FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is trying to line up votes in favor of E-rate reform for action at the agency’s July 11 open meeting. It’s unclear whether Wheeler will be able to get Republican support for the changes, dedicating $1 billion to Wi-Fi in 2015, industry and agency officials said Tuesday. To that end, Wheeler is emphasizing that his proposal does not increase the E-rate budget, but relies on $2 billion commission staff recently found has been set aside for E-rate but never spent.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is trying to line up votes in favor of E-rate reform for action at the agency’s July 11 open meeting. It’s unclear whether Wheeler will be able to get Republican support for the changes, dedicating $1 billion to Wi-Fi in 2015, industry and agency officials said Tuesday. To that end, Wheeler is emphasizing that his proposal does not increase the E-rate budget, but relies on $2 billion commission staff recently found has been set aside for E-rate but never spent.

The FCC violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it “hurriedly promulgated rules” -- without seeking comment -- that banned companies from giving away IP Captioned Telephone Service phones with the captioning feature turned on. That’s the unanimous holding of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which found that an agency is not entitled to deference when it invokes “good cause” as a reason for bypassing the APA. The court vacated the agency’s “interim” order and parts of the final order, while leaving the remainder intact. The case is Sorenson Communications v. FCC (http://1.usa.gov/1psR2Z4).

The FCC information collection on peering and interconnection practices could violate the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), industry observers said in interviews Monday. Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday announced he had directed staff to start gathering information from ISPs and content providers on what interconnection and peering agreements are in place (WID June 16 p1). The PRA applies to collections of information using identical questions posed to 10 or more persons.

The FCC information collection on peering and interconnection practices could violate the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), industry observers said in interviews Monday. Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday announced he had directed staff to start gathering information from ISPs and content providers on what interconnection and peering agreements are in place (CD June 16 p1). The PRA applies to collections of information using identical questions posed to 10 or more persons.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to recuse himself entirely from involvement in AT&T’s wire center trial experiments, he said Friday. Wheeler was on the EarthLink board for about 10 years until resigning when he was confirmed to the chairman’s position in November. Wheeler’s EarthLink past caused him to recuse himself from the Wireline Bureau’s decision to suspend and investigate an AT&T tariff revision in the special access proceeding (CD Dec 9 p1). Industry observers then wondered if Wheeler would have to recuse himself from parts of other proceedings. One question raised by observers now is whether EarthLink participation on other, more contentious proceedings -- like Comcast’s plan to buy Time Warner Cable -- might force Wheeler’s recusal there as well.

The FCC was set to seek comment late Monday on a federal advisory committee recommendation that Ericsson subsidiary Telcordia, doing business as iconectiv, become the new local number portability administration (LNPA) vendor. The current vendor, Neustar, has waged a monthslong battle against that expected selection, saying the selection process was flawed. Federal agencies typically aren’t bound by advisory committee recommendations, and the FCC has ignored them in the past. Observers on both sides of the aisle say this is the most hotly contested FCC advisory committee recommendation in recent memory.

The FCC continues to log thousands of brief net neutrality protests, with more than 10,000 posted on its Electronic Comment Filing System on Monday alone. Most of the comments are extremely brief. Some contain profanity, one commenter wrote only “FCC F*** YOU” several dozen times. Most touch on the importance of the Internet to innovation or rail against powerful ISPs. Net neutrality advocates like Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu see the comments as important as the FCC weighs its next steps under Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The FCC continues to log thousands of brief net neutrality protests, with more than 10,000 posted on its Electronic Comment Filing System on Monday alone. Most of the comments are extremely brief. Some contain profanity, one commenter wrote only “FCC F*** YOU” several dozen times. Most touch on the importance of the Internet to innovation or rail against powerful ISPs. Net neutrality advocates like Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu see the comments as important as the FCC weighs its next steps under Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The FCC continues to log thousands of brief net neutrality protests, with more than 10,000 posted on its Electronic Comment Filing System on Monday alone. Most of the comments are extremely brief. Some contain profanity, one commenter wrote only “FCC F*** YOU” several dozen times. Most touch on the importance of the Internet to innovation or rail against powerful ISPs. Net neutrality advocates like Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu see the comments as important as the FCC weighs its next steps under Chairman Tom Wheeler.