Dust still hadn't settled Thursday in several outstanding races following the Tuesday midterm elections. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, had not yet conceded. Begich was down by more than three points in his re-election fight against Republican Dan Sullivan. Begich is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and has been active on rural broadband and USF issues. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is locked in tight race against Republican consultant Ed Gillespie that has not formally been called, although Warner has maintained a slight lead and is widely considered victorious. The California 17th District House race had also not yet been called. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., has led in the polls against Ro Khanna, also a Democrat and former deputy assistant secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama.
Status quo prevailed in 16 of the 17 state regulatory commission races where a winner was clear Wednesday. The Democrats gained one net seat after former New Mexico Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones defeated PRC Commissioner Ben Hall, a Republican, by 1,482 votes. The Republicans retained at least 13 seats they held before the election, while the Democrats retained their three seats. The results in one seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) remained unclear. A Republican is assured of winning the remaining Louisiana PSC seat following a Dec. 6 runoff because both of the candidates -- incumbent PSC Commissioner Eric Skrmetta and energy policy advocate Forest Wright -- are Republicans.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler likely faces more congressional oversight after Republicans won full control of Congress Tuesday. But it's unclear whether the new Congress will have much effect on FCC decision-making, especially on net neutrality, said Washington insiders, including former FCC officials. Industry officials have speculated Wheeler may seek a net neutrality vote on an order in December, before the new Congress is seated (see 1410270055).
Democrats lost control of the Senate and several seats in the House turned over to Republicans, while partisan issues such as net neutrality heat up and debate takes hold over overhauling the Communications Act. Democrats had enjoyed a Senate majority of 55-45, and Republicans gained more than the six seats necessary to seize the chamber, winning at least seven.
LECs that partner with over-the-top VoIP providers shouldn't be allowed to collect local end-office switched access charges, Verizon Assistant General Counsel-Federal and State Legal Affairs Curtis Groves and Executive Director-Federal Regulatory Affairs Alan Buzacott told aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai Oct. 30, said an ex parte filing in FCC docket 10-90. An order being circulated at the FCC would say LECs and VoIP providers are entitled to the access charges (see 1410280032), but Verizon argued neither LECs nor VoIP providers perform "the necessary switching, or controls the switching decisions, that route a VoIP call to (or from) the VoIP customer over the broadband line that connects to the end user’s premises.” Companies that provide “over-the-top VoIP services -- e.g., Skype and Vonage -- have not invested in facilities to serve the end user customers who initiate and receive voice calls. Neither have their LEC partners,” Verizon said. ISPs, not the LECs or VoIP providers, “own, control, or maintain the physical routers, lines, and other equipment that performs analogous switching functions,” Verizon said. Also representing Verizon was Kellogg Huber’s Scott Angstreich, said the filing. Level 3 “uses the exact same facilities to provide local switching for calls terminated to TDM loops, over cable VoIP facilities and over-the-top,” Harris Wiltshire’s John Nakahata, representing Level 3, wrote in a letter to the agency sent and posted on Monday. To allow the access charges terminated to TDM and cable VoIP facilities, but not over-the-top VoIP, “moves in exactly the wrong direction” from the agency’s USF overhaul order, he said.
Eighteen seats on 10 states’ public utilities commissions (PUCs) were up for election Tuesday. Industry observers said in recent interviews that the results of elections to the Montana Public Service Commission and Nebraska Public Service Commission are the ones that could have the most impact on telecom regulation. Two Montana PSC seats were up for a vote, and one Nebraska PSC seat was on the ballot.
NTCA rural telecom advocates took to Capitol Hill for scores of visits last week with congressional offices to outline priorities from USF to retransmission consent overhaul to call completion problems. NTCA held its first Telecom Executive Policy Summit (see 1410270035) and on Tuesday brought its members to Hill offices, which senior NTCA officials told us is one of the association’s most effective strategies.
A circulating FCC order would resolve a dispute arising from the USF/intercarrier compensation order by requiring long-distance providers to pay access charges to over-the-top VoIP providers, a commission official told us Tuesday. The order would determine that VoIP providers and carriers they partner with are entitled to the same compensation as others when they exchange voice traffic, the official said.
The FCC seems likely to increase the broadband speed requirement for getting Connect America Fund funding, and the agency could increase the amount of E-rate funding, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly predicted in a speech Monday at an NTCA event. O’Rielly also urged the organization to push for USF reform this year so the commission would be able to move on to other issues, like allowing rate-of-return carriers to get CAF support as they want, O’Rielly said. He pledged to “do what I can to push for rate-of-return reform” by summer and called it “a necessary part of meeting our obligation under the statute to ensure that all consumers have access to reasonably comparable services at reasonably comparable rates.”
Dozens of education groups, including local and state boards of educations, urged the FCC to increase E-rate funding, in an Oct. 16 letter (http://bit.ly/1vNh1xX) to commissioners, posted Tuesday in docket 13-184. “A sustainable, well-funded E-rate program is critical to ensuring educational opportunity and success for every student and library patron as we look to bolster the nation’s economic competitiveness,” the letter said. The groups said the “influx of learning devices in classrooms and libraries has increased demands on networks. Yesterday’s connectivity speeds simply do not meet the needs of today’s students and library patrons. Efficient and dynamic classrooms and libraries need high-speed connectivity, and they need additional E-rate support to deliver it. E-rate must possess sufficient resources to ensure that all students and patrons can gain access in schools and libraries to the high speed broadband they need to excel in school and beyond.” The letter was silent on how funding should be increased and whether the agency should expand the USF contribution base.