Satellite Industry Wants USF Reform, Too
The satellite industry Tues. urged the FCC to reform the Universal Service Fund to promote broadband deployment in rural America, citing the President’s 2007 broadband goal and satellite broadband as an option. Chiming in on USF remedies in ex parte meetings at the Commission, Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) officials called for a “technologically neutral” fix to the USF, which they called “complicated to administer” and “ill-suited to a world of convergence.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The SIA wants a retail telephone number-based USF payment system to include satellite-based providers, wireline/wireless service, VoIP and others. But it asked the Commission not to impose USF charges on Internet access connections, saying USF contributions will be collected from broadband VoIP providers using telephone numbers for voice services provided over Internet access connections.
If the FCC someday requires additional USF payments, the SIA suggested, it should base them not on revenue but on end user connections. “Customers will better understand per-connection charges, and will be treated equally based on the service they receive,” the SIA said, saying retail connection-based charges are more practical in a world where dedicated connections are bundled in packages with non-telecom services. SIA said it also wants a USF approach that bases contributions on connection speed -- with services slower than 5 Mbps paying the same as telephone number-based connections, and higher speed connections paying multiples of the telephone number fee, it said.
The SIA plea for a broadband-inclusive USF followed similar requests from the Hill. A USF reform bill by Reps. Terry (R-Neb.) and Boucher (D-Va.) -- released Nov .17 in discussion draft form -- would declare broadband a universal service and use USF support for build out. The bill would expand the USF base by requiring payments into the fund by service providers using telephone numbers or IP addresses to sell network connections. Boucher said he wants comments on the draft by Dec. 23 and plans to introduce a bill next year.
The Terry/Boucher bill defines broadband as anything with a download speed of at least 1 Mbps. Sellers of satellite broadband like Hughes Network Systems and WildBlue, which sell satellite broadband connections directly to residential users, both offer 1 Mbps links at their upper service tiers. But the 1 Mbps gateway speed isn’t fixed in the draft. The bill’s language gives the FCC leeway to waive the speed prerequisite for technical reasons, meaning all satellite broadband packages in theory could qualify for USF support if the fund is reformed to include broadband.
Meanwhile, iDirect Technologies said it’s teaming with Airspan to pair its VSAT routing system with Airspan’s Wi-Fi and WiMAX offerings. The firms said together they plan to deliver broadband IP to areas where terrestrial connections are unavailable. iDirect satellite routers can hit speeds of up to 18 Mbps and feed terrestrial wireless networks. The firm’s VSAT networking is the first such product to win USDA Rural Utility Service acceptance, an iDirect spokesman said. The spokesman said iDirect has similar broadband partnerships with wireless service providers Pronto and Terabeam.