The Alliance of Rural CMRS Carriers asked the FCC to impose an interim cap on per-line universal support for all incumbent local exchange carriers, freezing payouts at March 2008 or March 2010 levels. The filing came almost two years after the FCC imposed a cap on universal service payments to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs) in May 2008. Rural carriers lost a challenge to that order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The FCC is making “the hard decision” with the National Broadband Plan to shift universal service money toward broadband from current “less productive” uses, instead of creating a new fund at consumers’ expense as the industry would prefer, said Blair Levin, who runs the commission’s staff work on the plan. Most of the lines that don’t support broadband belong to AT&T, Qwest and Verizon, and under the high-cost USF system, “they have no incentive to upgrade,” he said late Wednesday at a Goldman Sachs conference.
The recording industry wants to protect children and parents from punitive infringement lawsuits, while the tech advocacy community wants to leave them vulnerable. That was a conclusion at the State of the Net conference in Washington Wednesday on a panel about graduated-response systems under development in the U.K. and France, and how they might face implementation problems under U.S. law. The Internet access cutoff protocol, known as “three strikes,” is a “far more effective and one might say kinder and gentler approach” than the end-user lawsuits the RIAA started wrapping up a year ago, said Shira Perlmutter, executive vice president of global legal policy for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Congress is watching the planned merger of Comcast and NBC Universal closely, and members are expected to weigh what it means to consumers and competitors, said Hill and industry figures. “This is one of the larger consolidations in the telecom/media space in history, and it is a matter of public interest, [and] it’s a matter of interest to those of us involved in telecommunications policy,” said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., in an interview. Boucher also outlined his legislative priorities for the new term, including work on a spectrum inventory, Internet privacy and the Universal Service Fund.
Financing broadband projects in rural America is a major challenge and lenders need a stable cost-recovery mechanism and help from the government to see that loans get repaid and networks are expanded, financial companies and organizations said in comments at the FCC. The comments were in response to the 28th public notice for the National Broadband Plan, on deployment financing. They were the last comments due at the commission on a notice for the plan.
Financing broadband projects in rural America is a major challenge and lenders need a stable cost-recovery mechanism and help from the government to see that loans get repaid and networks are expanded, financial companies and organizations said in comments at the FCC. The comments were in response to the 28th public notice for the National Broadband Plan, on deployment financing. They were the last comments due at the commission on a notice for the plan.
Spectrum audit legislation will be a high priority for the House and Senate Commerce Committees when Congress reconvenes next year, industry and Hill sources said. Work likely will start in the House Communications Subcommittee with markup of two bills that address the scope of a spectrum inventory (HR-3125), and strategy for relocating holders of federal agency spectrum, freeing it for commercial use (HR- 3019). The Senate Communications Subcommittee also has an audit bill (S-649). Negotiations are ongoing among congressional staff and the administration on a comprehensive approach, industry sources said. There’s strong bipartisan support for an inventory bill.
The FCC broadband team believes private investment is essential and competition drives innovation and better choices, said Blair Levin, the plan coordinator, at the commission’s meeting Wednesday. The U.S. must make better use of “existing assets” such as the Universal Service Fund, spectrum and rights of way, he said. Chairman Julius Genachowski agreed that USF and spectrum are critical areas and said the government can’t afford to put off a thorough USF overhaul much longer.
The FCC needs to make solving the digital divide a high priority for its broadband plan, Commissioner Michael Copps said at a Practising Law Institute conference Thursday. People are starting to realize that the broadband plan is not just “technospeak from broadband geeks” but can lead to policies that improve peoples’ lives, said Copps, who was introduced at the conference by Chairman Julius Genachowski. But if policymakers don’t get it right, the result could be “more and even wider divides in this country,” Copps said.
The Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FCC to remake the Universal Service Fund into a broadband fund, in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice #19, on USF and intercarrier compensation issues. Five mid- sized incumbent telcos offered a proposal for revamping both. Most filers agreed that USF and ICC overhauls should be included in the plan, due to be submitted to Congress in February. Many comments built on those filed in previous comment rounds.