In a motion released Tuesday, the FCC asked for dismissal of a case brought by Accipiter Communications seeking judicial review of an FCC order denying petitions to clarify and reconsider revisions to the FCC’s USF and intercarrier compensation rules. In the motion dated July 30, the FCC argued the case should be dismissed by in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for lack of jurisdiction, saying agency orders that deny a petition for reconsideration are “'unreviewable except insofar as the request for reconsideration was based upon new evidence or changed circumstances.’ … Accipiter did not base its reconsideration petition on either new evidence or changed circumstances” (http://xrl.us/bnnrov). Accipiter opposed the motion, prompting the FCC to issue a reply in support of its initial motion to dismiss (http://xrl.us/bnnrp2). Accipiter moved to strike portions of the FCC’s reply, which the FCC opposed in a response Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnnrqk).
Terral Telephone asked for a waiver of the FCC’s frozen category rules in a petition filed at the commission. Terral operates a copper and fiber network in the southern part of Jefferson County, Okla. “Waiver of these rules would allow Terral to properly allocate its costs enabling the Company to receive the appropriate cost-based settlements while lessening the burden on the [USF] high cost fund,” the petition said (http://xrl.us/bnnrny). “As demonstrated herein, grant of this waiver is warranted due to the fact that the ‘good cause’ waiver standard has been satisfied, and grant of this waiver would be in the public interest."
A pair of House lawmakers discussed USF contribution reform following recent news reports that suggested the FCC may levy a new “tax” on Internet service (CD Aug 29 p1). Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said in an email statement that the government should generally refrain from adopting a USF contribution mechanism that is “likely to cause broadband subscribers to seriously reconsider whether to maintain their broadband subscription” “Accordingly, I'd encourage the FCC to review how price sensitive consumers might be to varying Connect America Fund assessment levels on their broadband service bills,” he said. Separately, a spokesman for Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the congressman supports using the USF funds for broadband deployment in rural areas but “does not support any additional fees on top of the current fee.”
General Communication would be able to continue and even expand service to Alaska’s Adak Island if Adak Eagle Enterprises is forced to shut down, General’s attorney told FCC Wireline Bureau officials, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnnnba). Adak has applied for a waiver of certain USF rules limiting reimbursable capital and operating expenses (CD Aug 20 p1). GCI explained its opposition to AEE subsidiary Windy City Cellular’s petition for waiver, “as this would prematurely allow Windy City to become the sole 3G provider on Adak Island without due process mandated by the USF/ICC Transformation Order,” GCI said. GCI also discussed its efforts to model the cost of providing mobile wireless service, and the modeling challenges facing any Alaska cost model.
Matanuska Telephone Association seeks a waiver of new USF rules limiting reimbursement for capital expenditures. The quantile regression model used to calculate costs “has the effect of penalizing MTA for its efforts to deploy an efficient network to serve a vast and challenging service area,” MTA wrote in its petition (http://xrl.us/bnnmnz). The model’s Alaskan coefficient of -0.6223 doesn’t account for the high costs of deploying infrastructure in MTA’s rural territory, and leads to the conclusion “that MTA’s infrastructure costs are currently too high when compared to carriers in the rest of the country by extrapolating costs from the operations of other Alaska carriers that simply do not apply to MTA’s operations,” the petition said. “This result simply does not jibe with the facts."
Oppositions to Allband’s request for a 15-year waiver of certain USF rules (CD Aug 27 p1) are due Sept. 11 in docket 10-90, a public notice said (http://xrl.us/bnnih7). Allband filed the application for review of the FCC’s waiver order that granted it a 3-year waiver of the $250 per-line per-month cap on total high-cost support. Allband also wants a waiver of the rules establishing limits on reimbursable capital and operating expenses within high-cost loop support. Replies to oppositions will be due Sept. 21.
Recent news reports suggesting that the FCC may levy a new “tax” on Internet service are sparking a wave of negative reaction from both free market-oriented and public interest groups. Free Press has had longstanding concerns. On Tuesday, the free-market Heartland Institute joined in. But it remains unclear at this point how much support there is at the FCC for contribution reform or a move to broaden the program to place a fee on retail Internet access service.
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association wants to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss how recent FCC universal service reforms undermine the president’s “vision for the future of sustainable broadband in rural America.” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield made the request in a letter Thursday, co-signed by about a dozen managers of rural telcos and cooperatives. “We share your vision of universal broadband access,” NTCA wrote. “Unfortunately, mixed messages from the federal government now threaten to undermine our collective vision.” NTCA discussed the recent reforms to the USF, which it said “are throttling the predictable revenue streams needed to justify the business case” for rural telcos throughout the country, and to help repay stimulus and Rural Utilities Service loans. The “untested and unpredictable” caps on USF support are “undermining efforts by small businesses to engage in network planning and to deliver on your objective of sustainable rural broadband,” NTCA said. “At this critical juncture in our nation’s road to recovery, it would be unfortunate indeed to pursue a USF and ICC reform plan that injects regulatory uncertainty into the marketplace and calls upon small businesses to cut jobs and hike prices."
The FCC faces no shortage of opinions on how best to move forward with its reform of the Rural Health Care Program, as telecom associations, healthcare providers and states offered suggestions in comments in docket 02-60 last week. Groups widely supported the program, and discussed the importance of exercising fiscal responsibility, but differed on whether the funds should be used for infrastructure buildout. Proposed reporting requirements also attracted disagreement.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell will continue to push for USF contribution reform, though he still has an “open mind” about steps to take next, he said in an interview. McDowell has long championed taking on the contribution side of USF (CD Jan 9 p1). The FCC approved an order in October addressing the distribution side of USF and an order on the USF’s Lifeline program in January. In May, the FCC released a 182-page further notice of proposed rulemaking on contribution reform.