The FCC plans to consider launching a rulemaking at its May 9 meeting that proposes giving federal earth stations operating with commercial satellites full protection from interference. The NPRM asks whether they should be put on a co-primary status, FCC officials said. The NPRM has a few different proposals on how to do that, an official said.

Broadband speed to the home is only one part of the story. What happens inside the home can have a huge impact on the speeds a user experiences, so for its next study, the FCC broadband measurement group plans to identify wireless bottlenecks inside the home. “Users always complain about their performance, but often it’s their own fault,” said Nick Feamster, an associate professor of computer science at Georgia Tech. At Thursday’s broadband measurement meeting, he presented findings from a small study that could be used to inform future FCC measurements. Commission officials hope to monitor in-home interference using special software on the white boxes already used for its standard Measuring Broadband America test.

The best chance for increased privacy protections on the Internet will be a Senate cybersecurity bill, Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris told us following an American Association for the Advancement of Science event. She said the prospects for bicameral passage are good because “the House wants a bill.” Cybersecurity lobbyist Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary of policy at the Department of Homeland Security, took issue with her and other privacy advocates’ push, saying on a panel that they're “devoting all their time and all their efforts to ensure our cybersecurity efforts, small though they may be, fail.”

U.S. broadband projects received a boost from federal stimulus programs, but that didn’t end ongoing needs that have new urgency with stimulus money disappearing, said federal and state officials at the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition meeting Thursday in Washington. State leaders shared strategies and updates on how different efforts were progressing in their region. NTIA released a 68-page toolkit (http://1.usa.gov/YhGzCZ) of best practices, focused on its more than 200 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program stimulus grantees.

The FCC released an NPRM that asks a battery of questions about measures to combat contraband cellphones in correctional facilities, focusing on the use of managed access and detection systems. The FCC approved the NPRM by electronic voting earlier this week (CD May 1 p10). The NPRM says there’s widespread evidence that contraband cellphones are a major problem.

President Barack Obama nominated billionaire businesswoman Penny Pritzker to be Commerce Secretary and Mike Froman to be U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Pritzker and Froman will help “create jobs and growth here at home, and offer our businesses growing markets where they can sell more American-made goods and services abroad,” Obama said Thursday during a speech in the Rose Garden.

The longtime former president of NCTA and CTIA Tom Wheeler, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next FCC chairman, has a reputation as a tough manager who asks a lot of questions, said industry officials who have worked for him and those who have watched him closely. They said in interviews he will likely have a strong focus on getting things done. Unlike nearly all past chairmen he is not a lawyer, but he comes in with what is probably the most management experience of any FCC chairman ever, industry officials noted. Obama also confirmed (CD May 1 p1) he is designating Mignon Clyburn interim chair, the first woman to lead the FCC.

More companies are promising customers super-fast connection speeds -- in the last month, companies have spotlighted faster connections coming to parts of Texas, Utah, Nebraska and Vermont. CenturyLink is upgrading its network in Omaha to 1 Gbps symmetrical speeds. The telco will start connecting some west Omaha residents and businesses next week and plans to connect 48,000 total by early October, it said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/12nK3BH). On Monday, Vermont Telephone Co. said it’s offering $35-a-month symmetrical gigabit service over dedicated fiber and that it has connected the first 500 rural Vermont customers already (http://bit.ly/11CQ0f1). These announcements followed the April news that Google Fiber will offer gigabit speeds in Austin and Provo as well as potentially AT&T in Austin if it receives satisfactory regulatory treatment (CD April 10 p10).

All replies backed the FCC allowing waivers of foreign ownership caps of 25 percent on U.S. radio and TV stations. Several comments from broadcasters and their lawyers pointed to the agency’s order last month streamlining some policies for non-American ownership of some other types of licenses (CD April 19 p17). That commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel in approving that order mentioned the petition to allow waivers on which the replies commented is one reason to be optimistic that the request will be approved, a lawyer who backs the relief told us. That attorney, David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker, said the agency can without engaging in a further rulemaking deem that ownership above 25 percent meets the public-interest threshold for such holdings in Section 310(b) of the Communications Act.

Several Texas telcos have sought recovery of millions of dollars’ worth of lost federal support money from the state’s USF (CD April 4 p5). “We commend Texas for creating a process to address any unique concerns for carriers in the state of Texas as a result of recent universal service reforms,” the order said. “We consider these efforts to be a positive development for federal-state coordination and partnership, and encourage other states to consider similar approaches as states may be best positioned to address any unique circumstances for carriers in their state."