The FCC still has around $185 million out of the $300 broadband funds available from phase one of their Connect America Fund. As we’ve been noting, Frontier signed up quickly for the funds, agreeing to take $71.9 million to wire some 92,000 homes. However, some companies (like Windstream) have balked at taking full funding, saying that getting $775 per install wasn’t enough for their liking. AT&T and Verizon have refused funding entirely, as both companies [...]

FreedomPop’s plan to offer consumers a $99 Sleeve that provides the iPhone with WiMax phone and data capabilities is facing delays. Speaking at CES, the company said they’re seeing delays with FCC approval that have so far cost the company and it’s manufacturers $550,000 so far. The problem? The sleeve places the Sleeve’s WiMAX radio right next to the iPhone’s cellular radio, requiring additional testing by FCC engineers. The company began shipping their iPod Touch [...]

Dish Network has made a counter offer to acquire Clearwire that tops the previous offer made by Sprint last month. According to the New York Times, Dish Network is bidding $3.30 a share, 11 percent more than Sprint. As some had guessed, Sprint’s speed and tactics in getting a Clearwire deal done were largely in order to fend off a Dish acquisition of Clearwire. Dish is hoping to build an LTE network and Clearwire’s resources [...]

The FCC has announced that the agency has formulated new rules they claim should help speed up the deployment of in-flight broadband. According to the FCC announcement, the agency has streamlined the airline approval process necessary to operate Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft (ESAA), something the FCC says will speed up deployment of satellite-based in-flight broadband by around 50%. “Whether traveling for work or leisure, Americans increasingly expect broadband access everywhere they go,” insisted FCC boss [...]

The FCC has released more detail on the conditions imposed on Dish’s planned LTE network in exchange for receiving a waiver on conditions requiring that spectrum be used for satellite phone services. After recently unanimously approving the Dish waiver, the FCC yesterday released two documents (pdf) getting more specific about the conditions. According to the FCC, Dish must build out 40% of their planned LTE network in the next four years, and 70% of the [...]

New Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has warned that the FCC will likely tighten regulation over usage-based broadband if the agency survives its network neutrality legal fight with Verizon. The comments appear to be a bogeyman lobbed at attendees of his speech at the Conservative Phoenix Center, and may not actually be indicative of any serious effort by the agency to clamp down on some of the nastier aspects of metered billing. “Should the D.C. [...]

FCC boss Julius Genachowski has urged FCC boss Michael Huerta to “enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices” during flights. The FAA had already stated they were undergoing a study to allow expanded use of devices in flight last summer, but that in-flight voice calls would not be part of that review. Genachowski’s letter to the FAA simply appears to be a public nudge to expedite that process. Interference concerns for things [...]

The FCC is being slammed by everyone from consumer advocacy outfits to former FCC staffers for their latest stance on media consolidation. The FCC is preparing to relax long-standing rules that limit corporations from owning radio, television stations and newspapers in the same market. Under the weaker rules, one company could now own your town’s ISP, all of its newspapers, up to 2 TV stations and up to 8 radio stations. Consumer advocates have rather [...]

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is attacking the MetroPCS and T-Mobile merger, insisting that the deal will cost a significant number of American jobs. In a filing with the FCC (pdf), the CWA insists that the deal would result in the potential loss of more than 10,000 jobs, hidden under the promise of “network and non-network synergies,” created by the deal. The CWA wants the FCC to impose merger conditions that would require the [...]

We’ve noted several times that FCC Boss and Obama Harvard chum Julius Genachowski desperately hopes that his FCC legacy will be the man who saved wireless, though he’ll more likely be remembered for being a wishy washy politician who tried to please everybody, and in the process pleased nobody. Nothing highlights this more that a piece this week in the Washington Post, which politely insists the FCC boss has seen “mixed reviews” during his tenure [...]