Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., lambasted FCC transparency after the agency refused to show him the allotment optimization model (AOM) used by the commission to predict various possible outcomes of voluntary incentive auctions (CD June 21 p13). In an Aug. 3 letter, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told Dingell that disclosing the model would harm the agency’s process and the marketplace. The refusal is “deeply troubling from a number of perspectives,” Dingell replied in a letter Tuesday. “One wonders if perhaps Members of Congress would have an easier time getting information from the Commission by filing Freedom of Information Act requests."

Verizon and Verizon Wireless told the FCC a declaratory order remains the appropriate mechanism for addressing their concerns that the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) should be paid by the carriers seeking ports, not the carrier handing off numbers. Competitive carriers and cable operators disagreed. On June 1, the Wireline Bureau sought comment on Verizon’s May 20 petition and replies were due Monday (http://xrl.us/bk9qqm).

The GPS industry challenged LightSquared over the scope of interference to GPS signals if it were to begin service only in the lower part of the L-band. The objections came in reply comments filed at the FCC Monday. The effect to GPS services would be more far-ranging than LightSquared has let on, they said. The reply comments filed in docket 11-109 discuss the results reported by the FCC-required technical working group, meant to investigate interference concerns from LightSquared’s planned service. LightSquared continued to advocate its latest proposal, filed as part of the working group report, to begin service in the spectrum furthest away from the GPS services while also chastising GPS interests over their unwillingness to cooperate.

Capitol Hill is reviewing Google’s proposed $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, aides to lawmakers told us. The FCC will review the deal, but only to a limited extent, an FCC official said. Motorola Mobility has a few spectrum licenses and will have to apply for license transfers. In the near-term, it’s hard to see how the deal might affect small carriers as well as lobbying on the FCC’s proposed AllVid rules, officials told us. Google has much to gain from Motorola’s extensive patent portfolio, executives and analysts said. The companies are “confident” the deal, which would help protect the Android system from patent threats, will get approved by regulators in the U.S., Europe and possibly other jurisdictions, executives said during a conference call Monday announcing the deal.

LightSquared’s revised proposal to open operations in the lower 10 MHz channel of its band, 1525-1535 MHz, is expected to have the biggest effect on a class of high-precision, highly accurate devices that use receivers that make use of LightSquared’s entire band. The number of these devices is relatively small, perhaps 400,000 nationwide, LightSquared officials tell us. Not surprisingly, agricultural and other interests heavily invested in these high-precision devices have been among the most active in protesting LightSquared’s proposed network in recent filings at the FCC.

Government officials and industry executives are seeking technical and coordination improvements to the emergency alert system so that the first-ever nationwide test of EAS is smooth. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FCC and state emergency agencies spoke on a webinar Monday organized by FEMA. “Are You Ready for the Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test” was its title. Government officials and executives from the broadcasting and cable industries said they're making progress on improvements from earlier smaller-scale tests, and that some issues remain. And Chief Jamie Barnett of the FCC Public Safety Bureau said in a separate message to broadcasters that there will be more, “periodic” nationwide EAS tests.

All proposed interim solutions for sending text messages to 911 call centers have “issues and limitations” that restrict their usefulness, 4G Americas warned in a white paper it presented to the FCC’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee Friday. President Chris Pearson of 4G Americas presented the findings at an EAAC meeting.

The focal point of new media ownership rules is wholly back on the FCC, since all pending litigation challenging the agency’s last review of the limits has ended. Industry executives and lawyers, FCC officials and nonprofit representatives who oppose further consolidation agreed in interviews last week that the ball’s in the commission’s court. The regulator had been waiting for a ruling, which came in July from a Philadelphia appeals court, on how to proceed on diversity issues (CD July 8 p3). Another court Wednesday (CD Aug 11 p13) denied a licensing challenge on the 2008 order.

California’s inquiry on the T-Mobile sale to AT&T is looking into an open-ended range of actions to reduce possible harms. A ruling late Thursday by Administrative Law Judge Jessica Hecht of the Public Utilities Commission asked participants to discuss several avenues for protecting competition, promoting innovation and supporting service quality. The filing disclaimed any assumption that the commission has authority to act on all the points mentioned, at least beyond making recommendations to the FCC.

There hasn’t been an increase in consumer complaints or service outage reports since Verizon’s union workers went on strike, state commission officials told us. Negotiations continued in Rye, N.Y., and Philadelphia Thursday between Verizon and the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.