The FCC Wireline Bureau declined to stay the FCC inmate calling reform order Thursday. Global Tel*Link and Securus, top-two inmate calling service (ICS) providers, had asked the bureau to stay the decision pending judicial review. Bureau Chief Julie Veach said the ICS providers were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their challenge, rejecting arguments that the FCC didn’t provide adequate notice that it contemplated a cost-based rate cap structure (http://fcc.us/17NNM4z). Contrary to their characterization, “the adopted regulatory framework does not constitute traditional rate of return regulation,” which uses a “complex tariff filing process,” Veach said. Generally, the ICS providers also failed to prove the public interest supports grant of their stay petitions, the bureau chief said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she was “pleased that the Wireline Competition Bureau denied requests to indefinitely stay or hold in abeyance reforms to provide just, reasonable and fair rates to inmates and their families.” Clyburn, who was acting chairwoman when the original order was approved, said she looks forward to working with the other commissioners “to adopt permanent rate caps to ensure that inmate calling service phone calls are just and reasonable as required by the statute."

AT&T appreciates the California Public Utilities Commission’s “swift and fair” consideration of the merger between AT&T and Leap/Cricket on Nov. 8, said AT&T California President Ken McNeeley in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/18rmCin). The CPUC’s review sends an “important signal” to the federal government that combining the two companies is “in the public’s interest, delivers real benefits to consumers, and makes sense in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” said McNeeley.

Global Eagle Entertainment’s Wi-Fi service is available gate-to-gate on Southwest Airlines, said the Wi-Fi provider in a news release Thursday. The airline uses the satellite-based connectivity platform through Global Eagle’s Row 44 subsidiary, “which was optimized from the beginning to work in all phases of flight, including on the ground,” Global Eagle said. It said the service is available on more than 435 Southwest aircraft, and available for use by more than 100 million passengers yearly.

Two individuals associated with Wise Media agreed to FTC settlements over allegations the company added unwarranted charges to users’ cellphone bills, totaling more than $10 million in consumer injury, according to a Thursday commission news release (http://1.usa.gov/1dkNXXq). “This case involved a new delivery system for an old-fashioned scam,” said Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich. “Getting consumers’ consent before charging them is as basic a consumer protection as you'll find, whether you're dealing with a brick and mortar store or with a mobile payment provider.” The FTC complaint alleged Wise Media set up recurring monthly charges of $9.99 without consent on consumers’ cellphone bills for “premium services,” including text messages with horoscopes and love tips, according to the release. The settlement includes a $10 million-plus judgment (http://1.usa.gov/18rMn1V). Brian Buckley, the company’s CEO, must also surrender all of his assets. Cyberfraud lawyer Mark Campbell of Changus Campbell represented both defendants in the settlement and said Buckley was “unavailable for comment.” Winston DeLoney was the other individual who agreed to the settlement. Deloney “was simply an investor in Wise and had absolutely no knowledge of or control over its day-to-day operations,” said Campbell in a written statement. “Mr. DeLoney was not privy to the enrollment, billing, or provision of services by Wise. Mr. DeLoney voluntarily returned $175,817 from his investment for refunds to Wise’s subscribers.”

Eutelsat signed an agreement with Poste Italiane for satellite broadband service across Italy. The deal is expected to transform Italy’s broadband landscape “where 2.37 million Italians in 3,600 towns and villages are still unable to benefit from a quality Internet connection for education, entertainment, communication and e-commerce,” Eutelsat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1aJO22B). Eutelsat’s service, Tooway, will be available in Poste Italiane offices and through its business sellers, “with the priority to serve regions beyond range of terrestrial broadband” beginning the first quarter of 2014, Eutelsat said. Poste Italiane provides Italy with postal, communications, logistics and other services.

