The Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC not to allocate the entire allotment of 1 percent rise-over-thermal to a secondary Aeronautical Mobile Service allocation if it decides to proceed with such as allocation. Doing so would be inconsistent with an International Telecommunication Union recommendation, “which makes it clear that the 1 percent allotment is for all non-primary sources interference and not any single interfering service,” it said in an ex parte filing in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/IPF8qH). The filing recounts a meeting with members of the International and Wireless bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology on Qualcomm’s proposal to implement a new secondary AMS allocation in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, it said. Since there are already other secondary services in various parts of the band, “and there is a realistic possibility of at least one future secondary service ... the proposed AMS should be allotted only a third of the 1% budget,” it said. SIA stressed the need for technical rules for any potential AMS service using realistic antenna gain-to-noise-temperature values for existing current and future fixed satellite services satellites, “and deriving actual and enforceable power limits on any new secondary service that are sufficient to keep the interference caused by this system below 0.33%,” it said.

The White House released its second Open Government National Action Plan Friday, intended to build on the three-year project to give citizens more access to government information and databases (http://1.usa.gov/1blIat2). According to a blog post (http://1.usa.gov/18q3Vbg), the new plan will improve the White House’s “We the People” online petitions platform; consolidate the Freedom of Information Act online service and develop common FOIA standards for all government agencies; include a new version of data.gov with expanded access to agriculture and nutrition data; and promote a “participatory budgeting” process “giving citizens a voice in how taxpayer dollars are spent in their communities.” The post’s authors, Deputy Chief Technology Officer Nick Sinai and Senior Director-Development and Democracy Gayle Smith, said the new plan “is another opportunity to set concrete and measurable goals for achieving a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government."

The Michigan Senate approved a bill to update the Michigan Telecommunications Act to eliminate a requirement for a Public Service Commission proceeding for telecom providers to discontinue basic local exchange or toll service to an exchange starting on Jan. 1, 2017, said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Mike Nofs (R), in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1jun4Rb). Instead, the provider would have to notify the PSC, the provider’s customers, any interconnecting providers and the public in addition to filing a petition with the FCC, said the bill fact sheet (http://1.usa.gov/1gKdyqL). Senate Bill 636 would change the Michigan Intrastate Switched Toll Access Restructuring Mechanism (ARM) by requiring the PSC to recalculate it on March 13, 2018. The PSC would be required to reduce the amount of monthly disbursement from the ARM to an eligible provider on a pro rata basis for each exchange in which the provider has discontinued basic local exchange service. Nofs said: “This legislation establishes the process for transitioning to new technology while ensuring citizens’ continued access to reliable home phone service. This legislation will not remove landlines, it will modernize them.” SB-636 could potentially affect the availability of basic service for all customers, said Melissa Seifert, AARP Michigan associate state director-government affairs, in testimony before the Senate Energy and Technology Committee (http://bit.ly/1d5ntEX). “While it’s good that the commission can determine whether another provider is incapable of providing reliable service with access to 911, it has no real authority to ensure that consumers continue to receive affordable, reliable service as the commission may only issue an order ‘allowing’ the current provider to provide service,” said Seifert. The Michigan PSC took a neutral stance on this bill, and it did not provide comments to the committee, a PSC spokeswoman told us. The bill is under review by the House Energy and Technology Committee, said Nofs.

Nortel Networks, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and raised $7.5 billion auctioning its remaining assets, doesn’t have to allocate those funds through arbitration, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1bNzyBV). “Because the contract at the center of this controversy does not reflect the parties’ intent to arbitrate disputes about the auction funds, we will not compel the parties to do so,” wrote the court, affirming a federal bankruptcy court holding. The unanimous opinion was written by Judge Julio Fuentes and joined by Judge Morton Greenberg and Senior Judge Maryanne Barry. The various debtors comprising the Nortel brand “have $7.5 billion and no agreed-upon method for dividing it,” the court said, noting the bankruptcy court would hold a hearing to allocate the funds.

