The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will join the FCC and Connect2Compete to make digital literacy training available in public housing locations throughout the country, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday. HUD will work with public housing agencies, industry and tribal groups to raise awareness about the Connect2Compete digital literacy program, Genachowski said. Assisted by Best Buy’s “Geek Squads,” the groups will initially roll out their training programs in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, and St. Paul, Minn., an FCC spokesman said. Best Buy is among the companies that’s been working with the C2C program of cable ISPs and other companies to provide inexpensive broadband service to poor households (WID Aug 8 p4). The Internet is the platform for education, healthcare and public safety, and “it’s just not acceptable to think of this platform as anything other than a universal service” that’s available to everyone in the country, Genachowski said. “If you have connectivity but you don’t know how to use the programs and the software, it doesn’t really help,” he said. “I am in love with Connect2Compete,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “The most important predictor” of a child’s success in life is their ZIP code, he said. “That is simply wrong in the United States today,” he said. “That’s what this partnership is about."

Feb. 10-11 Silicon Flatirons Internet innovation event, Room 101, University of Colorado Law School, Boulder -- http://xrl.us/bnos9m

Oklatel Communications seeks a waiver of FCC rules requiring eligible telecom carriers to demonstrate annually that they have engaged tribal governments in their universal service supported areas. Oklatel is unable, “as a practical and logical matter,” to meet the tribal engagement obligations, it said, because “the Tribal population served by Oklatel is different than that of typical Tribal lands” (http://xrl.us/bn83tm). The obligations are “inappropriate” as applied to Oklatel because, although the telco serves consumers that are members of federally recognized tribes, it “serves no Tribal ’sovereign institutions,’ ‘Tribal governments,’ or ‘Tribal Councils,'” Oklatel said, quoting the rules. “With zero formal Tribal communities and Tribal governments in its service area, it will be exceedingly difficult for Oklatel to comply with the Commission’s Tribal engagement obligations in any meaningful fashion."

NTIA is likely to be “even busier in 2013 than 2012,” said NTIA Deputy Administrator Anna Gomez in a blog post on NTIA’s website (http://xrl.us/bn8byu). “We expect the consumer data privacy multistakeholder work on establishing a code of conduct on mobile application transparency to conclude successfully, and the stakeholders to move on to other business contexts,” Gomez said. “We expect the majority of our broadband grant projects to wrap up by the fall, and we look forward to celebrating the successes of the projects and moving the needle on broadband deployment and adoption in the United States. ... We also will continue to work on spectrum sharing and fulfilling the President’s 500 megahertz goal, including completing the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) working group activities and analyses of existing bands, and moving on to new activities.” Also on tap, NTIA will soon issue requirements for the $135 million State and Local Implementation Grant Program to support states, regional and tribal entities and local jurisdictions as they work with the new FirstNet, Gomez said.

The track record of wireline carriers in Phase I of the Connect America Fund (CAF) program versus that of wireless carriers in Phase I of the Mobility Fund demonstrates that wireless deserves more funding in the revised high-cost USF program, the Competitive Carriers Association said in comments filed at the commission. On Nov. 27, the FCC sought comment on Phase II of the mobility program, which will provide up to $500 million each year in continuing support. CTIA also offered suggestions, while acknowledging that comments were tough to write since the program is still taking shape.

The FCC will provide broadband for nearly 75,000 low-income people who lack service, in 14 projects across 21 states and Puerto Rico as part of its Lifeline broadband adoption pilot program. It'll run 18 months, start Feb. 1 and subsidize service for a year, the Wireline Bureau said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bn68f8). The bureau will collect and analyze data in the final three months, it said. The variety of projects will include five wireless broadband projects, seven wireline broadband projects and two that'll offer wireline or wireless, the FCC said. Seven will test discounted service in rural areas, including two on tribal lands, and seven in urban and suburban areas. Tested variables will include use of digital literacy training, equipment types, subsidy levels, speed ranges and usage limits, the bureau said. Lifeline has saved more than $210 million in 2012, the bureau said, saying that’s higher than its target. The FCC reiterated its Lifeline reforms, such as eliminating Link-Up subsidies and putting in place measures to limit one Lifeline subsidy per household. The broadband adoption pilot will cost $14 million, to come from the overall Lifeline savings, the commission said. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said in a separate news release she was pleased with the FCC’s expansion of the Lifeline program for universal broadband adoption. “We must close the digital divide in this country and the FCC moving forward today to establishing a broadband adoption pilot program through the USF will move us closer to that goal,” she said.

The FCC will provide broadband for nearly 75,000 low-income people who lack service, in 14 projects across 21 states and Puerto Rico as part of its Lifeline broadband adoption pilot program. It'll run 18 months, start Feb. 1 and subsidize service for a year, the Wireline Bureau said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bn68f8). The bureau will collect and analyze data in the final three months, it said. The variety of projects will include five wireless broadband projects, seven wireline broadband projects and two that'll offer wireline or wireless, the FCC said. Seven will test discounted service in rural areas, including two on tribal lands, and seven in urban and suburban areas. Tested variables will include use of digital literacy training, equipment types, subsidy levels, speed ranges and usage limits, the bureau said. Lifeline has saved more than $210 million in 2012, the bureau said, saying that’s higher than its target. The FCC reiterated its Lifeline reforms, such as eliminating Link-Up subsidies and putting in place measures to limit one Lifeline subsidy per household. The broadband adoption pilot will cost $14 million, to come from the overall Lifeline savings, the commission said.

Florida’s Lifeline program grew notably from July 2011 to June 2012, the state’s public service commission said in a report (http://xrl.us/bn6v8k). The annual report was released Monday and will be presented to the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott later this month, the PSC said (http://xrl.us/bn6v8n). The FCC killed the state’s Link Up program, which helped fund installation expenses, except for on tribal lands, in April, it added, but the number of Lifeline customers grew by 9.7 percent to 1,035,858 as of June, largely due to the “designation of prepaid wireless providers” as eligible telecommunications carriers, the PSC said. Five companies account for 98 percent of subscribers: SafeLink Wireless, Assurance Wireless, AT&T Florida, Verizon Florida and CenturyLink. The report cited high numbers of state residents receiving food stamps and noted that it’s the largest qualifying program for Lifeline in Florida. “Staff anticipates that Lifeline enrollment of new customers will continue to grow due to the current economic conditions,” the report added. The report also described how Florida is meeting the FCC’s Lifeline reform requirements. Florida Universal Service Administrative Co. Lifeline disbursements amounted to $111.39 million over this period.

The Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services plans a summit Feb. 7. The focus will be “best practices learned from broadband adoption programs and academic studies/surveys, and how implementation of these best practices can close the broadband adoption gap among Americans -- particularly low-income households, racial and ethnic minorities, seniors, rural residents, residents of Tribal lands and people with disabilities,” the FCC said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn5v7i). The meeting will be all day long at FCC headquarters and will be webcast, with further details to come.

The FCC approved rules moving toward implementing the Local Community Radio Act, which includes a fifth order on reconsideration that establishes a national limit of 70 applications, and a sixth report and order establishing a second-adjacent channel spacing waiver standard, during its meeting Friday. The FCC plans to open a filing window for new low power FM applications in October 2013.