A Minnesota state senator will propose a measure that would create a $100 million competitive grant fund designed to extend broadband into underserved areas of the state. Sen. Matt Schmit, Democrat/Farm Labor Party, who plans to formally introduce the bill in coming days, said in an interview Thursday that the matching program could generate an additional $200 billion in broadband investments. Executive Director Dan Dorman of the Greater Minnesota Partnership, a coalition of businesses, nonprofits and cities that advocate for economic development policies, said the state had set the ambitious goal of being among the top five states nationally in broadband access by 2015. However, a Jan. 27 Minnesota Broadband Task Force report (http://bit.ly/1fujYwJ) found the state is falling short of meeting the target and faces a wide gulf in broadband access between urban and rural areas. Dorman, whose organization is supporting the fund, noted the state is expected to have a $1 billion budget surplus in the coming two-year budget cycle.

FairPoint Communications met its goal to increase broadband access to 95 percent of its access lines in New Hampshire, said the telco in a Thursday news release. It sai, the company has invested over $700 million since April 2008 in its communications infrastructure and technology to reach new customers, upgrade its network and expand broadband in northern New England (http://tinyurl.com/k7hbwc9. The goal had been to meet the 95 percent threshold by year’s end.

Greensboro and Guilford County, N.C., are working with Motorola Solutions to design a comprehensive management program to help the municipalities’ public safety technology planning. Motorola’s Migration Assurance Program (http://bit.ly/1dzQsjx) is intended to help the communities manage and control spending on the technology, while maintaining performance and interoperability, and adapt to changing technologies, said a company news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1dzQsjx).

Any attempt by the FCC to preempt state laws that make it harder for municipalities to create broadband networks (CD Feb 24 p1) “would undermine local government accountability to state governments and to taxpayers” and be illegal, said the Free State Foundation Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1dzYdG4). FSF Scholar Seth Cooper said stripping states’ control over their cities and counties would violate constitutional federalism principles. Nearly 20 states laws limit municipal-backed broadband networks, and “prevent local government conflicts of interest with the private sector marketplace competitors who invest tens of millions of dollars in localities to build out their broadband networks,” wrote Cooper. “They also protect local taxpayers from potentially devastating financial losses from poorly-run municipal broadband projects."

AT&T Michigan and Sprint filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission Tuesday a proposed agreement partially resolving their IP interconnection dispute. It still leaves in question the answer to the central argument between the companies: Sprint’s ability to get IP interconnection with AT&T. Under the agreement, all traffic Sprint exchanges with AT&T will be delivered in TDM format. The sides agreed they may, on or around July 15, amend the agreement to include IP interconnection. Spokesmen for both companies declined comment. The agreement comes after the MPSC ruled (http://bit.ly/1k7xkBc) in Sprint’s favor (CD Dec 10 p12) and ordered AT&T to reach an IP interconnection agreement with the company. The MPSC has 30 days to act on the agreement. It’s scheduled to meet again March 6. The companies faced a deadline Tuesday to submit the agreement.

The FCC should set a firm date for second-tier carriers to provide text-to-911 services, the Vermont Enhanced 911 Board told the FCC in a letter (http://bit.ly/1ewSDUz) Tuesday. Board Executive David Tucker wrote that the office has had discussions with some of those carriers, “and in at least one case, we were informed that the carrier has no plans to implement text to 911 services until it becomes a requirement set by the Commission.” Second-tier carriers are a small part of the state’s wireless market but, Tucker wrote, “we need them all to provide the service in order to reach the goal of ubiquitous Text to 911 services in Vermont."

Broadband services should be required to begin contributing to the USF, a NARUC official told the FCC. Vermont Commissioner and past NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman John Burke told aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel that a NARUC resolution (http://bit.ly/1hTQPNr) passed at its winter meetings calls for expanding the USF contribution base (CD Feb 12 p9). The expansion would include “all communications services, including services such as broadband that are required to be offered in order to receive federal support,” wrote Burke in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday to docket 09-191 (http://bit.ly/1lm0U6j). NARUC didn’t take a position on whether the size of the fund should be increased.

The FCC should ensure no barriers exist in states’ ability to acquire data to investigate rural call completion issues, and there should be no obstacles to the ability of states to coordinate investigations with other states, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) said in a reply (http://bit.ly/MYEx8C) to a Nov. 8 FCC Further NPRM (http://bit.ly/1k7cjXc) on rural call completion. NASUCA echoed comments by NARUC (http://bit.ly/1jxcecz) that the FCC should codify prohibitions on blocking, choking or restricting traffic, even as appeals of the USF reform order are pending at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NASUCA also said intermediate providers should register and certify they will follow industry standards, as well as state and FCC rules, and that no additional safe harbors reducing obligations to collect and retain data should be created. NASUCA objected to Verizon’s reply (http://bit.ly/1mF9j68), which backed adjusting safe-harbor reporting requirements to exempt minimal volumes of traffic for overflow purposes, and to increase the number of intermediate carriers allowed to be used under the safe-harbor provision from one to two. “Verizon’s complaints about ’the already high burdens of complying with the Order’ overlook the tremendous burdens placed on consumers by call completion failures,” NASUCA said. “Requirements that ease consumers’ burdens by preventing call completion failures are reasonable solutions to this industry-created problem.” The FCC November order applied recording, retention, and reporting requirements to large long-distance voice providers, defined as those that make the initial long-distance call path choice for more than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines.

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) said Monday it backs Senate efforts to pass legislation aimed at curbing abusive patent litigation, but told the leaders of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees that it has some concerns with language in the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720). In the letter, co-signed by 42 state and territorial attorneys general, NAAG urged the Senate to pass patent legislation that confirms the authority of state attorneys general to bring enforcement actions concurrently with the Federal Trade Commission on “bad-faith” demand letters. The group also urged the Senate to clarify state courts’ jurisdiction over demand letters and asked the Senate to require patent ownership disclosures when an entity sends a demand letter, rather than only when an entity files a lawsuit (http://bit.ly/1fnIwYe). Senate consideration of patent legislation follows the House’s passage of the Innovation Act (HR-3309).

Residential white page listings provided by AT&T will be removed from future YP Real Yellow Pages and YP Real White Pages in select communities in California, Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana. YP, AT&T’s official white pages publisher, said in news releases Monday that a number of free options exist for accessing free YP Real White Pages. They include using RealPagesLive.com, ordering a free version of the YP Real White Pages directory on CD-ROM, or accessing and searching residential listings on YP.com. The free directories can be obtained by calling 866-329-7118 or going to MyDirectories.YP.com. In California (http://bit.ly/MoNqaA), the listings will be removed in communities including Bakersfield, Butte, Culver City, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Stockton. In Texas (http://bit.ly/1hq2n6g), affected communities include Amarillo, Rio Grande Valley and Temple. South Carolina (http://bit.ly/1c1F1pY) markets include Anderson. In Louisiana (http://bit.ly/1cIcMuo), the impacted communities include Lake Charles, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. YP said that in all states, the decision reflects recent usage feedback and research from consumers.