Eighth Floor Waits for Martin on Intercarrier Compensation Reform
With slightly more than two months left to act on intercarrier compensation reform, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin hasn’t divulged his plan to colleagues, three FCC officials said Monday. Eighth floor offices are meeting with industry, but probably won’t talk to one another until Martin gives more instruction, they said. There’s no indication of what Martin’s plan will look like, only that it will be coming, an agency official said.
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A court deadline gives the FCC until Nov. 5 to tackle one aspect of intercarrier compensation, ISP-bound traffic. But Martin has said he'd rather do a total overhaul by that date. At a July rural carrier conference, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voiced doubt that the FCC could pull off a broad revamp (CD July 17 p3). An FCC spokeswoman declined comment because the proceeding is ongoing.
Concern exists among eighth floor and industry advocates, given the proceeding’s scale, an FCC official said. The longer Martin waits to circulate a recommended order, the more elusive a Nov. 5 consensus will be, the person said. The FCC historically has circulated draft orders three weeks before a deadline to vote, but that might not be enough time to finalize an intercarrier compensation overhaul, the source said. Besides timing, comprehensive reform’s viability depends on what Martin recommends, the source said.
Comprehensive reform seemed a tremendous undertaking in May, when Martin announced his intention of accomplishing a total revamp within six months, said Joshua Seidemann, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance. Now, it “makes sense” for the FCC instead to split reform into parts, first handling “low- hanging fruit” like ISP-bound traffic, he said.
The inactivity isn’t surprising, an industry official said. That official has heard nothing to indicate Martin has a “definitive sense of how to proceed” with intercarrier compensation, person said.
Totally revamping compensation by this fall is an “ambitious, yet achievable, goal,” said Jim Kohlenberger, executive director of the VON Coalition, citing growing industry consensus. “The chairman, who has made broadband a top priority, recognizes he has an opportunity to reform this broken system and in the process remove some of the arcane barriers that are stalling broadband benefits,” Kohlenberger said. “I think he can do it, especially as more is learned about the especially harmful consequences of piecemeal approaches.” AT&T also remains upbeat. “Comprehensive intercarrier compensation reform is high priority for this commission,” a company spokesman said. “The Commission has an extensive record on this issue and a unique opportunity to achieve genuine reform. We and others continue to meet and do a lot of work to reach that goal.”