Seventy-five NTIA-funded broadband projects in the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and State Broadband Initiative (SBI) remained in the process of completion as of June 30, NTIA said in a report released Tuesday. An additional 205 BTOP and SBI projects had finished their project activities by June 30, the agency said. The 75 BTOP/SBI projects “continued to exceed” goals for connecting subscribers and community institutions during the quarter that ended June 30 “and to make progress toward the miles goal,” NTIA said. The 20 active BTOP projects connected more than 400 additional community institutions during the quarter, bringing the total number of connected institutions to 25,300 -- ahead of the 23,000-institution goal set for fiscal year 2014, NTIA said. BTOP grantees also deployed or upgraded more than 400 additional network miles for a total of more than 112,700 miles of new or upgraded lines, the agency said. All four recipients of NTIA public safety project grants that subsequently executed spectrum lease agreements with FirstNet -- the Adams County Communications Center in Colorado, the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) and the states of New Jersey and New Mexico -- have resumed network design and construction activities, NTIA said. The agency had suspended all seven public safety grants it had awarded in 2010, before FirstNet’s creation, to allow FirstNet to evaluate them. Three of the grantees didn’t reach spectrum lease agreements with FirstNet -- the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, the state of Mississippi, and Motorola. The Adams County Communications Center completed 40 percent of its fiber work and completed LTE installation at six sites by the end of the quarter, NTIA said. LA-RICS made progress on planning and design work during the quarter, the agency said. New Jersey finalized statements of work for key components in its deployable network, NTIA said. New Mexico built 24 tower sites and identified seven LTE sites, along with working on a request for proposals for additional LTE buildout issues, NTIA said. Charlotte’s project was active at the end of the quarter but was moving forward with modifications that don’t require access to FirstNet spectrum, NTIA said. Mississippi and Motorola were in the process of closing out their awards, NTIA said.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said he disagrees with President Barack Obama’s backing of commission pre-emption of state municipal broadband laws. “State governments are in a much better position than Washington to weigh the potential costs and benefits” of municipal broadband,” Haslam, a Republican, said in a letter to the FCC posted Tuesday. The FCC is considering pre-emption petitions from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, with most industry observers saying they expect the commission to approve both petitions at its Feb. 26 meeting. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, a Republican, urged the FCC not to grant the EPB petition, saying in a filing posted Friday that the state’s “interest in its control over municipal governments, including the extent to which those governments are given authority to provide utility services, must be respected.” Slatery and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper are expected to take the lead in any legal challenge of FCC pre-emption (see 1502020048). Congress hasn’t empowered the FCC to pre-empt state law on municipal broadband, and Telecom Act Section 706 “is not an ‘unmistakably clear’ mandate to preempt state law,” Slatery said. Pre-emption would leave the EPB in “limbo,” as it would still lack state authorization to provide expanded broadband service, Slatery said. “It would still need further legislative authorization to expand its service territory beyond existing geographical boundaries.” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson also expressed opposition to FCC pre-emption, saying in a filing posted Thursday that it “has no basis, either expressed or implied, in federal statutory law. It is, moreover, most likely unconstitutional as an infringement upon the State's police powers.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the latest organization supporting the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA), which would update the state's electronic privacy statutes. Legislation updating the federal statute related to email privacy was introduced last week (see 1502040045). CalECPA, written by Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno and Republican state Sen. Joel Anderson, reportedly goes further to protect individuals' privacy, as the proposal would view technologies not as a convenience, but devices that hold “the privacies of life,” said an EFF statement. If passed, law enforcement would have to obtain a search warrant before searching a mobile device or requiring a service provider to disclose electronic information. The bill would require transparency and oversight to ensure the law is followed and contains exceptions to the warrant requirement to ensure law enforcement can effectively and efficiently protect public safety. Others that support CalECPA include the American Civil Liberties Union of California, Center for Democracy and Technology, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, reddit, TechFreedom, Twitter and the World Privacy Forum.

NARUC will consider two telecom-related resolutions at a meeting in Washington later this month. One resolution would urge the FCC to “reaffirm” its commitment to working with state utility regulators on goals and directives in the commission’s November IP transition NPRM, which also asked about possible rules to ensure backup power reliability for dialing 911 and to ensure improved communication about the retirement of legacy facilities and services (see 1411210037). State regulators share responsibility with the FCC on 911 issues and several states are examining intrastate impacts of battery backup and copper retirement, NARUC said. The proposed resolution would ask the FCC to ensure that any rules adopted based on the IP transition NPRM don't diminish states’ authority on 911 or copper issues, and the federal commission should endorse states’ continued involvement on those issues. The resolution also would ask the FCC to require network providers to educate consumers on backup power requirements and would ask the commission to partner with states on educating consumers on backup power requirements. A second resolution would ask the FCC to “expeditiously approve” a November 2009 petition from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that sought “direct access” for all states’ regulators to state-specific information in the FCC Network Outage Reporting System (NORS). The FCC hasn’t responded to the CPUC petition despite additional support from other states’ regulators, NARUC said in the proposed resolution. Giving states access to NORS data would be consistent with FCC precedent of sharing confidential data with state regulators and would ensure “rapid and effective coordination” of efforts to restore networks, the resolution said. NARUC’s board is to consider both resolutions Feb. 18 based on the recommendation of the group’s Telecom Committee and Staff Telecom Subcommittee. NARUC’s Consumer Affairs Committee also is expected to consider the resolution on the FCC IP transition NPRM.

