Modernizing the E-Rate program is a major priority for the FCC, Chairman Tom Wheeler reiterated during a webinar for state and local government officials on Tuesday. “To say we're dedicated to the modernization of the entire program, there couldn’t be a truer statement,” Wheeler said. Addressing the pending rulemaking over cell facilities siting, he said, “It’s just really basic that if we're going to have competition that protects consumers, promotes innovation and drives lower prices, we have to have the facilities out there that will deliver the competition. Those facilities should not be impeded in their rollout.” On net neutrality, Wheeler said the January U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision was “an invitation to act and I intend to accept that invitation.” FCC Associate General Counsel Stephanie Weiner said an NPRM (see separate report above in this issue) on net neutrality could be released in late spring or early summer. Wheeler also repeated that the FCC is seeking to preserve enduring values like universal service during the IP transition. Matthew DelNero, Wireline Bureau deputy chief, said a managerial framework laying out the order in which the FCC might handle IP transition issues could be released later this spring.

AT&T hasn’t given up on the FCC’s incentive TV auction, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said on a call with analysts Tuesday as the company released its results for the first quarter of 2014. “We would like to participate at the auction,” he said. “We are and have been working with the commission to establish auction rules that will promote a good result for AT&T, but will also promote a successful result for the auction.” Stephens said while AT&T is always looking for spectrum, “we feel pretty good with our spectrum position right now; we feel like we've positioned ourselves well.” AT&T Q1 wireless revenue rose 7 percent over the same quarter from last year, it said. Consolidated revenue was $32.5 billion, up 3.6 percent, AT&T said in an earnings release (http://soc.att.com/1jGjS3d). Earnings per share were a diluted 70 cents compared to 67 cents a year earlier. AT&T added 625,000 net wireless subscribers, its best quarter in five years, it said. Seventy-two percent of the adds were tablets. Post-paid churn was 1.07 percent in what Stephens termed “a noisy competitive environment.” Wireline revenue was up 4.6 percent and the carrier now has 11.3 million total U-verse subscribers, the company said. “Wireless postpaid net adds were more than twice as many as a year ago, AT&T Next sales surpassed our expectations, and we had a tremendous surge in Mobile Share plans of 10 gigs or higher,” said CEO Randall Stephenson. “We also had our best wireline consumer revenue growth since we first introduced U-verse in 2006 as our Project VIP build continues to make progress.”

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez will speak on a panel on international cooperation in merger cases at the International Competition Network (ICN) Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Friday, said an FTC press release (http://1.usa.gov/1pndwgb). The conference, which begins Wednesday, features “antitrust officials and private sector antitrust experts from around the world and representatives of intergovernmental organizations,” who will “discuss key competition issues and recent ICN work in the areas of agency effectiveness, mergers, unilateral conduct, cartels, and advocacy,” it said. The FTC and the Justice Department, along with 13 international antitrust organizations, created the ICN in October 2001, it said. The conference ends Friday, it said.

AT&T said Monday it wants to expand its U-verse with GigaPower fiber network into 21 additional metro areas, serving an additional 100 cities. The potential expansion areas are: Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Greensboro, N.C., Houston, Jacksonville, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Tenn., Oakland, Calif., Orlando, Fla., San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif. The telco said Monday it has begun negotiations with local governments in the 21 markets, as it previously did in Austin, Texas, and Dallas. AT&T is already offering a 300 Mbps version of the service in Austin and plans to deploy the 1 Gbps service later this year (http://soc.att.com/1jx3TEr). AT&T said it is also continuing “advanced discussions” on deployment of the fiber network in two North Carolina markets -- Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem (CD April 11 p14). The planned network can deliver broadband speeds of up to 1 Gbps and AT&T’s “most advanced TV services,” the telco said. Google has already rolled out fiber service in Kansas City, Kan., and is deploying its network in other cities in the Kansas City metro area and Austin that could overlap with AT&T’s planned network. Other potential areas where Google wants to deploy include Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham and San Jose. AT&T’s announcement “heralds a tipping point: fiber in the Americas is on fire,” said Fiber to the Home Council Americas President Heather Burnett Gold in a statement. “Around the world -- but importantly, here in the U.S. -- we are beginning to see fiber to the home treated not as a novelty, but as vital public and private infrastructure.”

