Analysts are bullish on the potential for wireless carriers to experiment with new business models on the Internet, based on remarks FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has made in the past week. Wheeler gave AT&T “clear support to move ahead” with its sponsored data plan when he said at the Computer History Museum (CD Jan 10 p6) the net neutrality order “did not discourage this type of two-sided market for mobile uses,” wrote Stifel Nicolaus analysts Christopher King and David Kaut in an analyst note Friday, quoting Wheeler’s speech. King and Kaut expect the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to soon overturn the FCC’s prohibition against “unreasonable discrimination” by wireline broadband providers, which they said would free most wireline telcos and cable companies to pursue wireline data-sponsorship plans “and even paid-prioritization agreements,” they said. Spectrum congestion makes wireless data caps much more restrictive than wireline data limits, making wireless “a natural place to test out data-sponsorship offers,” the analysts said. If those offers “catch on,” and the court reverses the net neutrality rules, they expect cable and wireline companies to also pursue such plan. Wheeler remarks on the importance of interconnection and openness on the Internet suggest “some willingness to at least consider reclassifying broadband Internet access” as a more heavily regulated Title II telecom service, they said, “if he believes it necessary to preserve an FCC broadband oversight role.” Paul Gallant of Guggenheim Partners said Wheeler’s comments are “encouraging for both wireless and cable/telcos that want to explore new broadband monetization opportunities.” Gallant sees Wheeler’s comments on new business models in the wireless arena as “quite encouraging for wireless operators,” he said. Cable operators and telcos can likely also explore new business models, as Wheeler encouraged experimentation, wrote the analyst. “But these models will face closer FCC scrutiny than new wireless services and will need to be carefully crafted to pass both regulatory and political scrutiny."

A classified Defense Department report said that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden managed to download 1.7 million intelligence files before leaving the country, top House Intelligence Committee leaders said Thursday in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/19Vr7om). They slammed Snowden for what the report found. The revelations in the files kicked off the ongoing debate surrounding U.S. phone and Internet surveillance practices and the number of files stolen has been contested. “Snowden’s disclosures have already tipped off our adversaries to the sources and methods of our defense, and hurt U.S. allies helping us with counter terrorism, cyber crime, human and narcotics trafficking, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” the report said, according to House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md.

The latest update from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (http://xrl.us/bqe3vv) shows that wireless broadband penetration grew to more than 68 percent in the OECD area as of June, meaning there are now more than two wireless subscriptions for every three inhabitants, the group said Thursday. Mobile broadband subscriptions in the 34-country group were up more than 16 percent from a year earlier, to a total of more than 851 million, driven by the ongoing demand for smartphones and tablets, it said. Australia, Denmark, Finland, South Korea, Japan and Sweden are now above 100 percent penetration, with Australia in first place because of a large surge in smartphone subscriptions in the first half of last year, it said. The U.S. came seventh in the ranking of wireless broadband subscriptions for 1,200 inhabitants, the OECD said. DSL remains the predominant technology for fixed broadband subscriptions, but it’s being gradually replaced by fiber, which now serves nearly 16 percent of subscriptions, it said. Two-digit annual growth in fiber take-up was the result of increases in large OECD nations with low penetration rates such as France, Spain, Turkey and the U.K., it said.

The FCC announced its tentative agenda Thursday for its Jan. 30 meeting. Commissioners will consider a report and order, NPRM and NOI on “technology transitions experiments” to examine how to best accelerate the transition to next-generation networks. (See separate report above in this issue.) It will also consider a policy statement and FNPRM on enabling nationwide text-to-911 service. The Incentive Auction Task Force will give a presentation on the timeline for the broadcast incentive auction, according to the agenda. The Process Reform Working Group will also give a presentation. The meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

