Analysts said incumbent telcos and cable companies would fare better than expected under the FCC draft order on business data service (BDS) circulated by Chairman Tom Wheeler and summarized in Friday's "fact sheet" (see 1610070052 and 1610070027). "This was never going to be a net positive outcome for the incumbent telcos. But some of their lobbying clearly connected because the scope of price regulation in the fact sheet was narrower than expected. And for cable investors worried about covert network unbundling, Friday was a very good day," Cowen and Co. analyst Paul Gallant told us Tuesday. Others offered similar views in notes to investors.

An FCC draft order would create bifurcated regulation of business data services, with telco legacy DS1 and DS3 offerings (up to 45 Mbps) subject to price-cap regulations -- including rate cuts -- while higher-speed and packet-based services such as Ethernet would face only general common-carrier requirements and complaint-driven enforcement, senior commission officials said Friday. There would be no geographically based competitive market tests, said one official on a call to answer reporter questions about Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed BDS framework, which was summarized in a fact sheet (see 1610070027).

An FCC draft order would create bifurcated regulation of business data services, with telco legacy DS1 and DS3 offerings (up to 45 Mbps) subject to price-cap regulations -- including rate cuts -- while higher-speed and packet-based services such as Ethernet would face only general common-carrier requirements and complaint-driven enforcement, senior commission officials said Friday. There would be no geographically based competitive market tests, said one official on a call to answer reporter questions about Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed BDS framework, which was summarized in a fact sheet (see 1610070027).

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.

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).