The House Communications Subcommittee approved Internet accessibility legislation in a voice vote Wednesday afternoon, with a manager’s amendment by Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. Boucher said he hoped to offer another manager’s amendment later to address “remaining points of difference,” including those related to video description rules. Meanwhile, disabilities rights advocates were upset after learning the amendment cut out a provision that would subsidize broadband services and equipment for people with disabilities.
Vermont regulators turned thumbs down on a FairPoint proposal for a new regulatory arrangement with the state as part of the company’s Chapter 11 reorganization. The settlement was negotiated with the state Department of Public Service. Earlier, the Maine utility commission approved a variation on the proposal that the Vermont board rejected. New Hampshire authorities are still reviewing the settlement version proposed there.
The FCC plans to complete a USF overhaul next year, said Commissioner Meredith Baker at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday. Baker and her two FCC colleagues on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service -- Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps -- agreed USF was broken. But they disagreed whether they could revamp USF without first reclassifying broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act.
The FCC’s “precedents do not clearly establish whether MeetingOne’s IP-based conferencing service is subject to Universal Service Fund contributions,” MeetingOne said in reply comments to its petition regarding USF contributions. The company requested a review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision that subjects MeetingOne to contribution obligations for past and future revenue, the FCC said in a public notice. “In the face of uncertainty, MeetingOne has stepped forward of its own accord to ascertain the scope of its obligations.” It “should not have its business obliterated by the imposition of retroactive payment obligations,” the company said. The Voice on the Net Coalition is not taking any position on whether MeetingOne should contribute to USF, “but submits that any commission decision on the MeetingOne petition should specifically delineate the limits of USF application to collaboration and conferencing services,” the VON Coalition said in comments. There continues to be “uncertainty regarding the limits of those information services with respect to collaboration and conferencing. Therefore, the commission should use this opportunity to provide this much-needed clarity."
The “lack of spectrum probably constitutes the greatest threat to a healthy broadband ecosystem in our country 10 years hence,” Blair Levin, Aspen Institute fellow and former director of the FCC’s broadband initiative, said at the NextGenWeb Conference in Washington. There really is no unoccupied spectrum, or “marketing incentives for entities to allocate their spectrum,” he said. The National Broadband Plan’s recommendation for spectrum incentive auctions is aimed at “putting spectrum back in the marketplace,” he said. “If auction proceeds could be shared, the broadband ecosystem would have more spectrum, the entity could perform the same function better and taxpayers could benefit as well.” Levin also discussed the need for Universal Service Fund reform and said “today’s USF creates very significant problems.” He challenged those who have argued that the recommended speeds aren’t sufficient: “What’s not legitimate is to pretend that there are no costs to increasing the speed.” If anyone wants everyone in the country to support higher speeds for people in certain parts of the country, “they should be upfront … about the speeds they want, about their costs and about how they propose to pay for it,” he said. Although the FCC in September released a chart showing that about 70 percent of the country will some day have only one provider capable of delivering 50 Mbps downstream, it is no grounds for an unbundling regime, he said. The chart “is correct in terms of what we know today.” But “it may be wrong five years from now,” due to developments and upgrades from telcos, he said. “The argument for unbundling is premised on a projection that is subject to way too many variables and a policy with a potentially significant downside,” he said.
How universal service fits into Congress’ planned rewrite of the Telecom Act is expected to come up at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday on the Universal Service Fund, industry lobbyists said Monday. The Senate hearing opens a new avenue of Hill dialog on USF, an issue that lately has been mainly the domain of the House. House and Senate Commerce Committee staff meetings on the telecom law revamp start Friday (CD June 21 p8).
The National Broadband Plan poses a threat to “comparable, affordable voice and broadband service in rural areas,” the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association said in an ex parte filing about a meeting with the FCC Wireline Bureau staff. The threat will result from limiting the Universal Service Fund to support 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload broadband speeds in rural areas, “while promoting 100 Mbps download speeds in urban areas.” NTCA also urged the FCC to consider expanding the USF contribution methodology to include all broadband providers, the association said.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who was recently in New York to meet with analysts and investors, said the message emanating from Wall Street was clear: Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” broadband reclassification proposal is already having a chilling effect on investment. A divided commission is to take up the Genachowski proposal Thursday. McDowell also said in an interview Wednesday that the FCC should complete action on the stalled white spaces proceeding quickly, so devices can be on store shelves in time for the 2011 holiday buying season.
The Rural Utilities Service is anticipating that investment for round two of the Broadband Initiatives Program “is going to be more than double what we invested in the first round,” Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said at the Broadband Breakfast. The agency planned to have three rounds, but “folded the second and third rounds into the second one.” Adjusting the “remote” definition, increasing the grant component and other changes in the eligibility process encouraged more applications, he said. Most of the awards will be announced in July and August, he said.
The ongoing fight over whether broadband should be reclassified as a more heavily regulated “telecom” service has resulted in chaos for the broadband industry, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said Thursday at the annual Broadband Policy Summit, sponsored by Pike & Fischer. Baker also said work on the “third way” reclassification plan by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has distracted attention from the National Broadband Plan. Another danger is that increased FCC regulation of the Internet could lead to more government control of the Internet in other nations, she warned.