Universal service fund (USF) support would be used for broadband deployment, under a discussion draft released Thurs. of a bill by Reps. Terry (R-Neb.) and Boucher (D-Va.). The bill would expand the USF base by requiring payments into the fund by service providers that use telephone numbers or IP addresses or sell network connections. “To change USF, I believe that all who play must pay,” said Terry. He called the draft a vehicle for reform that would remedy “inequities that exist today.” Boucher said he’s seeking comments on the draft by Dec. 23 and plans to introduce a bill next year.
The Senate Wed. passed 94-5 the Science, Transportation, State & Commerce appropriations bill conference report, which contains $289.7 million for the FCC. The bill, which now heads to the President for signature, also extends the exemption from Anti-Deficiency Act rules for universal service fund (USF) programs. Rural groups welcomed passage of the bill, particularly a provision that prohibits the FCC from limiting USF support to only a primary line. The bill will give consumers access to telecommunications services at affordable rates, said OPASTCO Pres. John Rose.
House and Senate conferees agreed Fri. to exempt the universal service fund (USF) from Anti-Deficiency Act accounting rules for a year, and to bar the FCC from limiting USF support to primary lines. Senate Commerce Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) brokered the USF deal Thurs. night with House Commerce Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.), who wants to overhaul USF. Stevens thought he had sewn up the arrangement, but learned after the Thurs. conferees’ meeting that the primary-line provision wasn’t in the bill. “I didn’t sleep last night because of this amendment,” he told conferees during Fri.’s meeting, arguing passionately that the primary-line provision is essential in rural areas.
The FCC fined 2 telecom resellers a total of $699,412 for not contributing to the Universal Service Fund or adhering to requirements for registering and filing worksheets. Filings include financial data to help the FCC decide if carriers must contribute. The FCC fined Communication Services Integrated (CSII) $462,638 for not contributing, registering or filing worksheets until Feb. 2005, 4 years after starting operation. Global Teldata was fined $236,774 for similar violations, but only for a 2-year period. Global Teldata began making USF payments in Feb. but not enough, the FCC said. The firms’ violations were found by an FCC Enforcement Bureau project to identify resellers by comparing its list of registered service providers with lists of resellers from wholesale service providers. Both companies initially told the FCC they didn’t have enough interstate revenue to require universal service contributions. The bureau told them they still had to file worksheets. When they complied, the worksheets indicated both companies had enough revenue to require USF payments.
Telecom ‘05 Notebook: NARUC Legislative Dir. Brian Adkins gave state regulators and industry executives a tough choice during a panel discussion Wed. at Telecom ‘05: Name the one or 2 most important rules in telecom regulation. Many of them cited interconnection requirements or intercarrier compensation. “If we are going to level the playing field, we need to deal with intercarrier compensation, said CompTel Pres. Earl Comstock. Cal. PUC Comr. Susan Kennedy added no-fraud rules. Ia. Utilities Board Comr. Diane Munns said “technological neutrality” because “a lot of problems we have come from treating technologies differently.” N.D. PUC Pres. Tony Clark said rules that “insure we still have the gold standard, the one line that works when you pick it up.” He added universal service because without USF support “costs would be astronomical” in rural areas. The session late Wed. on state telecom policy was sponsored by N.Y. Law School’s Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute.
IPTV is “critical to rural telecom” in the National Rural Telcom Coop’s (NRTC) eyes, said Harry Thibideau NRTC mgr.-Satellite Industry Relations. Speaking Wed. at the Satellite Application Technology Conference (SATCON) in N.Y., Thibideau expanded on a Sept. NRTC announcement it’s teaming with SES Americom in an IPTV venture targeted at rural telcos. If it succeeds, the IPTV move could create more competition for cable companies and for DBS operators like DirecTV.
LAS VEGAS -- With new technologies increasingly clashing with traditional regulatory policy, there could be a “train wreck” soon for programs like universal service, panelists from Wall Street, Congress and academia warned Mon. at the Telecom ‘05 show here Mon. New technology offered by companies such as Microsoft and Google will change the landscape, they said.
Clearer rules and procedures would go far to improve management of the universal service fund (USF), the FCC was told by a variety of organizations. USF management can be confusing and inefficient for contributors and recipients, according to some comments, but many said the problems don’t stem from the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) the non-profit that administers USF. The agency had sought comments on the entire USF program, including the high-cost fund, E-rate and smaller programs (CD June 15 p8).
TracFone urged the FCC to allow prepaid wireless and wireline service providers to continue to contribute to the Universal Service Fund based on their interstate telecom service revenue. It said prepaid wireless service was similar to wireline prepaid calling card service because in both cases there’s no mechanism for seeking reimbursement of the providers’ universal service contributions from consumers due to the lack of billing relationship between the service provider and the end user. Replacing the revenue-based USF contribution methodology with the one based on telephone numbers would produce “significant dislocations” to prepaid wireless service providers and their consumers, TracFone said.
NASUCA and the Vt. Public Service Board/NARUC restated their claim to standing in U.S. Appeals Court, Atlanta, after the FCC last month asked the court to dismiss their petitions challenging the agency’s recent truth-in-billing (TIB) order. They also opposed arguments by interveners Sprint Nextel and Cingular, which filed to support the FCC earlier this month.