Incompas is urging the FCC to adopt its proposed changes to pole attachment rules (see 2402140048). Its members "continue to experience significant barriers when seeking to attach to utility poles," citing "unreasonable delays in the application and make-ready process" and "unsubstantiated and unreasonable fees for engineering and survey work," the group said in separate meetings with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Wireline Bureau staff. As such, Incompas is seeking "specific timeframes for make-ready for large pole orders" and backs NCTA's proposal requiring that pole owners notify a requesting attacher within 15 days after receiving their application if the owner can't conduct a survey within the required 45-day period, the group said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 17-84. The group also opposed the Edison Electric Institute and Coalition of Concerned Utilities' petitions about the commission's current rules (see 2402260073).

Meagan Foster, former chief of staff for Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and former staffer at NTCA and USTelecom, joins Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies as senior principal with tech focus … Cable One elevates Ken Johnson to chief operating officer ... Metronet promotes Joe Salerno to senior director-business development ... Ericsson promotes Rebecca Rohr to chief compliance officer, succeeding Jan Sprafke, departing “to pursue other opportunities” … FuboTV adds Neil Glat, Sportfive, also former NFL, to its board ... CommentSold, video commerce platform, hires Filip Vítek, ex-Flaconi, as executive vice president-AI and data ... Incompas creates AI Center with MLC Strategies’ Mignon Clyburn, former FCC commissioner; Colin Crowell, The Blue Owl Group managing director; Rob Hale, Granite Telecomm CEO; Milo Medin, Google vice president-access and wireless services; and Robert Robbins, University of Arizona president, as advisers.

Lack of trained tradespeople and onerous permitting procedures could represent major challenges to broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program implementation, speakers said Tuesday at Incompas’ annual policy summit in Washington. The looming end of the affordable connectivity program (ACP) (see 2403040077) is a big wrench in the works of planned BEAD projects, said Evan Feinman, who leads NTIA's BEAD program. He said internet service providers are recalculating project costs, and many planned projects will go into the red as they receive less help covering their operating expenses.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., voiced varying levels of optimism during a Tuesday Incompas conference (see 2403050052) about the prospects that lawmakers will be able to reach a deal on stopgap funding that will keep the FCC’s affordable connectivity program running past this spring. The FCC said in a Monday update on its wind-down of the program that it will be able to provide only “partial” reimbursements for ACP in May (see 2403040077). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., highlighted their ongoing interest in enacting legislation to lift or ease permitting processes in a bid to streamline broadband deployments.

Incompas urged the FCC to "reinstate its oversight authority over" broadband internet access service providers’ interconnection agreements (see 2402080082). "Net neutrality is competition policy as it brings more choices and opportunities for consumers and small businesses," the group said in a filing posted Friday in docket 23-320 on separate meetings with aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez. Incompas also warned the commission against taking a "regulatory drift into areas of internet regulation," noting that content delivery networks and virtual private networks are "areas in which the FCC has not traditionally had a role."

The wireless industry disputed the need for additional requirements to block texts, including extending requirements to originating providers and requiring use of “reasonable analytics” to block texts likely to be illegal, in response to a December Further NPRM (see 2312130019). But other groups said the FCC should consider additional rules and can’t rely on the wireless industry's voluntary efforts. Comments were posted this week in docket 21-402.

NARUC’s Telecom Committee approved a proposed resolution Monday aimed at forestalling U.S. phone number exhaustion. Also during state utility regulators’ meeting in Washington, telecom industry officials urged state commissioners to join them in calling on Congress to renew funding for the affordable connectivity program (ACP). Another panel flagged pole attachment issues remaining after a December FCC order (see 2312130044).

Utility companies, ISPs and advocacy groups sparred over the FCC's proposed revisions to its pole attachment and replacement rules, in comments posted Wednesday in docket 17-84. The FCC should abandon its Further NPRM, adopted in December with a related order and declaratory ruling and instead encourage greater communication between pole owners and attackers, some said (see 2312130044). Others sought greater oversight of the process and urged quick action.

Broadband experts emphasized the need for the FCC to reclassify broadband internet access service as a Communications Act Title II telecom service Thursday. "Today, there is no expert agency ensuring the internet is fast, open, and fair," Ramesh Nagarajan, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's chief legal adviser, said during a New America Open Technology Institute event (see 2310190020). Multiple court decisions have made it clear that "Title II is the foundation of strong, legally sustainable net neutrality rules," Nagarajan said, adding it would also aid in the commission's efforts in addressing national security, cybersecurity and public safety. Hooman Hedayati, Communications Workers of America senior strategic research associate, agreed. Title II allows regulators to "require service quality standards and basic safeguards so that networks are there at times of emergencies," Hedayati said. Title II reclassification and net neutrality are "incredibly relevant to individual privacy for lots of reasons" said Stacey Gray, Future of Privacy Forum senior director-U.S. policy. "The most obvious one is that it's the most clear hook, arguably mandate, that the FCC has for promulgating specific and robust privacy rules" for broadband providers, Gray said. Future of Music Director Kevin Erickson noted net neutrality protections would also allow online creators to have more choice when deciding on platforms that best fit their business models. It gives smaller creators "the same level of access to audiences that huge corporations have," Erickson said. "Net neutrality policy is competition policy" because it ensures that consumers and small businesses can access online content and services "without undue interference by their ISP," said Incompas President Angie Kronenberg. Consumers "don't have a lot of choice" in the home broadband marketplace, Kronenberg said. Providers offering broadband service need only the nondiscriminatory access and rights provided through reclassification to "build the networks faster and more affordably," she said. "Most consumers do not have Title II-regulated services for their communications needs," Hedayati added. A national framework established at the FCC that is ultimately responsible for ensuring consumers and businesses have access to affordable services and choice is necessary, Kronenberg said, because "we don't have a place to really go right now to say there's an issue" when one is identified.

FCC Enforcement Bureau announces Alice Suh Jou, ex-DOJ, as assistant bureau chief and Jolina Cuaresma, former Common Sense Media, as senior policy counsel, with both to participate on Enforcement Bureau-led Privacy and Data Protection Task Force … Future of Privacy Forum appoints Anne Flanagan, ex-World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as vice president-AI … Incompas hires Keith Matthews, Mortgage Bankers Association, as digital media manager.