Congress Will Pass Telecom Bill This Session, Upton Predicts
Prospects are good for passage of a telecom bill the President can sign this Congress, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) told a Tues. National Journal breakfast. “Their bill is not all that far away from ours,” Upton said, referring to a Senate telecom bill introduced Mon. (WID May 2 p3). That bill, especially its franchise provision, offers a “hook” to get something into conference where the 2 can be reconciled, Upton said.
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Upton expects a “strong vote” when the House bill comes to the floor, “most likely” next week, Upton said. That vote will “add to the pressure” to get the bill to the President. He has conferred monthly with FCC Chmn. Martin on the bill, and thinks the White House is happy with the progress, he said: “We've not needed them to strong arm anyone” for votes at the committee or subcommittee level, he said, and “we won all but one Republican” with “Dingell and Markey working hard against us.”
The bill’s progress could slow if Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) gets his way -- “if he gets it,” Upton said. But Upton and Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) raised points of order in markup to keep the bill from coming under Judiciary jurisdiction, he said. Of chances the Senate will pass its bill out of committee, Upton said: “We'll see.”
As it was in the house, net neutrality will be a major challenge for the Senate bill, Senate Commerce Committee Staff Dir. Lisa Sutherland told reporters. The Senate bill calls for an annual FCC study of the Internet to learn of problems with information flow. If it finds problems, the agency would make recommendations to Congress on how to fix them.
That’s a softer approach than in the House bill, which would give FCC net neutrality principles the power of law. Bell and cable firms welcomed the approach, in contrast to public interest groups’ deep disappointment. Some view the Senate’s approach as an opening move in a negotiation in which Senate Democrats likely will press to strengthen the language. A soft provision leaves room to add muscle, Hill sources said. The Senate Commerce Committee plans 2 hearings on the bill on May 18 and 25, with markup tentatively set for June 8.
Rural govts. would get favorable treatment in the Senate bill, especially its Universal Service Fund provisions. For the first time, broadband providers getting USF would have to deliver broadband services within 5 years. The bill would set up a $500 million fund under USF to encourage deployment in hard-to-reach rural areas.
The USF contribution base would expand -- all broadband providers would have to pay in -- so individual consumers’ bills would shrink, Senate sources said. The bill would direct the FCC to devise a contribution methodology that could be numbers-based, connections-based, linked to intrastate and interstate revenue or any combination. The bill also would exempt seniors and other low-income uses, and reduce fees for families using multiple phones.
Interconnection requirements appear in the bill’s USF section, since it would ensure competition for voice service providers. The bill would give VoIP providers interconnection rights, duties and obligations as if they were telecom carriers.
“The USF is critical to ensuring that all consumers have access to affordable telecommunications services,” NTCA Pres. Shirley Bloomfield said. The bill’s USF provisions would “provide consumers access to exciting new products and services, which will enable all to thrive in the global community,” Bloomfield said. OPASTCO praised the bill for its “vision” on USF and rural telecom networks. The group hailed provisions on video content and broadband access in rural areas. “This is a good bill,” OPASTCO Pres. John Rose said in a statement.
Cable officials praised the bill for a hands-off approach to net neutrality. The bill said the FCC should monitor “developments in Internet traffic processing, routing” and related matters. “We are very pleased that the bill avoids new regulation of the Internet,” said NCTA Pres. Kyle McSlarrow. Bank of America analyst Douglas Shapiro wrote: “The provisions on net neutrality are completely benign. It provides no additional authority to police net neutrality ‘violations,’ whatever that means.” “It kind of punts really on the net neutrality issue,” said Womble Carlyle’s Ross Buntrock, adding that approach “isn’t really going to satisfy either side of the net neutrality debate.” Nonetheless, lawyers including Buntrock said the bill was a net gain for cable: “It certainly is a little bit better than various other versions.”
The bill probably won’t pass as-is, agreed lawyers and industry officials we spoke with. “This is a starting point,” said attorney Richard Wiley, a former FCC chmn.: “There’s going to be some discussion and a lot of changes as it winds its way through.” Issues likely to be changed include a provision that would subject cable modem service to universal service fund contributions, said cable sources. “When you start marrying the issues into one comprehensive bill, I think it makes it very difficult to thread that needle,” said Buntrock.