The Rural Utilities Service sought comment Friday on preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the development of a more efficient and effective environmental review process for the RUS Telecommunications Program. The new environmental review process should be “commensurate with the potential environmental impacts of both wired and wireless projects financed by the agency," RUS said in the Federal Register. The revised review process would apply to the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program, Farm Bill Broadband Loan Program, Community Connect Grant Program and the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program, RUS said. Comments are due Jan. 27, RUS said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) and Pacific DataVision said Tuesday that they had submitted a joint petition to the FCC Monday that proposes a rulemaking that would realign the Part 90 land mobile radio 900 MHz band. The realignment would introduce “advanced broadband technology” to the private enterprise user community that would result in spectrum allocations “capable of serving the long-expressed needs of utilities, energy companies, transportation providers” and others, EWA and Pacific DataVision said. “When employee safety and property are threatened, our nation's critical infrastructure providers cannot afford to lose communications,” said EWA President Mark Crosby in a news release. “Unfortunately, that happens all too often when a crisis prompts capacity issues on commercial wireless networks.” It has become “increasingly difficult for the FCC to identify 'greenfield' spectrum to meet important new requirements of its enterprise constituents,” said Pacific DataVision Vice Chairman Morgan O’Brien in the news release. “Realignments and repurposing of existing allocations are today's only practical way of addressing these needs.”

NCTA President Michael Powell criticized President Barack Obama for speaking last week in favor of Communications Act Title II reclassification as part of the FCC net neutrality NPRM (see 1411100035). Powell said during a joint NARUC/NASUCA event in San Francisco that he was “stunned” by Obama’s comments, calling it an unprecedented example of “interfering” with FCC independence. Powell said that Obama’s remarks are likely to prolong industry uncertainty and have put the FCC in an “impossible situation.” Other industry observers have called Obama's remarks a reset of FCC work on the NPRM (see 1411140043) Powell has been a vocal critic of Title II reclassification, saying Monday that he believes it’s unnecessary to reclassify broadband as a common carrier given that it’s the “heaviest” form of telecom regulation.

The 17 largest U.S. cable and phone providers added more than 700,000 net additional broadband subscribers in Q3, said a research firm Tuesday. Top cable companies have more than 51.2 million broadband subscribers, and top phone companies have nearly 35.4 million subscribers, Leichtman Research Group said Tuesday in a news release. Over the past year, there were more than 2.9 million net broadband adds, up from 2.54 million the previous year, it said. Comcast added 315,000 subscribers in Q3, and Time Warner Cable, which plans to sell itself to Comcast, added 108,000 subscribers, Leichtman Research said. Verizon added 69,000 subscribers, and CenturyLink added 8,000, it said.

Fujitsu Labs developed a technology for embedding and retrieving identification data in light that’s cast onto an object by LEDs, the company said Monday. By embedding data in light in a way that it is not detectable to the naked eye, an object that has been illuminated can convey data to a smartphone or other smart device, it said. "With previous technologies, data could only be conveyed to a user’s area, but with this technology, data can be conveyed at the level of an individual object," it said. "To capture the data, a user only needs to point a camera at the object. This technology enables products in a store, works of art, people, buildings and a variety of other objects to be the source of data transmission." The company plans to showcase the technology at Fujitsu Forum 2014, which opens Wednesday in Munich for a two-day run, it said.

The FCC is establishing the Task Force on Optimal Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Architecture, the commission planned to say in Monday’s Federal Register. The task force will examine the structure and architecture of U.S. PSAPs “to determine whether additional consolidation of PSAP facilities and architecture would promote greater efficiency” in various ways while retaining needed integration with local first responders, the FCC said. The task force has an April 30 deadline to report recommendations to the FCC. The commission’s August text-to-911 Further NPRM directed the Public Safety Bureau to establish the task force.

​The White House plans an event pegged to its ConnectED initiative Wednesday, it said. The event will bring President Barack Obama together with educators and superintendents. The White House announcement did not give a specific time and location. The event will be dubbed “ConnectED to the Future,” the White House said. “During the event, President Obama will host a digital pledge signing ceremony with over one hundred superintendents to be joined virtually by hundreds more across the country,” the notice said. “The event builds on the momentum of the ConnectED Initiative, a plan the President announced in 2013, to connect 99 percent of students to high speed internet and empower teachers with the technology they need to transform teaching and learning. An important part of this initiative is ensuring that digital connectivity supports innovation in America’s classrooms.”

National Institute of Standards and Technology officials said they're encouraged by sector-specific work that critical infrastructure industries are doing to adapt NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework. Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy advisor, cited the communications sector’s work to adapt the NIST framework via FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council Working Group 4 as an example of a market driver in moving framework use forward. Industry groups’ adaptation of the framework was a major topic at NIST’s framework workshop in late October (see 1410300050), something that NIST officials found “very informative” as they decide how to proceed on any future work on the framework, said Matthew Scholl, NIST acting chief-Computer Security Division.

FirstNet needs to “speed deployment of the network, and the goal is get the network built as quickly as practical,” said Acting General Manager TJ Kennedy during an interview with NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield posted Wednesday. FirstNet should leverage existing infrastructure built by telcos and government, Kennedy said. FirstNet wants to keep public safety user fees affordable “because at the end of the day it’s not going to do them any good if the device is not in their hands,” he said.

The informal working groups of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Advisory Committee will meet this month by teleconference. The space services and regulatory issues working groups will meet Friday, the FCC International Bureau said in a public notice Friday. The terrestrial services working group will meet Nov. 18, it said. "The meetings are open to the public."