Time Warner Cable petitioned to be excluded from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices for 17 communities in Kentucky, said filings posted in FCC docket 12-1. The petitions cited video competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The proposed deregulation would affect just over 8,000 households, including the communities of Crestview Hills, Dry Ridge, Brandenburg and La Grange.

Mobility is kick-starting many changes in healthcare and sparking needed policy changes, company officials told Congress, touching on issues that affect the FCC. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act report, due from the FCC, the FDA and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology by the end of the year, should include proposed strategy and recommendations regarding “an appropriate, risk-based regulatory framework pertaining to health IT, including mobile medical applications,” Qualcomm Senior Director-Government Affairs Robert Jarrin told the House Commerce Health Subcommittee Tuesday, according to his prepared testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1deUPFS). “It is essential that these agencies recognize the growing importance of managing risk at a systems level and that any comprehensive regulatory scheme should take into account existing solutions when contemplating future innovations,” Jarrin said. “The end goal should be for a regulatory framework that allows new technology to flourish, promotes innovation, protects patient safety and avoids regulatory duplication.” IBM Research Vice President-Research Strategy Zach Lemnios said cellphones and other technologies have transformed healthcare: “We are witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon today -- the convergence of five simultaneously disruptive technologies: social, mobile, cloud, pervasive instrumentation and advanced analytics” (http://1.usa.gov/186mNlb).

Witnesses for Thursday’s House Communications Subcommittee hearing on FirstNet are FirstNet Board Chairman Sam Ginn, FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky, Ohio Chief Information Officer Stu Davis, Harris Corp. Chief Technology Officer-Radio Frequency Communications Dennis Martinez, New Mexico Department of Information Technology Cabinet Secretary Darryl Ackley, and Dereck Orr, National Institute of Standards and Technology program manager-Public Safety Communications Research Office of Law Enforcement Standards. The hearing will be at 10:30 a.m. in 2121 Rayburn. The subcommittee majority memo included significant background on FirstNet and a section titled “Controversy Remains.” It described “several controversies” and shaken confidence in network leaders, citing transparency concerns that began plaguing FirstNet earlier this year. “Considerable uncertainty exists among stakeholders with respect to the cost, coverage, design, and the timing of the network deployment,” the GOP memo said (http://1.usa.gov/1hV9bgv). “FirstNet has acknowledged that it ‘fell short on answers to timing and business model questions’ in its outreach. While FirstNet continues to work to improve its communication, the lack of such fundamental information, if unresolved, could undermine the ability of a State to make an informed decision to opt-out of the FirstNet [radio access network] plan, or worse, compromise public safety’s confidence in the ability of FirstNet to deliver and sustain a truly nationwide public safety broadband network."

Inmarsat is helping Telecom Without Borders restore communication platforms to a hospital in the Philippines following a typhoon that hit there this month. Inmarsat’s broadband global area network service “will enable hospital staff to collaborate with medical teams on a national scale and provide coordinated health support to the thousands of victims seriously injured,” it said in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1aEdoia). Since the typhoon, “Inmarsat has been prioritizing satellite traffic to and from the Philippines,” it said. Telecom Without Borders also supplied the company’s IsatPhone Pro satellite phones to Philippines government officials to help improve communications capabilities, Inmarsat said.

CenturyLink said it bought infrastructure-as-a-service and cloud management provider Tier 3 in order to “accelerate” its cloud offerings. Neither company disclosed the financial details of the deal. The Tier 3 deal is CenturyLink’s second acquisition of a cloud services provider this year -- it bought platform-as-a-service provider AppFog in June. Tier 3 Chief Technology Officer Jared Wray will become chief technology officer of the CenturyLink Cloud division. CenturyLink said it plans to move CenturyLink Cloud’s base to Tier 3’s former Seattle offices. CenturyLink said it plans to integrate Tier 3’s nine data centers with the 55 data centers it owns through Savvis (http://bit.ly/HWSn8s).

