CompTel will appeal an FCC order upholding the Enforcement Bureau’s denial of its Freedom of Information Act request regarding a consent decree terminating its investigation into SBC’s compliance with various universal service rules. CompTel made the request in 2005 seeking “all pleadings and correspondence” regarding the investigation of SBC -- now AT&T -- and its possible overbilling of the FCC’s E-rate program in 2004.

Chairman Julius Genachowski is the only FCC member to vote so far for an order he circulated June 5 that would freeze further grants of pricing flexibility as the agency seeks more data on special access pricing. The order also denies three pending petitions seeking pricing flexibility while the FCC seeks data: Two from AT&T and one from Windstream.

The FCC’s Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) working groups were too heavily influenced by industry executives, who were over-represented on the panels, the American Council of the Blind (ACB) said in reply comments filed with the FCC this week (http://xrl.us/bncc9u). The group urged the FCC to be skeptical of the committee’s conclusions. It also complained that the companies and trade associations represented on the committee were not interested in reaching solutions. “The advisory reports are ultimately weak and unbalanced,” the ACB said. “We must urge, in the most strenuous terms, that the Commission look to the reports as mostly representing one side,” it said. FCC staff did a “commendable” job of raising potential solutions during VPAAC meetings, but few of those appeared to make it into the final reports, the ACB said.

The Food and Drug Administration is quietly moving toward the regulation of medical apps, much like it regulates software embedded in medical devices, speakers warned at an American Enterprise Institute panel in Washington Wednesday. Last July, the FDA issued draft guidance on mobile medical applications and has collected comments on what to do next. Speakers warned that regulation appears likely. The development comes as the FCC puts increasing emphasis on medical uses for broadband, one of the chapters of the National Broadband Plan.

The real challenge of creating the new FirstNet comes down to communications and coordination, said utility company leaders, public safety representatives and government officials Wednesday during a United Telecommunications Council (UTC) workshop. The workshop focused on how best to foster cooperation among the groups in anticipation of FirstNet’s rollout in the 700 MHz band, as authorized by February’s spectrum law. Government officials noted Tuesday at a UTC session (CD June 20 p5) that utilities often act as first responders in emergencies and should have access to this premium spectrum along with public safety officials. Chris Essid, director of the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Emergency Communications said developing an interoperable broadband network is only a 20 percent technical challenge and 80 percent coordination. “It’s that coordination that needs to improve,” he said.

The Senate voted on changes to the Department of Agriculture’s RUS broadband program Wednesday and rejected several attempts to cap agency funding to expand broadband access in rural areas. The provisions were among the 73 amendments lawmakers considered in the ten-year 2012 Farm Bill. The Senate was poised to pass the bill Thursday but still had 40 remaining amendments to consider by our deadline.

Senate Judiciary Committee members voiced concern Wednesday over attempts to prevent the use of “standard-essential patents” they said have contributed significantly to competition, innovation and consumer choice in the high-tech industry. At a hearing on the implementation of the America Invents Act (AIA), Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he had written to the Obama administration that such efforts at the International Trade Commission to forestall use of patents “after promising to license them on reasonable terms could have anti-competitive effects.” The FTC has voiced concerns as well, he said.

House appropriators voted to cut FCC FY13 funding 5 percent to $323 million, during an Appropriations Committee markup Wednesday. The bill, which now awaits consideration on the House floor, gives the FCC $24 million less funding than the agency’s FY13 request of $347 million. The committee removed a provision that would have prevented the FCC from implementing its requirement for broadcasters to post political file information online.

Many parts of the wireline Internet business are working together more to better use bandwidth and deliver streaming video with fewer interruptions to broadband subscribers, executives from the array of industries said. They said the nascent efforts to link together websites, content delivery networks (CDNs) that more efficiently distribute video to broadband networks, and ISPs in loose federations of companies are slowly picking up steam. CDNs and major websites also increasingly offer to pay major U.S. ISPs for access to their central offices and headends, so the Web companies’ servers are placed in cable operator and telco facilities to streamline delivery of content to end-users, executives said.

As lawmakers grapple with the details of the nation’s first wireless broadband network for first responders, it may be “the chance of a lifetime to figure out how utilities can be integrated into this as emergency responders,” Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein told attendees of a Utilities Telecom Council conference on critical infrastructure Tuesday. There was broad consensus among the government panelists that during emergencies, utilities act as first responders and should get access to the first responder network.