The FCC released its E-rate order Friday, which increases the E-rate spending cap by $1.5 billion. The commission adopted the order at its Dec. 11 meeting despite opposition from Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai (see 1412110049). Affected parties have 60 days from issuance of a Universal Service Administrative Co. or FCC decision to seek an appeal with the issuing agency or 60 days to seek an FCC review of a USAC decision, the FCC said in the order.

AT&T said it's increasing its quarterly dividend 2.2 percent, from 46 cents to 47 cents per share on a quarterly basis. AT&T's board approved the hike. “Returning value to our shareholders is a top priority and we’re pleased that this is the 31st straight year we’ve increased our quarterly dividend,” said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson Friday.

The Patent and Trademark Office will host its first trade secrets symposium Jan. 8, said a PTO news release Tuesday. U.S. government, industry and legal officials will discuss issues of trade secrets theft, including proposed legislation. The event will be at the PTO office in Alexandria, Virginia, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (see here to register).

Many are taking an unnecessarily dim view of the telecom sector, especially given “the craziness” of recent price wars, said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. “We were marketing this past week and it was met with a lot of pity looks that we cover such a ‘horrible’ and ‘uninvestable’ space,” Fritzsche said in a Sunday note to investors. The price wars won’t go on forever, she said. “Maybe crazy and maybe we are too glass half full but recall the airline industry was once like this,” she said. “And now look how life has changed. If you don't believe us -- try to book your spring break tickets!”

Nearly 957,000 patents were granted by the world’s five largest patent offices (IP5) in 2013, 4 percent above 2012, said a Friday news release from the Patent and Trademark Office. The release cited the publication of a report from the IP5: the PTO; European Patent Office; Japan Patent Office; Korean Intellectual Property Office; and State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China. Patent applications to those offices totaled 2.1 million, up 11 percent from 2012, said IP5.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s final rule for small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations and other key requirements defined in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act remain incomplete, said a GAO report released Wednesday. FAA officials have indicated that they are hoping to issue a rulemaking notice soon, with a timeline for issuing the final rule in late 2016 or early 2017, the report said. Although the FAA established the test sites required in the act, some test site operators “are uncertain about what research should be done at the site, and believe incentives are needed for industry to use the test sites,” the report said. Absent regulations, “unauthorized UAS operations have, in some instances, compromised safety,” it said. FAA granted seven exemptions for the filmmaking industry as of Dec. 4, it said (see 1406030065). More than 140 applications awaited review for other industries for uses like electric power line monitoring, the report said.

President Barack Obama’s statement in favor of broadband reclassification potentially weakened “perhaps significantly, the case for granting deference” to the FCC's ultimate decision on net neutrality, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May Thursday in a blog post on The Hill website. “The president's intervention politicized the agency's decision-making process in a way that may give a reviewing court considerable pause before granting any deference.”

APCO plans a series of seminars across the U.S. on communications during incidents involving active shooters, APCO said. “Active shooter incidents and their response pose several unique concerns for all facets of public safety including public safety communications,” the group said. There is "a multitude of issues that make responding to an active shooter incident more difficult than other armed subject calls or violent in-progress incidents.”

The FCC seeks nominations to fill two open seats on its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, said a Monday public notice. The openings were created after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, was defeated for re-election and New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula was appointed as a commissioner on his state's Board of Public Utilities. Nominations are due Jan. 12 to the 15-member committee. The current IAC is to expire in July 2016.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications gave CenturyLink a task order to provide Einstein 3 Accelerated intrusion prevention security services to federal civilian agencies, the company said Monday. DHS’s Einstein program measures network traffic patterns to indicate possible malicious cyberactivity, CenturyLink said. DHS gave the company the one-year task order in 2013. The new task order asks the telco to provide additional managed security services beyond those included in the original task order by integrating with CenturyLink systems specifically designed to provide cybersecurity services for federal agencies, the company said.