If the merger of AT&T and DirecTV is approved it would mean expanded fiber to at least 2 million more people through AT&T's Fiber to the Premises GigaPower service, the companies said during a meeting with the FCC Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing Thursday in docket 14-90. The transaction also would let AT&T deploy new, fixed wireless local loop broadband services to about 13 million rural customer locations, the company said. During the meeting, the companies asked the commission to approve the transaction, the filing said. Representing AT&T at the meeting were Wayne Watts, senior executive vice president; James Cicconi, senior executive vice president-external legislative affairs; David McAtee, senior associate general counsel; and Robert Quinn, senior vice president-federal regulatory and chief privacy officer. Representing DirecTV at the meeting were Larry Hunter, executive vice president; Andrew Reinsdorf, senior vice president-government affairs; and William Ryan, vice president. Wednesday, the Alliance for Community Media filed an ex parte notice with the FCC on the transaction that said the merger would result in reduced competition and possible competition in the multichannel video distribution market throughout AT&T's landline footprint. Absent the merger, AT&T would be forced to invest more in building out its U-verse network, which would create more competition in the market, ACM said. The organization also said the claimed public benefits of the transaction are illusory -- neither AT&T nor DirecTV has explained how the merger is essential to achieving those benefits. The transaction also would disserve the public interest by harming public, educational and governmental channels and localism, ACM said.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly raised concerns about the FCC’s advisory committees, the role they play and the extent to which they are dominated by the FCC chairman. The Friday blog post is one of several O’Rielly has released suggesting process reform. One big problem is that the chairman’s office has “absolute and complete power over every aspect of their existence,” O'Rielly said. Individual commissioners are often invited to say a few words, but play no role otherwise, he said. “The membership, selection of the committee chairs, timing of any reports and/or recommendations, and all other aspects of their operations are determined solely by the [FCC] Chairman," he said. "If all of the decision-making is in the hands of the [FCC] Chairman, how can a committee’s outcomes ever be considered bipartisan, or better-yet, nonpartisan and independent?” O’Rielly asked whether participation in the committees is really voluntary. “Of course, members must go through the application process, but failure to be involved means that the committee may proceed down a path that is against a party’s interest,” he said. He also questioned how the committees are managed and the “heavy hand” sometimes used by FCC staff. “Since each advisory committee already has a Commission staff designee, why would bureau chiefs or other Commission staff need to be involved at all?” he asked. “It seems inappropriate and potentially caustic to the proper functioning of the committee, and the ultimate realization of solid recommendations, if non-designated staff question the committee’s decisions, influence the agenda, pose questions of members, judge the possible recommendations, or potentially declare specific outcomes.”

The FCC asked two federal appeals courts Thursday to transfer legal challenges to the agency’s net neutrality rules to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The appeals were filed by Texas wireless ISP Alamo Broadband in the 5th Circuit and Pennsylvania CLEC Full Service Network in the 3rd Circuit. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation already selected the D.C. Circuit as the court to hear the initial two appeals of the order, the FCC noted. The agency told the courts that because petitioners seek review of the same FCC order that is being challenged in the cases before the D.C. Circuit, and because the Judicial Panel designated the D.C. Circuit as the court where the agency record is to be filed, they are “statutorily required” to move the cases.

The FCC will consider an order and Further NPRM at its May 21 meeting that would extend the iCanConnect-National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program and propose to make it permanent, said a notice released by the agency Thursday. The program provides up to $10 million annually from the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service Fund to support programs that distribute communications equipment to low-income people who are deaf-blind. The program is to expire in June unless extended, an FCC spokesman said Thursday. The order extends the program for an additional year, or until it's made permanent. It provides braille devices, computers, mobile devices, phones and signalers, according to a fact sheet on the program. ICanConnect grew out of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Also on the agenda is a report and order and further NPRM that would extend accessibility rules for emergency alerts to “second screens,” including tablets, smartphones and laptops. Under the order, tonal emergency alerts for the blind sent out by broadcasters would be available for those watching TV on a second screen so they can hear what sighted people can see, a spokesman said. The NPRM looks at implementation issues including how remote controls can allow people to switch easily between screens.

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.”