Rural telco associations are urging their members to swarm the FCC and Capitol Hill as part of an all-out effort to help shape the pending Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms. “All three associations are working to get as many member companies to Washington, D.C., as possible over the next two or three months to pull out all the stops in conveying to policy-makers both their general concerns about reform as well as details on the specific impacts of the FCC’s reform proposals,” NTCA, OPASTCO and the Western Telecom Alliance told members in an email blast late last month.
A handful of rural rate-of-return telco executives took aim at the USTelecom-led efforts to create cost models for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, an ex parte notice released Monday showed. USTelecom had brought in analyst CostQuest to create cost models as it continues to lead industry-wide talks on wholesale reform. CostQuest executives have been sitting in on ex parte meetings since at least May to discuss some of their findings (CD May 24 p14).
The FCC designated Standing Rock Telecom, a tribally owned wireless carrier, as an eligible telecom carrier (ETC), effective immediately. As a result, Standing Rock will be eligible to receive federal Universal Service Fund money to bring wireless service to the sparsely populated Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation, which straddles the border of South and North Dakota. Additionally, the FCC held that redefinition of a rural telephone company service area is unnecessary when the ETC is designated throughout the rural service areas within the FCC’s jurisdictional authority (i.e. those rural telephone company service areas within Reservation boundaries). Therefore, unlike in the earlier Wireline Bureau ETC Designation Order, no state commission consent is needed before Standing Rock’s ETC designation takes effect, the FCC said.
Some changes proposed as part of Universal Service Fund reform, such as single-winner reverse auctions, would create much more harm than good, especially for smaller carriers, representatives of SouthernLINC Wireless said in meetings last week with FCC officials. “As the industry continues to consolidate, the presence of regional mobile service providers who focus solely on their local service areas -- as opposed to national wireless service providers whose primary focus traditionally has not been the rural, insular and high cost areas of our country -- provides the types of alternatives which are necessary to ensure that consumers and businesses enjoy the benefits of competition,” SouthernLINC said in an ex parte filing. The filing said that USF reform “should not lead to the inadvertent elimination of these alternatives in the name of achieving slightly faster broadband speeds by subsidizing only a single service provider.” If the FCC gets the rules wrong, the result could be the “remonopolization of communications services” in rural America, the carrier said.
Top congressional staffers are lending a hand in the ongoing talks on an industry-endorsed Universal Service Fund reform proposal, telco and Capitol Hill officials said in interviews. Ray Baum, senior policy adviser on the House Communications Subcommittee and longtime friend of Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.; Nick Degani, legal counsel to the subcommittee; and Brad Schweer, legislative director to Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb.; have all taken an active part in the industry talks in recent weeks, telco officials and Baum said. Since the November elections, Congress had steered clear of USF, focusing on net neutrality, spectrum, FCC reform and AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile. Walden earlier this month said he was “encouraged” by the FCC’s USF efforts, and urged industry to come up with a reform package soon (CD June 8 p5).
The House Commerce Committee has asked the FCC for “more targeted data” on the Universal Service Fund. The request came in a letter to Chairman Julius Genachowski, signed by Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and telecom subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Wednesday’s letter continues a years’ long tradition by the committee, seeking data on USF. It asks for state-by-state and company-by-company lists of who got what and for how much money.
The record developed by the FCC makes clear that SMS is an information service and carriers should not have to pay into the Universal Service Fund based on SMS revenue, CTIA said in reply comments. The Wireline Bureau asked for comments on the topic, in response to an April 26 letter from the Universal Service Administrative Co. seeking guidance on the reporting of text messaging revenues for purposes of the USF.
The New York Senate passed legislation that would prevent state regulation of VoIP services. The bill, introduced by GOP Sen. George Maziarz, might not be going anywhere because the state Assembly session ended Monday, his legislative aide told us. Maziarz is working with the Assembly to try to pass the bill in potential extended session, the aide said. S-5769 passed Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sent the White House a letter asking President Barack Obama to nominate Ajit Pai for the Republican seat on the FCC vacated by Meredith Baker. Industry and government officials we spoke with Friday said Pai is likely to be nominated and should face a relatively easy time being confirmed, barring unforeseen complications. Pai’s nomination is likely to be paired with that of Jessica Rosenworcel, an aide to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.Rosenworcel is expected to be the nominee to replace Democrat Michael Copps on the commission. Copps must leave the FCC when the current session of Congress ends.
CHICAGO -- The FCC’s overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system may take a little longer than had previously been anticipated, an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski said at the Cable Show in Chicago. Finishing an order on the subjects may take until the fall, said Sherrese Smith, who advises Genachowski on media issues. “I'm only talking about a month or two delay,” not a longer period of time, she told us during a Q-and-A Wednesday. She also said an item on program carriage will be out soon.