Speakers strongly disagreed over whether the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires a rewrite or, as some preferred to say, an update. Representatives from the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and Computer & Communications Industry disputed the idea that any real overhaul is necessary, while an analyst from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation insisted a full rewrite is warranted.
The Competitive Carriers Association lauded Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., for their call for revamped Mobility Fund rules. “I couldn’t agree more that consumers in rural areas deserve the same access to high speed mobile broadband as their urban counterparts,” said President Steve Berry in a statement (http://bit.ly/1nmiYj0) about a letter the lawmakers sent Tuesday to the FCC. “The job of building mobile coverage in rural America is not yet done. I cannot stress enough the importance of Universal Service Fund (USF) support for competitive carriers maintaining and expanding their coverage areas, especially smaller carriers with limited resources in a challenging competitive and economic environment.” As the FCC looks at its Mobility Fund rules, it should "continue to work to fulfill the obligations required in Section 254 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act in order to deliver a 21st century rural wireless infrastructure that allows our communities to take advantage of the endless opportunities within a mobile society," Latta and Welch said in their letter. They cautioned against "scattered or inconsistent" wireless service for rural consumers. The FCC should “recognize the numerous benefits of mobile broadband services” and “ensure that all consumers -- whether urban, suburban or rural -- have the opportunity to access high speed data and voice coverage,” Berry said.
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., laid out her technology vision Thursday. “To stay ahead of the curve, I've developed several principles that can help our country maintain its high tech edge -- a proposal called, ‘A Fresh Technology Agenda for Growth, Innovation, and Opportunity,'” Fischer said in an op-ed for The Hill (http://bit.ly/1ycZKjS). “It’s an effort to spur a real debate about the best federal policies to empower creators and consumers.” She posted a seven-page agenda on her website and attacked the FCC for certain policies. The FCC “sends businesses the wrong signals, meddles in local affairs, and fails to prioritize how best to improve rural citizens’ access to modern networks,” said Fischer (http://1.usa.gov/1oVb4bZ), slamming FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for proposing to pre-empt state laws restricting municipal broadband networks. Fischer’s document called for upping the focus on rural call completion problems and overhauling USF rules “so that providers have more of an incentive to bring broadband Internet service to consumers.” Her manifesto urged regulatory humility and attacked the FCC for its now-abandoned Critical Information Needs study: “I led the effort in the U.S. Senate to defeat this terrible proposal,” she said. She attacked FCC consideration of Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband and the FTC for its “unwarranted investigations and aggressive regulatory treatment toward American technology companies.” Fischer, a member of the Commerce Committee, is meeting with Silicon Valley tech companies, such as Apple, Facebook and Google, said her office. “A Communications Act reform would be one venue to push some proposals, although it may not be the best fit for all the reforms that Senator Fischer is proposing,” a Fischer spokesman told us. “While it remains to be seen just how some of these reforms would advance, Senator Fischer is happy that more in Congress are prepared to have the discussion.” Her spokesman said Capitol Hill’s “appetite for addressing needed changes to telecom policy” is “encouraging.” In the op-ed, Fischer dismissed Washington as “way behind” in its regulation of health IT “with old rules that predate the VCR,” and said “Congress must modernize outdated federal regulations,” pointing out concerns about how Food and Drug Administration rules affect mobile health applications. She touted efforts to require the FCC “to be more responsive to all individuals who apply for a new technology or license” and her backing of the E-Label Act.
The FCC has been implementing recommendations from its report on process reform to reduce the number of pending items and move incoming items through the FCC system faster, said Diane Cornell, special counsel to the Chairman’s Office, in a blog post Thursday (http://fcc.us/1oVdirW). Efforts to streamline processing have led the Enforcement Bureau to “largely complete” its review of pending complaints, which in turn led to the Media Bureau granting “almost 700 license renewals this week,” Cornell said. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has closed more than 760 dockets and sought comment on another 750 dockets that could be eligible for closing by the end of 2014, Cornell said. Between May and September 2014, the Wireless Bureau resolved 2,046 applications older than 6 months, creating a 26 percent reduction in its applications backlog, Cornell said. The process improvements responsible for the enhanced efficiency include the FCC’s consent agenda, Bureau specific backlog reduction plans and best practices, said Cornell. These have led to the Media Bureau issuing effective competition rulings in omnibus form, the International Bureau eliminating the effective competitive opportunities test for submarine cable landing licenses and 214 applications, and the Wireline Bureau streamlining USF appeals, the report said. Further process reforms will come in the months ahead, and will be accompanied by periodic updates, Cornell said.
