The Republican gains in Washington create both risk and opportunity for Intelsat as the government looks to cut back on spending, said Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade during the company’s Q3 conference call Monday. The Congressional focus on lowering costs in general could “adversely affect” government capacity sales for the short-term, he said. But the move toward more cost-effective solutions may be a positive for Intelsat General, Intelsat’s government contracting operation, which can offer better prices than many competitors, he said. Government customers made up 19 percent of the companies’ revenue, up about 20 percent from Q3 last year, the company said. Intelsat revenue grew 4.3 percent to $644.3 million. Intelsat reported a net loss of $106.4 million for Q3, compared to a net loss of $94 million in the same quarter last year.

Advanced metering and other smart grid technologies are continuing to be deployed on the strength of stimulus funding and numerous policy initiatives in some states, despite early-adopter difficulties, officials and researchers said. Privacy and security issues should be addressed before states move ahead with their deployment plans, they urged.

Expect an “activist” House Commerce Committee that does “aggressive oversight of the FCC,” if the GOP allows Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, to become chairman, he said Friday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. The committee would also be bipartisan and transparent, he said. Due to GOP committee term limit rules, Barton must get a waiver from the House Steering Committee to become chairman next year. Barton has been very public about his desire to become chairman (CD Nov 5 p1).

Many analysts offered gloomy outlooks for Clearwire after the company disclosed that it has only enough liquidity to get through next year. Clearwire shares plunged as much as 16 percent Thursday after the company announced that it lost $139 million in Q3, versus $82.4 million a year earlier. That’s the company’s biggest intraday drop in a year. Shares rebounded later in the day and closed down 24 cents, 3.35 percent, at $6.93.

Nomadic VoIP providers will have to pay into state Universal Service funds as well as the federal USF, the FCC ruled Friday. In a 5-0 declaratory ruling published late Friday, the commission ruled in favor of a request by the Kansas and Nebraska utilities commissions. That would let states assess USF fees on nomadic VoIP.

Imposing net neutrality rules on wireless would be bad for the economy, CTIA said in replies to an FCC notice of inquiry seeking additional input on wireless and managed services. CTIA’s comments echoed those filed by many other industry players. A group of public interest groups led by Public Knowledge said the commission should accept that consensus will remain elusive on various net neutrality issues and it should act now to approve rules.

Dish Network remains uncertain of how it will use its large holdings of 700 MHz spectrum, Dish CEO Charlie Ergen said Friday during the company’s Q3 conference call. Dish paid about $712 million for 168 E-block spectrum licenses in 2008, covering most of the U.S. The company also recently encouraged the FCC to update spectrum bidding rules before the next auction, a possible indicator it’s considering bidding on more 700 MHz spectrum (CD Aug 27 p8). Some believe Dish plans to use the spectrum for mobile video, though Ergen raised the possibility of a sale of the spectrum somewhere down the road. Dish’s revenue grew 10.9 percent to $3.2 billion compared to Q3 last year. Net income more than tripled from the previous year to $245 million. The revenue and income gains came despite the fact that the company lost 29,000 net subscribers in the quarter.

Associations have their work cut out for them meeting incoming freshman GOP lawmakers now that the House has shifted to Republican control with Tuesday’s midterm elections, trade-group executives agreed. They said their groups will make a push with new lawmakers about their issues largely by using current lobbyists experienced working with both parties on Capitol Hill. The midterms represent an opportunity for the groups to tell new committee chairmen and committee members early on about their issues, association executives said.

The FCC should tweak regulations so that communications companies can alert customers that their computers are infected with botnets and other malware, Neustar Senior Technologist Ronald Joffe said Friday. He spoke on a panel on cybersecurity at FCC headquarters. Neustar and other companies have been prevented from alerting customers about computer infections, and the FCC should consider changing those regulations, Joffe said. He cited Holland, where the government has recently been sending out pop-up ads to warn owners of infected consumers.

The FCC’s reconstituted Technological Advisory Committee (TAC) must focus on how to keep the commission relevant in an era of enormous change, committee Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday, as the group held the first of what are expected to be quarterly meetings. Wheeler, managing director of Core Capital Partners and a former president of CTIA and NCTA, said the TAC’s focus should be on things that the FCC can do to spur investment in the high-tech sector and create jobs.