FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Jonathan Adelstein likely will come in for intense lobbying in coming weeks, as wireless carriers seek to beat a cap proposed for Universal Service Fund payments. The carriers want to know why they're getting special attention as the FCC tries to curb the fund.
Wireless broadband easily outpaced wireline last year in new high-speed broadband connections, the FCC said in its twice-yearly report on U.S. broadband data. The commission’s numbers echo reports from wireless carriers about rapid growth in their data offerings. Wireless carriers hope the FCC will view the report as evidence it shouldn’t cap Universal Service Fund payments to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs).
The Department of Health and Human Services is reaching out to the FCC for communications expertise, Kevin Yeskey, deputy assistant secretary in the HHS Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations said Thursday at an HHS-FCC summit on healthcare communications. The meeting at FCC headquarters was the second this week focusing on emergency medical communications (CD Oct 30 p1).
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated an order and two notices of proposed rulemaking on Universal Service Fund reform, sources said. The items started circulating Oct. 26. The order, based on the Alltel merger order, would cap USF payments at June 2007 levels, unless a carrier filed cost data showing its per-line costs are less than the capped funding level. Martin also circulated two rulemakings. One would provide for reverse auctions for USF payments, the other would eliminate the identical support rule. The items could be taken up at the Nov. 16 FCC agenda meeting. The notices could prove touchy because they sidestep the Joint Board on Universal Service in making long-term changes, sources said Thursday. Ray Baum, an Oregon regulator who serves as state chairman of the joint board, told a CTIA conference last week he worries that the joint board’s work may come to naught. “We might not be able to get anything out,” he said.
The FCC launched a rulemaking that proposes a single rate for pole attachments, to be paid by wireline carriers, cable operators and competitive local exchange carriers alike. That would be bad news for cable operators, which generally pay the lowest rates. Incumbent local exchange carriers generally pay the highest rates. The rulemaking also asks an extensive series of questions on matters that have been raised by telecom carriers and cable companies.
Tower company Crown Castle International expects rapid growth of wireless infrastructure with the 700 MHz auction and carriers taking over licenses bought in last year’s advanced wireless services auction, CEO John Kelly said Wednesday in a call with analysts. The company’s loss widened Q3 to $72.2 million from $20.8 million a year earlier, it said. Revenue was up 75 percent to $351.7 million. “The backdrop for this performance is the continued growth in the broader wireless market,” Kelly said. “We believe the need for coverage will continue to increase as carriers continue to build out their networks to support these data-centric and bandwidth intensive applications.” Kelly cited data on wireless growth recently reported by CTIA. For example, wireless minutes used in the U.S. rose 18 percent in a year. “In my opinion, that’s an unbelievably large increase on a percentage basis given that the base is so large,” he said. Crown Castle is bound to benefit from the 700 MHz auction no matter who the big winners are, he said. “Our assets are the best located in the tower industry,” Kelly said. “We are in a favorable position to partner with the ultimate winners of the auction to deploy their new networks or deploy new applications using this spectrum on sites in place today.”
The FCC approved Wednesday an order 5-0 expanding local number portability (LNP) requirements to interconnected VoIP providers. The order seems to be a victory for wireless carriers that have complained about excessive data requests from their wireline competitors to port numbers, saying future ports will require only four data points. Only a news release and commissioners’ statements had been released at our deadline. The FCC also asked questions about porting rules in an accompanying rulemaking.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel told the FCC that imposing data roaming requirements on wireless carriers would go against agency policy and a commission declaration that wireless broadband is an information service subject to light-handed regulation. But small carriers said they need the same kinds of roaming agreements with other carriers for data that they have for voice, and the agency should impose a mandate.
New Qwest CEO Edward Mueller faced tough questioning by analysts Tuesday for undertaking a six-month strategic review. Mueller took over in August from Richard Notebaert, credited by many with restoring the once-stumbling Bell’s financial stability. With revenue and profit below estimates and no news on an expected shareholder dividend, Qwest stock price plummeted Tuesday, falling 13.68 percent on the day to $7.06 at the market’s close.
Freeing Verizon from requirements that it provide unbundled network elements to competitors at regulated rates would cost customers $2.4 billion in six major markets in just one year, QSI Consulting said in a report released Monday and paid for by XO and other competitive carriers. Costs will soar $1.4 billion in the New York market alone as costs for these elements grow 200 to 300 percent, QSI said. The average household would pay $114 more annually for service. Verizon disagreed.