Broadband should be part of the Universal Service Fund (USF) program, rural senators told a Thurs. Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The FCC can do that, but Comr. Copps doubts he can get the other 2 votes needed for a rulemaking clarify that broadband can be included in USF, he said. Panelists favoring USF-sponsored broadband said congressional action would be the quickest route.
Cable operators got some clarity on VoIP interconnection rules from an FCC order saying incumbent LECs must give them interconnection rights and exchange traffic with cable systems. The Wireline Bureau order approved a Time Warner Cable (TWC) request seeking interconnection rights for certain types of phone calls. The order came after cable operators had argued before the Commission for such rights, and exactly a year after TWC complained to the agency about a S.C. PSC denial of a certificate it said it needed for interconnection agreements to sell VoIP (CD March 6 p12).
No hearings are planned to make the E-Rate antideficiency exemption permanent, but Commerce Committee staffers from both parties and chambers said Wed. their bosses have legislation to that effect on their agendas, and late-spring action is probable. The policymakers spoke at a National Coalition for Technology in Education (NCTE) panel celebrating E-Rate’s 10th anniversary. NCTE marked the event with a report rating the program’s performance and cataloging educational connectivity needs around the U.S. E-Rate reform concepts are still being formed, but all panelists spoke of ways they thought they could streamline the program.
Cyren Call CEO Morgan O'Brien’s spectrum proposal largely could solve America’s broadband access problems and deliver a fully interoperable safety network, he said. On a Hill panel at the New America Foundation, O'Brien said Fri. he'd have more details of the proposal Mon. in a filing with the FCC. It will answer questions about how the company can succeed financially serving public and private needs, he said.
Reverse auctions are a “great idea” that would benefit wireless businesses, Alltel CEO Scott Ford said Tues. during Alltel’s Q4 financial briefing. “The fact that some of the ILECs don’t want” to participate “leaves us a little concerned,” he said. Alltel wants all of USF overhauled, he said, predicting a “protracted battle” to do so. Alltel backs a “pilot” reverse auction focused on broadband deployment that would revamp the USF system (CD Feb 20 p10). Alltel’s revenue was about $2.09 billion, up 14% from 2005. Net income was $215.8 million, down 15%.
FCC Chmn. Martin said Tues. he sees reverse auctions as a solution for stemming the “unsustainable” growth of the Universal Service Fund caused by increased competitive providers. Martin told the Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service that he never supported giving USF subsidies to multiple recipients in an area, and just what he feared has happened -- a sharp rise in USF subsidies caused by the increase in competitive rural carriers.
Senate Democrats predict spring hearings on net neutrality -- an urgent issue that must be addressed, according to speakers at a NARUC conference Tues. Colin Crowell, an aide to House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.), called neutrality a “central issue of the broadband era” that will be around a long time. Markey wants Congress to focus on what policy changes would mean for smaller voices on the airwaves and pay TV and for entrepreneurial Internet companies seeking a foothold.
If the FCC granted all petitions from companies seeking eligibility for universal service money, USF support would increase by close to $150 million annually, Embarq warned the FCC in a Feb. 15 ex parte letter. If AT&T Mobility, which seeks designation as an eligible telecom provider in Ga. and Va., extended that request nationwide, an additional $250 million would be added, the company said. The AT&T petitions were filed when the company was named Cingular.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) would get a permanent exemption from Anti-Deficiency Act accounting rules under a bill introduced last week by Sen. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Separately, the continuing resolution passed last week (CD Feb 15 p1) includes a provision to bar primary-line restrictions on USF until Dec. 31.
Another universal-service proposal has surfaced, this one from wireless provider Alltel, which backs a “pilot” reverse auction focused on broadband deployment. A bidder would win by offering the lowest price for deploying “substantial broadband service,” in addition to existing USF- supported basic services, to specific percentages of a zip code’s population, Alltel said. All eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) operating in an area, not just the auction winner, would get comparable per-line funding for making the same service commitment. The plan calls for revamping the USF system, such as by limiting growth of per-line support in each study area to the inflation rate. The “transitional” reforms require more accountability and reporting by ILECs and competitive ETCs and would make the Universal Service Administration Co. (USAC), not NECA, responsible for collecting and processing cost data and setting support amounts. NECA is “an RLEC-dominated advocacy group,” Alltel said in the Feb. 16 ex parte filing with the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. The plan would “retain the rule that all ETCs receive the same amount of support per line served,” a practice rural LECs strongly oppose. To “target funds more effectively,” Alltel would: (1) Consolidate study areas served by a single ILEC holding company in each state into a single study area. (2) Apply “non-rural” funding rules to such study areas if they had 50,000-plus lines. (3) Revise the “high cost model” support mechanism for nonrural carriers “to provide support in the highest-cost wire centers nationwide, not just in 10 states.” Rural consumers want high-bandwidth and wireless services but “due to the relatively high costs of deploying… networks in many rural areas, these services are being deployed less rapidly in rural areas than elsewhere,” Alltel said. The plan builds on ideas from W. Va. PSC Consumer Advocate Bill Jack Gregg and others, Alltel said: “These policy changes will affect CETCs as much as ILECs. Alltel is not offering these proposals in an intent to benefit or harm any category of providers.”