The NOI is the agency’s first on the biological effects of RF since 1979, the agency said. “We recognize that a great deal of scientific research has been completed in recent years and new research is currently underway, warranting a comprehensive examination of this and any other relevant information,” the NOI said. “Moreover, the ubiquity of device adoption as well as advancements in technology and developments in the international standards arena since establishing our present policies in 1996 warrant an inquiry to gather information to determine whether our general regulations and policies limiting human exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation are still appropriately drawn.”

Sprint Nextel and SoftBank have told House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., “they would not integrate Huawei in to the Sprint network and would take mitigation efforts to replace Huawei equipment in the Clearwire network,” Rogers said in a statement Thursday. SoftBank is seeking federal government approval for its planned buy of 70 percent ownership of Sprint; the government also needs to approve Sprint’s plan to purchase full control of Clearwire. The SoftBank and Clearwire deals have received additional attention because of both companies’ use of Huawei-manufactured equipment -- Huawei and fellow China-based telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE are helping build SoftBank’s 4G network in Japan, while Clearwire uses Huawei equipment on the edges of its network. Clearwire has previously said it’s reducing its use of Huawei-manufactured equipment.

As interim chair of the FCC, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn would likely take on a number of issues, starting with her big issue of late, prison calling, FCC and industry officials said last week. Another big issue for Clyburn has been 700 MHz interoperability, but how much she would be able to do on that with a 2-1 commission is unclear. A former top FCC official said Clyburn’s staff should already be looking around for a few issues on which she can make her mark as the first woman to head the agency.

New York has the authority to require e-tailers to collect sales tax on purchases made by New York residents if those companies have associated businesses in the state, even if the e-tailers have no actual presence in the state, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Friday (http://bit.ly/13Ax7iy). The ruling from the state’s highest court comes as Congress considers the Marketplace Fairness Act and one week after the Senate voted for a budget amendment that would enable states to collect sales tax on online purchases made by residents from out-of-state online retailers (CD March 26 p7).

The push to keep states from regulating Internet Protocol-enabled services goes strong in 2013. Legislators in more than half a dozen states introduced such IP bills this year. More than two dozen states had already passed laws before 2013 began, California prominent among them (CD Oct 2 p7). The IP transition’s urgency escalated when AT&T introduced an FCC petition urging transition trials last November, and it’s widely accepted that much voice traffic will shift to VoIP and IP-enabled frameworks in the next decade amid these transforming state roles. Proponents and observers told us these state laws will keep appearing, while NASUCA and AARP fear they'll create public safety and affordability risks.

The spectrum lease negotiations between the FirstNet board and seven suspended public safety broadband stimulus projects continue amid the 90-day window the board set at its February meeting, with both the federal government and a project leader citing progress. NTIA suspended the seven 700 MHz projects, part of its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, last May out of fears their public safety infrastructure efforts would conflict with the $7 billion nationwide FirstNet. But they've discussed ways to reactivate the projects as FirstNet test beds, as many have urged over the last year and as the board resolved last month (CD Feb 13 p1) when kicking off the negotiations.

The Utilities Telecom Council and the Edison Electric Institute continue to disagree with the American Radio Relay League on whether reallocating the 135.7-137.8 kHz band to use by amateur radio operators would cause interference to power line carrier (PLC) operations. Both filed reply comments this week in docket 12-338, which concerns possible changes to the Parts 1, 2, 15, 74, 78, 87, and 90 of the FCC’s rules.

New FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez is likely to lead the agency in a way that continues the legacy of former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, former officials and individuals who work with the FTC told us. “Chairman Leibowitz reinvigorated the agency,” said David Vladeck, former FTC Consumer Protection Bureau director, who returned to Georgetown University as a law professor (CD Dec 12 p15). “I think [Ramirez] is going to take the same tack."

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said MetroPCS shareholders should vote against the proposed merger with T-Mobile USA, arguing Wednesday in a report that MetroPCS shareholders would receive a “lower equity split than justified” and that MetroPCS could “continue to thrive” as a standalone company. Under the current deal, MetroPCS shareholders would receive $1.5 billion in cash and 26 percent ownership of the merged carrier (CD Oct 4 p1). The ISS recommendation will likely prompt T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom to modify the current deal terms in order to win approval when MetroPCS shareholders meet April 12, industry analysts say.

With the submission of its response to the Windstream brief Wednesday, the FCC has spent over 90,000 words defending the 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation order in challenges from across the industry. This latest brief filed in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (http://bit.ly/11RouPu) defended the creation of a transitional originating access charge regime for intrastate long-distance VoIP calls.