ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The FCC is expected to soon take up a follow up order on last year’s derecho storm, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Regulatory Counsel Bob Gurss told APCO members Sunday. Gurss said the initial hope was it would be ready in time for APCO’s annual meeting, which ends Wednesday. No order had circulated for a vote by commissioners as of late Monday, FCC officials confirmed.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel got some support for her opposition to the FCC auctioning the H block in January, instead saying it should wait until it can be sold in combination with other spectrum later in the year. Rosenworcel has been at odds with Commissioner Ajit Pai, who wants the auction to take place as soon as possible (CD Aug 19 p1). While auction timing is a bone of contention at the FCC, it got little mention from the carriers who filed reply comments on H-block auction rules, which were due at the agency Friday. Most focused instead on whether package bidding should be allowed.

An FCC order streamlining rules for tower construction near AM stations could lead to a revitalization of the AM band and help the wireless industry measure possible interference to nearby AM stations, broadcast companies and attorneys said. The commission adopted the order last week, creating a single protection scheme for tower construction near AM tower arrays and designating “moment method” computer modeling as the preferred method of determining interference to an AM signal (CD Aug 19 p10).

The FTC is “particularly well-suited” to have jurisdiction over net neutrality due to its experience in analyzing cases of vertical integration, FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright said during a Monday panel at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum. “It’s what the FTC does every day when we look at vertical cases.” The agency’s “rule-of-reason analysis is a much better framework … than other alternatives I've seen discussed in this debate,” he said.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Plan for big changes, speakers at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials told association members at its California meeting. They emphasized the significance of FirstNet and the technology changes inherent in next-generation 911. The changes, which will need to be harmonious, will affect how 911 call center operators and other emergency communications officials should plan and train staff, speakers said.

ASPEN, Colo. -- The impending spectrum auctions and electronic communications privacy are likely to be issues this Congress tackles, former members said during a Monday panel hosted by the Technology Policy Institute at its Aspen Forum. The panel included former Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., now a partner at Sidley Austin; Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., now a senior adviser at APCO Worldwide; and Thomas Tauke, R-Iowa, formerly an executive vice president at Verizon.

The FCC appears divided, as does industry, on when an H-block auction should occur and whether it should take place in January or be pushed into the fall. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is counseling the commission to wait until later in 2014, while Commissioner Ajit Pai urges a January auction, FCC sources said Friday.

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials took CTIA to task for asking the FCC to reconsider one part of its May 17 text-to-911 order, to drop a roaming requirement. Comments were due Thursday on the petition. APCO said compliance with the roaming requirement might not be easy to pull off, but it’s not impossible. CTIA had no comment in response to APCO.

Google Fiber will start offering its services to Provo, Utah, this fall with free basic broadband speeds for at least seven years, said the company in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/19nsTKA). Google Fiber and Provo closed a deal July 23 to provide gigabit-speed fiber service to the city (CD July 24 p18. Mayor John Curtis announced the plan in April to bring Google Fiber to Provo (CD April 18 p18). “Similar to closing a home before you sign a name on a dotted line, you need to figure out the things you are going to improve and how they going to improve before closing the deal,” Deputy Mayor Corey Norman told us. Google Fiber will be available to the city’s 112,000 residents, he said.

Increased congressional activity is likely focused on government surveillance, said members of Congress and privacy advocates Friday after The Washington Post reported on a leaked National Security Agency audit. The NSA audit said the agency’s surveillance programs violated court orders and other privacy protections (http://wapo.st/19ylImi). Aides from several relevant committees attended a last-minute briefing, convened by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to discuss the NSA audit Friday morning. Staffers from the Intelligence, Judiciary and Appropriations committees in both the House and Senate and from both parties were invited, aides told us. They said leadership staffers were also invited to the lengthy meeting.