CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom jointly asked the FCC to “proceed expeditiously” in selecting a new Local Number Portability Administrator, but to keep cost savings in mind. Providers have been raising concerns about the “escalating costs” of the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) databases since 2005, the associations said. The cost will increase by 6.5 percent in 2014 under the current contract’s terms. “Our members -- and ultimately all voice customers -- are the ones paying this sizeable bill,” the groups said. The current contract expires June 30 “and our members are hoping to achieve material cost savings at that time, regardless of which vendor is selected,” they said. The letter was filed in docket 95-116.

The government continues to make progress toward the administration’s goal of identifying 500 MHz of spectrum for broadband by 2020, NTIA said in a report released Thursday. NTIA said between October 2010 and September 2013 it identified up to 405 MHz for broadband (http://1.usa.gov/1xe9U1I). NTIA cited: 15 MHz in the 1695-1710 MHz band, 100 in the 3550-3650 MHz band, 95 in the 1755-1850 MHz band, and 195 MHz in the 5350-5470 MHz and 5850-5925 MHz bands. The AWS-3 auction is government’s top priority at this point, NTIA said. “The focus for the next 12 months will be to engage industry and government stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition of the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1780 MHz bands as the FCC approaches the auction for these bands,” the agency said. NTIA also discussed the importance of expanded Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz band and a final rule on 3.5 GHz spectrum, targeted for sharing and small cell use. “America’s future competitiveness and global technology leadership depend on access to radio spectrum -- the lifeblood of smartphones, tablets, and other data-hungry wireless devices,” NTIA said in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1kNHEci).

Free State Foundation President Randolph May is raising questions about one part of the net neutrality rulemaking notice, the use of presumptions in the decision-making process. The FCC seeks comment on the use of rebuttable presumptions “as a tool to focus attention on the likely impacts of particular [ISP] practices,” May said in a blog post: The problem is the commission is thinking about presumptions in the wrong way, “exactly backwards.” The FCC asks whether it should “adopt a rebuttable presumption that broadband provider conduct that forecloses rivals (of the provider or its affiliates) from competing in the marketplace is commercially unreasonable?” May said (http://bit.ly/1jV4EFT). “The Commission is posing the question in a way that presumes an answer that almost certainly will restrict broadband Internet providers’ business practices."

The FCC clarified that FY 2014 application fees kick in July 3, instead of June 6, as had been previously announced, in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1kD2NKW).

Verizon Vice President-Federal Regulatory Affairs David Young blasted Netflix Wednesday, saying the company had engaged in a PR stunt to blame ISPs for buffering transmissions to its customers. In a blog post, Young cited reports Netflix is displaying a message to some customers whose connection has been slow, saying “The Verizon network is crowded right now.” “This claim is not only inaccurate, it is deliberately misleading,” Young said (http://vz.to/1kD6TTk). “The source of the problem is almost certainly NOT congestion in Verizon’s network. Instead, the problem is most likely congestion on the connection that Netflix has chosen to use to reach Verizon’s network.” Netflix, not Verizon, is responsible for its connection to an ISP, Young wrote. “It is sad that Netflix is willing to deliberately mislead its customers so they can be used as pawns in business negotiations and regulatory proceedings.” Netflix spokesman Joris Evers told us in an email Netflix is not picking on Verizon. “We are testing ways to let consumers know how their Netflix experience is being affected by congestion on their broadband provider’s network,” he said. Tests in the U.S. started last month, he said. BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said Netflix likely wants to send Verizon a bigger message. Despite signing direct peering and interconnection agreements with Comcast and Verizon in recent weeks “it is clear that Netflix is upset and believes peering should be free,” Greenfield said. “As a result, Netflix is looking to harness the power of its subscriber base to drive its message home to regulators and politicians.”

NTIA issued request for comment on how the White House consumer privacy bill of rights (http://1.usa.gov/1hwy3KA) should be updated, given the findings of the recent White House big data report (CD May 2 p3). The report concluded the administration should seek more stakeholder input before issuing any broad consumer privacy legislative proposal, and tasked NTIA with leading the process. Commerce Department Secretary Penny Pritzker said Wednesday’s request for comment “is part of our continuing dialogue among government, business, consumers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders about maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks of big data.” NTIA seeks comment on what sections of the bill of rights need to be “clarified or modified” to address big data. It seeks input on “whether a responsible use framework should be used to address the challenges posed by big data.” The focus on data use restrictions -- not on data collection restrictions -- was a notable aspect of the White House big data report, observers told us. Instructions for submitting comments are at http://1.usa.gov/1iWsB01.

Correction: Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., isn’t running for his Senate seat this year, choosing to retire at the end of his term instead, nor is he a member of the Commerce Committee (CD June 4 p5).

Comedian John Oliver’s 13-minute attack on the FCC’s proposed net neutrality rules Sunday night was apparently enough to crash agency’s Electronic Comment Filing System Monday (CD June 3 p5). ECFS went down several times Monday. An FCC official said Tuesday the agency encountered technical difficulties Monday “due to heavy traffic,” but the site was up and running Tuesday. Oliver called on Internet “monsters” to let the FCC have it, during his HBO weekly program, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. FCC officially logged 1,506 comments Monday, many of them texts. “It’s sad that in the United States today, ISPs can buy the political influence necessary to usurp the will of the people,” one said. A second called the proposal “obviously just a way for rich cable CEO’s [sic] to blackmail people into paying more money.”

Correction: The TVfreedom.org blog post urging the pay-TV industry to end price increases to its subscribers is from May 22 (CD June 3 p7).

Free Press has begun campaigning against industry-backed Republican House legislation that would stop the FCC from reclassifying broadband as a Title II telecom service, as net neutrality advocates have requested. House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, last week introduced HR-4752 (CD May 30 p6), which has no co-sponsors and is referred to the Commerce Committee. “Latta’s bill is for the biggest companies that punch his campaign dance ticket, and not for the millions of people who have urged the FCC to protect the open Internet by making these same companies common carriers,” wrote Free Press Senior Director-Strategy Tim Karr in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1ku9zCo). Karr cited the $60,450 Latta has received in the 2014 election cycle from telecom and media industry players, including many “Net Neutrality haters,” as Karr called them. MapLight research “shows that the members of Congress who have been most active in opposing the idea of establishing net neutrality rules under Title II have received more than twice as much campaign money from the cable industry as the average for all House members,” President Daniel Newman told us in a statement last week when asked about Latta’s bill. Karr dismissed the legislation as “toxic” and urged people to send letters to Congress attacking it (http://bit.ly/1x1GfIY). Latta, in posting a link to industry endorsements for the legislation on his Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/1ueu74P), was widely attacked on these counts across several dozen comments. “Congrats on your new job at Comcast,” one commenter told Latta. “Thanks for nothing.” In response, Latta defended his position. “Those seeking to impose 1930’s telephone regulations on the Internet are desperately seeking a solution in search of a problem,” Latta told us in a statement. “The classification of broadband Internet access as an information service is a long-standing position I have held that has been shared by both the Federal Communications Commission and the Supreme Court. Regulating the Internet as a public utility is bad for the economy, bad for jobs, and most importantly, bad for consumers.”