Globalstar and Telenor Satellite Services filed preimplementation reports with the FCC concerning their required 911 call centers. The FCC released an order in Aug. requiring the reports to ensure progress was made on the centers ahead of the Feb. 11 implementation deadline (CD Aug 26 p12). Globalstar said its consumers have had access to emergency call assistance since it began. Users in the U.S., Canada and other countries can dial the 3- digit emergency dialing codes typical for their area, including 911, 112, 113, 119 and variations on those numbers. Globalstar said callers are routed to a central call center -- where their information (satellite phone number, city, state and address) is recorded -- and then to a local public safety answering point (PSAP). Globalstar said calls are usually answered in 17 sec. Separately, Telenor said it’s still configuring its system, but the plan is to route calls to its 24-hour customer center in Rockville, Md. Customer care representatives (CCRs) already deal with “a range of emergency and other types of situations,” Telenor said, and they “have immediate access to a number of computer networks such as Inmarsat and Iridium databases as well as the Internet.” Telenor said it planed to subscribe to a PSAP database that its CCRs would have access to when needed. Users would need to dial only 91 to be routed to the customer care center where CCRs will ask for customer locations and then route the call to the correct PSAP. Telenor said it would notify its customers of the new service using inserts in monthly billing statements in Jan.

LAS VEGAS -- Whether VoIP’s success is due to “regulatory arbitrage” or “superior technology” remains a key question, according to state PUC commissioners speaking Tues. at the USTA convention here. Commissioners said improper regulation could increase regulatory arbitrage. Meanwhile, other speakers predicted state retail rate regulation would largely fade out by decade’s end.

It might make sense to have a separate universal service regime to encourage the buildout of broadband, but there would be litigation risk without congressional action, Mathew Brill, FCC Comr. Abernathy’s aide, said Sun. Speaking at the USTA conference, Brill said the Telecom Act’s Sec. 254 doesn’t target broadband services for universal service support. Sec. 706 of the Telecom Act encourages advanced services such as broadband, but if the FCC initiated a universal service regime under that section, the courts might view the action as setting up a “parallel universal service regime,” he said. A court could say the authority is in Sec. 254, so a parallel regime under Sec. 706 would create risk and uncertainty, Brill said. “We need to think not about universal service but universal access to networks,” said MCI Vp Richard Whitt. “We need to build out broadband platforms,” he said. “We need a separate fund to support broadband providers.” Trying to give Skye a universal service bill probably is impossible, so rather than concentrate on universal service, “the real issue is building actual networks,” he said. The industry needs to be more creative about how to support broadband, a task that perhaps could be dealt with in the Telecom Act rewrite, he said. Ken Pfister, vp of rural telco Great Plains Communications, said he agreed: “USF in an IP world needs to look entirely different.” Mont. PSC Chmn. Bob Rowe said regulators “have to figure out how to support networks” and not concentrate just on services, because without a network there can be no services. The problem is that the Telecom Act talks about supporting services not networks, said Brill. “It’s almost backward.” However, “any major shift in universal service will probably need Congress” to act, Brill said. Meanwhile, Mont. PSC Chmn. Bob Rowe asked whether providing universal service support to wireless companies based on their own costs -- rather than on the costs of the incumbent rural telco -- might be worth considering. Of all the carriers receiving some sort of universal service support, “wireless is the only one with no cost model, he said. Western Wireless Vp Gene DeJordy said it would be “misguided,” adding that depending on how you measure it, wireless carriers might have higher costs. At the very least, it would “be difficult from a practical standpoint” because it’s hard to measure those costs, Brill said. Pfister of Great Plains said a separate universal service fund for wireless makes sense. It would be better than “being at each others’ throats,” he said. Wireless carriers often are cited as responsible for the growth in the universal service fund, but payments to all segments have increased over the past 3 years, DeJordy said. The overall fund has increased $1.8 billion, with rural ILECs responsible for $650 million of the increase, the Schools & Libraries Fund growing by $780 million, Lifeline growing $180 million and competitive carriers such as rural wireless companies getting $225 million more, he said. Nonetheless, Brill said, a recent study showed “astronomical” growth in competitive carriers: “The amount of support appears to be doubling every 6 months or so.”

The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said Mon. that Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) had issued a hold on S-1250, E- 911 funding legislation sponsored by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) Last week, Senate sources said Sununu placed the hold because he thought the bill allocated too much money. Sununu has in the past said there were several federal programs from which public safety organizations could draw funding for E-911 enhancement and additional funding wasn’t needed. Congress recessed for the elections without approving the E-911 bill. Burns, who originally asked for $500 million in annual funding for E-911, is now asking that a $250 million version of his bill be considered. The version that passed the House (HR-2898) would designate $100 million be spent.

At our deadline, senators sought a compromise on E- 911 legislation. Senate sources said Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) had placed a hold on an E-911 bill set for Senate passage Fri. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R- Mont.) had won support for legislation that would devote $250 million to E-911 funding, a reduction from the $500 million he and Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) had pushed for in S- 1250, the sources. However, sources said Sununu thought that amount was still too high and wanted a figure closer to the $100 million per year in HR-2898, pushed by Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.).

