The November elections and other factors probably will slow Hill action on recommendations in the National Broadband Plan, said industry observers. The plan asks Congress for help in a number of key areas. Public safety and Universal Service Fund legislation may have the best chance for near-term action, but neither is a sure bet, they said. It seems particularly tough to move much on the broadband plan this year in the Senate, which right now “can’t agree that the sky is blue,” said a telecom industry lobbyist.
The Navy must improve its capabilities and capacity so it can lead in dynamic cyber warfare operations, said Vice Admiral Bernard McCullough, commander of the U.S. Navy Fleet Cyber Command. At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, McCullough outlined steps taken by the Navy to improve its network operations and security since the establishment of the Cyber Command. “We've begun to get our arms around the problem set,” but “anyone who thinks there’s a quick fix … is sadly mistaken.” Many challenges remain, including establishing operational standards, he said. The Navy’s various cybersecurity divisions around the country are doing “great work,” but no two groups are doing things the same way, McCullough said. Defending networks, the Navy also needs to become more proactive and predictive, and less reactive, he said. If the Navy can’t defend its network, its offensive ability on the network doesn’t matter, he said: “We're just going to lose.” The Navy must improve its ability to read the network so it can better detect attacks, he said. “We don’t understand what normal is.” The Navy may also needs to rethink how it assigns personnel to cyber issues, he said. In site visits, McCullough discovered that many divisions lack experienced officers, he said.
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association believes no Telecom Act overhaul is needed, said Tom Wacker, vice president of government affairs. The association disagrees strongly with calls by Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke for a hands-off approach to telecom policy (CD March 25 p1) , Wacker said. It’s “not the reality” that without regulation, a free market will get broadband access to everyone, he said. And the FCC can handle most issues under the current law, Wacker said. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decides the FCC lacks authority over broadband services, it may be time to turn to Congress, but the commission should be allowed to invoke its Title II authority under the Communications Act, he said.
FCC action on the National Broadband Plan can be expected to start “in a matter of days,” Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett said Wednesday. At a commission forum, he acknowledged some government plans “stay on the shelf” but promised “that’s not going to happen on this particular plan.” The plan gives the agency a great deal to do, and the bureau is “moving out on that sharply.” Bureau officials outlined recommendations in the plan. The FCC seeks to increase its involvement with cybersecurity, said Chief Jeff Goldthorpe of the Communications Systems Analysis Division. “It’s an area where we frankly don’t have much of a track record.” On the proposed public-safety network, Deputy Chief David Furth said relying on current commercial networks and infrastructure won’t meet public safety’s “specific needs for network reliability, resiliency and nationwide coverage that includes remote as well as populated areas.” The plan asks for $12 billion to $16 billion in government grants and broadband-user fees to build and maintain infrastructure, he said. Public-safety networks will be more economical and up-to-date technically if they're built at the same time as commercial networks, Furth said.
The FCC may not be able to turn the National Broadband Plan into action as fast as the report to Congress envisions, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell warned in an interview. Congress may never act on some recommendations, and it could revise others, said Powell, who co-chairs the industry advocacy group Broadband for America. The FCC’s part depends on completing long and “messy” rulemaking proceedings “that may or may not come out the way that is envisioned,” he said. Powell also sought a targeted revamp of the Telecom Act.
Leading members of the House Commerce Committee asked AT&T and Verizon to explain their claims that the new healthcare law will increase the telephone companies’ costs. In letters sent Friday to CEOs of the two telcos and two other companies, Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said the subcommittee plans a hearing at 10 a.m. April 21 on the matter. “We request your personal testimony at this hearing,” they told AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., believes it’s time for Congress to update telecom laws to account for technological convergence, he told us Wednesday. The House Communications Subcommittee chairman said he intends to work on comprehensive reform in the next Congress starting in January that would address some of the concerns raised by Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke in a New Democrat Network keynote Wednesday. The company is “very much on target” when it says the time has come to overhaul the Telecommunications Act, Boucher said. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in another interview that her bills on broadband information and early termination fees (ETFs) would answer Tauke’s call to better inform and empower consumers.
A Universal Service Fund revamp passed by Congress would do more than an FCC overhaul of the fund, and would leapfrog possible limits to the commission’s legal authority, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at a National Journal event Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The National Broadband Plan suggests an overhaul that wouldn’t require legislation. A USF bill may be passable on a bipartisan basis, said Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. Both legislators reaffirmed support for the FCC plan, but Stearns said he has concerns about how the FCC sees its role in spurring the marketplace.
Passage of health care reform legislation over the weekend frees Congress to finish the oft-delayed satellite TV reauthorization and may also loosen bottlenecks that held back other legislation, industry officials said Monday. But Congress won’t necessarily intensify telecom legislation efforts, they said. An ongoing debate among Hill leadership is whether, in the wake of passing health care, they should lay low or come out swinging, said an industry lobbyist.
FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett played defense to skeptical police and fire department officials on the agencies’ recommendations for establishing a nationwide, interoperable public safety network. At a conference Friday of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Barnett urged public safety to back calls in the National Broadband Plan for $12 to $16 billion in additional funding. But officials said they care more about getting spectrum “real estate” than money. Many officials said they were worried they can’t rely on shared commercial networks in emergency situations.