Smaller wireless carriers are ramping up pressure on the FCC to take steps as part of any approval of AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm to reconsolidate the lower 700 MHz band, enhancing their ability to get handsets at reasonable prices. The Rural Cellular Association, C Spire and Vulcan Wireless have been particularly active, holding a series of meetings at the FCC in recent weeks.

Some small retransmission consent disputes around the country are beginning to heat up as TV stations and distributors fail to reach new deals. Dish Network called out Heritage Broadcasting for ending talks this week over carriage of WFQF-TV and WWTV-TV Traverse City, Mich. And the American TV Alliance criticized Cordillera Broadcasting’s negotiating position against Time Warner Cable in Corpus Christi, Texas.

It seems unlikely spectrum negotiations are finished between the House and Senate Commerce committees, despite frustrations voiced by each side, multiple telecom industry lobbyists said Thursday. But governance of the public safety network continues to divide the chambers, they said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., complained Wednesday that the House had halted talks on a spectrum deal (CD Dec 15 p1). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., responded that he’s waiting for the Senate to pass its own spectrum legislation. Congressional leaders said Thursday they were moving closer to agreement on a payroll tax cut bill, which has been used as a vehicle for spectrum legislation.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear challenges to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund order, it was announced late Wednesday. At least 13 challenges have been filed in various circuits; the 10th in Denver was picked in the judicial lottery to take the case. But even as the case was winding its way through the system, FCC officials on Thursday warned lawyers and lobbyists for wireless companies that the commission was hoping to launch a further rulemaking on reverse auctions as early as next month, with a goal of having the first auctions by the end of Q3 2012.

The House dropped a referendum on the FCC net neutrality order from its fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill. In a new appropriations omnibus bill introduced late Wednesday, the House also increased its proposal for funding the FCC to nearly $340 million. The package was apparently the result of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. The House hopes to vote on the package Friday, an Appropriations Committee spokeswoman said. To prevent a government shutdown, Congress must pass an appropriations bill or continuing resolution (CR) by Friday when the current CR expires.

A protocol for standardizing rules for security interests in space assets such as satellites will go ahead despite industry concerns, International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit) Deputy Secretary-General Martin Stanford told us Wednesday. Satellite operators, spacecraft manufacturers, launch service providers, insurance and financial companies and satellite and space-related associations said in a Dec. 9 letter to Stanford that the instrument is being foisted on them despite strong opposition. The current draft will introduce new and unneeded regulations for satellite financing and is inconsistent with market practices, more than 90 companies and trade groups said. Moreover, they said, it will deter potential investors and boost insurance premiums and transactional costs. But Unidroit intends to proceed because the protocol will benefit developing and emerging economies, Stanford told us.

In light of the expiration of a tax exemption in New Hampshire, FairPoint is looking to either recover the cost by initiating a “municipal property tax surcharge” or reinstating the exemption through the state legislature, the company said. For years, phone poles in New Hampshire were exempt from property taxes, even though they were taxed in almost every other state. Meanwhile, regulators in Maine are questioning the company’s claim that it has reached its broadband buildout target, one of the major conditions it had agreed to for approval of its acquisition of Verizon landlines in northern New England.

Having spent nearly $3 billion buying wireless spectrum, Dish Network has no intention of selling it and remains open to additional acquisitions and alliances, CEO Joe Clayton told us.

The FCC’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee this week made public a draft version of its long-awaited report on making 911 easier to use by people with disabilities. EAAC acknowledged that the move to next-generation 911 systems will take years to accomplish, but argued that handicapped people should be able to make emergency calls using devices they already use every day. EAAC filed the draft report in response to an FCC notice of proposed rulemaking on short- and long-term options for enabling consumers to send text messages to 911. The final version is still being readied for release by the group, which was created as part of the Twenty-First Century Communication and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.

The FCC should learn from the problems of the DTV transition and set a “date certain” for the end of the public switched telephone network regime, Consumer Federation of America Research Director Marc Cooper said Wednesday. “The big mistake [with DTV] was we let the holdouts set the date and set the time,” Cooper said in a series of panel discussions at the FCC. “There are people who will be reluctant, there will people who will need protection during the transition, but they shouldn’t be allowed to set the date. That date is a drop-dead date. That’s what we need in this space."