President Barack Obama met with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Wednesday in the White House Situation Room, according to his schedule and confirmed by the board. He also met with intelligence community leaders later in the day, according to his schedule. Vice President Joe Biden attended both closed meetings. PCLOB appreciated the chance to weigh in on its “independent bipartisan review and related findings regarding the telephone metadata program operated pursuant to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, as well as on the operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC),” it said in a statement. “The Board remains on schedule to issue its report on the telephone metadata program, as well as on the operations of the FISC, to the President, Congress, and the public in late January/early February. The report will contain a detailed analysis of the Section 215 Program and the operation of the FISC. It will address the 215 Program’s legality, whether it strikes the right balance between national security and privacy and civil liberties, and will make recommendations for legislative and program reform.” There will be a separate subsequent report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 surveillance, it said.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere, wearing a magenta T-Mobile shirt, was kicked out of AT&T’s CES party at the Rain nightclub in Las Vegas Monday night, and later tweeted about it. Hip-hop star Macklemore performed. AT&T was slated to buy T-Mobile in 2012, though the deal fell apart when it faced resistance from federal regulators. AT&T couldn’t be reached for comment by our deadline, and a T-Mobile spokesman didn’t have additional comment.

Groups advocating wireless safety say they plan to protest Thursday outside FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s scheduled speeches in California’s Mountain View and Oakland. The groups, which include the California Brain Tumor Association and Stop Smart Meters!, are rallying to highlight perceived health risks related to wireless technology, as well as what they believe is a conflict of interest between Wheeler’s past as an industry lobbyist and his current role at the FCC. The groups claim Wheeler “has a long history of sabotaging and burying research unfavorable to the industry,” particularly research that claims cellphone use causes brain tumors. The groups seek Wheeler’s resignation from the FCC, health warnings on wireless devices and a ban on wireless radiation in public schools. The FCC declined to comment.

The Commerce Department Inspector General has tracked multiple problem activities, it said. It submitted its semiannual report to Congress in September and posted the report Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1iKMRWw). It included updates on an engineering consultant who pleaded guilty to stealing the bulk of a $322,000 grant for construction and operation of a New Mexico radio station. “OIG traced the stolen grant funds and seized over $130,000, which was returned to the U.S. Treasury,” the report said. “In April 2013, the engineering consultant was sentenced to time served and 3 years’ probation. He was also ordered to pay restitution of over $240,000 and forfeit the 2010 Infiniti G37 sedan he purchased with proceeds of the theft.” That consultant is barred from working with the government, it said. The report also cited a case begun in June 2012 against an Arizona recipient of a $39.3 million Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant. “The alleged scheme involved using grant funds to pay for unauthorized and unreasonable expenses unrelated to the purposes of the grant, such as chartering a helicopter and private aircraft to fly to destination spots for personal purposes,” the report said. The Justice Department declined to take criminal or civil action against the recipient in April, the report said. “NTIA’s administrative action included suspending the award for nearly a year and declaring a portion of the award as unallowable costs under the grant,” it added. “Additionally, NTIA required the grantee to restructure its organization and make significant improvements to its grant oversight and internal control policies.” The report also provided updates about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and what it called “several internal control weaknesses that could adversely affect the integrity of operations,” such as limited ethics training for certain patent examiners.

Ex-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will become a partner in Carlyle Group’s U.S. buyout team, said the private equity firm in a news release Monday. He will be a managing partner and will focus on investments in global technology, media and telecom, the firm said. Genachowski joined the firm Monday, and will be based in its D.C. office. Genachowski’s “deep industry specialization” and experience in the telecom sector will be “invaluable” to the firm, said Pete Clare, co-head of the U.S. buyout team. Genachowski follows in the footsteps of former FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, who was managing director at Carlyle before becoming U.S. ambassador to the EU.

The U.S. government appealed the Klayman v. Obama decision that questioned the constitutionality of government bulk metadata phone surveillance, it said in a notice Friday. In that December decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Richard Leon called such surveillance “almost Orwellian” and said it likely violates the Fourth Amendment. Another federal court issued a contrary ruling in ACLU v. Clapper days later, one that upheld such surveillance and resulted in an appeal from the ACLU on Thursday. Leon had expected the government to appeal and issued a stay on his ruling with that expectation.