The incentive auction could reduce the number of minorities and women who own broadcast licenses, said the National Hispanic Media Coalition in an ex parte filing released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cFrVtB). Minorities and women could relinquish ownership because of pressure to participate in the auction or to sell to companies speculating on spectrum, said NHMC. The FCC should release a report after the auction studying its impact on those groups, said NHMC. The commission should also fund studies on the impacts of ownership rule changes on minorities and women, and fully fund the “critical information needs” studies, said NHMC. “Strong media ownership rules are an effective, race-neutral way to provide greater opportunity for people of color and women to own broadcast outlets,” said the ex parte. NHMC also said the Lifeline program should be extended to stand-alone broadband service and that “Lifeline savings” shouldn’t be used to increase the cap on the E-rate program, the ex parte filing said.

Thuraya started VIPturbo Module, which lets product developers accelerate development timelines and lower costs for new satellite terminals. Developed by SRT Wireless, VIPturbo Module is being used “to develop terminals for the maritime, land mobile and aeronautical markets,” Thuraya said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/19DKGun). It supports circuit-switched voice, fax, standard IP and other platforms, it said.

A Technology Policy Institute study on NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (CD Nov 15 p16) mischaracterizes the purpose of BTOP, wrote John Windhausen, Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition executive director, Monday (http://bit.ly/HXpngV). The authors of the TPI paper (http://bit.ly/IeHUFn) describe the BTOP program as a “rural subsidy,” but the program is not rural or a subsidy, said Windhausen. The principal purpose of the BTOP infrastructure program was to provide high-capacity middle mile broadband services to community anchor institutions across the country, not just in rural areas, he said. That’s different from the Broadband Initiative Program administrated by the Rural Utilities Service that was focused on connecting rural residential customers to last-mile broadband, he said. BTOP provided a one-time investment in “long-lasting” broadband infrastructure that “expands the reach of broadband services across many underserved geographic areas that previously suffered from an inadequate level of broadband capacity,” said Windhausen.

The FCC fined a cable operator $25,000 for failing to make children’s programming and proof-of-performance test data available in a public file at its Kansas City, Mo., system in 2011, said an Enforcement Bureau order to Time Warner Entertainment-Advance/Newhouse Partnership (http://bit.ly/186sAHm). Though the operator argued that it corrected the problem after the violation, including implementing an online filing system, the fine wasn’t reduced because of past violations from the company and its ability to pay the full fine, said the order. “The Bureau sought to ensure that the forfeiture amount served as an effective deterrent and not simply a cost of doing business."

Satellite broadband doesn’t have the speeds and price necessary to compete with wireline services, despite industry’s claims to the contrary, said Montana Public Service Commissioner Travis Kavulla at a NARUC panel Monday. The PSC recently surveyed broadband customers, and none of the satellite customers had anything positive to say about the service, he said. “We don’t have service at higher speeds yet, but as we continue to put up more satellites, we will see higher speeds in the coming years,” said Jennifer Manner, EchoStar vice president-regulatory affairs. Satellite broadband is “picking up steam” in rural and “exurban areas,” and satellite broadband has 1.3 million subscribers in the U.S., she said. “Subscribers are seeing our services as an important competitive alternative to fixed services.” Cable providers also consider satellite broadband services a “tool in the tool box” for regulators and policymakers to provide broadband in rural areas, said Rick Cimerman, NCTA vice president-state government affairs. “When it comes to getting broadband to all Americans, we need to consider satellite as an option.” Satellite providers such as Dish Network and DirectTV dominate the telecom market in terms of subscribers, said Cimerman. Satellite providers don’t dominate the two-way communication market, said Kavulla. “Satellites are not good to monitor time sensitive traffic. The reality is when you talk about the other pitfalls like latency, capacity and speed I would be surprised if anyone chose satellite over a good fixed broadband plan.”