New York City Economic Development Corporation launched a $5.3 million public-private partnership to build access to high-speed Internet in industrial business zones (IBZs) by expanding broadband infrastructure in underserved areas, said a news release from Xchange Telecom, among the partners. The program will create high-speed commercial broadband networks in the southwest Brooklyn, Long Island City, North Brooklyn and Greenpoint-Williamsburg IBZs, which are among the city’s “digital deserts,” said the company Wednesday. The networks in the four IBZs will be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated by Stealth Communications Services and Xchange Telecom, two New York City-based ISPs, it said. NYCEDC will provide over $1.6 million for the program from the New York State Connect NY Broadband Grant Program, it said.

NARUC will consider resolutions commending FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council IV recommendations, calling for action on net neutrality and on designations for Lifeline broadband services, at its summer meeting July 12-15 in New York City. The resolution urging congressional action on the open Internet would encourage Congress to pass legislation upholding the FCC order as outlined by NARUC resolutions, said Washington Utilities and Transportation Commissioner Philip Jones in an interview Wednesday. Previously, NARUC backed open Internet rules as they are, minus Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, Jones said. The CSRIC resolution aims to commend the work that working group IV did to enhance cybersecurity risk management in the communications sector, said Jones, a sponsor of the resolution and former NARUC president. He said it doesn’t encourage states to do anything yet, but it’s the beginning of a “deeper conversation.” The third resolution urges the FCC to refrain from disrupting the existing federal-state partnership in the provision of Lifeline services by pre-empting the authority of states to designate eligible telecom carriers for the provision of advanced telecom services. Jones said that the net neutrality resolution shouldn't be all that controversial because it's only asking Congress to act, but the resolution about Lifeline broadband services could have some "robust discussion." A "lot of people haven't read the full order that they [the FCC] approved last month and there will be concerns about cost," he said of Lifeline. "I think a lot of [state public utility] commissioners will be concerned [whether] the cost of this program will be at the expense of other programs."

The New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel is appealing a Board of Public Utilities order that reclassified Verizon wireline services in New Jersey. In a notice to the Superior Court of New Jersey, the Rate Counsel said it was appealing a recent BPU decision that "reclassified as competitive the four remaining rate regulated telephone services provided by Verizon ... throughout New Jersey as well as relinquished Board oversight of service quality ..." The Rate Counsel said the decision should be remanded to the BPU because it violated due process, was contrary to law, and ignored open material and factual issues. A Rate Counsel spokeswoman said the order effectively deregulated the Verizon services. The BPU decision was "four years in the making, with ample input from interested parties with specialized agendas," a Verizon spokesman said. The telco's services weren't deregulated, just reclassified as competitive, he said. "There are various consumer protections and benefits built into the reclassification decision, such as rate caps, Lifeline rates for low-income or senior customers, and repair priority for those with a serious illness or physical disability." In a second filing, which was sparked by a recent consumer complaint, the Rate Counsel asked the BPU to investigate Verizon's copper-to-fiber transition in New Jersey and stop the telco "from disconnecting any customer or switching any customer who has not consented to the change from copper to fiber pending the outcome of that investigation." The company "is modernizing its network for customers in Bloomfield[, New Jersey,] to provide more reliable service, in accordance with all applicable regulations," the spokesman said. "The company is not changing the service being provided, rather simply improving the way the service is delivered."

Forty state attorneys general lent their support to Mississippi AG Jim Hood Monday, filing a joint amicus brief backing his bid to overturn the U.S. District Court in Jackson’s ruling granting Google a preliminary injunction against his enforcement of a subpoena of the company’s search practices. Hood, a Democrat, filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in late March, after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered the preliminary injunction because there was a “substantial likelihood” that Google would prevail in its lawsuit against Hood on claims he violated Google’s First Amendment rights (see 1504010029). The AGs -- led by Kentucky's Jack Conway, a Democrat; Arizona's Mark Brnovich, a Republican; and Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell, a Republican -- said that they aren’t taking a position on Hood’s investigation but believe Google’s suit was premature. Wingate’s preliminary injunction “would provide a roadmap for any potential wrongdoer subject to a legitimate state law enforcement investigation to attempt to thwart such an inquiry,” the AGs said. “Such an outcome would undermine Attorneys General’s powers, granted to them by state constitutions and state statutes, to protect the general citizenry from violations of state law. It would also flood the federal courts with what amount to state-law discovery disputes.”

