Verizon defended itself against claims by Level 3 and others who the telco says “mischaracterize Verizon’s special access discount plans and their pro-competitive economic justifications” (http://xrl.us/bmzp86). Level 3 has long argued that the special access market is “broken” (CD July 23/10 p13), accusing Verizon and others of imposing unfair special access contracts (CD Feb 7/11 p13). The Internet backbone company told the FCC last month that incumbent price-cap LECs continue to use “exclusionary and anti-competitive contracting practices to minimize competition in the special access marketplace, thereby ensuring that they can reap the rewards of pricing well above competitive rates” (http://xrl.us/bmzp88). Level 3 asked the commission to declare Verizon’s “lock-up contracts” unlawful under Section 201(b) of the Communications Act.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is working hard to wrap up a decision on the various longstanding applications from Oklahoma, New Orleans and other jurisdictions for waivers so they can build out early networks in the 700 MHz band, Chief Jamie Burnett said Wednesday. But Barnett, who spoke at a National Emergency Number Association conference, declined to provide a timetable for when the FCC will make a decision.

Sirius XM’s antitrust lawsuit against SoundExchange and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is the latest chapter in a long-running battle that’s been waged for more than six years over royalty rates paid music labels for performance rights. The company sued SoundExchange and A2IM Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, arguing that the music rights organizations are violating the federal Sherman Act by interfering with Sirius efforts to secure cheaper direct licenses through another organization that pay 5-7 percent royalty rates instead of the 8 percent statutory rate for master rights owners. Sirius seeks an injunction barring the groups from interfering with its bid to get direct licenses, about 80 of which have been secured so far. The suit asks that SoundExchange be dissolved or an independent monitor be appointed to oversee the group’s compliance with antitrust laws for 10 years.

House Communications Subcommittee cybersecurity recommendations are imminent, Chairman Greg Walden told reporters. The Oregon Republican had no more cybersecurity hearings planned after Wednesday’s, and has already met with the subcommittee’s cybersecurity working group to review draft recommendations, he said after the hearing. The working group had been expected to issue recommendations by the end of this month or early April (CD March 21 p6).

EU governments and lawmakers tentatively cut a deal to reduce mobile roaming charges, the Council of Ministers, European Parliament and European Commission said Wednesday. The compromise, which was endorsed by the council’s Permanent Representatives Committee, must be formally approved by Parliament and the council. They said that’s expected to happen, respectively, in May and June. The exact language wasn’t available Wednesday. Competitive telcos welcomed the agreement, but mobile operators said its price caps are unreasonable.

The House was expected to pass FCC process reform legislation (HR-3309) that has little chance of moving this year in the Senate and is opposed by President Barack Obama. In debate Tuesday, members of the GOP-controlled chamber split by party, with Republicans supporting and Democrats condemning the bill by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. The vote was expected to take place after our deadline.

NTIA released its long-awaited report on the future of the 1755-1850 MHz band and whether it can be repurposed for wireless broadband. The report offers a good news-bad news assessment for the wireless industry. It’s “possible to repurpose all 95 megahertz of the band,” the agency said. The bad news is that doing so won’t be easy or cheap, with an estimated cost of $18 billion over 10 years. NTIA warned that carriers likely will have to share part of the band. The report takes a broad overview and does not offer a tight focus on 1755-1780 MHz, the part of the band which has long been a top focus of carriers, who want to see it paired with AWS-3 spectrum for an eventual auction.

While MetroPCS intends to launch its LTE handsets in the second half of the year, Sprint claimed it’s free to offer potential LTE iPhones if Apple has such a device planned, their executives said during the Barclays Capital, High Yield Bond and Syndicated Loan Conference Tuesday.

TV stations’ public-inspection files won’t need to be standardized or searchable when the FCC requires they go online (CD March 19 p6), industry officials said. Media Bureau staff are continuing to work on drafting an order to make broadcasters put most of what’s now in paper files, including information on political spots, on the Internet, commission and industry officials told us. Some FCC staff appear to be targeting a forthcoming order that tracks with an October rulemaking notice in that stations won’t need to convert paperwork to an electronic format right away (http://xrl.us/bmzmqp), industry officials said. The commission may decide on searchability and standardization later, agency and industry officials said.

The government needs to deregulate information technology industry areas, panelists said at an American Consumer Institute event Wednesday. ACI Wednesday released a series of essays (http://xrl.us/bmzmmr) titled “The Information Technology Revolution and the Transformation of the Small Business Economy,” written by industry experts about technology’s effect on the small business economy. “When you get government out of the way and provide certainty in the marketplace, small business owners will come in, and that will create jobs,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. and a House Communications Subcommittee member, told the event. The FCC regulates one-sixth of the American economy, and it needs to be reigned in, she said, urging lawmakers to pass the FCC reform bill (HR-3309).