• Chairman Julius Genachowski announced on August 5, 2010, that the FCC has begun “consultations with staff of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) about how the two agencies can apply their different statutory standards to wireless merger divestitures in a more coordinated manner.” The effort began as a response to the agencies’ treatment of the Verizon Wireless-ALLTEL merger in April 2010, in which, according to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, “Verizon Wireless had limited or no guidance about what procedures it should implement to reconcile the Commission’s and DOJ’s potentially discordant goals.” The FCC press release is available here.
  • The FCC has released the Seventh Broadband Notice of Inquiry in which it seeks comment on the definition of “advanced telecommunications” as well as the proper metrics for evaluating broadband and whether broadband has been deployed sufficiently. Comments are due September 7, 2010, and Reply Comments are due October 5, 2010. The NOI is available here.