LAS VEGAS -- Congress will “push” this year to “get more certainty” in the DTV transition and the turn-off of analog broadcast signals, predicted Pete Filon, minority counsel of the House Commerce Committee. Speaking here at the CES, he said Congress will consider subsidizing converter boxes to display DTV on analog sets.

The Mich. PSC approved a one-year rate deregulation trial for SBC. The PSC granted retail business rate deregulation for SBC in Detroit, Royal Oak and Southfield. PSC Chmn. Peter Lark said SBC (Case U-14323) met the legal tests for deregulation but said the move was a trial that will be reviewed in Dec. to see whether the deregulation should be permanent. He said that there are multiple competitive providers in these markets, so he expects to see businesses able to negotiate better prices and packages for their telecom needs. “We are taking a measured approach in determining whether a competitive telecommunications market exists in the most populated areas of Michigan and will vigorously monitor the situation,” Lark said. “We will carefully watch what happens during the next year with local exchange service before we make that declaration permanent, and will ensure that needed safeguards, such as 911, are in place to protect Michigan telephone customers.” The PSC ordered SBC and affected CLECs to submit confidential quarterly reports on line counts and other competitive data that the PSC normally collects annually. SBC in Oct. had proposed residential and business retail rate deregulation throughout the southern 2/3 of Lower Mich. but the PSC wasn’t prepared to go that far. The PSC also agreed to open a new proceeding (Case U-14324) to consider retail residential and business rate deregulation for the entire Detroit metro area plus Lansing and Grand Rapids. The prehearing conference in this docket will be Jan. 13.

Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) signed a 2004 bill allowing 911 service districts to implement “reverse 911” systems that allow emergency responders to call phone customers in specific areas to warn them of imminent danger or hazardous emergency situations. The new law (SB-1267), passed in the final days of the 2004 legislative session, requires that landline telecom service providers supply address and phone number information for reverse 911 upon official request. Wireless carriers are exempt from this requirement. Carriers can charge a reasonable fee for the service. The information can be used only for reverse 911 purposes, and violations of privacy would be a civil misdemeanor. It also establishes a dispute resolution mechanism through the PSC.

LAS VEGAS -- VoIP executives said Wed. they don’t tremble at the prospect of cable operators offering their own VoIP services. Speaking at the Pulver.com summit that opened the Consumer Electronics Show here, the officials said they view VoIP as offering advantages over wireless phones, which they said are unlikely to become the complete substitute for the public switched telephone network, given quality of service and other issues.

Minn. regulators followed their Cal. counterparts in seeking to overturn the Nov. FCC ruling that denied state regulators any jurisdiction over the VoIP services of Vonage and other providers. The Minn. PUC, which filed its appeal in the 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, is the 2nd state to challenge the FCC ruling. The Cal. PUC filed an appeal last month in the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco. Like Cal., Minn. alleges the FCC overreached its authority in preempting state regulation of VoIP services. Burl Haar, Minn. PUC exec. secy., said the PUC acted out of concern about whether VoIP providers like Vonage can be required to help support public interest services like 911. Minn. tried to impose telecom regulation on Vonage, but its regulations were struck down last year in federal district court. Minn. and other states have expressed fears that a shift of calls from traditional telephone networks to unregulated and untaxed VoIP systems will erode the revenue base that supports public policy goals like universal service. Incumbent telcos have called for imposing on VoIP providers the same public interest obligations they must carry. The FCC, however, agreed with VoIP providers that a very light regulatory hand is needed while the nascent VoIP industry is still developing.

The last 3 towns in La. lacking telephone service of any kind will finally be joining the connected world. The northern La. villages of Mink, Shaw and Black Hawk will finally get dial tone this spring, following more than a year of effort by the La. PSC. The town of Mink will be getting landline service from BellSouth, while Shaw and Black Hawk will be getting cellular service because their geography made landline service impractical. The extension of service will cost about $46,000 per customer, most of which is expected to come from the state universal service fund. PSC Comr. Foster Campbell noted people made do with makeshift radiotelephone relay arrangements that were unreliable and incapable of supporting 911 or modern data communications. The villages somehow fell between the cracks as the phone network expanded. In recent weeks, the plight of these phoneless citizens began attracting regional and national media attention even as the PSC was working with telecom carriers to bring telephone service to them.

With the incoming 109th Congress expected to pass telecom reform legislation, wireline and wireless lobbyists see issues of state jurisdiction playing a role in the debate. Edward Merlis, USTA senior vp-govt. and regulatory issues, said state jurisdictional concerns are one reason he believes Congress, not the FCC, is the only body able to make the needed changes to the telecom regulatory regime. Bobby Franklin, CTIA vp-govt. affairs, said the issues raised in the VoIP debate during the last Congress are likely to be raised in other telecom contexts next year, including wireless.

Competitive ISPs and VoIP providers spoke with one voice, urging the FCC to deny a BellSouth petition seeking forbearance from application of Computer Inquiry and Title II common carrier requirements to the transport component of its broadband services. They said the market for underlying broadband transmission services wasn’t competitive, contrary to the BellSouth claims. They said ILECs retained significant market power in the wholesale telecom services broadband market, and competitive carriers had to acquire such services from them.

Qwest’s Colo. proposed settlement on unfiled agreements should be rejected, said a PUC administrative law judge. ALJ William Fritzel also said Qwest should be required to show cause why it shouldn’t be compelled to compensate CLECs harmed by the telco’s off-the-record interconnection dealmaking. The complaints (Case 02-I- 572T) alleged Qwest made at least 72 preferential agreements with CLECs in 2002 and earlier that were never filed with the PUC as required by state and federal law. Qwest and the Colo. Office of Consumer Counsel in April made a deal in which Qwest would pay $7.5 million in penalties that would be used to expand Lifeline enrollment and improve 911 systems. But the ALJ said the proposal didn’t address the alleged harm to CLECs that weren’t parties to the unfiled agreements. He also said the proposal was a deal made between only 2 of the affected parties and didn’t represent a truly global settlement.

As state lawmakers in Ind. and Utah confront telecom deregulation bills for 2005, a new study by the Progress & Freedom Foundations says regulatory approaches used in most states “are no longer sustainable” and should be replaced with systems that allow market forces the freedom to work. The report by PFF Pres. Ray Gifford and Research Fellow Adam Peters urges state legislatures to move away from regimes that require govt. permission to enter and exit markets or to change prices and services.