The FCC will use existing money to immediately begin to expand E-rate funding, specifically targeting high-speed connectivity to students in schools and libraries, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Friday (http://fcc.us/1mS7W1B). The money will be spent this year, and won’t affect the program’s existing structures or the 2014 program application process now underway, he said. As the commission revamps the program, any improvements must include strong oversight and enforcement, Wheeler said. That’s to “ensure every dollar that is intended to reach schools and libraries gets there and gets the job done,” he said. Improvements will be structural and administrative, and will be designed to focus support on broadband services while making the program more efficient, he said. Wheeler said he agreed with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel that “without adequate capacity our students are going to fall short” and will be “unable to realize the full potential of digital learning.” Wheeler said he looks forward to making sure “American students get the 21st Century education they deserve.”

If the FCC doesn’t revisit its last-mile access policies as the industry transitions to IP technologies, there will be a negative impact on business customers, Comptel told the FCC general counsel’s office Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1dSFACi). “The vast majority of competition in the business market comes from traditional CLECs that rely, to a substantial extent, on the competitive provision of the [Communications] Act in providing consumers the competitive services they need,” the association of CLECs said. “Robust competition is needed to encourage carriers to address the unique needs, circumstances and problems faced by small to medium size businesses.” Comptel urged the commission to “confirm that the interconnection provisions of the Act apply to IP interconnection for voice services,” as managed VoIP services meet the statutory definition of a telecom service, it said.

Rate-of-return regulated ILECs face “different challenges” than those faced by price cap regulated carriers serving rural areas, NTCA Thursday told aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and aides to Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1dSGxdJ). Any IP transition experiments must be the subject of “thoughtful review in advance” and then “tailored” to account for critical differences between the different regulatory and statutory frameworks governing universal service distribution in those areas, NTCA said. “It should also be made expressly clear that any experiment would not be intended to disrupt current universal service mechanisms or to prejudge potential updates or modifications to those mechanisms,” NTCA said. The commission should avoid using USF funding to support an experiment that would “overbuild networks already supported by USF resources,” it said: The agency should “preclude any opportunity whatsoever for gamesmanship through creating pairing of purportedly ‘unserved’ and served areas."

There are better places to decide the classification of VoIP services than in a Union Electric petition for the telecom rate to apply to cable system pole attachments that provide VoIP services, most commenters said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1dSKaAg). “This is an inappropriate forum for determining the classification of VoIP services,” AT&T said. The question arose in the context of a contractual dispute between individual litigants, AT&T said. A private dispute between litigants is “not the appropriate forum in which to decide the classification of VoIP -- a classification which will have profound policy and market ramifications,” it said. NCTA encouraged the agency to reject the request, for “such a ruling would reverse important Commission policies promoting broadband deployment and competition through lower pole attachment rates as reflected in the 2011 Pole Order.” There is “no need” to classify VoIP in this proceeding; the commission is authorized to apply the cable rate to unclassified VoIP services, NCTA said. The American Cable Association also opposed the petition: “A general regulatory classification is not ripe for decision in this proceeding.” Mediacom also urged rejection. Union Electric’s “attempt to unilaterally reclassify” cable VoIP traffic as a telecom service “undermines the Commission’s 2011 determination that public policy demands that broadband infrastructure costs, including pole attachment rental fees, should be driven lower and as technology neutral as possible,” it said. Comptel supported the petition: “Given that the classification of interconnected managed VoIP services has been a point of dispute in a number of other proceedings in addition to this one, it would benefit the industry greatly for the Commission to confirm that managed VoIP services ... are ’telecommunications services.'”

AT&T opposes a petition by Public Knowledge and other public interest groups that the FCC declare all major U.S. wireless carriers’ privacy policies violate Section 222 of the Communications Act because they might disclose “rigorously anonymized” information, said the company in comments posted Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1c3yaKA). “Petitioners’ interpretation of Section 222 is plainly incorrect” and “ignores” the operative statutory language, AT&T said. “Petitioners rely solely on a tortured construction that they claim to discern in the ’structure’ of the Act.” CTIA, Verizon, Sprint and CenturyLink also opposed the petition (CD Jan 22 p3).

Vonage seeks a 30-day extension of time to comply with the FCC’s new rules banning false ringing tones, it said in a petition Friday (http://bit.ly/1c3z0Hd). Despite “significant efforts,” Vonage requires more time to test and deploy its systems to ensure services are not disrupted, it said. Installing a new system to comply with the rules is a “fundamental modification of Vonage’s network architecture” that “touches all calls made on Vonage’s network, and requires careful design, testing, and implementation,” the VoIP provider said.

In light of mandates in the Communications Act, the FCC must ensure that only properly designated eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) may participate in any potential IP transition rural broadband experiment that uses USF resources, NTCA told an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1eTgu2D). Those ETCs must be common carriers that offer supported services throughout designated areas, and must be required to offer voice telephony that is reasonably comparable in price and quality to service in urban areas, NTCA said. To the extent that those ETCs would also presumably be required to offer broadband as a condition of receiving such USF support, such broadband must be reasonably comparable in price and quality to broadband in urban areas, the association said. “Failure to design any experiment rules in accordance with these mandates could call into question the legal underpinnings of the program, and could relegate consumers in the affected areas to substandard services as a matter of price, quality, or both,” it said.

As the FCC facilitates the transition to IP networks, it should take steps to preserve competition where ILECs often have the only last-mile connection to the customer, Granite Telecommunications told aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai last week, ex parte filings said (http://bit.ly/1c3x9Sy). The CLEC, which provides more than 1.3 million business lines nationally, said regional bell operating companies “typically deny CLECs access to circuits provisioned to technology other than copper”; the competition Granite provides “would not be possible if copper were removed without any requirement that CLECs be given access to the replacement medium,” it said. Other technologies, like wireless or cable, would not be adequate substitutes for ILEC service, Granite said. Granite expressed concern over wire center trials proposed by AT&T, which could interfere with Granite’s services. “There is no apparent provision in AT&T’s proposal to ensure that wholesale customers such as Granite can continue to purchase wholesale service from the ILEC during or after the trial,” it said.

The data hosting division of CenturyLink will now “deliver its services under the name CenturyLink Technology Solutions effective immediately,” said a Tuesday release (http://on.wsj.com/1eaS3fb). “Aligning our brand with CenturyLink demonstrates the deeper ties to the broad portfolio of IT solutions that we collectively deliver for businesses,” said CenturyLink Technology Solutions President Jeff Von Deylen, in a statement. It said the company “will remain the distinct data hosting operating segment within CenturyLink."

The American Cable Association wrote to “commend” the FCC and its Wireline Bureau “for the recent decision establishing ‘eligible’ areas” for the use of Connect America Fund Phase I support. A “key principle” of the CAF program is to ensure support is “not provided in areas served by unsubsidized providers that compete” with ILECs, it said. “ACA believes that in addressing the many thousands of challenges” received during Phase I, the bureau “held true” to that principle. The Phase II challenge process will be “much more complex,” and it will again be important to ensure “CAF support is not provided where cable operators and others have already expended private capital to build broadband plant,” ACA said.