Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Anne Boyle ended a discussion on spectrum issues at NARUC Monday by calling CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe onto the carpet for what she said were “self serving,” misleading complaints about the high taxes paid by wireless subscribers. Much of the discussion focused on how to make more spectrum available to meet what many experts view as an inevitable spectrum crunch.

Coinstar’s new venture with Verizon gives it a long-sought digital streaming and download service, but whether that can be parlayed into wireless video business remains to be seen, analysts said. The deal with Verizon will allow Coinstar to offer “expanded content offerings and great flexibility for how and when they enjoy entertainment,” Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said in a prepared statement.

Consolidated Communications agreed to buy SureWest for $341 million in cash and stock, the companies said. The deal gives Consolidated SureWest’s 130,000 residential subscribers and 15,700 commercial businesses in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City areas. The combined companies will have about 1,775 employees. The move came less than two weeks after an analyst said Google could buy SureWest to boost its fiber initiatives. Consolidated will pay $23 per SureWest share, or an equal amount of Consolidated common stock. The per-share price represented a 47 percent premium to SureWest’s Friday closing stock price. The deal is expected to save $25 million in operating cost and $5 million to $10 million in capital expenditure, the companies said. Consolidated expects to incur merger and integration costs, excluding closing costs, of around $20 million to $25 million over the first two years after closing.

NARUC’s telecom committee passed its resolution on VoIP outage reporting requirements at its winter meeting Monday. But the risk of VoIP service outages doesn’t justify the burden on VoIP providers to report outages to the FCC, industry officials said at a committee meeting Sunday. Meanwhile, the 1996 Telecom Act is “growing long in the tooth” and there would be heavy discussions about what comes next over the next year, said Michael Powell, head of the National Cable Telecom Association, during a general session Monday.

Questions about Dish Network’s 700 MHz E-block licenses has emerged as a consideration in the FCC’s review of Dish’s takeover of S-band spectrum. AT&T and U.S. Cellular have asked the agency to impose restrictions to “harmonize” the 700 MHz spectrum. The efforts seem to have touched a nerve with Dish, which discussed the issue with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and an aide Friday (http://xrl.us/bmq5cy), following an FCC filing last week responding to AT&T. The filings may be more about negotiating leverage than about interference concerns, said industry observers. A Dish subsidiary owns licenses for 6 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in 170 markets.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell Friday expressed general support for FCC process reform legislation slated for markup in the House Commerce Committee. The stakes may have been raised after the outpouring of industry support for FCC reform last week (CD Feb 3 p1), a House staffer said. The staffer predicted an “unpredictable markup” with Democrats likely to file amendments on HR-3309. The markup had been expected Tuesday, but has been delayed due to a scheduling conflict, a committee spokeswoman said Friday.

Small carrier officials are asking the FCC to tee up a 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking notice for a vote at the March 21 meeting. The FCC committed in its AT&T/Qualcomm order in December to release the rulemaking in the first quarter (CD Dec 27 p1). Industry officials said they have been told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to vote on the notice in an open meeting. The agenda for the February meeting is already set, and the March meeting is the last of the quarter.

A Missouri bill could walk the line between public safety and individual privacy rights, officials said. HB-1108 (http://xrl.us/bmqpxh) requires wireless carriers to provide a missing person’s cellphone location to law enforcement when that person is in “danger of death or serious physical injury.” Testimony was heard by the House Committee of Utilities for the bill, which is similar to other legislation presented in the state three previous times. Those bills passed in the house but did not make it through the senate.

ViaSat filed a patent infringement and breach of contract suit against Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) Wednesday over propriety satellite designs. ViaSat alleged Space Systems/Loral used confidential information obtained while building a satellite for ViaSat to make a similar satellite for its direct competitor Hughes Network. Hughes wasn’t named as a party in the suit. SS/L said Friday it was in discussions with ViaSat over settlement but was prepared to go to trial. The ViaSat’s ViaSat-1 satellite, made by SS/L and designed with the patents SS/L is said to have infringed, was launched in October.

Georgia is the latest state to join the fight over municipal broadband. While the industry claimed the recently proposed Broadband Investment Equity Act (SB 313) would encourage private investment and level the playing field, opponents said the bill would overrule local decision-making authority in broadband.