Mary Albert, 65, died unexpectedly this week at home in Washington, said officials at the Electronic Transactions Association, where she was director-regulatory affairs. Before joining ETA last year, Albert worked for a decade as assistant general counsel at Incompas. She also worked at law firms, was a staff attorney at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and was in-house telecom counsel, ETA said Wednesday. Albert is survived by a brother; other information on survivors and arrangements wasn't available.

The FCC still seemed likely to circulate a business data service draft order among commissioners late Thursday, several BDS stakeholders told us in the afternoon. "It’s supposed to get circulated late today, with advisors being briefed tomorrow morning, and fact sheet released tomorrow morning," emailed a telecom industry official. The tentative agenda for the Oct. 27 commission meeting didn't include the order.

The FCC still seemed likely to circulate a business data service draft order among commissioners late Thursday, several BDS stakeholders told us in the afternoon. "It’s supposed to get circulated late today, with advisors being briefed tomorrow morning, and fact sheet released tomorrow morning," emailed a telecom industry official. The tentative agenda for the Oct. 27 commission meeting didn't include the order.

An FCC business data service draft order is still expected to circulate Thursday among commissioners and be placed on the preliminary agenda for the Oct. 27 meeting, various BDS stakeholders told us Wednesday. "I'm virtually certain we'll see it white copied [circulated] tomorrow. I think there are a lot of details in flux, but they want to get it on the agenda," said a cable representative. "That's the plan," agreed a former senior FCC official, who did caution: "The bureau has a draft ready to go, but I'm hearing it's a game-time decision" for Chairman Tom Wheeler. The agency didn't comment.

An FCC business data service draft order is still expected to circulate Thursday among commissioners and be placed on the preliminary agenda for the Oct. 27 meeting, various BDS stakeholders told us Wednesday. "I'm virtually certain we'll see it white copied [circulated] tomorrow. I think there are a lot of details in flux, but they want to get it on the agenda," said a cable representative. "That's the plan," agreed a former senior FCC official, who did caution: "The bureau has a draft ready to go, but I'm hearing it's a game-time decision" for Chairman Tom Wheeler. The agency didn't comment.

Intervenors defended the FCC net neutrality order against petitions for rehearing a court panel's June ruling upholding the order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit twice before disagreed with FCC net neutrality decisions and provided "valuable guidance" the agency "faithfully and correctly applied," said a joint response (in Pacer) Monday from Cogent Communications, Dish Network, Free Press, Incompas, Netflix, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and other intervenors in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063. Industry petitioners again attacked the rules even though the panel ruling doesn't conflict "with precedent or any issue of exceptional importance," they wrote. "As far as Intervenors can determine, this Court has not, in recent memory, ever granted rehearing to address such fact-bound and case-specific complaints." In another response (in Pacer), Full Service Network, which was denied in its challenge to FCC forbearance relief, asked the court to reconsider the panel ruling and precedents on which it relied. FSN said the ruling conflicted with other precedents and raised exceptional issues "because of the massive judicial expansion of agency authority inherent in that decision." Calling itself "the skunk at the party," FSN said the statute required the FCC to classify broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act, but the commission decision to forbear from much ISP regulation was "unreasonable." The FCC and DOJ recently defended the order (see 1610030029).

Intervenors defended the FCC net neutrality order against petitions for rehearing a court panel's June ruling upholding the order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit twice before disagreed with FCC net neutrality decisions and provided "valuable guidance" the agency "faithfully and correctly applied," said a joint response (in Pacer) Monday from Cogent Communications, Dish Network, Free Press, Incompas, Netflix, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and other intervenors in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063. Industry petitioners again attacked the rules even though the panel ruling doesn't conflict "with precedent or any issue of exceptional importance," they wrote. "As far as Intervenors can determine, this Court has not, in recent memory, ever granted rehearing to address such fact-bound and case-specific complaints." In another response (in Pacer), Full Service Network, which was denied in its challenge to FCC forbearance relief, asked the court to reconsider the panel ruling and precedents on which it relied. FSN said the ruling conflicted with other precedents and raised exceptional issues "because of the massive judicial expansion of agency authority inherent in that decision." Calling itself "the skunk at the party," FSN said the statute required the FCC to classify broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act, but the commission decision to forbear from much ISP regulation was "unreasonable." The FCC and DOJ recently defended the order (see 1610030029).

Frontier, Sprint and Windstream proposed two modified FCC transition mechanisms for phasing in proposed price-cap reductions of legacy "TDM-based" business data services. The rivals said they had divergent interests but believed in "forging industry consensus" to help the commission revise its BDS framework. The FCC is considering placing a BDS draft order on its preliminary agenda Thursday for its Oct. 27 meeting, informed sources continue to tell us.

Frontier, Sprint and Windstream proposed two modified FCC transition mechanisms for phasing in proposed price-cap reductions of legacy "TDM-based" business data services. The rivals said they had divergent interests but believed in "forging industry consensus" to help the commission revise its BDS framework. The FCC is considering placing a BDS draft order on its preliminary agenda Thursday for its Oct. 27 meeting, informed sources continue to tell us.

Late removal of the FCC set-top order from commissioners' meeting agenda Thursday (see 1609290014) indicates Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel are relatively far from a compromise on what a final order should look like, industry and FCC officials told us. If the two sides were closer together, it's likely the meeting would have been delayed for hours instead of the item being delayed indefinitely, officials said. In the day or so before, a Democratic member of Congress who led a letter against the order (see 1609270048) lobbied Rosenworcel, while others lobbied her aide, filings show.