CHICAGO -- Updating the Telecom Act is something FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski still thinks is a good idea, and in the meantime the agency has broadband challenges that require immediate attention, he said Wednesday. He expanded on remarks Friday from his chief of staff on a new broadband initiative (CD June 13 p6), with Genachowski saying he'll work with other commissioners to get it underway. He agreed with comments Tuesday at the Cable Show by NCTA CEO Michael Powell, with whom Genachowski engaged in a Q-and-A, that “regulatory humility” is good.

BRUSSELS -- Operators may need more spectrum for new wireless services but they also have to use what they already have more efficiently, speakers said Wednesday at a Forum Europe spectrum management conference. One growing area of interest is combining broadcast and mobile broadband services, they said. Shared access models, cognitive technologies and more standardization are also under consideration to help meet Europe’s goal of broadband for all, they said.

A GPS Working Group report due to be delivered to the FCC Wednesday on LightSquared interference to GPS systems is expected to cite several potential problems if the company is allowed to offer terrestrial service in mobile satellite service spectrum. Members of a group writing the report were still working on the language, and several sources said Tuesday they don’t expect anything to be released much before a midnight deadline.

The Universal Service Fund’s contribution factor will dip to 14.4 percent in the third quarter of 2011, the FCC said in a public notice released Tuesday. It’s a dip from the second quarter’s 14.9 percent, but it’s not enough of a dip to ease pressure on Chairman Julius Genachowski as he focuses on universal service distribution reform through the fall, officials said. “Whether the contribution factor goes slightly up or slightly down is irrelevant,” Commissioner Robert McDowell told us Tuesday: “What’s important is that it’s either at or near record highs, indicating that the system is broken."

CHICAGO -- Some House Commerce Committee members are skeptical of the need for AllVid rules the FCC has been aiming to propose, its Republican counsel said. The rulemaking notice being worked on by the commission doesn’t seem likely to be finished soon, said an aide to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. Both aides, who spoke at the Cable Show Tuesday, said an earlier panel demonstrated that cable operators and programmers are trying to make content more accessible to subscribers. (See separate story in this issue.)

CHICAGO -- The NCTA’s Michael Powell wants fewer regulations as the cable industry puts its energy toward dealing with technological changes, he said in his first public speech as CEO of the association. There should be a high threshold for new rules and old ones ought to be reviewed with an eye toward doing away with some, Powell said at Tuesday’s opening of the Cable Show. The industry doesn’t need regulatory challenges as it grapples with how to serve and keep existing subscribers who want content online and want to see it on mobile devices.

BRUSSELS -- Europe got it right by coordinating wireless standards for 3G, but 10 years later has lost its dominance because of a lack of spectrum, U.S. Ambassador to the EU William Kennard said Tuesday at the annual European spectrum management conference. Europe’s information and communications technology market is about the same size as the U.S.’s, but with 200 million more people, it’s underperforming, he said. He floated the idea of pan-European spectrum auctions but said political pressures must be surmounted before that can happen. Others questioned whether Europe-wide auctions are the answer.

The FCC International Bureau’s long lead time on what is supposed to be a yearly satellite competition report isn’t a source of much concern around the industry, satellite executives said. Some executives said the large gap of time since the last report, which was adopted Oct. 14, 2008, may reflect an industry confidence in the market’s competitiveness and a lack of competitive concern on Capitol Hill. Others said the gap has left some in the industry wondering if the report is working as a means for monitoring competition in the market.

Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps have dug in and are fighting for expanded notice requirements in a pending interim Lifeline order, FCC 8th floor officials told us. Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff has been circulating an interim order since late May hoping to address duplicate Lifeline claims (CD June 9 p14). The order would automatically cancel extra payments and assign recipients to a single eligible telecommunications carrier. Under the proposed order, customers who are receiving more than one Lifeline subsidy will be assigned a carrier based by lot, with eligible carriers in a given area literally divvying up customers, FCC and industry officials said.

Small carriers opposed to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger asked the FCC to also look at AT&T’s proposed acquisition of 44 other 700 MHz licenses in combination with the T-Mobile buy. Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, NTELOS, the Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group, which made the request, earlier asked the FCC to consolidate its review of AT&T/T-Mobile and AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz licenses from Qualcomm (CD April 28 p1).