The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) filed a request late Tues. for a declaratory ruling asking the FCC to revise its rules for the geographic area over which a carrier must provide set levels of 911 location accuracy. The request addresses issues APCO says were left unresolved in an April 2000 bulletin by the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. “We need clarification as to the area in which E911 accuracy is measured,” said Robert Gurss, APCO dir. of legal and govt. affairs. “If you measure that based on carriers’ service area you're going to have tremendous variations. We believe it needs to be structured as narrowly as possible.” Gurss added: “If we don’t resolve this issue everything we've done on E911 is potentially at risk.”

Cities clashed with the VoIP industry, urging the IRS in comments to apply the federal excise tax to VoIP services to ensure cities’ continued fiscal health. In almost identical comments, they said the cities’ utility users tax (UUT) was applied in the same way as the federal excise tax (FET). “Unless the IRS applies the FET to new broadband technologies that allow for communications with the general telephone public, the city and the IRS will experience a significant decline in existing telecommunication tax revenue as commercial and residential users migrate to this new technology,” said the Cal. towns of San Buenaventura, Sunnyvale, Gilroy, San Leandro, El Monte and Pasadena in separate comments. Berkeley and San Jose said there were “several hundred” licensed telephone companies in Cal. that collected and remitted over $500 million in UUT to Cal. public agencies. They said in many of the larger Cal. cities, the telecom UUT represented as much as 5% of the total tax revenue to those municipalities. For example, Berkeley said it received $5.9 million in annual telecom revenue -- 7.3% of its total tax revenue. San Jose said it received $20 million -- 3% of its total General Fund tax revenue. “Clearly, in these times of budgetary constraints, each local tax dollar is precious, since they are primarily devoted to such essential services as police, fire, street repair and libraries,” they said. The cities said the IRS should continue to focus on the nature of the service, rather than on the type of technology, protocol or transmission method used to provide it: “The threshold question should continue to be: ‘Does the new technology, transmission method or protocol permit the user to communicate with the general telephone public?’ If yes, then taxation follows.” The cities said VoIP was “imitating traditional telephone service, by giving the customer the same quality and ubiquity as traditional wireline voice telephone service.” They said for purposes of taxation, the IRS should focus on VoIP services that have “the typical attributes of traditional telephone service,” such as use of numbers from the N. American Numbering Plan, integration with PSTN vs. Private Line, and access to emergency 911 services. For example, it said VoIP services, such as AT&T’s CallVantage, Verizon’s VoiceWing and Vonage service were “comparable to traditional phone service and include many of the same features.” The cities also urged the IRS to clarify its rule on bundling. Meanwhile, NTCA continued to defend its longstanding position that imposing the federal excise tax on communications services was “regressive in nature,” but said: “Because the outright elimination of the tax is beyond the scope of the IRS’s authority… competitive neutrality demands that it be applied uniformly across the telecommunications industry.” NTCA said it was “unfair” that only consumers receiving traditional wireline and wireless service had to pay the federal tax: “This creates an unfair competitive advantage for those employing other technologies such as [VoIP] and cable modem services… Rural telephone companies cannot compete with providers who, for no other reason than regulatory disparity, are able to offer a competitive service for a cheaper price.”

Qwest in Colo. refiled its proposal for broad retail rate deregulation, as promised. The company seeks rate deregulation for all retail services except single-line residential basic exchange -- capped by state law -- Lifeline and certain public interest services such as 911. Qwest said the new proposal is identical to the one it filed in July: “We haven’t changed one word.” The carrier withdrew its July filing last month because of a dispute with the Colo. PUC over customer notification concerning the proposal. Qwest promised it would be back this month. The company timed its refiling so the required notice to customers can be an insert with regular monthly phone bills rather than a special mailing. As before, Qwest said it needed the retail pricing flexibility in order to meet an expanding array of landline, cable and wireless competitors. Consumer groups that opposed the previous Qwest filing on grounds competition wasn’t fully effective in Colo. are expected to weigh in against the refiled proposal. The PUC has 7 months to act.

NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said he was “optimistic” that Congress would pass legislation to create a spectrum relocation fund this year. Speaking to reporters after a speech to the FCBA Thurs., Gallagher wouldn’t say what legislative vehicle he thought would be used to attach the spectrum relocation bill. “There are a number of vehicles being examined” by Congress, he said: “I'm optimistic because this is one [bill] that enjoys very broad support, typically the type of thing that is resolved in the close of Congress as opposed to things that are clearly not right or more contentious.” During the speech, he said NTIA and the Administration generally support handling VoIP with a light regulatory touch “to make sure we're not hitting [a new] technology with 100 years of legacy regulation.” However, he said, IP-based providers “must shoulder responsibility” for some social policies such as 911 calling and law enforcement access. “It’s the expectation of the American people that when they dial 911 they want the call answered and [the person on the other end] to know where they are,” Gallagher said. VoIP might end up providing better 911 services, for example by transmitting additional information such the fact that the caller is a diabetic, Gallagher said. On providing access to law enforcement, Gallagher said it’s “the right policy to have in the Internet protocol space.” He said the Administration would work with industry “to make sure we do the right thing [but] absolutely something must be done.”

The Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) is completing its first detailed study of the causes of 911/E911 outages, NRIC officials said Thurs. But Comr. Copps opened a meeting of the advisory group at the FCC with a warning that the nation is still unprepared for future terrorist attacks.