FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said broadband applications can transform healthcare delivery by creating new solutions to old problems. “It’s not physical networks that drive social and economic change; it’s the use of those networks, the secondary effects, that determine the course of history,” Wheeler said Thursday at a broadband health conference in Jacksonville hosted by the FCC Connect2Health Task Force and the Mayo Clinic. “Virtualizing healthcare is our opportunity to have a secondary effect.” Wheeler hailed broadband network investment but said the commission must encourage consumer demand that “stimulates investment in competitive services, both wired and wireless,” available to everyone. He noted the 2015 Internet Trends report by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins' Mary Meeker, which ranks the Internet’s impact on various sectors (see Slide 8). “At the bottom of the list are government and healthcare. We can do better," Wheeler said. Also at the event, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said broadband could help "bridge the expanding chasm" between the growing demand for healthcare and the limited supply of healthcare professionals and services. She said interconnecting healthcare and advanced communications could help integrate a “fragmented medical system” and be a “force multiplier,” spurring “smart healthcare” approaches that prevent illness. “These smart systems could be exquisitely personalized to the specific needs of any of us,” she said.

The FTC topped the list of federal agencies ranked by employee engagement, with the FCC, Justice Department and Transportation Department coming in above average and the Broadcasting Board of Governors trailing, according to the 2015 Federal Employment Viewpoint Survey's Employee Engagement Index released this week. For 2015, the FTC had a score of 78, tied with NASA and the Office of Management and Budget. The Justice Department was at 68, while the FCC and Transportation Department were at 66. The Broadcasting Board of Governors had a 58 score. Among large agencies, the average score overall was 64. Among small agencies, where the average score was 67, the U.S. International Trade Commission and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative were above average with scores of 73 and 69, respectively, according to survey figures. "Employees across the Federal Government are more engaged in their workplaces and more satisfied with their jobs than they were a year ago. While there is still plenty of room for improvement, there are signs that the Administration’s focus on employee engagement is beginning to pay dividends for the workforce, and ultimately for our customers, the American people," Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Beth Cobert said in a blog Monday, pointing to the overall government score going up one point, to 64, from 2014. The index was created from 421,748 survey responses from 82 agencies.

The Alabama Public Service Commission is moving to prevent release of confidential data in violation of FCC protective orders, APSC Executive Director John Garner said in letter posted in inmate calling service docket 12-375 Tuesday. Responding to a Wireline Bureau request for any additional information on a recent data breach in the inmate calling service proceeding, Garner acknowledged APSC official Darrell Baker had improperly submitted confidential information from Global Tel*Link and other ICS providers to the FCC’s electronic comment filing system, where it was publicly available for three hours. Even though Baker labeled the filing as confidential, it was supposed to have been submitted to the FCC Office of the Secretary. The APSC “recognizes the seriousness of the filing error” and "regrets this mistake," and has adopted measures to prevent further violations, Garner said: retraining staff on protective order rules and filing procedures, securing current confidential information until resolution of the case, preventing Baker from making filings in the ICS proceeding (as required by a recent bureau order) and requiring any future filings in the docket to be reviewed and signed by an attorney. "This incident has prompted the APSC to implement a Protective Order Compliance Protocol which will be implemented in this and all future instances involving information submitted to the APSC and its staff subject to a protective order," Garner said. "This newly implemented procedure requires preapproval from the Executive Director to submit any filing containing information that is the subject of a protective order, the submission of a draft document which must be approved by the APSC Executive Director, and the signature of the Executive Director or another APSC attorney on the document in question." Garner also said Baker reasonably didn't expect a recent email response to a bureau official to be posted in the docket, as it was (see 1509280034). The bureau has asked that any responses from Global Tel*Link or others be filed by Thursday, and said it would decide on possible additional actions after concluding its investigation (see 1509220007).

