At our deadline, the House was expected to endorse a rule allowing a net neutrality amendment to the House video bill (HR-5252), which in turn was set for vote later Thurs. The amendment, by Rep. Markey (D-Mass.), would subject network operators to anti-bias rules and provide for expedited complaint review. It’s among 8 amendments the Rules Committee decided to accept late Wed. after a hearing on about 25 proposed changes to the bill.
At our deadline, the House was expected to endorse a rule allowing a net neutrality amendment to the House video bill (HR-5252), which in turn was set for vote later Thurs. The amendment, by Rep. Markey (D-Mass.), would subject network operators to anti-bias rules and provide for expedited complaint review. It’s among 8 amendments the Rules Committee decided to accept late Wed. after a hearing on about 25 proposed changes to the bill.
House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) will oppose efforts to exempt the E-rate program from Anti- Deficiency Act rules that require funding to be in hand before money can be spent, according to a Commerce Committee staffer. Barton and Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) brokered a deal last year that gave the program a one-year pass, but Barton is “inclined to let the ADA exemption expire,” the aide said.
Prospects are good for passage of a telecom bill the President can sign this Congress, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) told a Tues. National Journal breakfast. “Their bill is not all that far away from ours,” Upton said, referring to a Senate telecom bill introduced Mon. (WID May 2 p3). That bill, especially its franchise provision, offers a “hook” to get something into conference where the 2 can be reconciled, Upton said.
Prospects are good for passage of a telecom bill the President can sign this Congress, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) told a Tues. National Journal breakfast. “Their bill is not all that far away from ours,” Upton said, referring to a Senate telecom bill introduced Mon. (CD May 2 p1). That bill, especially its franchise provision, offers a “hook” to get something into conference where the 2 can be reconciled, Upton said.
The FCC shouldn’t apply new universal service definitions to rural telcos’ operations as a result of a proceeding involving the Bells and other “non-rural” telcos, rural telcos said. The issue came up in response to an FCC request for comments on how to respond to a remand by the 10th U.S. Appeals Court, Denver, in Qwest v. FCC. The court had questioned definitions the FCC planned to use to decide if the larger firms qualified for high-cost universal service support in some areas. The debate centers on how the FCC defines Telecom Act requirements that universal service support be “sufficient” and “reasonably comparable.”
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.
Broadband providers are growing increasingly concerned that FCC attention to protecting customer proprietary network information (CPNI) means a pending rulemaking probably will produce a requirement that they protect such data. Cramming, slamming and truth in billing also were raised in a notice of proposed rulemaking the FCC released in Sept.
Broadband providers are growing increasingly concerned that FCC attention to protecting customer proprietary network information (CPNI) means a pending rulemaking probably will produce a requirement that they protect such data. Cramming, slamming and truth in billing also were raised in a notice of proposed rulemaking the FCC released in Sept.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) should be tied to all forms of communication, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Tues. at a hearing on the fund’s contribution rules. “This technology is changing so fast” a law is needed that can work for some time, Stevens said. It doesn’t make sense for Congress to rewrite complex rules and then have to change them again because of technology changes. He said the Committee is determined to get a fair set of principles on “who pays in and who pays out” and to eradicate abuses in the program.