The FCC seems ready to approve CenturyLink’s takeover of Qwest without imposing net neutrality conditions, and that’s “a positive for the companies,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said Friday. A commission official confirmed that Chairman Julius Genachowski’s office circulated late Thursday a draft order to approve the deal without net neutrality conditions. Earlier last week, CenturyLink and Qwest filed a letter with the FCC agreeing to a seven-year broadband deployment plan, a phasedown of Universal Service Fund support and extension of some wholesale agreements (CD March 11 p1). The neutrality-free order “presumably” means Genachowski is “basically satisfied at this point,” Arbogast said. “It’s possible the companies will be subjected to further conditions/commitments but we're a little skeptical of that, and if they are, our sense is they would likely be modest,” Arbogast wrote in a circular Friday. CenturyLink has expressed hope of winning commission approval by April 1. The draft order marks a departure. The commission imposed net neutrality conditions in both the previous mergers it approved, Comcast-NBCU and AT&T-BellSouth. Free Press tried to get net neutrality conditions imposed on the CenturyLink-Qwest deal at the 11th hour last month. Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey called Genachowski’s order “a disappointment.” He said, “You have an entity that has expressed its intention to offer online video services. For our part, we very much believe in the mission of the commission that their responsibility is to make sure that the merger is in the public interest, not to broker deals.” Genachowski’s spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment. Some have said Genachowski is using broadband deployment conditions and the Universal Service Fund overhaul as a back-door route to Title II regulations.

The FCC Wireline and Wireless bureaus’ staff will make themselves available for half-hour meetings on the proposed Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation reforms, from March 21 until April 1, the commission said in a public notice Friday.

The FCC seems ready to approve CenturyLink’s takeover of Qwest without imposing net neutrality conditions, and that’s “a positive for the companies,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said Friday. A commission official confirmed that Chairman Julius Genachowski’s office circulated late Thursday a draft order to approve the deal without net neutrality conditions. Earlier last week, CenturyLink and Qwest filed a letter with the FCC agreeing to a seven-year broadband deployment plan, a phasedown of Universal Service Fund support and extension of some wholesale agreements. The neutrality-free order “presumably” means Genachowski is “basically satisfied at this point,” Arbogast said. “It’s possible the companies will be subjected to further conditions/commitments but we're a little skeptical of that, and if they are, our sense is they would likely be modest,” Arbogast wrote in a circular Friday. CenturyLink has expressed hope of winning commission approval by April 1. The draft order marks a departure. The commission imposed net neutrality conditions in both the previous mergers it approved, Comcast-NBCU and AT&T-BellSouth. Free Press tried to get net neutrality conditions imposed on the CenturyLink-Qwest deal at the 11th hour last month. Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey called Genachowski’s order “a disappointment.” He said, “You have an entity that has expressed its intention to offer online video services. For our part, we very much believe in the mission of the commission that their responsibility is to make sure that the merger is in the public interest, not to broker deals.” Genachowski’s spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment. Some have said Genachowski is using broadband deployment conditions and the Universal Service Fund overhaul as a back-door route to Title II regulations.

The FCC’s order reducing high-cost Universal Service Fund support to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the telcos’ Fifth Amendment protection against illegal takings, 13 of the CETCs said in a petition released Friday. In language that suggests the carriers are considering seeking an injunction, the telcos said they “are each adversely affected” by the Wireline Bureau’s “decision to retroactively modify the cap level.” The petition’s signers were AST Telecom, Bluegrass Cellular, Cellular South Licenses, Union Telephone, Corr Wireless, East Kentucky Networks, Illinois Valley Cellular, Cellular One, Commnet Wireless, MTPCS, PR Wireless, Georgia RSA #8 Partnership and Allied Wireless.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., is undaunted by a likely presidential veto of any bill to overturn FCC net neutrality rules, he said in an interview for C-SPAN’s The Communicators. The House Communications Subcommittee chairman isn’t worried about the lack of industry support either, he said. Walden outlined plans to aggressively pursue other communications issues once net neutrality is resolved.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., is undaunted by a likely presidential veto of any bill to overturn FCC net neutrality rules, he said in an interview for C-SPAN’s The Communicators. The House Communications Subcommittee chairman isn’t worried about the lack of industry support either, he said. Walden outlined plans to aggressively pursue other communications issues once net neutrality is resolved.