CenturyLink urged the FCC to uphold a bureau decision denying USF challenges to its eligibility to receive broadband-oriented Connect America Fund Phase II support in certain census blocks in Missouri. But a draft order that recently circulated would approve an application for review of the decision, a person familiar with the proceeding told us Wednesday. In a filing posted in docket 10-90, CenturyLink said the Wireline Bureau had correctly rejected challenges by Co-Mo Comm and United Services based on insufficient evidence. CenturyLink also said the Co-Mo/United application for review was "procedurally defective and inconsistent with the CAF II challenge process" because "it submits new evidence that was not presented to the Bureau." Even with the new evidence, Co-Mo and United had failed to show they offer "the requisite voice service, particularly in census blocks where their own evidence shows they do not have customers," CenturyLink said. In addition, CenturyLink said it believed it would be able to meet its CAF II deployment obligation in Missouri without counting any locations in the challenged census blocks. "Accordingly, even if the Commission grants the Application for Review, it should direct the Bureau not to reduce the amount of CAF II funding for Missouri," it said. "Instead, the challenged census blocks should simply be removed from the list containing CAF II eligible locations while allowing the funding to continue to be used to bring broadband to high-cost areas in Missouri." CenturyLink accepted $77.85 million in CAF II annual support for 2015-2020, its single largest state allotment. "We obviously disagree with CenturyLink," said Randy Klindt, Co-Mo general manager. "We should have won the challenge in the first place. We both have built unsubsidized fiber-to-the-home networks doing gigabit service, and we think it’s a waste of funds to provide CenturyLink with CAF II support in these areas." He also said the companies do provide the requisite voice service over a dedicated link, but CenturyLink was trying to seize on a "technicality" to argue it was "over-the-top service" when it wasn't. Darren Farnan, United's chief development officer, told us he couldn't comment on the CenturyLink filing because he hadn't reviewed it, but he said United's aim was simply to ensure CAF II money was spent wisely in light of the challengers' deployment of fiber networks and gigabit service to rural customers.

The Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition will dissolve Wednesday, as expected (see 1411280041). That will avoid conflicting with FCC incentive auction anti-collusion rules and because the rules for the reverse auction are largely in place, said Executive Director Preston Padden on a press call Monday. Most of the licensees in the coalition will participate in the auction, he said, though they remain anonymous. Coalition members collectively own 87 stations, and they're “highly confident” that the auction will be successful and clear 125 MHz of spectrum, Padden said. Sprint's announcement over the weekend that it won't participate in the auction (see 1509280059) has “no effect” on that confidence or the auction's success, he said. He said the absence of dynamic reserve pricing, the relaxation of channel sharing rules, and a pricing plan partially based on interference were the most important factors encouraging his members to participate in the auction. Since pricing is based only partially on interference, Padden conceded that “we didn’t get everything we wanted.” He said he will be working as a consultant on the auction to private companies in the wake of the EOBC’s dissolution.

Customers' satisfaction broadly is up with their residential TV, Internet and phone services, according to J.D. Power's 2015 satisfaction studies for those services, released Thursday. In residential TV, DirecTV was ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the East, tying with AT&T U-verse in the North Central U.S. Verizon FiOS topped customer satisfaction rankings in the South, while Dish Network topped West rankings. Network performance and reliability satisfaction was up 22 points from 2014, following a 17-point increase between 2013 and 2014, J.D. Power said. In residential Internet customer satisfaction, Verizon ranked highest in the East, South and West, while AT&T ranked highest in North Central, J.D. Power said. Overall satisfaction with ISP network performance and reliability was up 16 points from 2014. And in residential phone service, AT&T ranked highest in North Central and West, while Verizon took the East and South; nationally, satisfaction with network performance and reliability was up 35 points. The 2015 survey results are based on responses from 30,947 customers who were questioned between November and July.

