Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

DirecTV, which wants FCC conditions on the sale of Adelphia, isn’t seeking cable ownership limits in the latest FCC rulemaking on horizontal and vertical caps. Other cable rivals, including Qwest, also said they don’t favor caps. Instead, they said they want a level playing field, as some Bells seek to compete head-to-head with cable in selling video services. Comcast, in comments similar to NCTA’s filing (CD Aug 10 p7), told the FCC limits aren’t needed to ensure competition. Yet if some media activists have their way, limits will be set.

BERKELEY, Cal. -- Comr. Adelstein characterized the FCC as “basically rewriting” the Telecom Act in 3 weeks with its DSL order. “There’s not much left of Title II after Friday,” he told the FCBA Seminar West here over the weekend, just after the FCC decision (CD Aug 8 p1).

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.

Universal service fund (USF) contributions would be applied to all 2-way voice services under a bill introduced late Fri., just before the summer congressional recess. Sponsored by Sens. Smith (R-Ore.), Dorgan (D- N.D.) and Pryor (D-Ark.) , the bill broadens the base of contributors and establishes a separate fund capped at $500 million a year to encourage broadband deployment in rural, “unserved” U.S. areas.

Cities oppose the Ensign telecom bill (CD July 28 p1) on grounds it would strip their control of local franchise pacts and their power to safeguard consumer rights, the National League of Cities (NLC) said in a statement Fri. “This bill takes away most controls and protections that local governments need to monitor and ensure that the communications industry is responsible and responsive to our citizens,” an NCL spokesman said. Cities decry the bill’s proposed cap on franchise fees. By designating the FCC as dispute arbiter, they said, the bill would force local govts. to travel to Washington. Other concerns include: (1) Municipalities couldn’t charge fees for construction permits to install or upgrade facilities. (2) There’s no rate regulation for phone or video service, so companies could undercut a competitor in one neighborhood while charging more in others. (3) Video providers would have to offer only 4 PEG channels. Local govt.’s sole regulatory role would be picking the PEG channels to be used. (4) Consumer protection rules would be at the federal level, enforced by state commissions. (5) Cities would have to use a public bidding process for projects, but if a public entity were picked, any private entity would have the right to use govt. facilities such as in-ground conduits or trenches. (6) Existing govt. projects would be grandfathered unless “substantially expanded.” NLC said it will meet with members of Congress to press its case. County officials also announced their strong opposition Fri. to the Ensign bill because it weakens the local and state govt. role in communications services. “It just doesn’t make sense to preempt effective local regulation. Local franchising works, and the Ensign approach won’t,” said Marilyn Praisner, technology chmn. of the National Assn. of Counties. The American Public Power Assn. said the bill would dissuade cities and towns from investing in broadband.

Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) weighed in on an FCC proposal to preempt state-specific truth-in-billing rules. MSV agreed with wireless and wireline carriers, who say a patchwork of conflicting state rules hobbles nationwide customer service. The Commission’s 2005 Truth-in-Billing Order extended wireline truth-in-billing rules to Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers, including Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) providers like MSV. MSV said it backs the Commission proposal to preempt state-specific truth-in-billing rules because “subjecting CMRS carriers to fifty disparate state regulatory schemes would be unduly burdensome, and would conflict with the federal government’s exclusive jurisdiction over interstate communications.” Further, MSV said, restructuring truth-in-billing requirements to apply state-specific regulations would raise carrier costs and customer rates. CMRS carriers generally have structured their offerings on a nationwide basis, without regard to state borders, MSV said. Compliance with state-specific truth-in-billing regulations would force CMRS carriers to: (1) Identify which communications are purely intrastate, and (2) let those communications be regulated without interfering with any interstate communications or other intrastate communications. MSV said it’s impossible to decide if an MSS call is purely intrastate or not. MSV uses 2 satellites to provide its service, each of which uses 5 slightly overlapping satellite beams across the N. American region. MSV said while it can tell which beam is being used for a particular call, each beam covers thousands of square miles, making it impossible to pinpoint a user’s exact location.

AUSTIN, Tex. -- NARUC adopted resolutions Wed. that call for careful federal review of pending telecom mega- mergers, and suggest a general extension or carrier- specific waivers of a year-end FCC deadline for full implementation of handset-based wireless E-911. However, because of a technicality they voted against a proposal that would have urged states and the FCC to consider naked DSL as a pro-competition tool when reviewing mergers or generally making regulations. The measures, approved by NARUC committees earlier this week, were approved by NARUC’s board Wed. as official NARUC policy.

