Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has accomplished little on communications, ex-FCC chairman William Kennard said Wednesday in a debate hosted by the Media Access Project. Kennard spoke for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., while former NTIA official John Kneuer backed McCain. Obama has a significantly more detailed technology policy, despite a shorter resume, Kennard said. McCain is opposed to Washington “micromanagement” of the industry, and has been dealing with communications issues for years, Kneuer said. The industry has a “stark, stark choice,” Kennard said.
The universal service fund should be expanded to cover broadband services, members on both sides of the aisle said in a House Telecom Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. Members agreed the fund needs a substantial overhaul, a view backed by witnesses advocating help for low-income consumers in rural areas and urging further USF support for schools. Differences emerged over how to revamp the program, with Democrats supporting extension of the fund for broadband deployment, an idea not wholly endorsed by Republicans.
Democratic FCC commissioners said Monday that a study on broadband deployment in North Carolina illustrates the need for federal government involvement in a national broadband strategy. At a New America Foundation forum, Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein said such a plan should be based on a partnership between the public and private sectors.
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein believes reforming universal service in 2008 is “worth trying,” aide Scott Bergmann said Tuesday in a Wiley Rein panel on USF at NXTCOMM. Officials from Sprint, Embarq, Cisco and Verizon agreed reform is needed, but disagreed on the details.
The proportion of long distance revenue carriers must contribute to the Universal Service Fund in the third quarter of 2008 increased to 11.4 percent from 11.3 percent in Q2, the FCC said Friday. To get the “contribution factor,” the agency divides projected carrier revenue by expected USF subsidies for the quarter. Of an estimated $1.95 billion in Q3 subsidies, about $1.17 billion is for the rural high-cost program, $528.8 million for the E-rate program, $202.6 million for low-income support and $49.6 million for the rural health-care program.
Global Conference Partners urged the FCC to reject “misplaced” Verizon arguments against InterCall’s appeal of a Universal Service Administrative Co. ruling. USAC ruled that InterCall, an audio bridging company, must contribute directly to USF by filing FCC Form 499s. InterCall asked the FCC to reverse the ruling, saying audio bridging providers need not pay in since they aren’t telecommunications service providers. In April, Verizon urged the FCC to deny InterCall’s petition, citing “long-established” commission precedent and need for “level playing field” policy. The commission never said a stand-alone conference service is a telecom service, Global Conference Partners said. And the Bell’s “policy contention is both disingenuous and mistaken,” it said. Verizon faces no “unfair regulatory disparity vis- ?-vis InterCall” because the FCC’s Computer II rules “explicitly treat facilities-based providers differently from non-facilities-based providers” (emphasis in original), it said.
Rural wireless carriers made clear in reply comments on three Universal Service Fund rulemaking notices that the FCC could face legal challenge if it kills the identical-support rule. VoIP carriers and American Indian tribes, meanwhile, entered the debate over a USF overhaul, urging a broadband- specific fund. They had sat out an earlier comment round.
The FCC should do as the Agriculture Department does if it adopts Universal Service Fund support for broadband, the Free State Foundation said in reply comments for three ongoing USF reform proceedings. The subsidy program should emulate DoA’s Rural Development Telecommunications Program, “which provides support for targeted capital investments, not ongoing operating expenses,” said FSF President Randolph May. The model would be “better able to take advantage of competition and newer technologies” and “target subsidies to low-income individuals in high-cost areas,” he said.
The largest-ever internal FCC probe might have been less vulnerable to complaints of inadequacy had investigators spoken with more current and former agency leaders, the Office of Inspector General said Monday. In its twice yearly review of its efforts, the office addressed criticism by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps. All three termed the report a whitewash (CD Oct 9 p2). Besides describing efforts to interview two former Media Bureau officials who claimed their bosses discouraged the reports’ release, the IG’s analysis said it might have been a good idea to talk to FCC members and former Chairman Michael Powell about complaints that media-ownership reports were quashed.
Without regulatory reform, historic revenue sources won’t match the expenses of rural incumbent local exchange carriers, said Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. OPASTCO filed the report to refresh the record in Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation proceedings at the FCC. If regulators keep the status quo, small rural incumbents’ 2008 revenue shortfalls will be 5 percent, rising to 9 percent in 2009 and 13 percent in 2010, OPASTCO said. “Companies more reliant on local service revenues and intrastate access will fare worst, while those more reliant on USF and interstate access will experience more modest impacts,” it said. Wireless, VoIP and CLECs will “continue to erode” line counts and use minutes, it said. Broadband and special access will keep growing but more slowly than they have, it said. “Beyond 3 years, there is no assurance that USF will be sufficient, or that it will even keep pace with inflation,” OPASTCO said. Regulators should replace declining revenue streams with contributions from unregulated services, it said.