Verizon backs an FCC proposal to assess VoIP providers for Universal Service Fund contributions, an official there said Wed., commenting on a Communications Daily article on FCC plans (CD May 31 p1). Verizon’s broader goal is a move from the revenue-based contributions process to one based on phone numbers, the official said: “It’s important that all providers contribute in the same way.” Before making so major a change, it would be proper for the FCC to impose interim assessments on VoIP, the executive said: “The FCC should assess VoIP providers under current rules, and has the authority to do it.” In a paper sent the FCC last week, Verizon proposed a “safe harbor” approach to decide how much VoIP provider revenue to subject to USF contributions. Under today’s system, only interstate revenue is subject to USF fees. Verizon’s paper pushed the wireless safe harbor as an alternative -- 28.5% of wireless retail revenue is considered interstate and thus subject to fees. The FCC reportedly is eyeing such a plan as a way to sustain the USF on an interim basis once DSL revenue no longer is subject to contributions. The FCC plans to remove DSL from the contributions base in Aug.
The FCC is poised to impose a mandate on VoIP providers that they pay into the Universal Service Fund (USF) and also may raise significantly the “safe harbor” for wireless carriers. FCC Chmn. Martin began to circulate a USF item last week, timed to the June 15 agenda meeting -- likely the first with new Comr. McDowell.
Addition of Robert McDowell as a 3rd Republican member of the FCC likely will mean Chmn. Martin will move within months on key items on which he needs an extra vote but over which he has been unable or unwilling to negotiate with Democrats. The Senate confirmed McDowell Fri. by unanimous consent after a series of holds were lifted.
House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) will oppose efforts to exempt the E-rate program from Anti- Deficiency Act rules that require funding to be in hand before money can be spent, according to a Commerce Committee staffer. Barton and Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) brokered a deal last year that gave the program a one-year pass, but Barton is “inclined to let the ADA exemption expire,” the aide said.
The FCC can require Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions of interconnected VoIP providers though VoIP’s regulatory classification hasn’t been resolved, Verizon said in a white paper sent Tues. to the FCC. The FCC should create an interim VoIP safe harbor or proxy contributions method pending contributions reform, the firm said. There’s no need to decide if VoIP is a telecom or information carrier before acting, since either way the FCC has authority, Verizon said. “If interconnected VoIP is considered a telecommunications service, then an interconnected VoIP provider is a ’telecommunications carrier’… and thus must contribute,” Verizon said: “If interconnected VoIP providers are considered ‘information service’ providers, the Commission can exercise its discretionary authority under Section 254(d) to compel them to contribute.” That section empowers the FCC to require contributions from “other providers of interstate telecommunications… if the public interest so requires.” One way to assess USF contributions for VoIP providers is to apply the same safe harbor figure used for wireless providers -- 28.5% of retail revenue, Verizon said. The wireless figure was adopted in 1998 because it was hard to discern between intrastate and interstate wireless revenue. USF contributions are based only on interstate revenue.
Clear World Communications agreed to pay $290,000 to settle an FCC investigation into failure to pay regulatory fees and contributions to the universal service and Telecom Relay Service funds and to meet numbering administration rules. In a consent decree with the FCC, the long distance company agreed to set up a program to assure employee compliance with FCC rules. Clear World also has paid toward $530,000 toward an obligation of $3.13 million in USF contributions, interest and late charges, according to the consent decree issued Fri.
Satellite services and satellite spectrum policy’s importance are growing at NTIA and elsewhere because of rural satellite broadband deployment and emergency communications plans being reworked to include a satellite overlay, an NTIA official said Thurs. Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch, NTIA Acting Dir. John Kneuer said he’s “very bullish” about rural broadband deployment and sees it as an “enormous opportunity for satellite.” He also said NTIA is seeing satellite incorporated more and more in emergency planning post-Hurricane Katrina.
The draft telecom bill (S-2686) was too hard on cities, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Wed. at the first of 2 hearings on it. Acknowledging as “fair criticism” complaints about the bill’s local franchising provisions, Stevens said those parts of the bill were “put in by others.” Stevens said he takes “credit or blame” for the bill’s handling of net neutrality, but wants more Democratic input before revising the bill.
The FCC denied a Telco Group petition seeking exclusion of international revenue from the base used to calculate payments into the Telecom Relay Service Fund, or at least exclusion of Telco Group’s international revenue from its own contribution base. The FCC rejection of the requests said the TRS fund isn’t limited to supporting domestic relay service, but also is used to fund international relay calls. Telco had argued international revenue should be excluded because it’s excluded from contributions into the universal service fund. The FCC said that’s a different situation because USF money isn’t used for international service.
Communities across the Empire State should look to Philadelphia’s model of offering municipal broadband access to citizens, N.Y. Attorney Gen. Eliot Spitzer (D) told the Personal Democracy Forum conference in N.Y.C. Mon. The gubernatorial candidate said the problem “isn’t a lack of resources, it’s a lack of imagination and a lack of leadership.”