GENEVA -- Revisions to an ITU telecom treaty in December should have a “very light touch” to spur competition, liberalization and innovation, reduce costs, address security issues, and “favor” further growth of the Internet, said Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary-general, following three days of meetings of the Council working group on preparations for the World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT) in December. The conference will revise the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs).

About 40 percent of traffic to uSell.com is coming from consumers on mobile phones, and the “lion’s share” of that are iPhone and Android smartphone users, Chief Operating Officer Nik Raman told us at Pepcom’s Digital Experience in New York Thursday. So the company made sure to “optimize” its new mobile website for iPhones and Android phones, he said.

A California bill to bar state regulation of VoIP continues stirring controversy, as SB-1161 moves toward final passage. It would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission from regulating VoIP and Internet Protocol-enabled service until 2020, unless federal law or state statute dictate otherwise. The bill’s sponsor describes it as hewing to the same regulatory approach the state has taken on VoIP and IP-enabled calls, while critics worry it may affect reliability of calls and the ability to get them in rural areas. On June 18, the California Assembly’s Committee on Utilities and Commerce voted the bill out of committee 13-1 after hearing hours of testimony. Senate approval 30-6 came May 30.

The deal between AT&T and Sirius XM on shared use of the 2.3 GHz band is a significant step for the satellite radio company’s interest in protecting its services from interference, telecom attorneys and analysts said. The companies filed a joint proposal last week confirming their agreement on conditions for allowing the wireless communications service (WCS) and satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) to operate without posing an interference threat to satellite radio reception (CD June 19 p1). The deal brings certainty to Sirius around use of the C and D blocks adjacent to SDARS and the A and B blocks, industry officials said.

A 2010 administration order that the government make available 500 MHz of spectrum for broadband in 10 years is entirely consistent with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recent recommendation that sharing be the norm for making federal spectrum more available for commercial use, said Wireless Bureau Deputy Chief John Leibovitz. Also at an FCBA lunch Thursday, Renee Wentzel, wireless aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, took questions from the lawyers in attendance.

A special access order on circulation at the FCC would put on hold the current pricing flexibility petitions while the commission contemplates how to fix what they call a “broken” system, but that doesn’t go far enough for members of the NoChokePoints Coalition. The group of CLECs and enterprise customers wants all the findings of pricing flexibility granted since 1999 rolled back, so the FCC can take a fresh look at things and determine whether competition actually exists in those metropolitan statistical areas where flexibility was granted, the coalition told reporters Thursday morning.

Members of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee said at a hearing Thursday that the proposed merger of Universal Music Group (UMG) and EMI will consolidate the music industry much like the failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger would have done to the wireless telecommunications market. Witnesses testified that the proposed deal would give UMG as much as 40 percent market share of the music business and reduce the number of major music labels from four to three. UMG CEO Lucian Grainge said the music market is both competitive and unique because labels’ relationships with consumers are very different from consumer relationships in the wireless market.

The onus returns to the FCC to decide how to deal with brief instances of nudity or unscripted cursing broadcast on TV. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled as some expected (CD Jan 11 p1) that the commission violated the due process rights of Disney’s ABC network and some affiliates and News Corp.’s Fox by not giving them notice that fleeting indecency could be censured or result in fines.

Incentives for developing cybersecurity in Europe need to be created, said panelists at the Digital Agenda Assembly 2012 in Brussels. “The Internet represents a set of opportunities for research, innovation, development of new products in security in Europe,” said Olivier Festor, director of research at European Institute of Innovation and Technology ICT labs. But the industry needs to be incentivized to enhance cybersecurity, said Sandeep Bhargava of CEF marketing and corporate affairs.

The European Parliament should refuse consent to the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the International Trade Committee (INTA) said Thursday. It voted 19-12 to approve the draft report by David Martin, of the U.K. and Socialists and Democrats, nixing an amendment that would have pushed back the final vote until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules on European Commission questions about whether the pact violates fundamental rights. The decision by the lead committee follows its rejection by all of the other committees vetting ACTA. A plenary vote dealing the final death blow is expected July 4. Civil liberties groups were elated.