More than 100 U.S. communities can access gigabit broadband as part of an Adtran campaign, said the company in a news release Tuesday. The program showcases how innovative technologies are being used in cities, towns and communities to support economic growth and urban development.

U.S. District Court in Orlando issued a temporary restraining order June 22, halting an Orlando-based operation that the FTC and Florida Office of the Attorney General allege “bombard[ed] consumers since 2011 with massive robocall campaigns designed to trick them into paying up-front for worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs,” an FTC news release said Monday. Defendants allegedly called thousands of consumers, mostly seniors, nationwide claiming to be from “credit card services” and “card member services,” the release said. The callers claimed enrollment in the program would save a consumer at least $2,500 in a short period of time so they would have more success in paying off debts, the release said. “After convincing consumers to provide their credit card information, the defendants then charged between $300 and $4,999 up-front for their worthless service,” the release said. The joint complaint by the FTC and Florida AG alleges the defendants also failed to provide consumers with the promised interest rate reductions or savings and made calls to those whose numbers are on the FTC National Do Not Call Registry, and violated the FTC telemarketing sales rule and Florida’s Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act. Defendants include All Us Marketing, formerly known as Payless Solutions; Global Marketing Enterprises, formerly known as Pay Less Solutions; Global One Financial Services; Your #1 Savings; Ovadaa; and some officers of those companies. The defendants didn't comment Monday.

Taking control and becoming directly involved in plans for broadband deployment is "incredibly exciting," said Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, during a fiber launch party in Westminster, Maryland, Friday. The city chose to engage in a private-public partnership with Ting, which will provide Westminster with what it calls “crazy fast fiber Internet,” she said. Sohn said she admires how strategic the city and county leaders have been in moving the fiber network forward. The open access model that Westminster has with Ting is an approach that Sohn said will benefit the citizens of the city for years to come. The network will let about 10,000 homes and businesses in the community receive up to a 1 Gbps Internet connection, which puts Westminster up there with U.S. cities Chattanooga, metropolitan Kansas City and Austin and cities around the world like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, she said. "What is happening today is a great example of local communities and their leaders taking control of their broadband future."

AT&T launched its U-verse with AT&T GigaPower for residential and small businesses in Florida in parts of Fort Lauderdale, Hialeah, Hollywood, Miami and surrounding communities, the company said in a news release Monday. It said the telco committed that upon approval of its proposed acquisition of DirecTV, the company will expand the AT&T GigaPower network to an additional 2 million customer locations.

AT&T wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America voted to ratify a three-year contract for the Midwest region, said the company Friday in a news release. The tentative agreement was reached May 13 and was unanimously endorsed by the CWA bargaining committee that spent more than nine weeks working with the company’s bargaining team to reach what the telco called "a fair agreement." The deal covers about 12,000 employees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin and is retroactive to April 12.

Per a promise in May, AT&T's U-verse with GigaPower is now available for residents and small businesses in parts of Chicago, said a company news release. Customers who subscribe to U-verse with GigaPower will also have access to U-verse TV and voice services, it said. AT&T plans to expand its 100 percent fiber network in up to 25 markets, it said. U-verse with AT&T GigaPower has launched in parts of the Atlanta; Austin; Charlotte; Chicago; Cupertino, California; Dallas; Fort Worth; Houston; Kansas City; Nashville; and Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, markets. Plans have been announced to launch AT&T GigaPower in parts of the Greensboro, North Carolina, Jacksonville, Miami, St. Louis and San Antonio markets, said the telco.