FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to push back the Dec. 15 meeting to the 21st or 22nd, agency officials said Friday. That gives him an extra week to decide whether to schedule a vote on net neutrality rules, likely including provisions in legislation introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., plus wireless. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans took off their gloves and signaled they're ready for a fight should Genachowski push forward with net neutrality rules.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., “will remain active” after he departs the Congress at the end of the year, he said in an interview last week. “I'm 64 but I feel pretty young … and I think I'm good for another 20 years doing something.” The outgoing House Communications Subcommittee chairman hopes Congress next year will finish bipartisan work he started on privacy, incentive auctions and a revamped Universal Service Fund.
Another 500 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband won’t meet exploding demand without changes in how carriers use spectrum, former FCC Office of Engineering Technology Chief Dale Hatfield warned. In a speech at an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event late Tuesday on the future of digital communications, he also said the commission needs to put more focus on how wireline and wireless solutions can work together to solve the spectrum crisis. “It’s not going to be enough,” Hatfield said. “If the government finds 500 MHz, we're going to chew that bandwidth up really, really, really fast. That’s sort of the challenge, if you will.”
The FCC still plans to move forward on net neutrality rules, Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday without specifying the timing or the legal basis. “We have terrific, smart lawyers trying to figure out the best way, the best basis on which we can rest rules, number one” he said at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. “That will happen. The other thing is, we've been doing a lot of work to make sure we get the rules right,” so they promote “innovation and investment throughout the ecosystem.”
ATLANTA -- The Rural Utilities Service will help the FCC carry out the National Broadband Plan, revamp the Universal Service Fund and accomplish other goals, Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said Tuesday at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners conference.
ATLANTA -- The FCC is “moving forward strongly on implementation of the National Broadband Plan,” including fixing the spectrum, intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund systems, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, speaking at a NARUC annual meeting for the first time. Two areas in which innovation is essential are broadband and the smart grid, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. NTIA has identified government spectrum for commercial broadband, he said. (See separate story in this issue.)
ATLANTA -- The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecommunications Committee approved a resolution urging Congress to ensure NTIA and RUS have adequate funds to continue oversight of the BTOP and BIP grant and loan awards. Also at the group’s annual meeting, it passed a resolution supporting expeditious FCC action on abusive so-called traffic pumping.
The FCC nomadic VoIP order doesn’t seek to include providers in the Texas USF program, but it would be appropriate to initiate a rulemaking to further explore the issue, Texas Public Utilities Commissioner Donna Nelson wrote in a memo. Such an inclusion would affect the total revenue generated by the assessment, she said. The FCC order will require nomadic VoIP providers to pay state USF (CD Nov 8 p3).
The FCC no longer appears likely to take on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation proposals at its Dec. 15 meeting, FCC officials said last week. With USF likely off the agenda until the new year, it’s unclear what will be on the agenda at the last open meeting of 2010.
The FCC’s order Friday that requires nomadic VoIP providers to pay into state Universal Service Funds and federal USF could lead to more regulatory activities in some states, officials said in interviews. The order (CD Nov 8 p2) had been expected since September, when Kansas and Nebraska amended their petition to the FCC by deleting language that would have allowed states to assess fees retroactively.