daubert "offered a series of false accusations and ad hominem attacks," said Neustar counsel Marc Martin in a letter posted Monday in docket 09-109. "Mr. Daubert falsely asserts that Neustar began claiming over a year ago the right to disclose publicly confidential information it receives from the Parties." He said NAPM can safely deliver confidential information to Neustar under an existing agreement. "The Parties know that Neustar has repeatedly expressed its willingness to accept a commercially reasonable non-disclosure agreement, but for nearly a year the Parties have been unwilling to address Neustar's concerns regarding the transparency of testing that is essential to the success of the transition as well as the need to address false or misleading statements made by others that could undermine the transition," he wrote. "Mr. Daubert's suggestion that confidential information about critical national infrastructure cannot be shared with Neustar is baseless and absurd. It was Neustar who proposed making explicit that national security-related information must be protected. Mr. Daubert's argument is particularly rich given that it is well established that the selected vendor caused significant delays due to its own compliance failures with certain national security-related obligations." Daubert didn't comment Monday.

Verizon said it plans to participate in the FCC's Lifeline expansion to broadband, starting next year, but in the meantime it joined many telcos and cable companies notifying the commission they were accepting its offer of forbearance relief from Lifeline broadband service obligations. Verizon said it will participate in the FCC's broadband Lifeline program where it offers Fios fiber-to-the-home service. "We hope that providing qualifying low-income Americans with the choice to use their Lifeline benefit for our eligible broadband Internet access services will help address this affordability challenge and will be another useful step towards closing the remaining digital divide," wrote Verizon, among numerous filings posted in recent days in docket 11-42. "Although the Commission’s Lifeline support for broadband will soon go into effect, Verizon is still in the process of making the necessary system changes to support our participation in this program and to ensure compliance the Commission’s rules. We currently anticipate that we will begin offering Lifeline-supported Fios Internet access service in mid-2017," Verizon said, while providing the FCC with notification it was seeking "blanket forbearance" for areas where it's an eligible telecom carrier. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn tweeted Friday: "@Verizon commits to narrowing the #broadband affordability gap in FiOS areas by participating in @FCC#Lifeline program nxt yr! Great news!" AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated Communications, FairPoint Communications, Frontier Communications, Windstream, Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom and Alaska Communications notified the FCC they were exercising their rights to Lifeline broadband forbearance relief, though the price-cap carriers noted they were subject to Lifeline broadband duties under Connect America Fund Phase II rules. Cox Communications, Charter Communications and many others also exercised their forbearance rights. Some parties reserved the right to offer Lifeline-supported broadband voluntarily.