The FCC voted at its open meeting Fri. to reduce regulation of wireline broadband service by reclassifying it as an “information service,” in line with the FCC’s treatment of cable modem service. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the agency’s cable modem classification in the Brand X case, triggering action on the wireline companion piece which had been placed on hold during the litigation.

The FCC voted at its open meeting Fri. to reduce regulation of wireline Internet access service by reclassifying it as an “information service,” in line with the FCC’s treatment of cable modem service. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the agency’s cable modem classification in the Brand X case, triggering action on the wireline companion piece which had been placed on hold during the litigation. DSL is the most common wireline Internet access service.

Analysis of Sen. Ensign’s (R-Nev.) telecom bill (CD July 28 p1) is yielding a common refrain: It’s a good start, but the bill won’t pass as is because of controversial provisions affecting cable, CLECs and municipalities, according to interviews with analysts and lobbyists. Furthermore, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) is planning his own telecom bill, which he has said he'll unveil in the fall after dealing with DTV legislation. Senate sources said Stevens may gauge the response to the Ensign bill as he drafts his own legislation. Others are pessimistic that there will be time to write an omnibus bill.

A bipartisan coalition of rural lawmakers said the House should take the first crack at addressing problems with the Universal Service Fund (USF) in telecom rewrite legislation. The proposal came Tues. at a press conference announcing 9 principles to be included in a bill. Sixty members of the Rural Caucus sent a letter to House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) and Ranking Member Dingell (D-Mich.), outlining the principles, which include extending the base of contributors to USF to include “all providers of 2-way communications regardless of technology used to ensure competitive neutrality.”

When the USF was new, Franklin Roosevelt wasn’t halfway through his first term. Even so, the venerable program still has a startling capacity to make news.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va -- Comr. Abernathy called for a change in the Sunshine rules to let FCC commissioners meet in private as needed to get consensus on complex issues out of the public eye. Abernathy told the FCBA annual retreat held here Fri. and Sat. that 1970s-vintage rules work against development of policy on critical but complicated issues.

Rural telecom groups said Wed. they have “serious concerns” with recommendations for telecom reform by TeleConsensus, a new coalition. TeleConsensus -- which includes SBC, BellSouth, Verizon and NCTA -- was launched Tues. by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (CD April 13 p6). But the Independent Telephone & Telecom Assn. (ITTA), NTCA, OPASTCO and the Western Telecom Alliance (WTA) said they're concerned about the coalition’s “apparent failure to take into account the distinct needs of community-based providers.” For example, they said, a “consumer voucher system” to distribute USF funds that the coalition backs would be “administratively unworkable and ignores the fact that the single greatest hurdle to high-quality telecommunications service in rural America is high network costs.” They said the voucher system would “inhibit rural carriers’ network deployment ability because there would be no consistent, long-term support for that network infrastructure.” The rural groups complained that the coalition lacks community-based carriers, adding that the firms the group represents emphasize urban areas. “The coalition’s failure to take into account the rural perspective could harm high-tech investment and jobs in those areas and result in policy detrimental to rural consumers and the communities in which they live and work,” the rural groups said.

“There is a psychological barrier that has to be crossed” in regulating IP technologies like VoIP when they involve voice, FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Jeffrey Carlisle told VoIP-industry lawyers and govt. staffers. This barrier is making the states nervous as the FCC moves to regulate -- or deregulate -- in 2005, said Carlisle, who’s also chmn. of the FCC’s Internet Policy Working Group (IPWG). “It would be very nice if we could get away from the binary world of ‘It’s a telecommunications service,’ to ‘No, it’s an information service,'” he said, suggesting few regulatory restrictions may be recommended when the IPWG sends an order draft to commissioners in April or May: “We're not looking for things to regulate.” Carlisle said the FCC will move forward on clarification of interstate/intrastate and certain IT/telecom distinctions by spring, independent of the Brand X case, which won’t be decided until June -- though he said a slight delay on the final order could emerge from the court decision. Carlisle said USF and E-911 will be the big issues facing a “very tired” FCC which has dealt with 8 years of ironing out the 1996 Telecom Act; he suggested the FCC might be unwilling to make E-911 capability mandatory but said he understood the concerns of parents whose children “might have to call 911” on what appears to them to be a standard telephone.

“There is a psychological barrier that has to be crossed” in regulating IP technologies like VoIP when they involve voice, FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Jeffrey Carlisle told VoIP-industry lawyers and govt. staffers. This barrier is making the states nervous as the FCC moves to regulate -- or deregulate -- in 2005, said Carlisle, who’s also chmn. of the FCC’s Internet Policy Working Group (IPWG). “It would be very nice if we could get away from the binary world of ‘It’s a telecommunications service,’ to ‘No, it’s an information service,'” he said, suggesting few regulatory restrictions may be recommended when the IPWG sends an order draft to commissioners in April or May: “We're not looking for things to regulate.” Carlisle said the FCC will move forward on clarification of interstate/intrastate and certain IT/telecom distinctions by spring, independent of the Brand X case, which won’t be decided until June -- though he said a slight delay on the final order could emerge from the court decision. Carlisle said USF and E-911 will be the big issues facing a “very tired” FCC which has dealt with 8 years of ironing out the 1996 Telecom Act; he suggested the FCC might be unwilling to make E-911 capability mandatory but said he understood the concerns of parents whose children “might have to call 911” on what appears to them to be a standard telephone.

Divisions appear to growing rather than narrowing between the various sides, including small and large ILECs, wireless carriers and the states, as the FCC readies a proposed rulemaking on intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform for its Feb. 10 meeting. Sources told us that as of Fri. the commissioners were just starting to consider the rulemaking and accompanying orders to address associated wireless issues.