The FCC will vote at the April 21 meeting on an order that would pull back the in-market roaming exclusion, approved in 2007 as part of the commission’s automatic roaming rules. The same item calls for the FCC to put out a further rulemaking notice seeking additional comment on data roaming. The actions have been expected since December (CD Dec 9 p1).
FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said she remains open-minded about net neutrality, but she questioned whether a compromise can be made to gain her support by removing the application of rules to wireless. Baker, who joined the commission in July, told us she’s pleased with the approach of the National Broadband Plan toward spectrum. Baker also called for a quick review of all deals before the FCC, including Comcast-NBC Universal, limiting conditions to those directly involved, and helping broadcasters in small- and mid-sized markets in the media ownership review.
The FCC may not be able to turn the National Broadband Plan into action as fast as the report to Congress envisions, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell warned in an interview. Congress may never act on some recommendations, and it could revise others, said Powell, who co-chairs the industry advocacy group Broadband for America. The FCC’s part depends on completing long and “messy” rulemaking proceedings “that may or may not come out the way that is envisioned,” he said. Powell also sought a targeted revamp of the Telecom Act.
Debate over the FCC’s authority to regulate the Internet heated up at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday on the National Broadband Plan. Republicans strongly opposed the FCC invoking Title II of the Communications Act if the commission loses an effort to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that it can regulate broadband under Title I. But Democrats seemed open to the possibility. Lawmakers from the two parties differed on plan details but praised the FCC for hard work and ambition. “Y'all have done as good as could be done,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the Commerce Committee’s ranking member.
LAS VEGAS -- Commissioners will next week get a calendar laying out basic timing of the rulemakings and other actions that follow up on the National Broadband Plan, FCC officials said at the spring CTIA meeting. Commissioners won’t vote on the schedule but it’s expected to be discussed at the April 22 meeting.
The National Broadband Plan offers recommendations for increasing broadband adoption without increasing the Universal Service Fund and without new legislation, an FCC official said during a webinar. “We didn’t want to throw everything back into the lap of Congress,” said Wireline Deputy Bureau Chief Carol Mattey. Congress is providing insight and holding oversight hearings, “but we started off with basic design principles for reform that we can take care of ourselves,” she said. Goals of the plan include leading the world in mobile innovation, providing 1 Gbps access to anchor institutions in every community and supplying first responders a nationwide wireless broadband network, said Jon Banks, USTelecom senior vice president of law and policy. The commission also recommends establishing competition policies and creating incentives for universal availability and adoption. “Telecom companies tend to pay the highest rate for pole attachments,” he said. “The FCC is looking to drive down the cost of that part of broadband infrastructure.” As part of a USF and intercarrier compensation overhaul, the FCC plans to transform the high-cost program into the Connect America Fund in a three phase process over the next 10 years, Mattey said (CD March 8 p1). The overhaul will involve dispensing with per-minute intercarrier-compensation charges, said Rebekah Goodheart, an FCC policy adviser.
The National Broadband Plan sets the stage for increased broadband adoption, but hasn’t quelled the debate over Universal Service Fund, spectrum use and Title II reclassification, telecom officials said on panels Tuesday. The spectrum portion of the plan “really does push the ball forward to try to get more flexible use for spectrum,” said Gregory Rosston, deputy director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Spectrum is the “mother’s milk” of wireless, said Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke. The recommendations get the ball moving “in the development of additional spectrum resources for wireless. That’s a big positive for investment and innovation,” he said the event, held at the National Press Club.
A Universal Service Fund revamp passed by Congress would do more than an FCC overhaul of the fund, and would leapfrog possible limits to the commission’s legal authority, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at a National Journal event Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The National Broadband Plan suggests an overhaul that wouldn’t require legislation. A USF bill may be passable on a bipartisan basis, said Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. Both legislators reaffirmed support for the FCC plan, but Stearns said he has concerns about how the FCC sees its role in spurring the marketplace.
Passage of health care reform legislation over the weekend frees Congress to finish the oft-delayed satellite TV reauthorization and may also loosen bottlenecks that held back other legislation, industry officials said Monday. But Congress won’t necessarily intensify telecom legislation efforts, they said. An ongoing debate among Hill leadership is whether, in the wake of passing health care, they should lay low or come out swinging, said an industry lobbyist.
Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said Thursday he’s “sort of relieved” that the National Broadband Plan doesn’t discuss extensively imposing net neutrality rules and invoking Title II to regulate the Internet. The broadband plan “has a lot of worthwhile things in it,” Stearns, the House Communications Subcommittee’s ranking member, said on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators recorded to telecast Saturday. The plan sets good goals that could be achieved by the market without government intervention, he said. Stearns said he supports shifting USF to support broadband, but he doesn’t support “spending a lot of government money.” He criticized the broadband stimulus for funding projects for underserved people rather than just for unserved ones. Stearns also worries that the plan could lead to new unbundling mandates, which he said could punish companies that build infrastructure. Also on the show, Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., of the House Communications Subcommittee said he believes Congress can act on the National Broadband Plan’s recommendation that the government find $16 billion for a nationwide public safety network. “As difficult as it is to obtain appropriations these days for new projects, this is an area where we can obtain bipartisan cooperation and a bipartisan commitment to provide the critical funding that is necessary” to help public safety. On spectrum, Boucher said he hopes to get his inventory legislation “through the House of Representatives within the course of this month.” The House Commerce Committee approved the bill this month, and a similar bill awaits Senate votes. Boucher called a recommendation in the plan to set up a low-cost, ad-supported wireless broadband network a “good idea,” but he said he’s “not sure the federal government has any role in either mandating or supervising that.” Stearns said he has mixed feelings about the idea, because he believes prices will naturally come down without government intervention. FCC commissioners will take questions from Boucher’s and Stearns’ committee at a hearing Thursday.