AT&T believes the Internet interconnection “ecosystem developed without any regulation to handle all of the traffic exchanged on the global Internet,” executives including Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn told FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and aides during a Thursday meeting. There are “many options available to edge providers to reach consumers and businesses,” and regulatory “intervention” has “potential ramifications,” said the telco. A handout from the meeting, posted with an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/1qgTW3q), discussed different types of Internet interconnection including peering. The commission has been gathering details on peering deals (CD June 16 p1). Traffic carriage “is Not Without Cost,” and there are “Cost Implications of Carrying Additional Traffic,” said AT&T’s handout. “The Internet interconnection ecosystem is competitive."

The AT&T board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46 a share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable Aug. 1 to stockholders of record at the close of business on July 10 (http://soc.att.com/1qBKAie).

Utilities like one in Chanute, Kansas, and the Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative are uniquely qualified and committed to promote broadband access in unserved rural areas, the Utilities Telecom Council told Rebekah Goodheart, aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, June 19, said an ex parte filing posted to dockets including 10-90 Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1wt5fYo). The utilities’ business model is predicated on serving the community, which has meant extended returns on investment and the deployment of ultra high-speed fiber, the filing said. Officials for the utilities described their plans to provide broadband to customers in rural parts of the states.

The National Security Agency’s telephony metadata collection program was reauthorized for 90 days until Sept. 12, said a joint statement Friday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (http://1.usa.gov/1nyqrp8). The program’s extension, granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, was requested because “legislation has not yet been enacted, and given the importance of maintaining the capabilities of the [Patriot Act] Section 215 telephony metadata program,” said the statement. Privacy advocates and lawmakers had urged the Obama administration last week to cancel the program before congressional action (CD June 23 p14; June 18 p17). In a January speech, President Barack Obama asked Congress to alter the Section 215 program by placing more restrictions on how data is collected, searched and stored (CD Jan 21 p1). The House passed the USA Freedom Act (HR-3361) in May (CD May 23 p9) -- which would implement some of Obama’s suggested changes to Section 215 -- but it has not passed the Senate. “We urge the Senate to swiftly consider it, and remain ready to work with Congress to clarify that the bill prohibits bulk collection as noted above, as necessary,” the statement said.

The FCC has been speeding approval of broadband expansion projects sought by schools and libraries, said Acting Managing Director Jon Wilkins in a blog post (http://fcc.us/1soeVF0). E-rate funding has reached $1 billion this week for funding year 2014, “twice as fast as any previous year in E-Rate history,” Wilkins wrote. The agency has made a “particular effort to speed larger applications this year,” including state and regional consortia, he said.

Don’t renew the program of bulk collection of telephony metadata, said 27 privacy advocates, civil liberties groups and accountability organizations in a letter sent Tuesday to President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder (http://bit.ly/1r1GHCL). “The Section 215 Bulk Telephony Metadata Program is unconstitutional and violates the plain text of Section 215 and the purpose of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ('FISA').” The current order for Section 215 collection expires Friday, said the letter. “The program is not effective. It should end.” Shortly after Obama ordered limitations and enhanced oversight of the government’s surveillance programs, including Section 215 (CD Jan 21 p1), the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board called for an end to the program altogether (CD Jan 24 p5). The program “has been misused,” the letter said. Such misuse includes analysts’ conducting “manual searches in violation of court orders” and the NSA’s disseminating “call records without proper minimization and retained records beyond the applicable retention rules,” said the groups. They included the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy & Technology, Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Government Accountability Project, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Project on Government Oversight.

The U.S. leads Europe in many broadband metrics, contrary to reports that the European model of service-based competition “outperforms the facilities-based competition in the U.S.,” University of Pennsylvania law professor Christopher Yoo told FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly in separate meetings June 6, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 14-28 (http://bit.ly/1i5zKRl). Yoo discussed his recent paper finding that a far higher percentage of U.S. households were served by 25 Mbps Internet networks compared with European households. The U.S. approach of promoting facilities-based competition has been more effective in ensuring speedy Internet than the European approach of service-based competition and unbundling, Yoo said. The U.S. approach promotes broadband investment, while the European approach has the opposite effect, Yoo said, citing figures of $562 worth of broadband investment per U.S. household versus $244 per European household. Yoo released his study earlier this month, and it was funded by Broadband for America, which represents ISPs and other high-technology companies (CD June 5 p3).

Customs and Border Protection is “grappling” with figuring out whether the “proper placement” for Section 337 Tariff Act patent exclusion order enforcement should remain at headquarters or within the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs), said Therese Randazzo, CBP director of intellectual property rights policy and programs. CEEs, separated by industry, process imports for participants in that CBP program. There’s still work to be done before the agency decides if the enforcement could be better handled at the CEEs, though one CEE has already started to handle such enforcement, she said Friday at the American Conference Institute’s Import Compliance and Enforcement forum. “The enforcement of ‘337 orders still rests with headquarters, with the exception of enforcement orders that are in the electronics sector,” said Randazzo. “The electronics Center for Excellence and Expertise is in fact doing enforcement of those orders, but all the rest are actually in my office.” CBP is tasked with stopping imports named in Section 337 exclusion orders, which the International Trade Commission issues to block imports of infringing products when it finds intellectual property rights violations.

The FCC Wireline Bureau said Friday that the cost of funding the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, is expected to be $7.16 million, necessitating a contribution factor of 0.0000365. The size of the fund was determined by Welch, the FCC’s NANP billing and collection agent. That estimate means a Canadian contribution of $102,967, a Caribbean contribution of $21,432 and a U.S. contribution of $6.72 million, the bureau said in a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/1kTFfSk). If the FCC takes no action on the proposed fund size estimate and contribution factor within the 14-day period after release of the notice, “the fund size estimate and the contribution factor are considered approved by the Commission and become effective” FY 2014, the bureau said. Total expenditures were $6.4 million for FY 2013 and $6.2 million for FY 2012. The contribution factor is an assessment on carriers’ revenues for services to end-users.

CenturyLink said Thursday it will close its 160-employee business customer care center in Seattle in September, as it shifts the work to centers in Bismark, North Dakota, and Minneapolis.