Libraries are “so incredibly key to what gets done” in the country, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at an event hosted by the Institute of Library and Museum Services Thursday (http://cs.pn/1l9dXJm). “The library has always been the on-ramp to the world of information and ideas, and now that on-ramp is at gigabit speeds.” Libraries are playing an increasingly important role in American society, as students go there to get online after school, and Americans use Internet access there to apply for healthcare or a job, he said. E-rate modernization is important, Wheeler said. “Reallocations of resources are never easy, and never pleasant, but they're essential if we are to keep moving forward,” he said. The FCC is moving toward a “broadband to the person” model, focusing not just on bringing Internet to the library but to the individual inside the library, he said. “The key is not just more money -- although if more money is warranted, we will deal with that,” Wheeler said. “The key is money well-spent by encouraging consortia; by creating longer support periods so you can have longer contracts with lower rates; and by establishing a system of reference pricing so that people know what is a fair price.” Librarians aren’t expected to become telecom experts that can “haggle with telecom companies,” he said. Limited pilot programs will also test new approaches that could benefit everyone, Wheeler said. Andrew Carnegie built 2,500 libraries in a public-private partnership, defining information access for millions of people for more than a century, Wheeler said. “We stand on the precipice of being able to have the same kind of seminal impact on the flow of information and ideas in the 21st century,” he said. “That’s why reform of the E-rate program is so essential.” Parents have lost some focus on the idea that kids need to come to school prepared to learn, said Tom Power, deputy chief technology officer for telecom at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. The school is not just an “island” where education happens, he said; the whole community needs to be focused on educating children. That’s why the role of libraries is so important, Power said. He highlighted three NTIA case studies released Thursday on the impact of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program on connecting libraries (http://1.usa.gov/1l9dVBi). In Delaware, new job centers helped 420 people obtain job offers; in Michigan, the installation of several thousand computers saved users more than 160,000 hours of wait time per year for library computers; in Texas, a nonprofit technology group worked with libraries and social service organizations to train more than a million participants on computer and Internet use. “Libraries are truly centers of lifetime learning,” Power said.

The FCC announced its agenda for the April 23 meeting (http://fcc.us/1eKAiud). The commission will consider a rulemaking implementing changes to the 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation order, with an accompanying further notice of proposed rulemaking proposing further updates. The commission will also consider a further notice amending its rules for commercial operations in the 3550-3650 MHz band. The FNPRM would “implement an innovative three-tier spectrum sharing approach to make up to 150 megahertz of spectrum available” in that band, it said. Both items were expected to see FCC action.

Wireless operations could be conducted in the 1675-1680 MHz band on a shared basis with earth stations operating in that band by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a LightSquared report said. The report, along with one previously submitted, underscores “the substantial public interest benefits ... from allowing LightSquared to share access to the 1675-1680 MHz band,” LightSquared said in a filing in docket 12-340 (http://bit.ly/1t63Vd7). In light of the reports’ findings, the FCC should issue an allocation NPRM on shared commercial and federal use of the 1675-1680 MHz band, it said. Issuing an NPRM would contribute to the certainty and stability necessary “to drive the efficient use of all wireless spectrum and encourage investment in innovation next-generation broadband communications networks,” it said. Both reports were done by Alion. The first report was submitted this year (CD Jan 31 p18).

Satellite backhaul provides the best way for 3G/LTE cellular providers to extend their networks in areas where terrestrial facilities are limited or cost-prohibitive, a Hughes report said. The report, released Monday, examined various technologies for backhauling Radio Area Network traffic from cell towers to the core network, Hughes said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1iiM8uo). Satellite offers cost savings, better performance and logistical advantages over fiber and other options “in filling coverage gaps of cellular mobile networks,” it said. The research was done by Frost & Sullivan. To address the space segment requirement for a backhaul application, the satellite industry has been implementing advanced technology to increase space segment efficiency, the report said (http://bit.ly/Q7clBZ). The cost of satellite access is independent of location, “whereas the cost-effectiveness of microwave towers is directly linked to the distance needed to travel and subsequent number of hops necessary,” it said. The recognition of satellite technology as a viable, cost-effective alternative to fiber for backhaul resulted in an estimated compound annual growth rate of about 5 percent for the satellite backhaul market between 2012 and 2017, it said.

Netflix’s speed on the Comcast network is up 65 percent since January as a result of the companies’ paid peering agreement (CD March 5 p1), Netflix said in a Monday blog post (http://nflx.it/1m3je27). The increase to 2.5 Mbps caused Comcast to jump six spots, to No. 5, in Netflix’s rankings of the top 16 fastest networks (http://nflx.it/MOnbuE). Cablevision-Optimum remains No. 1. “This month’s rankings are a great illustration of how performance can improve when ISPs work to connect directly to Netflix,” Netflix said. Netflix has previously lamented that it felt it had to make its deal with Comcast, calling on the FCC to ensure net neutrality and avoid a proliferation of paid peering deals (CD March 24 p1).

Dish Network went on the record as generally pleased by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal for spectrum aggregation limits in the TV incentive auction. Details emerged Friday after industry briefings started on the proposal (CD April 14 p1). “The FCC’s spectrum aggregation proposal appears to provide some elegant solutions to complex problems, and strikes a reasonable balance between generating revenue and promoting competition,” said Jeff Blum, senior vice president, in an emailed statement.