Washington, D.C., safety officials and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Interim General Manager Jack Requa said their agencies are working to increase testing of public safety radios in the wake of a Jan. 12 incident near WMATA’s L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station in which first responders found their radios didn’t work properly during the rescue of passengers from a smoke-filled tunnel. D.C. Councilmen Jack Evans and Kenyan McDuffie, both Democrats, said during a D.C. Council hearing Thursday that they're seeking further answers on the incident, in which one passenger died and 84 others went to area hospitals. The incident has also attracted scrutiny from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and other D.C. area members of Congress (see 1501230066 and 1502030055). All area public safety agencies have radio infrastructure throughout the Metrorail system independent of WMATA’s infrastructure and are responsible for testing their own equipment, Requa said. WMATA is working with local agencies and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to “put in place formal protocols and procedures for regular radio testing with sharing of results and prompt action to correct deficiencies,” he said. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration also is taking immediate steps to improve radio communication connectivity, said Acting Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kevin Donahue. Bowser has directed the city’s Office of Unified Communications, which is responsible for maintaining all of D.C.’s public safety radios, to conduct weekly radio tests in all Metrorail stations within city limits. Tests during the week of Jan. 19 found radios failed in nine Metrorail stations, while testing the following week found a failure in one station, Donahue said. The city’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) Department also issued improved protocols for communication between first responders when radios aren’t working properly, he said. Representatives for unions associated with WMATA and public safety agencies indicated that public safety radio connectivity is often intermittent in the Metrorail system, with D.C. Firefighters Association President Ed Smith saying it “remains to be seen” if FEMS’ recent encryption of its radio channels played a role in the communications failures at L’Enfant Plaza but noting the union has continually opposed encryption. First responders routinely encounter problems with radio connectivity in many large facilities in D.C., including federal buildings, Smith said. D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh, a Democrat, said she believes the radio problem in federal buildings “needs to be corrected” quickly.

Four of the 10 most common consumer complaints to the Missouri Attorney General’s office in 2014 involved the communications sector, Attorney General Chris Koster’s office said Wednesday. Koster’s office received 52,514 complaints about violations of “no call” and telemarketing laws -- an 8.5 percent decrease from 2013. Koster’s office said it “aggressively” pursued those complaints, filing 20 lawsuits, successfully banning 28 telemarketers from making calls into Missouri and collecting more than $270,000 in fines. Koster’s office also received 1,208 complaints about mail and phone solicitations, 674 complaints about phone cramming, and 598 complaints about cable and satellite service issues.

Alaska Communications said it completed the sale of its wireless assets and 33 percent ownership in the Alaska Wireless Network to majority owner General Communication Inc. (GCI). The $300 million deal, announced in December (see 1412040062), won’t affect service for Alaska Communications’ former wireless customers, because the telco and GCI implemented a plan to allow for a “seamless continuation of service,” the companies said in a Monday news release.

Verizon said it’s offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for copper cable thefts in four southwestern Pennsylvania counties. The 30 thefts since early 2014 in Beaver, Fayette, Lawrence and Washington counties “have put public safety at risk for hundreds of customers and have caused unnecessary telephone service outages,” Verizon said Monday. The thefts have resulted in the loss of 16,000 feet of copper cable and more than $300,000 in damages, the telco said. “These acts are deliberate and brazen with no regard for the safety of our customers, and that is something Verizon will not tolerate,” Margaret Buban, Verizon director-Pennsylvania operations, said in a news release. “They can cause unnecessary telephone service outages for hundreds of customers at a time, put people’s lives in danger and cost thousands of dollars to repair.” The telco is working with state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the thefts, which violate a recently state enacted law that made copper thefts a third-degree felony.

TechAmerica increased its grassroots advocacy partnerships 35 percent with the addition of new business councils, the trade group said in a news release Wednesday. The new partners are the California Technology Council, Howard Technology Council, Metroplex Technology Business Council, Nashville Technology Council, OCTANe and Wisconsin Technology Council, it said. They will join 17 technology councils that “affiliate on public policy advocacy and other activities to educate their member companies on national policy issues affecting their IT businesses,” it said. TechAmerica’s grassroots coalition claims more than 14,000 technology companies in more than 20 states, it said.

The New Hampshire Executive Council approved a $13 million contract Wednesday for FairPoint Communications to provide broadband and wireline service in state facilities through 2020. The council delayed a planned vote on the contract last month after Councilor Colin Van Ostern, a Democrat, raised concerns about the telco’s service quality in the state (see 1412230053). FairPoint agreed to hold public meetings around New Hampshire on its service quality before the contract takes effect in July. Ostern asked FairPoint to hold at least one meeting in each of the state’s five executive council districts. FairPoint has been facing ongoing service quality complaints in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont due to an ongoing strike of about 1,700 of its workers in the states. FairPoint and representatives of two unions -- the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- have been in federally mandated negotiations since Jan. 4.