"The way the dynamic market rule would work is simple,” said T-Mobile Vice President Tony Russo Monday during a call with reporters. “The auction first would run with a procompetitive limit in place. If the FCC revenue target is met, the auction is complete. If the total bids are short of the revenue target then the spectrum limit is gradually relaxed until the revenue targets are met or until the limit is gone altogether.” The rule would “allow the market to test whether competitive spectrum limits impact revenues."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., reintroduced legislation Monday aimed at reforming and increasing the transparency of government surveillance programs authorized by the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as was expected (CD June 20 p3). The FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act (http://1.usa.gov/14tfey9) is based on legislation Leahy offered in 2009 and 2011 that would include expanding public reporting on the use of National Security Letters, requiring the government to show relevance to an authorized investigation to obtain certain records, and amending disclosure rules regarding Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The bill was cosponsored by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Jon Tester, D-Mont.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez’s remarks Thursday in favor of a possible FTC investigation into the business practices of patent assertion entities (PAEs) are “obviously going to have some impact” in the federal government’s ongoing debate over how to best address the issue of abusive patent litigation, said American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Executive Director Todd Dickinson, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). “It keeps the iron in the fire,” he told us.

Companies from across the telecom industry urged the FCC last week to reform its rules for assessing regulatory fees. Commenters said change is necessary to ensure no provider is at a competitive disadvantage. An NPRM last month sought comment on several reforms, including changes to the Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers fee category, reallocation of full-time equivalent (FTE) employee fees, and limitations on regulatory fee increases (http://bit.ly/13YxqAR).

FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman questioned in a blog post Friday whether there is a “consensus” industry band plan for the 600 MHz band. The FCC has been under some fire since the bureau released a public notice last month (CD May 21 p4) on alternatives to the “Down from 51 plan,” which had carrier and broadcaster support and raises a handful of other issues as well.

Verizon Vice President Dave Young concurred about the changes and called for a new model that works in this new space. “The universe that these roles were created for just doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. Agreements will take new form, and government should refrain from automatically applying legacy regulation: “Let’s worry about that in the future if that’s a problem,” he said. Stakeholders currently have “breathing room” to consider the new model amid the transition, he said. “We should see what problems we really have to solve,” Quinn said, advocating caution against legacy regulation.

LISBON, Portugal -- The U.S. surveillance program Prism, modes of cross-border, global regulation and net neutrality were among the top issues of this year’s European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG). The EuroDIG is the European version of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) of the U.N., supported by the Council of Europe, the European Commission and several EU governments.

Dish Network formally scrapped efforts to buy Sprint Friday, clearing the way for the wireless carrier to complete its $21.6 billion sale to SoftBank. Sprint shareholders are scheduled to vote on the proposed sale Tuesday. Dish will redeem $2.6 billion in senior notes it was going to use to fund the potential acquisition, including $1.35 billion in 6.25 percent notes due 2023 and $1.25 billion in 5 percent notes due 2017. The notes will be redeemed Monday, Dish said.

New broadband technologies are making spectrum more efficient, but regulators still need to open up more spectrum to meet the rising needs of consumers, said public policy experts on broadband technology during a panel at Pepperdine University Thursday.

A peering dispute between Verizon and Cogent Communications is bringing Internet transit arrangements into the limelight, as Netflix traffic over Verizon networks has slowed in recent days because of it, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told us. That degradation has Cogent customer Netflix considering the use of a disclaimer on the videos it streams to Verizon customers, notifying them that Verizon is accountable for decreased speeds, he said. Netflix declined to comment.