It’s “especially important” that the FCC continue the “planned rollout” of requirements that TV stations that aren’t ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates in markets smaller than No. 50 put online what’s on paper in political files, said public interest groups that have sought such rules. “Many of the most competitive races in the 2014 election cycle will take place in markets outside the top 50” said representatives of the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Free Press and Sunlight Foundation to Maria Kirby, media aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Special Counsel-External Affairs Gigi Sohn, according to an ex parte filing. “Important Senate races will take place in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, and Montana, none of which have top-50 markets.” It’s “imperative” the online political file rules extend beyond the existing stations by summer, said the filing posted Thursday to docket 00-168 (http://bit.ly/1dVpc4p). It said “inconsistent reporting and compliance by stations” now subject to the rules means there’s a “role for increased enforcement” by the FCC.

EAGLE-Net representatives are scheduled to appear before the Colorado Legislative Audit Committee Monday to provide an update on its “new joint venture,” a committee spokeswoman told us (http://bit.ly/18bOCs0). EAGLE-Net appeared before the committee in September to give an update on the network’s next steps following its audit (CD Sept 26 p16). At the September committee hearing, EAGLE-Net CEO Mike Ryan said EAGLE-Net was in negotiations to find a network operator. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., questioned EAGLE-Net’s choice of Affiniti as its operator in a letter to NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling (CD Nov 1 p8). Gardner asked NTIA to look at how Affiniti was formed as a merger between Trillion Partners and Sting Communications, how it plans to work with providers that have been overbuilt by fiber, Affiniti’s fiscal sustainability, and to provide detailed plans of where Affiniti plans to build to unserved and underserved areas in Colorado. EAGLE-Net released an RFP Wednesday seeking price quotes to build a 27.6 route-mile fiber network from Durango to Cascade Village (http://bit.ly/18FXdDK). Proposals are due to EAGLE-Net Dec. 23.

Comments on the FCC Wireless Bureau proceeding to improve wireless facilities’ siting policies are due Feb. 3, and replies March 5, the FCC said in a Federal Register notice (http://1.usa.gov/18olNDr). The FCC seeks to promote the deployment of infrastructure “that is necessary to provide the public with advanced wireless broadband services, consistent with governing law and the public interest,” it said.

Correction: Replies on 3.5 GHz band licensing models and technical requirements are due Dec. 20, the FCC said in a corrected a Federal Register notice (CD Dec 4 p11).

Martha Wright and other supporters of inmate calling service changes oppose a CenturyLink request to stay the FCC’s prison phone order, they said in a filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1biRktT). CenturyLink asked for a stay pending judicial review, but the ICS provider is unlikely to be successful in court, said the filing, made by the D.C. Prisoners’ Legal Services Project, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, the Policy Initiative, and the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice. “CenturyLink is simply wrong in concluding that third parties will not be harmed by the grant of the Petition,” the filing said. “The record in this proceeding overwhelmingly demonstrates significant and adverse effects are caused the unjust, unreasonable and unfair rates and fees charged by the ICS providers on a daily basis."

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $20,000 fine for the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission for violations of the commission’s equal employment opportunity rules at six public television stations in the state, said a notice of apparent liability issued Thursday. The stations -- WMPB(TV) Baltimore, WCPB(TV) Salisbury, WFPT(TV) Frederick, WGPT(TV) Oakland, WWPB Hagerstown and WMPT Annapolis -- failed to notify job referral sources about vacancies, to assess their own EEO performance, and provided “incorrect factual information of a material nature to the Commission without a reasonable basis for believing that the information was correct and accurate,” said the NAL. Between June 2008 and May 2010, the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission filled 11 vacancies at stations, without notifying a broadcasting school that had requested notice of vacancies about the job openings, the NAL said. The commission requires licensees to provide information about vacancies to organizations that request them, said the NAL. MPBC told the FCC it hadn’t received any such requests, but in its public file listed CSB Broadcasting School as having requested that information. MPBC said the contact information for CSB had been misplaced during an employee change, said the NAL. A $20,000 NAL for EEO violations was also issued against AMFM Broadcasting Licenses, licensee of Illinois stations WNUA(FM) Chicago, WGCI Chicago, WKSC-FM Chicago, WGRB(AM) Chicago, WLIT-FM Chicago, and WVAZ(FM) Oak Park, said an NAL. Between August 2009 and July 2011, AMFM filled 36 vacancies without notifying several organizations that had requested the information.