House staffers kicked off the planned internal bipartisan briefings on overhauling the Communications Act, as expected (CD Oct 2 p6). Republicans on the House Commerce Committee announced plans to overhaul the act in December, but Republicans and Democrats had not communicated about the initiative until now.
USTelecom petitioned the FCC to give ILECs a break on various legacy rules so they can concentrate on the buildout of fiber and modern communications networks. The Monday petition has a list of rules for which it seeks commission forbearance.
Education and library groups battled in E-rate modernization replies filed at Tuesday’s deadline over increasing funding for the program. The FCC “continues to lack sufficient baseline data to determine the ‘high-capacity connectivity'” needed to make decisions on future E-rate funding, so it’s “premature” for the commission to consider increasing funding, said the American Cable Association (http://bit.ly/1pGbkL3), echoing comments telcos made earlier (CD Sept 18 p11). More data would only back up the need for more funding, emailed American Association of School Administrators (AASA) Associate Executive Director Noelle Ellerson. Arguing the FCC isn’t able to increase funding without more data is “short-sighted, ill-willed, and certain to not only undermine the long-term success and sustainability of the E-rate program but to also threaten the continued persistence of the connectivity gap if not further exacerbate it,” Ellerson said. “In a time when almost every single classroom and the majority of libraries in the nation have lower speed internet access than the average American home while serving multiple times more users per day, it is time to ensure that our libraries and schools are connected with the quality of connectivity that is sufficient and scalable for today’s ever-growing connectivity needs,” said a joint letter from more than 30 companies and groups, including AASA and the National Education Association. The commission should ensure there’s sufficient funding for low-income schools and libraries to have adequate broadband and Wi-Fi connections, said minority groups including the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the NAACP and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (http://bit.ly/1rGyuoB). But an increase shouldn’t hit consumers or pull money from other USF programs like Lifeline, and distinctions should be removed between funding broadband connections to schools and libraries, and Wi-Fi within the facilities, the groups said. Echoing Chairman Tom Wheeler’s call for closing the connectivity gap facing rural schools and libraries, the American Library Association (ALA) said (http://bit.ly/1E0H4VL) “over half of all libraries report speeds of 10 Mbps or less -- for rural libraries this increases to about 70 percent.” ALA also called for more funding.
Since House Republicans said in December they plan to overhaul the 1996 Telecom Act, there has been limited Commerce Committee leadership outreach to House Democrats and committee Republicans, said lawmakers and Capitol Hill staffers. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., hasn’t yet sought out his Democratic counterpart. Republicans said the minimal outreach is by design, with substantial dialogue expected to kick off soon.
The House Commerce Committee received 50 responses to its white paper on USF policy, the committee revealed Thursday, posting all comments online (http://1.usa.gov/1lBg6gN). It had issued the white paper in August as part of the Communications Subcommittee initiative to overhaul the Communications Act, and responses were due Sept. 19. It was the fifth white paper on aspects of the overhaul issued this year. Respondents include major companies such as AT&T and Verizon as well as state groups like NARUC and NASUCA and Microsoft, which has responded to every white paper so far. Other commenters include the Nebraska Public Service Commission, the Oregon Telecom Association and the Telecommunications Association of Maine. “We urge Congress to encourage the FCC to create an inclusive environment where all eligible providers have an opportunity to compete for support with the goal of closing the gap between broadband available in urban and rural areas,” the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association told House lawmakers. Microsoft lauded the shift in focusing USF on broadband and encouraged Congress to “continue to afford the FCC with authority and flexibility to reform the mechanism for contributing to the universal service fund, as needed.” The Alaska Communications System noted that “contrary to the prevailing view in Washington,” it “has never considered the USF system as ‘broken,'” but said it’s “vital to include safeguards that ensure that available funding is used efficiently.”
The FCC should allow Wilkes Telephone Membership Corp. to include $147,149 owed by Halo in 2011 as part of its base period revenue for that year, NTCA said in an emergency petition (http://bit.ly/XWgnAf) posted Monday in docket 10-90 on behalf of the member company. It requests a waiver from a commission rule that requires that funds included as 2011 revenue be collected by March 31, 2012. The rural North Carolina company, which relies on Universal Service Fund support, has not been able to collect the money from Halo, which declared bankruptcy in 2012, the petition said. Not being able to count the funds “would not only create a one-time impact, but would continue to cause a financial impact to Wilkes every year” that the base period revenue is used to calculate USF support, the petition said.