CenturyLink and Qwest promised that if their proposed deal is approved by the FCC, the new company will offer discount broadband with download speeds of at least 12 Mbps to 60 percent of their customers within seven years of the transaction being completed. The merged company will also phase out accepting federal support for local switching by 2014, forgo federal safety net additive payments and come up with a plan to freeze interstate common line support “on a per-line basis” by the beginning of 2012, CenturyLink and Qwest said. Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff has been working on an order approving the transaction for at least two weeks, FCC officials said. Qwest spokesman Tom McMahon said the letter is the product of meetings with “FCC staff and the chairman’s office over a number of days, and we believe they reflect what the FCC will find to be in the public interest.”

Twenty schools and libraries are getting E-rate funding through the 2011 Learning On-The-Go wireless pilot program, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday at the iSchool in New York. The program reflects a National Broadband Plan recommendation that the Universal Service Fund support off-campus mobile Internet connections for students. Of $10 million set aside in the program, the commission is spending $9 million on pilot program schools. Education and technology working together are critical to U.S. competitiveness, Genachowski said. “If we want our kids to able to compete in the digital economy, we need to equip them with the digital tools and skills to do so.” The U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world in education, he said, noting that many teachers have no classroom tools less than decades old. “At a broadband-connected school, students can access the best libraries in the country, the best learning tools, the best teachers, anywhere,” Genachowski said. “Technology can empower teachers, amplifying their abilities and augmenting their performance.” The U.S. military sees technology as a “force multiplier, not a replacement for soldiers,” and it can play the same role in education, he said. The commission said 95 schools and libraries applied for funding, showing a high level of interest in the program. “The FCC will evaluate the effectiveness of the program to determine whether and how off-premises wireless services should be eligible for continued E-rate support,” said a commission fact sheet. “Program evaluation will be based on a number of criteria -- to be detailed in a forthcoming order formally selecting the pilot participants -- including usage of educational and research resources by students and library patrons.” Information including a list of the schools is at www.fcc.gov.

Twenty schools and libraries are getting E-rate funding through the 2011 Learning On-The-Go wireless pilot program, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday at the iSchool in New York. The program reflects a National Broadband Plan recommendation that the Universal Service Fund support off-campus mobile Internet connections for students. Of $10 million set aside in the program, the commission is spending $9 million on pilot program schools. Education and technology working together are critical to U.S. competitiveness, Genachowski said. “If we want our kids to able to compete in the digital economy, we need to equip them with the digital tools and skills to do so.” The U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world in education, he said, noting that many teachers have no classroom tools less than decades old. “At a broadband-connected school, students can access the best libraries in the country, the best learning tools, the best teachers, anywhere,” Genachowski said. “Technology can empower teachers, amplifying their abilities and augmenting their performance.” The U.S. military sees technology as a “force multiplier, not a replacement for soldiers,” and it can play the same role in education, he said. The commission said 95 schools and libraries applied for funding, showing a high level of interest in the program. “The FCC will evaluate the effectiveness of the program to determine whether and how off-premises wireless services should be eligible for continued E-rate support,” said a commission fact sheet. “Program evaluation will be based on a number of criteria -- to be detailed in a forthcoming order formally selecting the pilot participants -- including usage of educational and research resources by students and library patrons.” Information including a list of the schools is at www.fcc.gov.

National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin said the speech by his old boss, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, announcing the plan was effective in winning short-term publicity but “muddied the waters for the universal service debate” because it focused on speed goals.