The telecom industry was sharply divided on AT&T’s petition to eliminate legacy interconnection rules, as the U.S. telecom infrastructure moves toward all-Internet Protocol services. ILEC comments supported the petition, which would start with deregulatory “experiments” in various wire centers to gauge the technological and competitive effects of eliminating several ILEC obligations. Carriers and cable companies cautioned against eliminating interconnection requirements in the Telecom Act that they say protect consumers and competitors. The CLECs were split on a competing proposal by NTCA, which seeks an omnibus proceeding the association said would retain consumer-friendly regulations and incentivize IP interconnection. State associations and commissions worried about ensuring consumer protections as well as maintaining their own authority. Public interest groups were wary of AT&T’s petition, but several minority groups encouraged the idea of limited deregulatory trials to determine the effect on minority customers.
The National Broadband Map, riding on hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and a month shy of two years old, still struggles with the occasional inaccuracy, some contractors who helped assemble it told us. Many stakeholders said the process is becoming more accurate. They said accuracy will become more significant as the FCC ties large USF subsidies to the map’s data. NTIA and the FCC collaboratively run the map, which launched in February 2011 and is updated every six months, said its description (http://xrl.us/bn8xc6).
LAS VEGAS -- USTelecom President Walter McCormick said a quick tour of the massive floor at the Consumer Electronics Show will demonstrate to anyone who pays attention why the FCC should act on the group’s December petition for declaratory ruling asking the agency to determine that ILECs should no longer be considered dominant in providing switched access services. Others on a panel chaired by McCormick expressed hope that the FCC’s Technology Transitions Policy Task Force will mean the FCC becomes better able to keep up with the speed of technological change.
As 2012 draws to a close, federal agencies were preparing to dramatically reduce their expenses, a spokesman for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said last week while lawmakers and the White House struggled to avoid a Wednesday funding sequester deadline. The Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management told federal union groups Friday that “while they are still hopeful that a deal can be reached ... they are taking prudent action so agencies can be prepared for this contingency,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement. NTEU represents FCC and Commerce Department employees, among others. Spokespeople for OMB, FCC, FTC, NTIA, departments of Justice and Homeland Security, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and RUS did not comment.
As 2012 draws to a close, federal agencies were preparing to dramatically reduce their expenses, a spokesman for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said last week while lawmakers and the White House struggled to avoid a Wednesday funding sequester deadline. The Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management told federal union groups Friday that “while they are still hopeful that a deal can be reached ... they are taking prudent action so agencies can be prepared for this contingency,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley in a statement. NTEU represents FCC and Commerce Department employees, among others. Spokespeople for OMB, FCC, FTC, NTIA, departments of Justice and Homeland Security and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office did not comment.
The FCC mass-media agenda may be light in 2013, compared with work on USF and spectrum issues that will take up much of the eighth floor’s and many bureaus’ and offices’ attention, commission and industry officials predicted in interviews last week. They said Media Bureau staff may find the new year sharpens their focus on spectrum, with Chairman Julius Genachowski hoping to finish an order for the voluntary incentive auction by the end of next year. He would need rules for how to change the channels of stations that don’t agree to sell all or some of their frequencies.
Oct. 29 FCBA Intellectual Property Committee brown bag lunch on Internet Radio Fairness Act, 12:15 p.m., Wilkinson Barker, 2300 N St. NW, Suite 7 -- http://xrl.us/bimfn6
LAS VEGAS -- Competitive Carriers Association officials warn that unless the FCC approves a mandate requiring that all devices built for lower 700 MHz spectrum work across the band, CCA members are unlikely to make much of a play in the upcoming incentive auction of broadcast spectrum. CCA officials cite what they say is a statistic that shows why an interoperability mandate is critical -- members of the group invested some $2 billion in the 700 MHz auction and most to date have been unable to roll out service.
The FCC’s budget for salaries and expenses would be cut 8.2 percent, equal to roughly $28 million, if a Congress doesn’t act to stop sequestration before Jan. 2, the White House said. The news came in the administration’s much anticipated sequestration report Friday, which detailed sharp across-the-board cuts to the budgets of most federal agencies. An industry group and a union representing FCC employees said the report shows the negative impact that sequestration will have on federal employees, private industry and the economy as a whole.
Higher education is ready to work with the commission on a connections-based contribution system, or an adjusted revenues-based system, the nonprofit association Educause told FCC officials (http://xrl.us/bnodj9). Under a numbers-based regime, higher education would pay up to 20 times more in USF fees than under the current revenues-based system, Educause said. Without end-users from whom to recover these additional fees, the added funds would ultimately have to come from staff salaries, and reduced student services, the group said.