USAC said demand for USF schools and libraries program funds will hit $3.55 billion in fiscal 2006. That forecast is based on 39,416 applications filed by the Feb. 16 deadline, USAC said in a filing at the FCC. The demand is $98 million less than the previous year. Priority one funding requests (telecom services and Internet) rose 7.7% to $1.69 billion. Priority 2 (internal connections other than basic maintenance) fell 10.5% to $1.86 billion. USAC said requests are still coming in, since the FCC extended to Sept. 30 the filing window for applicants directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
SAN DIEGO -- With net neutrality the burning issue at CompTel’s spring conference, FCC Chmn. Martin diplomatically said he'd with neither Bells nor CLECs. The jury remains out on points each side claims to know everything about, he said. And Martin warned against the Commission’s adopting rules preemptively. He briefly defended his Verizon forbearance decision, an anathema to the CompTel crowd. Competitive carriers voiced displeasure with the ruling and with what they call a trend toward a reconstituted AT&T monopoly, this one without the safeguards of regulation.
The FCC decision not to act on a Verizon forbearance petition seeking regulatory relief regarding charges to business customers for high-speed data was a win for Verizon -- but how big remains unclear, analysts said Tues. The exact relief provided by the FCC is uncertain because the Commission has released statements and a news release, but no order yet, analysts said.
SAN DIEGO -- Net neutrality stirs more Commerce Committee disagreements than any other issue, Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Mon. in his keynote address at the CompTel spring show here. Briefing CompTel members on issues the committee is tackling, Stevens praised the ‘96 Act but said any rewrite must address the extent to which courts struck down the original. He said he and Co-Chmn. Inouye (D-Hawaii) expect to have a bill before the committee right after the Easter recess.
The universal service fund (USF) has hidden costs well beyond what subscribers pay into the program, since taxes usually reduce use of services, Jerry Ellig, senior research fellow at George Mason U.’s Mercatus Center, said Thurs. during a USF discussion at the Digital Age Communications Act conference. A new study puts those hidden costs at $2 billion a year, about 1/2 what the program brings in, Ellig said.
A NARUC task force presented its proposed agreement on intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform in a closed door meeting at the FCC. Sources familiar with the presentation Wed. said the proposal would “harmonize” access charges significantly, dividing carriers into 3 groups and providing different compensation rates for large, medium and small carriers.
Telecom reform is possible if Senate Commerce Committee members can strike a deal on fixing the Universal Service Fund (USF), Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Tues. at a hearing on rural telecom. “We're close to getting some consensus that USF is going to survive; it’s going to be workable; it isn’t going to be a tax… and it’s going to be managed by the industries involved,” Stevens told reporters. He made clear USF shouldn’t come under Anti-Deficiency Act requirements that funds be in hand before agencies commit to spending them. Stevens said he expects to mark up a bill before Easter.
If Howard Stern had told CBS Radio in 2004 he was interested in jumping to Sirius when he was negotiating his contract with the satellite radio provider, it would have “pursued a satellite radio project jointly” with him. So says the 43-page suit filed last week against Sirius, Stern and Don Buchwald, Stern’s agent and manager. CBS Radio seeks damages for the value of the airtime it says Sirius “misappropriated for its own use through… unfair competition.”
The Universal Service Fund (USF) needs close scrutiny, and random audits might be a way to root out abuses, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Thurs. at the 2nd of 2 hearings on the fund. “I've been thinking about asking the committee to put into the bill a random audit of costs of all recipients -- a sort of little GAO,” Stevens said. The program couldn’t be comprehensive, but it could put recipients on notice that they need to use funds responsibly, Stevens said.
The FCC Thurs. extended provisions of its Oct. 2005 order providing limited USF benefits to victims of Hurricane Katrina (CD Oct 18 p2). Provisions of the order had expired Wed. Thurs.’s order provides evacuees and others affected by Katrina 3 additional months to qualify for 300 min. of free wireless service and a handset under the federal Lifeline program, with a maximum value of $130. It also extends until Sept. 30 the filing window for schools and libraries directly affected by the storm to apply for 2006 funding under the federal E-rate program. The Commission also waives the “two- in-five” rule for affected schools, which blocks applicants from receiving funds for internal connections for more than 2 out of every 5 funding years.