The Senate Commerce Committee approved several pieces of legislation Thurs. -- including VoIP, satellite home viewer improvement act (SHVIA), low power FM radio, junk fax and reauthorization of the Corp. for Public Bcstg. (CPB) -- but fighting over an FTC nominee brought an abrupt end to the markup, which could have prevented some amendments from being introduced. Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) infuriated Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) by invoking the “2-hour rule” which prevents committee meetings from lasting more than 2 hours when the Senate is in session. Wyden was battling McCain on procedures concerning Deborah Majoras, the nominee for FTC Chmn. Wyden opposed the nomination over disagreements with FTC action on gasoline prices. Sources said potential amendments to junk fax and CPB legislation couldn’t be offered after Wyden’s procedural move. The Committee had approved the 2 bills under unanimous consent with the understanding they could be amended later in the markup.

SAN FRANCISCO -- VoIP could drain Cal.’s universal service coffers of $400 million in 2008 as it grabs 43% of the state’s voice business, predicted the staff of the state PUC. The so-called High Cost Funds A & B -- to promote service in high-cost areas through subsidies to SBC, Verizon and 17 small companies -- are expected to lose $114-$253 million, said Jack Leutza, the PUC’s Telecom Div. dir. The Universal Lifeline Fund, providing subsidies to low-income users, is seen losing $48-$107 million, the Deaf & Disabled Communications Fund $13-30 million and the Cal. Teleconnect Fund for school, library and rural medical and community- based organizations $8-$17 million, he said on a Tues. night VoIP panel here organized by Women in Telecom.

Motorola and Nextel jointly reported late Tues. a software glitch that has compromised GPS services for Motorola’s i205, i305, i530, i710, i730, i733, i736 and i830 iDEN phones. “Engineers from Motorola and Nextel are working to determine the root cause and design a permanent fix to remedy the situation,” the companies said. Nextel said the phones still provide some location information for those making 911 calls -- specifically callback number and nearest cell site, but not the detailed information required for E- 911 Phase II.

The U.S. Dist. Court, N.Y., granted a motion for preliminary injunction filed by Vonage against the N.Y. PSC, after the Commission found Vonage was a telecom service provider subject to its jurisdiction. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton said Vonage was “likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that the PSC order is preempted by federal law.” It said the PSC order “will interfere with interstate commerce” and the company “will suffer irreparable harm absent injunctive relief.” Telecom attorney William Wilhelm said those 2 conclusions were particularly important, because “Judge Eaton chose to find that Vonage was likely to succeed on the merits, not only by citing the Minnesota federal court order holding that Vonage was an information service, but also by finding that regulation of the Vonage service would interfere with interstate commerce.” The court said Vonage agreed to continue while the preliminary injunction was in force to provide emergency 911 service in N.Y. and would “engage in voluntary industry-wide discussions concerning 911.” It said the order didn’t preclude the PSC from receiving complaints from Vonage customers and offering to provide nonbinding mediation of disputes, but noted Vonage didn’t accept PSC jurisdiction over complaints. It said “Vonage will not, by virtue of its voluntary cooperation with the PSC during the pendency of the preliminary injunction, be subject to, or be considered to have conceded the application to it of, any New York laws, regulations or rules applicable to telephone corporations.” The court said the FCC’s guidance on the issues discussed in its IP Rulemaking and in Vonage’s petition seeking the preemption of Minn.’s attempt to regulate it (CD Sept 26 p9) “may aid in final resolution of this matter.” It scheduled a status conference Dec. 13 to discuss the progress of the FCC proceedings and of “any rulings or resolutions issued by the FCC or other courts that are pertinent to this matter.”

The Cal. PUC directed all wireline and wireless carriers in the Beverly Hills 310 and San Bernardino 909 area codes to surrender phone number blocks beyond those needed for their 6-month inventory, to maintain their service footprint, or for 911 and other special local routing purposes. The PUC (Case R 95-04-043) said surplus blocks that are less than 25% used must be returned to the number pool by Aug. 15. The PUC said carriers who can prove the return order will leave them with less than a 6-month supply of numbers can request an exemption. In a related case (I-95-04-044), PUC also called for comments by July 30 on whether it needs to promulgate number inventory guidelines for determining a 6-month number supply.

The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) announced a “call to action” on VoIP enhanced E-911, urging those in public safety communications to contact legislators and press for tighter regulation on safety issues. In April, Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) introduced legislation (HR-4129/S-2281) for regulating VoIP, but the bicameral bill only provides for a voluntary E-911 standard (WID May 21 p3). APCO said it fears an absence of regulation would let VoIP providers choose not to have traditional 911 services. An APCO spokeswoman said of the bills, “We're not thinking they're going to go anywhere” but she also highlighted APCO’s lobbying position vs. telecom companies: “It’s us against major corporations right now.”

STANFORD, Cal. -- FCC Chmn. Powell held out hope Congress would take VoIP decisions away from the Commission before recessing this summer. In a Q-&-A at the end of an appearance here Tues. night at AO2004: The Innovation Summit, Powell was asked when the questions of CALEA and 911 obligations on VoIP would be clarified. He emphasized that congressional bills reflect a “growing legislative debate” over VoIP policy “that’s real and alive.” AO2004 derives from the name of conference organizer AlwaysOn Network, which hosts Powell’s new Web log.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Closing speakers at the NARUC summer meeting here said VoIP, broadband over power lines (BPL) and other promising new telecom technologies and applications will face major development hurdles until federal and state regulators sort out their oversight roles. All major telecom resolutions were unanimously approved by the NARUC board during the convention.

Allowing broadband network owners to discriminate in providing access to their networks “represents a dramatic change” that would severely limit the growth of the Internet and IP services, according to a white paper by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). The CFA said it will file the 110-page paper in nearly a dozen FCC and court proceedings, which it said “will define the architecture of the telecommunications network in the 21st century.” CFA defended the open architecture and open access principles in the FCC’s Computer Inquiries the past 3 decades, saying “policy-makers in the U.S. seem to have lost their appreciation for the fundamental importance… of open architecture.” CFA Dir.-Research Mark Cooper said “the Commission is trying to reverse this remarkably successful policy” of open access. “The steadfast refusal of telephone companies and cable operators to negotiate commercial access to their broadband networks, on terms that treat unaffiliated Internet service providers reasonably, makes it clear that the public interest can be promoted only by requiring facility owners to operate open communications networks,” he said. But the CFA said the “fundamental policy decisions are still up in the air” in a series of pending FCC decisions, including inquiries into high-speed cable Internet access, DSL high-speed access and universal service requirements, unbundling proceedings, broadband over power line and wireless broadband. It said the issue also is still in the courts in cases like Brand X. In the paper, the CFA said open networks “support rapid and efficient technological innovation,” as well as such benefits as interconnectivity, new services and lower costs. The paper also said the FCC can’t forebear regulating VoIP including on issues such as E- 911.

The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) endorsed the Cingular-AT&T Wireless (AWS) merger in a filing at the FCC. “We are pleased that Cingular and AWS continue to make progress in their E911 deployment,” NENA said. “Through FCC compliance efforts, Cingular and AWS have adhered to existing consent decrees governing E911 Phase I and Phase II obligations… We believe that capabilities of each company to implement and improve 911 services will be strengthened by their merger.”