FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reiterated the importance of holding voluntary, incentive auctions as an available tool to free up more spectrum, during a Q-and-A with David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, at the Washington Economics Club Wednesday. The FCC is focused on tackling two big spectrum issues: How to free up more spectrum and how to reduce barriers to deploy infrastructure, Genachowski said.

The Federal Trade Commission will complete its analysis of the news business within “the next month or so” and the tone of the report may not be as bleak as it first appeared, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at a Federal Communications Bar Association luncheon Wednesday. “I'm not so worried about that,” Leibowitz said. “There are a lot of great stories about new start-ups.” The report will likely suggest that the government help the news industry by putting more information online and may look at competition rules, Leibowitz said.

Sprint Nextel and Cellular South turned up the heat on federal regulators to reject AT&T’s $39 billion buy of T-Mobile, a deal announced one month ago on March 20. Critics and supporters of the deal told us they expect to see opposition intensify, especially after AT&T formally seeks approval of the transaction in a filing at the FCC expected to be made Thursday.

The FCC should use its ancillary authority under Section 154(i) of the Telecom Act to apply anti-Caller-ID “spoofing” rules to VoIP providers, the Department of Justice said in a filing at the FCC. “Although the Commission has not classified interconnected VoIP service as a telecommunications service for the general purposes of Title II, it has previously used its ancillary authority … to extend many common carrier obligations to VoIP providers,” said criminal division Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein in Justice’s comments. “Here, the Commission’s ancillary authority under Section 154(i), in conjunction with the provisions of the Truth in Caller ID Act, is sufficient to empower the Commission to regulate such providers.” The commission is in the midst of a rulemaking on how to implement the 2009 Act, and comments came pouring into docket 11-39 this week.

The FCC’s proposal to revamp the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation apparently could benefit some states while hurting others, according to comments in the proceeding. But states in general supported retaining and enhancing a state role in any rewrite. The FCC is expected to complete some of the USF overhaul by late summer (see separate report in this issue).

The FCC is on track to complete part of Universal Service Fund overhaul by late summer, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Tuesday during a taping of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, scheduled to air over the weekend. Clyburn also said she has not prejudged AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, a deal on which the companies are expected to formally seek commission approval in filings Thursday.

With less than four months to go before an FCC-promised deadline for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, industry appears to be divided on how to fix the system. The American Cable Association, for instance, said its “diverse and interested membership” meant the association “has had to navigate and balance strongly competing interests, while ensuring any policy proposals are in the public interest.” The FCC’s proposed rewrites at least “provide a good starting point to bring broadband to unserved areas, and, through refinements and targeted rebalancing, there is the potential to adopt reforms this year to reorient the High-Cost fund to improve efficiency and achieve universal broadband service,” ACA said in its comments. All comments were posted to dockets 10-90, 09-51, 07-135, 05-337, 01-92, 96-45 and 03-109.

Better data and accuracy is needed as the National Broadband Map continues to evolve, panelists said at a Broadband Breakfast Club briefing Tuesday. Better broadband data is key to national policies as well as support of ongoing broadband initiatives at the state and local level, they said.

There’s no evidence yet to suggest that blocking and throttling are threatening the open Internet, the European Commission said Tuesday in a statement on net neutrality to the European Parliament and Council. However, if further investigation uncovers “significant and persistent” problems, the EC won’t rule out legislative fixes, it said. The “wait and see” approach appeared to sit well with industry sectors, but digital advocacy and consumer groups strongly criticized it.

The FCC should “immediately” tackle phantom traffic and traffic pumping but should provide “careful transitions” as it reforms the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regimes with “great care,” USTelecom said in comments posted to dockets 10-90, 09-51, 07-135, 05-337, 01-92, 96-45 and 03-109. “Until targeted universal service support provides sufficient explicit funding for networks in high-cost areas, any mandated rate reductions must be coupled with a reasonable opportunity for providers to replace the revenues lost … through a combination of increased retail rate flexibility and a supplement fund,” USTelecom said. USTelecom is leading talks to try to come up with an industry-wide reform. But the commission has made clear that it wants to move to orders on USF and intercarrier comp distribution by the end of the summer. “Intercarrier compensation reform must be accomplished by providing opportunities for carriers to replace lost revenues in order to allow the continuation of support for networks, particularly those in high-cost rural areas,” USTelecom said in Monday’s comments.