Gigi Sohn, senior aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, fired back at critics of the agency, who she said would “strip” it of its consumer protection role, in a speech Thursday in Providence, Rhode Island. Critics “argue that having more than one agency regulate a sector is redundant, confusing and leads to inconsistent results that lead to uncertainty and chill investment” she said, according to text posted by the FCC Friday. “These arguments don’t hold much water.” Sohn stressed that the FCC brings to the table its unique expertise on consumer issues. “It employs lawyers, economists, technologists and researchers who are steeped in the knowledge of how the industries work and how their services affect consumers,” she said. “The FCC also has a fundamental understanding of how industry behavior will play into the long-term growth of the industry.” The FCC is also unique as an “ex ante” regulator, adopting regulations that protect consumers before they are harmed, she said. “The FTC, on the other hand, acts principally as an enforcer of the Federal Trade Commission Act and antitrust laws, post hoc, or after the fact.” The FCC works “hand-in-hand” with the FTC on many consumer protection issues, including privacy, Sohn said. “Among other things, the agencies share consumer complaints, refer cases to each other and engage in joint enforcement actions,” she said. “We expect this fruitful relationship will continue to ensure consumers are protected.” The FCC coordinates transaction review with the Department of Justice, an agency limited to enforcing the antitrust laws, she noted.

If the FCC undertakes rulemaking regarding use of frequencies above 24 GHz for mobile services, including the 42-43.5 GHz band, it should look to answer a slew of policy and technical questions, such as what the 5G system characteristics are that can be used to look at the sharing environment, said the Satellite Industry Association in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-177. It lists more than two pages of suggested 5G, propagation, satellite, inter-service sharing, cumulative interference and licensing questions. They range from whether in certain bands 5G networks could be limited to indoor-only use to minimize interference to what are the prospects of developing user devices that can operate across the bands spanning 24-95 GHz and even above that might be used for 5G services. When looking at propagation models, SIA asked, should the FCC use the free space loss model to calculate interference, or are there other models that should be tested? It also said the FCC might want to inquire about technical parameters of the earth station types deployed or in the works in the frequency bands under consideration, and how sharing between satellite earth stations and 5G systems might work. And as it looks at cumulative interference, the FCC might need to ask about compatibility models or studies that look at cumulative 5G interference, SIA said.

Corrections and Clarifications: Washington Space Business Roundtable was the organizer of a panel on Export-Import Bank problems facing the satellite industry (see 1509210026) ... Nicholas Degani, advisor to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, does not support the commission's net neutrality rules, and does not see them as beneficial for the LGBT community (see 1509220062).

Former FCC chairmen Reed Hundt and Michael Copps disputed free speech challenges to the net neutrality order (see 1507310042 and 1508070058). “These arguments are unsound as a matter of constitutional principle, and are contrary to common sense and to common understandings that broadband Internet access service providers have long encouraged and benefited from,” said the brief they submitted Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063. “While the very nature of communications regulations makes them likely to generate plausible-sounding 'Free Speech' objections, it has never been the law -- and it cannot be the law -- that the mere provision of facilities over which others’ constitutionally-protected communication occurs is itself 'Free Speech,' making basic common-carrier non-discrimination duties the constitutional equivalent of a government-compelled 'pledge or oath.'” Copps and Hundt said they were encouraged that most industry petitioners “abandoned these mischievous arguments,” but they are taking the speech objections of Alamo Broadband and Daniel Berninger seriously “to prevent them from gaining a foothold.” If accepted, the objections “would imperil the entire project of communications law and Congress’s longstanding and until now unquestioned, power to regulate in this field,” said the brief, which was joined by law professors Nicholas Johnson, a former FCC commissioner, and Susan Crawford, a former technology adviser to President Barack Obama. Also defending the order on First Amendment grounds were Pennsylvania State University Palmer Chair in Telecom Sascha Meinrath, Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout and 45,707 Internet users who joined their separate brief. The Internet is an “essential platform,” net neutrality rules “serve fundamental democratic interests” consistent with “two centuries of commitment to open communications platforms,” and “the idea that ISPs would suppress speech and organizing is not speculative,” they said. “The Internet’s vital role as a conduit between government and the people would be irrevocably damaged if this Court accepts some petitioners’ argument that the Net Neutrality rules violate their First Amendment interest in exercising unfettered ‘editorial discretion’ over the Internet content that their customers choose to send or receive.” Other groups also filed briefs Monday (see 1509220052)