The FCC opened a proceeding to develop a national broadband plan, at its meeting Wednesday. Commissioners unanimously approved a notice of inquiry on the plan, asking a laundry list of questions on how to effectively and efficiently spur broadband deployment and adoption. The FCC must deliver a plan to Congress by Feb. 17, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Congress should make cybersecurity, not net neutrality, its main communications priority in the year ahead, James Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president, told reporters. He said he expects quick action from the FCC and Congress on a Universal Service Fund overhaul because of growing recognition that the current system is broken. And he endorsed Verizon’s position that the 700 MHz D-block should be given to public-safety agencies for immediate use rather than go through a second auction.
Companies need only pay a universal service contribution for the telecom service aspects of multi-protocol label switching, consistent with FCC precedent on other transmission protocols with information-processing capabilities, the FCC Wireline Bureau said. In a late Wednesday letter to the Universal Service Administrative Co., the bureau appeared to respond to a petition by Masergy Communications filed last Friday (CD March 31 p7). Masergy urged the FCC to clarify that information service aspects of MPLS shouldn’t be subject to USF contribution.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman of California is reviving a Universal Service Fund investigation that he began last Congress, when he was the Oversight Committee chairman. Waxman sent a letter Wednesday to FCC acting Chairman Michael Copps asking for an “update to an earlier data request concerning universal service fund disbursements.” The information is needed because the committee is “likely to consider proposals to reform” the fund, the letter said. The data sought include an updated list of the top 10 recipients in the high-cost program in 2006, 2007 and 2008; a state-by-state list of total disbursements to the top 10 recipients; an updated list of the 10 largest per-line subsidies for each study area; a list of competitive eligible telecommunications carriers and the total support they receive in the study areas from 2006 to 2008; a state-by-state list of total USF high-cost support payments; and a state-by-state list of ETCs and the names of the carriers. The deadline for producing the information is April 23. Ranking member Joe Barton of Texas signed the letter, along with the leaders of the Communications subcommittee.
Regulations such as a la carte and net neutrality won’t help consumers and should be opposed, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Hutchison of Texas told the NCTA convention. “I want to hold back on regulations that are going to stifle innovation,” she said. “I am very skeptical about Congress being able to do it right.” Minority House Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia delivered a similar but broader message at an NCTA lunch: “You don’t need to over-regulate. You need smart regulation.”
Companies should only have to pay universal service for the local transmission line aspects of multi-protocol label switching, said Masergy Communications. The FCC added MPLS to the list of telecom services subject to USF contribution in this year’s Form 499-A. In a petition Friday, the international network operator asked the FCC to clarify the form’s instructions to explain what aspects of MPLS are subject to USF contribution. “In addition to a transmission component which can be included, MPLS is, among other things, a traffic information management service that can be sold and marketed separately from transmission and access services,” Masergy said. Information services aren’t subject to USF contributions, it said.
There appeared to be little new in the more than 100 comments that flooded into the FCC this week about how to develop a comprehensive broadband strategy for rural parts of the U.S. The recommendations of the commission are expected to be given weight at NTIA and RUS as the agencies develop their respective broadband stimulus programs.
Consensus is building on universal service legislation that would expand the fund to cover broadband, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., told the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association Tuesday. Boucher asked the group, which held its annual legislative conference this week, to urge members of Congress to support legislation he hopes to introduce “in the near term.” He declined to say when the legislation would be ready.
The FCC sought comment on five requests from carriers contesting decisions by the Universal Service Administrative Co., in public notices issued Thursday. CalTel and South Bell Payphones want the FCC to waive fees assessed to the companies for filing late their FCC Forms 499-A in 2008. 10D Telecom wants the same relief. Sunshine Community Health Center wants the FCC to review a USAC decision that “substantially reduced” Sunshine’s rural healthcare funding request in 2006. Via Talk seeks reversal of a USAC decision denying the company’s amended 2007 FCC Form 499-A, which was filed more than one year late. Via Talk also asked the FCC to correct its USF debt, because the company “erroneously over-projected revenue” in 2007 and 2008 filings. Meanwhile, Ascent Media Group asked for reconsideration of an FCC order dismissing Ascent’s request to review a USAC decision about a late-filed FCC Form 499-Q. Comments on all the proceedings are due April 20, replies May 5.
The FCC may soon answer a court remand on universal service high-cost support for non-rural carriers. Last week, the commission circulated a notice of inquiry that includes a laundry list of questions asking how the FCC should respond to a 2005 remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, an FCC official told us. In 2005, the court called unlawful the FCC’s current non-rural rules, which address carriers like Qwest that serve high-cost areas with too many lines to be considered “rural” by the statutory definition. Earlier this year, Qwest petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus to force the FCC to make new rules (CD Jan 16 p6). Qwest wants the FCC to change the rules so it can receive more USF support for its rural territories.