MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The FCC aims to adopt a universal service overhaul by August, Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “Over the next few months, we'll be able to significantly reform this program,” he said Thursday night at the Commonwealth Club civic forum. Genachowski mentioned the Universal Service Fund (USF) more than intercarrier compensation. But the matters are intertwined in a February rulemaking notice and a blog post last month by the commissioners that he discussed.

The FCC should allow an “appropriate transition” before implementing Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, Frontier Chief Legal Officer and former commissioner Kathleen Abernathy told staff in meetings earlier this week. “This transition would ensure stability during the reform and ensure that Frontier can continue investing hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve the Commission’s goal of deploying broadband to rural America,” Abernathy told Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s adviser Angela Kronenberg, according to an ex parte notice filed on dockets 09-51, 07-135 and others.

Landline services in Florida would no longer come under the state Public Service Commission’s authority if S-1524 becomes law. The bill reflects technological changes and has gained wide industry support, supporters said. But Florida regulators worry that the measure could prevent the state from meeting federal obligations.

Some claimed as inevitable a transition to broadband from public switched telephone networks, while others cautioned that IP-to-IP networks lack the economy and regulation that public switched telephone network (PSTN) has. The comments came at a Regulatory 2.0 Workshop hosted by Pillsbury Winthrop on Tuesday.

States have concerns about a revamp of the Universal Service Fund, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission member Larry Landis said Tuesday. The Republican supported the FCC’s undertaking a USF overhaul that could reallocate some money to broadband service. Some states are worried about how companies that rely on the high-cost part of the fund will be affected by a revamp, Landis said at an American Cable Association conference. Some providers get a large chunk of their revenue from that part of USF, he noted. “The one concern that would be shared by many of my colleagues” is that whenever intercarrier compensation and USF overhauls are done, “you are bound to have some unexpected challenges that come up,” Landis said.

Commissioner Michael Copps took aim at the FCC on media issues, adding to his previous calls for the agency to act on more issues in that area and to do so quickly. In a speech Saturday at the National Conference for Media Reform, and in an interview Monday with Communications Daily, he expressed disappointment the regulator hasn’t done more. Having acknowledged this will be his last year on the FCC (CD April 11 p6), Copps said his priority for the remainder of his tenure is for it to move ahead on “media reform."

The FCC has many tools at its disposal to tackle spectrum constraints, whether it’s improving spectrum efficiency or freeing up more spectrum, Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman said at the Wireless Communications Association conference. The commission is looking at spectrum sharing and harmonization opportunities, and is willing to work with industry to come up with a solution to better inform consumers on throughput, she said Wednesday. It takes time to bring spectrum to auction, so “we have to start now” to avoid a spectrum crunch that will result in poor quality of service for consumers, Milkman said.

USTelecom’s proposal on dealing with phantom traffic was backed by CenturyLink Vice President Melissa Newman and NTCA Vice President Michael Romano. “It’s a great starting point,” Newman said Wednesday at the FCC’s day-long workshop on intercarrier compensation overhaul. The plan would create per-minute benchmarks for calls to signal what some in the industry call phantom traffic. “It’s all about costs and volumes and the original premise of these tariffs in rural areas was based on low volumes,” Newman said: She hopes FCC officials realize that “there’s agreement on this panel."

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A dismal budget climate shouldn’t preclude support for broadband in tribal lands, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday. Inouye, the Appropriations Committee’s chairman, signaled that he would support increased FCC funding for that purpose. Advocates for Native American communities sought additional broadband funding, including through the Universal Service Fund and a new Native Nations Broadband Fund.