Net Neutrality Could Block Telecom Bills, Boucher Says

“The time to have these discussions is now,” Boucher said. “Somebody needs to be the mediator,” he said, adding his offer of his office as a forum has found no takers. “I don’t blame them,” he said. His efforts as Commerce Energy & Air Quality Subcommittee chairman have taken some of his attention from telecom issues, he said.

Boucher plans “soon” to introduce a bill to enable municipalities to offer broadband services, he said. The bill will be modeled on a provision in the comprehensive telecom measure that passed the House last year as well as in the bill that the Senate Commerce Committee approved, Boucher said. The provision, which stirred little ire last Congress, could be a way to help small communities meet broadband needs, he said, and he expects a Republican co-sponsor.

Boucher also seeks more co-sponsors for his Universal Service Fund (USF) bill (HR-2054), which Rep. Terry (R-Neb.) co-sponsors. It would define broadband as a universal service, making it eligible for support (CD April 27 p1). It has 12 co-sponsors but lacks backing from Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.). The bill has industry support from rural telecoms, AT&T, Qwest and some midsize carriers. Boucher thinks it balances the needs of net USF contributors and beneficiaries, he said.

The House Commerce Committee plans no universal service hearings in the near future, but Committee Chmn. Dingell (D- Mich.) is “committed” to a hearing later this year, Dingell aide Tim Powderly told the Broadband Policy Summit in an afternoon session. A June 12 Senate Commerce Committee hearing will focus on a “relatively narrow” issue: the Federal-State Joint Board proposal to cap USF subsidies to competitive carriers, said Committee counsel Jessica Rosenworcel. Powderly said this year may see another oversight hearing in the House, possibly looking at the DTV transition, among other things.

Both said Hill interest is rising in mapping as a way to target USF subsidies, with Connect Ky. garnering “a fair amount” of Hill credence, according to Powderly.

The digital transition has Dingell “very concerned,” said Powderly: “He sees it as a situation in which 2 government agencies [the FCC and NTIA] that are supposed to take the lead, haven’t. He wants to make sure people won’t end up with blank TV screens.” Rosenworcel cited similar concern on the Senate side. “There’s going to have to be an all-hands effort, with industry working with government,” she said.

The kind of mapping used by the oft-cited Connect Ky. project can identify places with little or no broadband service, but involves detailed data collection that can be costly if not done carefully, members of a panel on broadband regulatory issues said. Collection must be “manageable… not onerous,” Cox Enterprises Vp Alexandra Wilson said: “It takes time to collect data, and the government always underestimates” the amount, Wilson said. “There’s also a cost to not collecting data,” said Christopher Murray, Consumers Union legislative counsel. The Universal Service Fund nears $7 billion, he said: “Is it all going where it should?” The govt. should know because consumers bear USF costs, he said.

The trick is to “remember why we're collecting the data,” said Verizon Senior Vp Kathryn Brown. The goal isn’t to collect “reams and reams of numbers,” she said. Verizon is upbeat on Connect Ky. because the project uses an “economic development model, not a pure subsidy model.” The concept calls for collecting data on “where broadband is not” available, then “bringing broadband providers to the table” to show them the underserved areas are significant enough to be an attractive market, she said. Such “granular data must be collected nationwide” for mapping to become a national policy, Murray said. When the panelists were asked whether the USF should pay for broadband development, Brown said: “To burden the broken USF system with another demand is the wrong way to go.”