House Republican leadership has taken an interest in moving forward with a National Security Agency surveillance proposal from the House Intelligence Committee. “There is significant member interest in this issue as well as multiple committees with jurisdiction,” a leadership aide told us when asked about the House Intelligence proposal. “Leadership is working to ensure that there is a well-coordinated process with all interested parties going forward.” No details of the House NSA proposal have been disclosed, but Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., described elements of it during an open House Intelligence hearing this fall. At a Thursday closed markup session of HR-3381, the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014, Rogers said he wants to consider any NSA bill separately from the authorization act because House Intelligence shares jurisdiction over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with the House Judiciary Committee. “I remain committed to continuing to work with members to move a FISA bill forward, but I hope we will save any amendments to FISA that Members are interested in pursing for a later day,” Rogers said in his opening statement (http://1.usa.gov/1fnGbwb) which was released outside of the hearing. The intelligence authorization passed by voice vote and advances to the House floor. A spokeswoman for Ruppersberger told us by email: “Since we did not reach the point of mark-up” of the House Intelligence NSA bill Thursday during the closed session, “there was still much that was up in the air, but the bill and any potential amendments all sought to enhance transparency, accountability, and oversight of the [intelligence community] and its national security laws and programs.” The House Intelligence bill is widely expected to preserve the government’s phone metadata bulk collection, which an alternative proposal from House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would end. Sensenbrenner’s bill is called the USA Freedom Act, HR-3361, and now has 98 co-sponsors in the House, with two California members signing on Wednesday. “Leadership has not reached out to Congressman Sensenbrenner on NSA legislation,” a spokesman for Sensenbrenner told us Thursday. Several companies and nonprofits submitted a joint letter to House and Senate leaders Thursday urging support for Sensenbrenner’s bill and slamming alternatives that do not go as far. “We oppose legislation that codifies sweeping bulk collection activities,” the letter said (http://bit.ly/1aTXqgE). It was signed by many groups, including the Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Knowledge, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press, TechFreedom, Mozilla, NetChoice, Tumblr and Reddit.

Boeing signed an agreement with Inmarsat, making Boeing the largest reseller to the U.S. government market for Inmarsat’s forthcoming Global Xpress Ka-band network. Boeing will have a specific focus on military Ka-band services, Inmarsat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1c6VxzS). Since 2010, the companies “have worked in close partnership on the development of the original fleet of three Global Xpress satellites,” it said. Inmarsat plans to launch services on the network next year (CD April 12 p5).

Cox Communications allowed free access to nearly 200,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for customers using its Preferred, Premier or Ultimate High Speed Internet services. Customers can access the hotspots in cities including Los Angeles, New York and Austin, Cox said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1ayNUUw). The new hotspots are located in such “high-traffic areas” as restaurants, malls and beaches, it said. “More hotspots are expected to be added before the end of the year as the integration with other cable operators continues,” Cox said.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Thursday attached language identical to the Cybersecurity Act of 2013 (S-1353) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (S-1197). Rockefeller “believes the provisions in his amendment will strengthen the nation’s national security and, therefore, deserve consideration through the NDAA,” a Senate Commerce aide said. The cyber bill, sponsored by Rockefeller and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., would authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with industry on an ongoing basis to develop voluntary cybersecurity guidelines and best practices, in line with NIST’s current development of the Cybersecurity Framework. The bill, which would also strengthen the government’s cybersecurity research, education and public awareness efforts, cleared Senate Commerce in late July in a unanimous vote (CD July 31 p1). Since then, “it’s been sitting on the sidelines for too long and there’s too much at stake to not look for every opportunity to pass it in the Senate,” Rockefeller said in a statement. Senate Democratic leaders have warned against attaching amendments on unrelated political issues to the authorization bill, but the Senate Commerce aide told us Rockefeller had the backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich. The NDAA now contains more than 300 amendments, including at least five that challenge aspects of controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs. Democratic leaders would like to pass the defense bill before Thanksgiving (CD Nov 21 p10).

More than one third of calls to 911 emergency centers in Utah from wireless phones in June did not include accurate location information, said the Find Me 911 Coalition in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1bGbH1B). The data was released to coincide with an FCC workshop Monday on 911 location accuracy data (CD Nov 19 p1). The Find Me 911 Coalition said 846,090 of the wireless calls received in Utah 911 emergency centers since January 2011 lacked accurate Phase II location Information based on FCC data. Phase II location information displays the location of the caller, but in most cases, the 911 call center received only Phase I data, which showed the location of the cell tower from which the call originated, said the Find Me 911 Coalition.