USF Overhaul, Broadband Top Priorities, Boucher Says
A universal-service revamp and broadband are priorities for the House Commerce Communications Subcommittee, Chairman Rick Boucher of Virginia said in an interview. His official agenda awaits suggestions from Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Boucher said. The committee plans an organizational meeting Wednesday afternoon. Boucher said he also wants to gather the views of subcommittee members before creating a hearing schedule and legislative wish list.
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But universal service probably will be on the agenda, especially as Congress looks for ways to extend broadband access to additional Americans. Boucher has worked for several years on USF legislation with Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. Last year their bill won praise from large and mid-sized phone companies and industry coalitions, including AT&T, USTelecom, Embarq, Qwest, TDS Telecom Services, the Coalition to Keep America Connected, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and the Western Telecom Alliance.
Boucher hasn’t reintroduced the bill, but he said some general principles are likely to remain: Expanding the contribution base and expanding coverage to broadband carriers. “This will be our starting point,” Boucher said. “Broadband is a priority for the subcommittee,” he said, saying it has become a critical economic issue. Some projects likely to be included in the economic stimulus package will be handled by the Appropriations and Agriculture committees instead of going through the Commerce Committee.
Funding for the broadband mapping law that Congress passed last year could be included in the stimulus bill. Another broadband deployment goal would be allowing local governments to provide service in areas where private operators haven’t invested, Boucher said.
The Satellite Home Viewer Act reauthorization is also on the agenda for this Congress, said Boucher, who took part in the 1988 negotiations that led to the first law. He expressed hope that this year’s reauthorization would go smoothly. “I am not aware of any major issues,” he said.
Boucher said he supports a forbearance bill that former Commerce Chairman John Dingell of Michigan just reintroduced (CD Jan 12 p8). It would repeal the FCC’s “deemed granted” rule in regulatory proceedings. “Using the blunt instrument of deemed granted is too severe, and there are vast unintended consequences” that can result, Boucher said. “This is an issue we need to examine and have hearings on.”
Besides the DTV transition, likely to be the object of intense activity in coming weeks, Boucher said he hopes to protect the Internet’s openness. The “intense focus” on net neutrality legislation has waned in recent years, but concern remains, he said, adding that net neutrality’s relevance to wireless services also needs policymakers’s attention.