TMI/TerreStar and ICO again asked the FCC to redistribute abandoned 2 GHz spectrum between them, citing rural broadband access and public safety needs in comments filed Mon. With the additional spectrum, the companies said, they could offer broadband and basic telephone services to all areas of the country, no matter how remote, furthering the federal govt.’s goal of universal broadband access by 2007. TMI/TerreStar said, if granted the extra spectrum, they could compete more effectively with other satellite service providers, the Broadband Radio Service and the nationwide cellular/SMR/PCS providers. Further, they said, they could provide emergency responders and homeland security end-users “seamless communications using the same low-cost, broadband-capable devices in any emergency anywhere in the country.” Citing 9/11 and the Asian tsunami, ICO said: “Time and again, MSS has proven to be the only effective means of communications at times and in locations where terrestrial wireline and wireless systems have failed.” But without the spectrum, both MSS operators said, their service offerings could be constrained. On the financial end, TMI/TerreStar asked for a prompt redistribution to foster investment in the new MSS services. Both noted they have less spectrum than other MSS licensees, like Globalstar, MSV and Inmarsat. But MSS competitor Inmarsat again lobbied the Commission to license at least 3 MSS providers in the band. Inmarsat said, with entry into the 2 GHz band, it “stands ready to deploy an expansion MSS system that will provide much-needed broadband service to all of the U.S. by the end of the decade.” Replying to wireless bids for the spectrum, TMI/TerreStar said there is “a wealth of evidence” that terrestrial wireless has ample spectrum to meet its needs for the foreseeable future. Intel urged the FCC to allocate all 24 MHz of the returned 2 GHz spectrum for “flexible, fixed and mobile terrestrial use.” It estimated an auction of the 24 MHz of spectrum for terrestrial services would bring bids of over $9 billion: “This high valuation reflects the exploding consumer demand for terrestrial wireless services, and contrasts sharply with the MSS industry’s struggle for financial viability.” Intel also urged allocating all 24 MHz, not 13 MHz, of the returned spectrum for terrestrial use, saying that would provide “substantial cost savings” and “greater benefits” for wireless carriers. Intel also said maintaining only 2 MSS licensees in the 2 GHz band would suffice to keep them from gaining market power in provision of mobile voice service or broadband wireless services because of strong competition from MSS licensees in other bands and from terrestrial wireless and wireline carriers, it said. Separately, the CTIA said both wireless and satellite commenters “overwhelmingly rejected” the FCC’s proposal to give the abandoned spectrum to ICO and TMI. Neither TMI or ICO has shown a need for additional spectrum, “let alone for their planned satellite service offerings,” the group said. Pointing to the “significant interest in the 2 GHz spectrum at issue” from various segments of the communications industry, including CMRS and SDARS, the CTIA urged the FCC to “evaluate the best use of all the surrendered spectrum -- all 24 MHz -- in a single rulemaking proceeding… Where additional spectrum is to be used for terrestrial mobile service, the Commission should not classify it as auction-exempt satellite spectrum but should reallocate it and auction it for the benefit of the public.” Cingular echoed the CTIA comments, saying TMI and ICO are “years away from commencing operations and therefore have no immediate spectrum needs.” -AK, SP

The FCC said it set up a task force with NARUC to “facilitate timely and effective enforcement of the Commission’s VoIP E911 rules.” The task force, with staff from the FCC and state PUCs, will work closely with public safety representatives including APCO and NENA, it said. “The federal and state Task Force members will look at developing educational materials to ensure that consumers understand their rights and the requirements of the FCC’s VoIP E911 order and rules and how best to expedite compliance and facilitate enforcement, where necessary,” the FCC said: “The Task Force will also compile data and share best practices.” Task force members will be named soon.

Data security, U.S., technology developments and telecom policy and Internet governance were key topics for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) working Washington this week. Traversing Capitol Hill and federal agencies, delegates spent 3 days gabbing with a parade of political power brokers -- sometimes seeing eye-to-eye, sometimes befuddled by the U.S. system -- but always stressing the need for more U.S.-Europe collaboration on communications issues.