Wireline and wireless carriers said the FCC should back away from the controversial finding in its most recent Section 706 report that the commission couldn’t conclude broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable and timely” way (CD July 21 p1). But Free Press said the commission was on the right track when it approved its sixth broadband deployment report during the summer and the seventh report should have the same finding. CTIA said the sixth report put too much emphasis on the speed of connections, to the detriment of wireless.

A Universal Service Fund overhaul “would best be grounded on classification of broadband Internet connectivity as a telecommunications service” by the FCC, said the Media Access Project in a meeting last week with the Wireline Bureau. “Such a decision would minimize the chance of an anomalous and undesirable outcome in which the Commission plausibly might require contributions from broadband providers but have no authority to provide explicit support for broadband deployment and adoption.” MAP can’t yet endorse either revenue-based or numbers-based contribution to USF, because of the current legal uncertainty about the commission’s broadband authority, it said. Whatever method is chosen, the group said it shouldn’t “increase the relative contribution burden passed through to providers’ residential subscribers, nor promote more regressive assessments."

Imposing Universal Service Fund obligations on satellite providers that don’t receive USF support isn’t a “fair or rational way” to provide broadband to remote areas, a group of satellite companies said at a meeting with the Wireline Bureau’s Telecommunications Access Policy Division. Inmarsat, Iridium, Intelsat, SES World Skies, Spacenet and WildBlue representatives were at the meeting, an ex parte filing said. The satellite companies urged the bureau to “think broadly about alternative contribution methodologies,” though each would raise definition and classification questions, the filing said.

The FCC should formally deny states’ regulatory authority over entry, rates and other conditions of VoIP services, said a group of 12 Internet, telecom and VoIP companies, Thursday. Google, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, Microsoft and eight other companies and associations asked the FCC to “exercise caution” as it considered a petition filed by the Kansas and Nebraska commissions to require interconnected VoIP providers to pay state universal service fees.

The FCC should formally deny states’ regulatory authority over entry, rates and other conditions of VoIP services, said a group of 12 Internet, telecom and VoIP companies, Thursday. Google, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, Microsoft and eight other companies and associations asked the FCC to “exercise caution” as it considered a petition filed by the Kansas and Nebraska commissions to require interconnected VoIP providers to pay state universal service fees.

The FCC Thursday put forward a list of 64 items for FCC action, along with time lines. The list includes most of what was recommended by the National Broadband Plan, released last month. The FCC had a similar list of items to work from when it implemented the 1996 Telecom Act, said a former FCC official. Eighth floor advisers were briefed on the plan Wednesday.

Proposals to overhaul the Universal Service Fund mechanism including eliminating funding for voice-only networks will involve 10 years of transforming the high-cost fund into the Connect America Fund, the FCC said Friday. That’s intended to extend broadband service and provide ongoing support in certain areas without increasing the overall USF $8 billion cap, the agency officials told reporters. The proposed change is an attempt to transition from supporting voice telephone services to using funds to deliver broadband networks, said Omnibus Broadband Initiative Executive Director Blair Levin.

The Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FCC to remake the Universal Service Fund into a broadband fund, in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice #19, on USF and intercarrier compensation issues. Five mid- sized incumbent telcos offered a proposal for revamping both. Most filers agreed that USF and ICC overhauls should be included in the plan, due to be submitted to Congress in February. Many comments built on those filed in previous comment rounds.

CTIA weighed in for the first time on Local Switching Support. The association called for comprehensive changes in the Universal Service Fund and opposed what it called a “backward-looking petition” by the Coalition for Equity in Switching Support. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a draft notice of proposed rulemaking that tentatively concluded incumbent local exchange carriers should get additional universal service support under the LSS mechanism if they lose a significant number of access line customers (CD Oct 13 p8). But the commission asked for more data before it makes a final decision.

Libraries face a “broadband crisis” because of increased demand from their patrons and the growing number of bandwidth-intensive applications, combined with limited resources to meet growing needs, the American Library Association said in a filing at the FCC, on National Broadband Plan Public notice No. 15, on broadband access in education. ALA urged the FCC to increase the current $2.25 billion cap on the E-rate program, which it said is a necessary step if libraries are to continue to provide broadband access to the communities they serve.