A proposal by General Communication Inc. for flexibility in “annual recertification” of Lifeline subscribers saw support from USTelecom, AT&T, NTCA and Tracfone Wireless. GCI asked the FCC to clarify that “annual” could mean once per calendar year, rather than 12 months from the last certification (CD Oct 24 p12). Sprint Nextel said it “would not object to allowing some flexibility in timing of the recertification effort,” but suggested a “safe harbor standard” that would give 12 months of leeway from either the subscriber’s anniversary date or the date of the last certification.

Full and low-power FM radio station advocates are lobbying the FCC on the agency’s implementation of the Local Community Radio Act. The commission’s Nov. 30 meeting will see a vote on finalizing steps toward opening a filing window for nonprofits to apply for LPFM licenses (CD Nov 15 p6). A new proposal from NAB was opposed by a group of LPFMs.

A promised full release of documents related to the World Conference on International Telecommunications began online Thursday through .Nxt, an Internet policy information service. It cited growing public interest in the WCIT in its decision to release the files. Delegations from ITU member states will meet at WCIT, which begins Dec. 3 in Dubai, to revise the treaty-level International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs). “As interest has grown over the outcomes of this conference (thanks largely to concerns raised about what they may be) the issue of availability of related documents has itself become a major bone of contention,” .Nxt said in a blog post announcing the documents’ release (http://xrl.us/bn27p9). Files relating to WCIT, including proposed revisions submitted by national delegations, are available to parties within the telecom industry and members of the ITU that pay for membership to the organization. CEO Kieren McCarthy of .Nxt told us that while he’s had access to WCIT documents through the ITU portal for some time, “it got to the point where there was a massive public interest in the conference.” That rise in public interest is due in part to PR campaigns by Internet advocacy group Fight for the Future, Google, Greenpeace and the International Trade Union Confederation, all of which have centered on proposed revisions to the ITRs that the U.S. and other nations fear could alter the current Internet governance structure, McCarthy said. Google’s effort, which went live Tuesday, centers on getting its users to sign a petition that says “A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct its future. The billions of people around the globe who use the Internet should have a voice” (http://bit.ly/TdH9iK). Some national proposals have also received heightened public scrutiny, such as a set of proposals from the Russian Federation that critics claim could alter the current model of Internet addressing and other Internet governance issues (CD Nov 21 p7).

The transfer of licenses to an earlier corporate incarnation of Tribune and waivers of cross-ownership rules so the company could hold onto radio and TV stations in markets where it owned daily newspapers would remain in place under a draft order, FCC officials said. They said a Media Bureau order that circulated Nov. 14 (http://xrl.us/bmxdnu) denied the substance of petitions for reconsideration of a 2007 commission decision that paved the way for Sam Zell to take the company private. The part of the 3-2 order (CD Dec 3/07 p6) the current item reverses would give a church group opposed to cross-ownership waivers standing to challenge applications to transfer control to Zell, agency officials told us last week.

A draft FCC order on allowing the use of AWS-4 spectrum for a terrestrial service by Dish Network includes conditions protecting spectrum in the adjacent H block, commission officials said. The draft order circulated late Tuesday along with a rulemaking notice to auction the H block (CD Nov 21 p8). Conditions on setting out-of-band emissions (OOBE) restrictions that would limit the bottom of Dish’s uplink frequency were expected (CD Nov 9 p13).

Arguing the FCC lacks statutory authority to transition intercarrier compensation (ICC) rates to zero, ILEC intervenors asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday to vacate the 2011 USF/ICC order in its entirety. But the court won’t decide the fate of the order anytime soon, as the FCC’s brief in support of the order isn’t due until spring, said attorney Greg Vogt, who represents the National Exchange Carrier Association and worked on the brief. Until then, “the FCC’s order is effective and it’s moving onward and it’s harming rural telephone companies and their customers right now,” he said. Another telecom lawyer and an executive told us the rules are hurting ILECs, and will continue to for at least another year, until the 10th Circuit decides the case.

The FCC will hold field hearings to scrutinize communications resiliency in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Chairman Julius Genachowski announced. The storm hit the East Coast starting Oct. 29 and knocked out a quarter of the cell sites in affected areas, with outages lingering long after. The hearings will begin in early 2013, starting in New York, and focus on access to 911, how resources are shared, emergency permitting and dependency on electric power and fuel, the FCC said. The agency will look at wired and wireless resiliency and produce recommendations for a stronger network, it said. Questions of new technology and jurisdictional tension remain concerns, officials told us.

Deals where separately owned TV stations in a market share responsibilities for ad sales, pay-TV carriage and other functions are getting more attention inside the FCC and among those lobbying on upcoming media ownership rules, officials inside and outside the agency said this week. Multichannel video programming distributors and nonprofits opposed to pacts such as shared services agreements, joint sales agreements and joint retransmission consent negotiation deals are lobbying to expand a draft order from only issuing new rules on JSAs, said industry and public interest officials and ex parte filings. Broadcasters got a late start on such lobbying, and are expected to visit the agency next week, industry officials said.

The European Parliament was to vote Thursday on resolutions aimed at pressuring governments not to yield to attempts by some countries to regulate the Internet through changes to the ITU’s International Telecom Regulations (ITRs). The Council of Ministers is preparing its position for the December World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, a position that will be adopted sometime before Nov. 29, an EU diplomatic source told us. Governments are fully committed to ensuring that the WCIT outcome aligns with EU law and its digital agenda, Cypriot Justice and Public Order Minister Louca Loucas told Parliament members during a Tuesday evening debate in the Legal Affairs Committee. The council is “fully determined to defend the EU interest in Dubai,” he said. Nevertheless, lawmakers said they're worried European values will fall victim to governments seeking a stronger voice on the Internet.

Opening briefs were due Monday in the Supreme Court case Arlington, Texas, et al. v. FCC, which will take a hard look at the Chevron doctrine and federal agencies’ ability to determine their jurisdiction. The court took up the question Oct. 5, raising questions about how the FCC exerts its authority (CD Oct 12 p1). Petitioners include the city of Arlington and San Antonio, Texas, Los Angeles, San Diego and the Texas Coalition for Utilities Issues. The petitioners have attracted significant support among state advocates. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners adopted a resolution Nov. 13 in support of the petitioners (CD Nov 14 p5) and NARUC is now one among many state advocates speaking up.