A proposed one-time $25 million appropriation for a rural broadband grant program was approved by the Minnesota Senate Tuesday, after being passed by the House last week (CD April 8 p19). The grants, part of a $322 million two-year budget bill, House File-3172 (http://bit.ly/1lFHRBC), would be available to some areas that don’t have access to download speeds of at least 4 Mbps.

AT&T said it’s “in advanced discussions” with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN) to bring AT&T U-verse with GigaPower Internet service to North Carolina’s Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions. NCNGN is a regional initiative to encourage next-generation network deployment in North Carolina. AT&T is proposing to deploy U-verse fiber in Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. Those areas have sufficient demand for U-verse’s 1 Gbps speeds and local policies that “support broadband network investment,” AT&T said Thursday. The plan would include options for public Wi-Fi hotspots, free U-verse with GigaPower service at up to 100 public sites and fiber connections to up to 100 business buildings, AT&T said. The telco would make free 3 Mbps U-verse High Speed Internet service available at 10 affordable housing complexes for a total of 3,000 homes. The local governments in the six cities will need to ratify the agreement. Venessa Harrison, AT&T-North Carolina president, said in a news release that the telco is “encouraged” by its conversations with NCNGN and believes the negotiations show “how dedicated its policymakers and university and business leaders are to bringing the latest technology to the state.” NCNGN participants “are encouraged by AT&T’s interest to deliver ultra-fast bandwidth to the Research Triangle and Piedmont regions,” said NCNGN Steering Committee Chair Tracy Futhey in the AT&T news release (http://soc.att.com/1kNqsFS).

Wireless voice and data service will be coming to as many as 242 underground New York City subway stations, said AT&T and Transit Wireless in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1n4Txhn). AT&T service is currently available in 30 stations in midtown Manhattan from Phase 1 of the project, plus six from the initial build in Chelsea. AT&T is installing equipment in Transit Wireless’s secure base station hotel facilities to bring 3G and 4G LTE service to Phase 2, which comprises 40 stations -- 11 in midtown Manhattan. The entire Phase 2 buildout is expected to be completed by summer, said AT&T and Transit Wireless.

E-rate should be improved and modernized by increasing bandwidth goals and streamlining the application process, the National Association of Counties said in comments (http://bit.ly/1st2EfU) filed with the FCC Monday in Docket 13-184. NACo also suggested focusing funding on broadband by phasing out funding for non-broadband services like paging and voice mail, and strengthening the buying power of communities to buy bandwidth by providing more options. “The E-Rate program has been an instrumental tool for our schools and libraries. ... Unfortunately, the typical K-12 public school has about the same Internet access speed as the average home -- with 200 times more users. It means that 40 million students are being left behind without the speeds they need to take full advantage of digital learning opportunities,” the comments said.

A proposed one-time $25 million appropriation for a rural broadband grant program is headed for a Minnesota Senate vote Tuesday, after being approved by the House Thursday, a House news release said Friday (http://bit.ly/1k6bCyk). The grants, part of a $322 million two-year budget bill, House File-3172 (http://bit.ly/1lFHRBC), would be available to unserved areas that don’t have access to download speeds of 4 Mbps. They would also be available for underserved areas without download speeds of 10 to 20 Mbps. “Broadband is the future of Minnesota,” said Rep. Erik Simonson, of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party: “Minnesota lags behind in technology. Good broadband is a need and it’s frustrating to people when they don’t have the tools that they need."

Text-to-911 is only an interim solution, and work should continue toward the goal of delivering all 911 calls through emergency services Internet Protocol networks (ESInets), said the National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) in an FCC filing Wednesday in docket 10-255 (http://bit.ly/1gqOq5K). Some public safety answering points have not taken steps to accept 911 texts “because they would rather implement the superior, soon-to-be-available native IP to CPE [customer premises equipment] solution than spend finite resources implementing an interim solution,” NASNA said. “Particularly given the current funding environment, this is completely understandable.” The FCC should “vigorously exercise its regulatory power to facilitate the nationwide implementation of NG911,” said NASNA. Responding to questions raised by the commission, NASNA said providers should provide users with access to 911 without additional costs, and “either absorb any additional costs or develop a business model that will cover any additional costs.” Any rules developed during the proceeding should be mandatory with no safe-harbor provisions, NASNA said. “Rules are more effective [than voluntary arrangements] in terms of leveling the playing field, setting a clear path forward and actually achieving the goal."

