GAO found that federal agencies adjusted digital strategies as more consumers embraced mobile devices. “The Office of Management and Budget, in response to the milestones laid out in its Digital Government Strategy, created the Digital Services Advisory Group, which -- together with the General Services Administration‘s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology -- has provided federal agencies with guidance, resources, and tools to enhance access to government services via mobile devices,” GAO said in the 44-page report released Monday. “Five of the six agencies GAO interviewed have taken steps to improve access to their websites via mobile devices. For example, in 2012, the Department of Transportation (DOT) redesigned its main website, www.dot.gov, to provide a platform for mobile access.” It cited data from the Pew Research Center about the growing trend toward mobile services. GAO described ongoing efforts at various agencies, with some changes yet to come. GAO examined the Interior and Transportation departments, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service, Federal Maritime Commission and National Endowment for the Arts. “PDFs are difficult to download on a mobile device, in part because of the large amount of data they contain,” GAO said. “Some of these agencies are trying to reduce the number of data-intensive PDF files on their websites, but a number of these data-intensive PDFs are still present.”

A recent Congressional Research Service report gave an update on efforts to include radio chips in smartphones. “The business case for marketing radio/phone combinations is straightforward for the radio industry: increase radio listeners -- and advertising revenue -- by reaching potential new audiences through their cellphones,” wrote telecom policy analyst Linda Moore in the report, dated last week. “The business case for wireless carriers to include FM radio is more complex.” The report didn't outline specific steps Capitol Hill is taking or could take in this arena but did emphasize the focus on wireless reliability. “With an increasing number of people relying on mobile devices connected to the Internet as their primary source of information, the reliability of these networks has become a concern for policy makers,” CRS said. “At the federal level, for example, the FCC has undertaken a number of actions intended to improve wireless network reliability.”

The FCC may impose “even higher forfeitures in the future” than the $10 million proposed fines against TerraCom and YourTel if “appropriate,” Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Nelson will become ranking member of the Commerce Committee in the next Congress and wrote Wheeler worrying that the fines, proposed after the companies failed to protect confidential consumer information in Lifeline eligibility determination, are not sufficient deterrents (see 1410280039). “We take this concern very seriously,” Wheeler told Nelson in a letter, released last week. He explained the factors used to determine the $10 million figure and said future fines could be higher.

The FCC’s inmate calling actions from fall 2013 are “already having positive results,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Va., in a letter the agency released last week. “Lower interstate rates and increased ICS [inmate calling services] usage enable more families to connect with inmates. Unfortunately, intrastate rates have increased in many states. Moreover, ICS providers are imposing an increasing array of ancillary charges, and correctional facilities are continuing to demand site commissions -- payments to facilities that are not based on their costs to provision ICS -- representing a significant portion of ICS provider gross revenues.” He cited a second further notice that the FCC issued in October to explore these issues and its goal to overhaul ICS “comprehensively” in addition to ensuring appropriate cost recovery and transition times for correctional facilities.

House lawmakers cautioned against handing over Internet governance regulations to the ITU, while affirming their commitment to the multistakeholder model, in an essay on the Re/code site last week. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., signed the essay, along with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif. “Many countries joined the U.S. in recognizing that multi-stakeholder governance will ensure the resilience of the Internet, and enable commerce and economic development,” it said. “They are increasingly seeing the self-interest and incentives of resisting an ITU-centric model, because it could empower countries to censor the free flow of information and suppress dissent, as well as stifle broadband investment in both e-commerce and network infrastructure.”

Congress should maintain “strong net neutrality protections” in any update of the Communications Act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and 10 other Democratic senators said in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. Thune has said he hopes a Communications Act rewrite will be part of the agenda when he becomes Senate Commerce chairman next month (see 1412120057). In the letter, released Friday, Reid and the letter’s other signers said they believe the FCC should “take strong action” on net neutrality but stopped short of calling for Title II reclassification. “We would forcefully oppose any reforms that would undermine the FCC’s authority” on net neutrality, the senators said. The letter’s other signers included Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who will both be on the Senate Commerce Committee in the 114th Congress.

Claims that reclassifying broadband would mean new state and local taxes are “baloney,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,wrote in a blog post Thursday. The Internet Tax Freedom Act “broadly defined the term ‘Internet access,’” making it “illegal to tax the internet,” Wyden wrote. “Under Title II or otherwise, the FCC could define the Internet as a series of tubes and ITFA would still prohibit taxes.” The grandfathering clause in ITFA “will not allow cities to suddenly open the Internet up to telecom taxes,” Wyden wrote. A Progressive Policy Institute study said reclassification would lead to $15 billion more nationally in state and local taxes (see 1412150053). PPI Senior Fellow Hal Singer, who co-wrote the study with Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Robert Litan, said Friday that IFTA does shield broadband from general sales taxes, and he has reduced the annual estimated increase to $11 billion. “Perhaps Wyden is missing the larger point: Since state-based telecom-based FEES are already on the books, reclassifying broadband as telecom makes it EASIER for states to apply those same fees to broadband,” Singer emailed. “Rather than having to pass new legislation, an unelected bureaucrat in some local or state tax office can simply grab a new source of revenues for taxation, citing the FCC’s new definition of broadband.” The study didn't include the grandfathering issue, Singer said. NCTA, which has run ads warning of tax and fee increases under a Title II net neutrality approach, supports ITFA and its permanent extension, an association spokesman said. "ITFA does provide protection from many state and local taxes. However it does not close the door on the full range of taxes and fees -- including Universal Service Fund fees – that could be imposed if broadband were reclassified as a telecommunications service," the spokesman said.

Six new subcommittees, including the Information Technology Subcommittee, will be added to the House Oversight Committee in the next Congress, incoming committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said in a news release Wednesday. Rep.-elect Will Hurd, R-Texas, will chair the IT subcommittee, the release said. Hurd is a former Central Intelligence Agency official, according to his website. “Each of the incoming Chairs brings valuable knowledge and experience to the subcommittees they have been selected to lead and I am grateful for their commitment to bringing vigorous oversight to the federal government,” Chaffetz said in the release. The IT subcommittee will focus on “IT procurement, Cybersecurity, IT infrastructure, emerging technologies, and intellectual property, among other issues,” the release said.

The Senate approved FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination for a full five-year term as commissioner Tuesday before adjourning the 113th Congress. The term runs through June 30, 2019. Confirmation was accomplished through a bigger year-end package of nominees by unanimous consent, as expected (see 1412160048). O’Rielly, a Republican, “has proven to be an engaged, thoughtful, and principled member of the Commission,” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement. “I expect he will continue to be a passionate advocate for both consumers and a free market.” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, the agency’s other Republican member, congratulated O’Rielly, saying he “has proven to be a hardworking, principled advocate for free markets, the rule of law, and the consumer interest.” Industry leaders also congratulated O’Rielly. “Exceptionally honored to be confirmed for a new term,” O’Rielly tweeted. “Much work ahead.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's term is next to expire on June 30.

The $1.1-trillion FY2015 omnibus funding package Congress approved “reflects investments in many of our Committee’s important programs that are vital to our nation,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in a statement Tuesday. He voted for the bill Saturday. A Rockefeller news release flagged the funding it secured for education in science, technology, engineering and math and the funding for several National Institute of Standards and Technology programs. “Rockefeller helped increase funding for NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP); sustained funding for NIST’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia; and continued funding for forensic science programs and research at NIST,” the news release said.