Crown Castle completed its buy of Lightower's 32,000 route miles of fiber (see 1710050059), the buyer said in a Wednesday news release.

Treating VoIP as an information service is good public policy, said phone, cable and VoIP industry associations in amicus briefs at the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in docket 17-2290. In a joint brief (in Pacer), USTelecom, the Voice on the Net Coalition, AT&T and Verizon supported FCC comments that allowing the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to regulate VoIP as it seeks to do for Charter Communications would be bad for the market (see 1710300036). “Preemption of state common-carrier, public utility regulation does not give VoIP providers an unfair advantage in the marketplace, but instead puts VoIP providers on an equal footing with wireless providers and over-the-top or nomadic VoIP providers, both of which are exempt from such regulation,” the phone and VoIP providers said. Pre-empting states wouldn’t harm VoIP customers because the FCC "repeatedly held that VoIP providers remain obligated to comply with a robust array of statutory consumer protections, including 911 access, universal service contributions, and accommodations for subscribers with disabilities,” they said. NCTA also urged (in Pacer) the 8th Circuit to uphold the lower court’s ruling that VoIP is an information service. “While the FCC’s light-touch framework has been instrumental to the successful roll-out of VoIP," said the cable association, "the application of state regulations designed for traditional local exchange services … would stymie the competition and innovation Congress and the FCC set out to foster."

Telcos and others filed intercarrier compensation comments in response to an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice seeking to refresh the record on issues growing out of a 2011 Further NPRM (see 1709080046). The comments were filed in docket 01-92 by AT&T, CenturyLink, General Communication, HD Tandem, ITTA, Peerless Network and others, NCTA, Nebraska Rural Independent Companies, NTCA/WTA, South Dakota Network, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Voice on the Net Coalition.

Two-thirds of respondents in a recent survey believe consumers aren’t confident in their ability to do complex smart home installations on their own, said a CSG International report Tuesday, based on a survey of 2,000 consumers in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Malaysia and Mexico. Survey results indicated "professional, technical resources will play a significant role in bridging the gap between consumers and the world of devices around us,” said Chad Dunavant, vice president-product management, CSG, a platform provider for managing field-service operations for pay-TV providers. “There is a clear opportunity for Pay TV providers to evolve the skills of their field service technicians to capitalize on the growing consumer-based IoT market,” said Dunavant. Findings showed most respondents expect to connect home security and monitoring systems (49 percent) and smart home automation devices such as remote light controls and door locks (48 percent) in the next three years, but consumers want help -- both online resources and in-person installation assistance -- for simple and complex connections. Some 84 percent said consumers will want help from a professional to connect two to five devices. Just over half of respondents said finding a reputable company for technical help was their most important criterion, outweighing on-demand access and finding the lowest-cost option, it said.

Cellular company Smith Bagley asked the FCC to limit eligibility for enhanced tribal Lifeline USF support to facilities-based carriers, and NTCA petitioned for near-term wireline relief from new Lifeline minimum service standards. The enhanced support helped Smith Bagley (Cellular One) construct more than 200 cellsites and upgrade its network, said a filing posted Monday in docket 11-42 on meetings with Wireline Bureau staffers and aides to all FCC commissioners other than Jessica Rosenworcel. Allowing resellers to receive enhanced support discourages network investment, said the provider. It also asked the FCC "to carefully calibrate any limitation on enhanced Lifeline that related to population density so as to not exclude Tribal lands whose residents are in difficult circumstances." NTCA asked the FCC to set aside updated Lifeline minimum service standards for fixed, wireline broadband internet access services (BIAS) eligible for support. The agency should "temporarily waive the strict application of the new minimum service speed standard and 'grandfather' existing BIAS customers [with 10/1 Mbps] service, enabling such consumers to continue to receive that service should they so choose," it petitioned. "Because the increase in speed [to 15/2 Mbps] will almost certainly come with an increase in monthly rates that may be unaffordable for some low-income consumers, the updated minimum speed standard could have the unintended consequence of forcing some low-income rural consumers to discontinue their service." NTCA said a long-term solution is needed to help RLECs offer stand-alone, affordable broadband.

Cisco agreed to pay $1.9 billion cash to acquire BroadSoft, a cloud-based unified communications provider for small and medium-sized businesses, Cisco said in a Monday news release. The deal is expected to close in Q1, subject to closing conditions and regulatory review. Cisco has made about 200 acquisitions, said Vice President-Corporate Development Rob Salvagno.

Utilities Technology Council President Joy Ditto met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the group’s concerns over interference in the 6 GHz band, tied to the mid-band proceeding, and other issues important to electric utilities. “For their wireless networks, utilities need access to additional spectrum to expand capacity and coverage, and they also need protection from interference and congestion in existing spectrum bands,” the group said in a filing in docket 17-183. The 6 GHz band is “home to thousands of fixed microwave systems, which utilities, public safety and other critical infrastructure industries, including railroads use for a variety of mission critical communications that protect the safety of life, health and property.” UTC also said utilities need “sufficient notice from carriers prior to discontinuance or replacement of copper-based wireline networks and services” and to recover the full costs of pole attachments by third-party communications service providers.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn hailed the FCC's first "Accessibility Innovations Expo" Monday. "What a terrific platform for showcasing the kind of innovative technologies that can transform the lives of people with disabilities," she said, according to prepared remarks. "The time is now to close the digital divide that too many with disabilities face. We must ensure that technologies are accessible and that anyone and everyone is able to enjoy and benefit from the innovation over the horizon." She also tweeted about the event.

The FCC should open an inquiry into Wi-Fi security and rogue access points, after news of the KRACK vulnerability (see 1710160043), network engineer Richard Bennett blogged, referring to key reinstallation attacks. Bennett said the commission should examine whether current anti-jamming policies -- dating to a 2014 order (see 1502170026) fining Marriott for jamming guest Wi-Fi hot spots -- make sense. "The means employed also have legitimate uses; such as removing the KRACK threat against Android devices," Bennett said Tuesday. Separately, the FTC issued a warning to smartphone, laptop or IoT users connecting to Wi-Fi that their information could be at risk, blogged FTC technologist Phoebe Rouge Thursday. Because the problem is with the WPA2 encryption standard that nearly all Wi-Fi devices on the market today use to secure communications, people connecting via Wi-Fi can't be certain their information will be safe, she said. While manufacturers are moving quickly to fix the problem with security updates and patches, the agency recommends consumers take precautions and use connections other than Wi-Fi until they're certain updates have been implemented. As a general rule, it advises consumers to keep up with software updates and avoid sending secure information over unencrypted websites.

AT&T mostly welcomed an FCC plan to relax international reporting duties, voicing concern route confidentiality would be compromised. A draft order to scrap carrier annual traffic and revenue reports (and streamline circuit capacity reports) is on the agenda for the Oct. 24 commissioners' meeting (see 1710030059). "These burdensome rules are no longer relevant in today’s highly competitive international market, and ... more targeted methods would still allow the Commission to obtain information" as needed, said a filing Tuesday in docket 17-55 on a meeting with Office of General Counsel and International Bureau officials, including Chief Tom Sullivan. AT&T said it treats U.S. international route information as confidential, and agreements with foreign carriers usually do, too. "Public disclosure of this information, as proposed by the Draft Rule, would allow the identification of the specific routes served by each U.S. carrier via indirect termination arrangements," undermining "least cost routing" that pressures "high foreign terminations rates," said the filing. CTIA lauded the FCC plan to jettison annual reports for mobile carriers, said a filing on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and three other commissioners. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon officials also attended.