More work remains to further narrow the digital divide, a Cox Communications event heard Monday, even as speakers praised the cable ISP's stepped-up efforts. "Bridging the digital divide should be, in my view, a national mission," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He seeks "a kick-starter for a national conversation" and said Cox's Connect2Compete low-cost broadband for the poor helps: It's "a bold initiative that is tackling the issue of broadband affordability." More than 400,000 low-income Americans at one point have been or still are connected via the plan. That's "almost two Topekas," the Kansas native said of the city there, to laughter. Cox's promise to spend $20 million over the next year on Connect2Compete is "going to make a ton of difference," said Zach Leverenz, founder-chair of EveryoneOn, which helps administer the program. "There’s more still to be done." He noted many millions of Americans can't afford broadband, and they are mostly minorities. Connect2Compete has boosted speeds and added digital literacy tools and has tech centers in boys and girls clubs, with the product targeting low-income families with school-age kids, said Cox President Pat Esser. "It's that multitiered access that is critical" to help close the broadband gap, he said. Cox's Connect2Compete and a similar product, Comcast's Internet Essentials, cost users about $10 monthly, spokespeople for the companies told us. Connect2Compete is in about 70,000 households, the Cox spokesman said. IE has connected 6 million low-income people from 1.5 million households to broadband, Comcast's representative noted, citing figures released in August. That makes it the top such U.S. program.

Edward Parkinson will lead FirstNet as acting CEO, replacing Mike Poth, FirstNet said Monday. Poth announced his resignation last month after holding the post for about three years; some officials called for quick action to maintain stability (see 1809270049). Parkinson is an internal hire who recently led state outreach efforts as executive director-external affairs. He joined in 2013 after helping to write legislation to establish FirstNet while on the House Homeland Security Committee staff. “His understanding of the history of the FirstNet project and his leadership roles throughout its maturation make him uniquely qualified to lead the FirstNet organization into its operational phase,” said NTIA Administrator David Redl. APCO Executive Director Derek Poarch said Parkinson was one of the authority’s “key early staff members” who “helped shepherd FirstNet through its formation and into the advanced communications option it is today.”

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was the only lawmaker to argue during a Thursday House Communications Subcommittee hearing that the 1992 Cable Act is too outdated to still be effectual (see 1809270062). ... The interference limit contour proposed by the FCC is 54 dBu (see 1809270059).

The FCC Wireless Bureau cited three auctions targeted for FY 2019 which begins Monday. Auction 100 will address any remaining mutually exclusive applications by AM broadcasters seeking new cross-service FM translators to retransmit their stations, said a public notice Friday. It said Auction 101, which is to begin Nov. 14, "will offer 3,072 Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS) licenses in the 28 GHz band on a county basis," to be followed by Auction 102 offering "2,912 UMFUS licenses in the 24 GHz band on a Partial Economic Area (PEA) basis." Chairman Ajit Pai also indicated the FCC will "move forward with a single auction of the 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands in the second half of 2019, subject to the outcome of certain pending issues in GN Docket No. 14-177," the PN said.

If there's a government shutdown, 243 of 1,450 FCC employees will continue working under an updated commission plan for an orderly shutdown if there's a lapse in appropriations. "The remaining 1,207 employees, or 83 percent of those on board before the plan was implemented, will have been furloughed and sent home," said the plan issued Thursday. A December plan anticipated 227 of the 1,492 FCC employees (15 percent) would continue working.

The FCC released an NPRM seeking to improve 911 calling and location accuracy, which was adopted 4-0 at commissioners' meeting Wednesday to begin implementing Kari's Law and Ray Baum's Act requirements (see 1809260047). The notice proposes to ensure 911 direct dialing from multiline telephone systems in larger buildings and complexes, and to ensure "dispatchable location" information is conveyed with calls to emergency responders. Comments will be due 45 days and replies 75 days after Federal Register publication, said the text in Thursday's Daily Digest.

The FCC's "inaccurate broadband mapping" could worsen if the agency scraps more industry filing requirements, as it just did in eliminating cable Form 325 duties, blogged Amir Nasr, New America Open Technology Institute program associate, Thursday. He said the "flimsy data maneuvering" could lead to "misallocated" funds, undermine federal agency efforts to improve broadband deployment and adoption, and even "harm the accuracy of the 2020 Census -- and all the activities that depend on it." The FCC gets much broadband data from ISPs through Form 477 filings that have "significant flaws" and "two large caveats," he said: a census tract is deemed "served" if an ISP deploys to one household or location there, and ISPs are only required to report potential, not actual, broadband speeds. "[T]he best way for the FCC to fact-check ISPs’ reports is to supplement that data with broadband performance data," he said: The agency also should "collect data on how much broadband really costs" across the nation, and "clarify, through its Form 477 reporting requirements, that a census block shouldn't be considered 'served' unless it's truly served." Parties filed comments and replies (see 1710110038, 1710250033) on an NPRM that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said seeks to make Form 477 data more accurate and less burdensome.

FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes, Chris Anderson, also from the bureau, and Zenji Nakazawa, aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, said they were the ones who visited North Carolina last week (see 1809210042) in the aftermath of Florence. They said they planned to visit the hardest hit areas, but flooding made that impossible and they ended up at the State Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh. “If our brief visit to North Carolina left us with one lasting impression it was this: Communications technologies -- whether broadcast, cellular, or wireline -- are critical to public safety and emergency response,” the three blogged. “But even the best of technologies is no substitute for the practical know-how and professionalism of a committed team of emergency first responders who stand ready at all times.”

The FCC and an employee alleging she was penalized after complaining about a hostile work environment in the Office of Communications Business Opportunities (see 1606010060) reached a settlement in principle and are preparing a written settlement agreement. So said a docket 15-cv-00057-CKK status report (in Pacer) filed Monday with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

FCC Technical Advisory Council member Lisa Guess is now at Cradlepoint (see 1809200037).