Encouraging cross-jurisdictional cooperation in the E-rate program would have the benefits of “reduced costs, greater efficiency -- and ultimately connecting more students and libraries to quality high-speed broadband throughout the nation,” said the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in a filing (http://bit.ly/1dV8K4E) in FCC docket 13-184. There is “little incentive for local districts to participate in consortia applications that facilitate cross-jurisdictional collaboration or other bulk purchasing opportunities,” said NASCIO. An example of the benefits is the “Network Nebraska-Education” initiative, a partnership between the Nebraska Office of the Chief Information Officer, the University of Nebraska, and school districts across the state, NASCIO said. In its seventh year, the network connects 89 percent of public K-12 education schools, all of public higher education institutions, and half of private colleges in the state on a single IP network. The FCC should prioritize state consortia buyers by expediting their funding applications, reviews and processing and by awarding additional percentage points to consortium applications, NASCIO said. “Adding a financial incentive to create consortia, such as an increased percentage reimbursement for consortium applications, will simplify the program over the long term, drive costs down, and ultimately save time and money for both federal and local stakeholders."

Comptel praised an interconnection agreement (http://bit.ly/1pMHaYZ) that AT&T Michigan and Sprint Spectrum submitted Tuesday to the Michigan Public Service Commission, which includes Sprint’s position that AT&T has to allow IP-to-IP interconnection between the companies. But in the filing, AT&T Michigan said it “continues to object to the contract provisions proposed by Sprint (http://bit.ly/PjAmEY) .... The provisions are contrary to the requirements of Section 251 [of the Telecommunications Act] and therefore must be rejected.” The PSC ruled Dec. 6 (http://bit.ly/1k7xkBc) (CD Dec 10 p12) that AT&T has to reach an IP interconnection agreement with Sprint. Under a proposed agreement filed Feb. 25 (CD Feb 27 p16), the sides agreed all traffic Sprint exchanges with AT&T would be delivered in TDM format. They left the IP dispute in the air, saying if they can’t resolve the issue, they may amend the agreement in July to include IP interconnection. The PSC rejected the Feb. 25 agreement on March 18 (http://tinyurl.com/nmuglcw) (CD March 19 p19), saying the sides have to file with the commission any contingency agreement they might have. AT&T’s Tuesday filing said it was only submitting the agreement because the PSC was requiring one be filed. “A competitor has finally been able to exercise its statutory right to interconnect with a major ILEC on an IP basis, an action that spurs the transition and allows consumers to further benefit from this innovative technology,” said Comptel CEO Chip Pickering in a press release (http://bit.ly/QGpG4B). “The Michigan PSC is to be praised for being the first state to stand up to AT&T and force it to comply with its IP interconnection obligations under the ‘96 Act. We hope this action serves as a precedent for other states and the FCC to follow so that carriers’ rights to IP interconnection for voice communications are honored nationwide.” AT&T Michigan had no comment. A Sprint spokesman declined comment.

Immediate implementation of the results of an FCC urban rate survey (CD March 21 p14) would lead to a dramatic increase in the residential phone rates that many small eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) in Washington state and across the U.S. must have in place by July 1, said the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (http://bit.ly/1hvLUzF). The ETCs must have the rates in place to continue to receive the full level of high-cost loop support (HCLS) provided from the Connect America Fund (CAF). The contemplated increase in the urban rate floor from $14 per month to $20.46 monthly would be a dramatic price increase implemented within a very short period of time, said the Washington commission in comments posted Tuesday in FCC docket 10-90. It said implementation of the new urban rate floor should be delayed and then phased in. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) also expressed concern (http://bit.ly/Pe6biP) about the $6.46 rate floor increase, saying standalone phone service is price-regulated in the state. ILECs that have received basic local exchange service (BLES) pricing flexibility may increase their BLES rate by no more than $1.25 during any 12-month period, leaving them short of meeting the threshold to receive full-level HCLS, said PUCO’s comments also posted in the docket Tuesday. “If the benchmark rate continues to increase at a proportionately higher level than Ohio ILEC BLES rate increases, these carriers will never reach the benchmark rate, resulting in many of Ohio’s small, rural ILECs losing an ever-increasing amount of the high-cost support upon which they heavily rely to provide quality telecommunications services."

A California bill requiring that smartphones and tablets sold in the state include theft-deterring technology passed the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee by a 6-2 vote on Tuesday. SB-962 (http://bit.ly/1i0TKOj), sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat, requires that smartphones and tablets sold beginning Jan. 1, 2015, come with a kill switch that would render them useless if stolen. “Smartphone robberies have become epidemic in cities across California, mainly because there is a financial incentive to steal and then resell these valuable devices on the black market,” Leno said in a news release. More than 65 percent of all robberies in San Francisco, and 75 percent in Oakland, involve the theft of a mobile device, it said.