Wireless carriers may get less in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan than meets the eye, commission officials indicated Monday. Although the plan recommends that 300 MHz of spectrum be made available for wireless broadband over the next five years and 500 MHz total over 10 years, FCC officials made clear Monday that not all will be dedicated to licensed use. The plan also provides substantial detail in its recommendations for the Universal Service Fund, including a phase-out of the high-cost fund. The plan will be presented to FCC commissioners Tuesday. They won’t vote on the plan, only on a mission statement setting out goals for U.S. broadband policy.

Verizon and Frontier laid out for the West Virginia Public Service Commission an extensive set of arguments in a filing late Friday summing up the companies’ case for approval of their proposed transaction. The deal would give Frontier ownership of Verizon landlines in 14 states. It ran into resistance last week when an administrative law judge with the Illinois Commerce Commission recommended against approval, saying consumers would be ill-served (CD March 11 p13). Illinois, West Virginia and Washington are the only states where approval of the transaction remains pending.

The city of Alexandria, Va., was told that all cable TV negotiations related to Verizon FiOS service have been suspended nationwide as the company does a review, the city’s director of communications, Tony Castrilli, told us. But Verizon said its FiOS expansion plans haven’t changed. Meanwhile, the city is hoping to become a site for the high-speed Internet testbed announced by Google, Castrilli said.

The most connected societies aren’t the major sources of growth of the Internet economy, said a report (www.xrl.us/bgymnd) Monday by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation on the growth and future of the 25-year-old .com domain. The media fixation on social networking has obscured much more important growth mechanisms whose success can’t be reduced to universal broadband, foundation President Robert Atkinson told reporters Monday. “It’s a mistake to put so much emphasis on broadband” and less on the applications that make the Internet useful, as the FCC seems to be doing, he said.

GENEVA -- Countries and the Internet registry community are discussing the possibilities of a global policy for reserving IPv6 addresses and of the ITU’s becoming an additional Regional Internet Registry, said participants at a group meeting about IPv6 that continues through Tuesday. The U.S. and some other participants said current mechanisms work well and can adapt to future needs.

The significant time devoted by many FCC staffers to work on the National Broadband Plan the past year, and the commission’s attention to the subject, cut into the time and energy available for more routine matters, said broadcast and cable lawyers. That leaves some items languishing, causing some licensees regulatory confusion and leaving complaints unresolved, they said. “While the task Congress assigned to the FCC was enormous, all of the effort and energy the commission put into creating the plan will reap many benefits in the years to come,” said an agency spokesman.

Cable operators support seven principles to let subscribers buy video devices from retailers that could connect to any pay-TV provider’s service, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said Friday. The plan could be the base for FCC inter-industry efforts on retail video devices, he wrote Chairman Julius Genachowski at http://xrl.us/bgyb38. The National Broadband Plan will recommend a move toward so-called gateway set-top boxes (CD Feb 22 p4). CEA said the principles are “good."

The proposed Universal Service Fund contribution increase to 15.3 percent for the 2010 second quarter is no surprise, but continues to show the need for reform, said Steve Berry, CEO of Rural Cellular Association. “We knew it was coming,” he said in an interview. “But the commission has to reform the current process and restructure USF.” Berry said wireless carriers, whose contributions are capped, are not to blame: “The issue is you have a wireline component that loses subscribers every year but their contributions increase every year.” There’s “an antiquated system that supports an antiquated technology and we haven’t figured out a way to reduce that support as people choose to go with different technologies."

The four co-chairs of the Congressional E-911 Caucus are introducing bipartisan legislation to upgrade 911 call centers nationwide and toughen penalties for states that divert 911 funds for other purposes. The bill also would move the national E-911 Implementation Coordination Office to the NTIA. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., introduced the 2010 Next-Generation 9-1-1 Preservation Act (HR-4829) in the House on Friday. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., plan to introduce a Senate version on Monday, said an Eshoo spokesman.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted unanimously Thursday to allow at least 10 more months of study on a proposal to impose toll-free calling intrastate, citing the need for accurate communication and as much public involvement as possible. It’s key that all stakeholders address issues that could affect the availability of phone service throughout the state, the commission said. The proposal, previously in line to be forwarded to the Legislature April 1 (CD Mar 11 p12), won’t see action before Jan. 19.