Maine Public Utilities Commission Chairman Tom Welch said Thursday that he has submitted a letter to Gov. Paul LePage formally declaring his intention to retire from the PUC Dec. 31. Welch’s term was set to run until March 2017, but he said he is retiring early for personal reasons. His current term began in 2011; He had served as chairman from 1993-2005. Commissioner David Littell’s term is set to expire in March, meaning the winner of Maine’s gubernatorial election in November will need to decide on appointments for two of the PUC’s three seats within months of starting his term in office. LePage, a Republican, is running for a second term against Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and Independent lawyer Eliot Cutler.

The “primary,” and for most end users, the “sole function” of broadband is precisely how telecom service is defined in the Communications Act -- “’the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received,'” said a NASUCA net neutrality reply (http://bit.ly/1n1jdjK) posted Thursday in docket 14-28. Therefore, net neutrality rules should be based on Title II authority, the organization said in the Sept. 15 reply.

As Yahoo joined the technology company exodus from the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC’s state legislator members responded, arguing Google -- which began the parade of announced withdrawals -- misrepresented the council’s positions (http://bit.ly/1v3YxIR). Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt pointed to the council’s climate change denial as the main reason his company decided to cancel its membership, calling the group’s messaging on the topic “literally lying.” “Your calculated departure from ALEC is based on misinformation from climate activists who intentionally confuse free market policy perspectives for climate change denial,” the lawmakers said. “ALEC recognizes that climate change is an important issue and just hosted a roundtable conversation for a variety of companies -- including Google -- on this very issue.” ALEC has “no model policy” that denies climate change, they said. Google did not comment on the ALEC letter. Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp -- which have all either left or indicated they likely would leave ALEC -- did not explicitly say the organization’s climate change position drove them away. The letter was signed by 156 state legislators.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission scheduled IURC’s first public field hearing for Friday on whether to overlay a new area code in the area currently covered by the 317 code, which covers the Indianapolis metropolitan area. The hearing is to begin at 10 a.m. at PNC Center in Indianapolis. Additional meetings are Oct. 1 in Carmel, Oct. 14 in Franklin, Oct. 29 in Danville and Dec. 1 in Greenfield, IURC said. The commission is considering three area code overlay proposals from Neustar, one of which would overlay the new area code over the entire 317 area code area and require 10-digit dialing. A second proposal would overlay the new area code only in the central portion of Indianapolis and let customers outside central Indianapolis continue using 10-digit dialing until new phone numbers in the 317 area code are exhausted -- which is projected for 2017, IURC said. A third proposal would overlay a new code only in Indianapolis and 10 other municipalities in Marion County and require 10-digit dialing in the overlay, IURC said (http://bit.ly/1v4shVR). Indiana’s Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) said Wednesday it’s encouraging consumers to comment on the proposals by speaking at the IURC’s hearings or submitting written comments to OUCC by Dec. 29. OUCC said it plans to file testimony Jan. 6 based on consumer comments (http://bit.ly/1ojc8WJ).

Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network (GHC 911) said it began phasing in text-to-911 service in the 49 cities and two counties in its jurisdiction, which covers Harris and Fort Bend counties, Texas. Text-to-911 is meant for use when the caller is deaf, hard of hearing, speech impaired or in situations where speaking would endanger the caller, GHC 911 said Wednesday. Callers outside GHC 911’s service area or who use a carrier besides Verizon or T-Mobile will receive a bounce-back message if they try to text, GHC 911 said. Customers using AT&T and Sprint will be able to use text-to-911 in the GHC 911 service area by the end of October (http://bit.ly/1vdgpQE).

Frontier Communications said it promoted Kenneth Arndt to president, East region. The telco has moved New York and Pennsylvania into a separated and new East region, while Ohio and West Virginia will be in the company’s Mid-Atlantic Region, and some executives were named there. (See separate report below in this issue.) The East region will also include Connecticut, and would be based in New Haven, if Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approves Frontier’s buy of AT&T’s broadband, video and wireline assets in the state, the telco said Thursday. Arndt played a “critical role” in Frontier’s 2010 buy of Verizon’s assets in 14 states, managing integration of Verizon’s operations in North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia, Frontier said (http://bit.ly/XNhWAX).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler praised Connecticut state and local officials Monday for issuing a joint request for qualifications (RFQ) seeking information from interested parties in a bid to encourage gigabit broadband development in the state. The RFQ solicits interest in developing networks in New Haven, Stamford and West Hartford, including free or discounted broadband service with a minimum 10 Mbps speed for underserved and disadvantaged Connecticut citizens (CD Sept 16 p17). “Too many Americans lack real choices for fast, affordable Internet service, which is why I'm heartened to see these leaders commit to bringing gigabit connectivity to the businesses and consumers of central Connecticut,” Wheeler said in a statement (http://fcc.us/1o0Fau4). “Today’s announcement will lead to more competitive choices for consumers and more innovation to create jobs and improve the lives across the region."

The monthly per-line surcharge for the Relay Missouri dual-party telephone relay service for the deaf, hearing-impaired and speech-impaired will drop from 8 cents to 6 cents Dec. 1, the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) said in an order last week (http://on.mo.gov/1qXh1bh). The PSC was acting on a staff recommendation for reducing the surcharge, which appears on the phone bills of all Missouri wireline customers. The PSC had said reducing the surcharge would allow the fund for Relay Missouri “to remain solvent and available for those customers who need it, while reducing the bills of all Missouri landline subscribers."

A group of Connecticut state officials and mayors issued a joint Request for Qualifications (RFQ) Monday seeking information from interested parties in a bid to encourage development of gigabit broadband networks in New Haven, Stamford and West Hartford. The officials’ RFQ seeks free or heavily discounted broadband service with a minimum 10 Mbps speed to “underserved and disadvantaged” residential areas. “It’s time we tear down the walls to gigabit Internet access in Connecticut,” said Democratic state Sen. Beth Bye in a news release. Other municipalities in Connecticut may also join the RFQ by submitting an addendum, said state Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz in the news release. The RFQ is “an important step toward making Connecticut the first gigabit state,” said state Comptroller Kevin Lambo in the release. New Haven’s city government said it will administer and coordinate the RFQ.

Columbia University law professor Timothy Wu, who created the term “net neutrality” in 2003, lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for New York lieutenant governor Wednesday to former Rep. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y. He received 37 percent of the vote to her 55 percent, according to unofficial results updated Wednesday afternoon. The New York Times had endorsed Wu, who was running with failed Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Zephyr Teachout, in part based on his “impressive record” on Internet law and other legal issues (CD Aug 29 p11). Hochul was running with incumbent Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who won against Teachout with 60 percent of the vote.