ASPEN, Colo. -- The impending spectrum auctions and electronic communications privacy are likely to be issues this Congress tackles, former members said during a Monday panel hosted by the Technology Policy Institute at its Aspen Forum. The panel included former Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., now a partner at Sidley Austin; Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., now a senior adviser at APCO Worldwide; and Thomas Tauke, R-Iowa, formerly an executive vice president at Verizon.

Data must drive policy amid the Internet Protocol transition and other telecom changes, Windstream CEO Jeff Gardner plans to tell Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., at a Monday field hearing, according to prepared remarks. He emphasizes that Windstream operates as a CLEC and ILEC in certain respects. “So when it comes to issues such as interconnection, competitive access, transport, privacy, and public safety, we are keenly aware of the need for public policy to balance regulatory treatment among competing platforms; to avoid disincenting wireline investment; and, at the same time, to avoid competitive harm, especially during this transition period that we are in, a transition that is technology-driven,” says the testimony. “I suggest that the subcommittee seek out specifics regarding changes in the communications market, and that it take care when considering policy reforms in response.” He plans to talk of the broadband speed needs of schools as well as the importance of wireline networks. Gardner also plans to describe “unresolved aspects of reform” in the FCC November 2011 USF order that “coupled with slashing of intercarrier compensation, have created troublesome uncertainty for ‘price cap’ carriers and the consumers they serve. Windstream is hopeful that “the strain from existing uncertainty will be lessened,” said the testimony. “But we need the FCC to continue in a transparent and deliberate fashion as it moves forward with the next phase of reform, and ask the Committee to keep a watchful eye in its oversight role.” The hearing will take place in Little Rock’s Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas board room Monday at 9 a.m. CDT, and witnesses include FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel along with many others (CD Aug 16 p12).

The FCC Wireline and Wireless bureaus seek comment on Adak Eagle Enterprises and Windy City Cellular’s petition for reconsideration of a denial of a USF waiver, and for full commission review (CD Aug 16 p5). Oppositions in dockets 10-90 and 10-208 are due Aug. 30, replies Sept. 9, said a public notice (http://fcc.us/17SDz0t).

The FCC Wireline and Wireless bureaus “blatantly violated competitive neutrality” when they denied a USF waiver petition by Adak Eagle Enterprises and its subsidiary Windy City Cellular based on a promise by General Communications Inc. to serve Adak Island, the companies argued in an application for review Thursday. The bureaus last month rejected the request of the Alaskan carriers, finding they had “not shown good cause for a waiver,” and their plans to reduce costs failed to address, among other factors, “disproportionate executive compensation relative to the size of the companies” (CD July 17 p14). The companies had sought waivers of rules establishing a $250-per-line monthly cap on high-cost universal service support, arguing the island could lose voice service if not granted.

Telecom and other companies should retrain workers whose jobs are affected by technological change, much as AT&T has done for nearly 30 years, said the president emeritus of a telecom industry union. The job training alliance begun in 1986 between the telco and the Communications Workers of America has been fruitful in paying for employees to get extra education at both the secondary and university level, and benefitted companies too with increased staff loyalty, said Morton Bahr. In answering our question at a speech at a Washington temple and a follow-up interview, Bahr also said he supports changing the E-rate program to provide faster broadband to schools as a good use of USF money.

The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comments on a Time Warner Cable petition to become an eligible telecom carrier in Maine for the sole purpose of providing wireless services supported by the USF’s Lifeline program (http://bit.ly/14oqu13). Comments are due Sept. 6, replies Sept. 23, said a bureau public notice.

The FCC should tread with care as it reviews the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s (USAC) finding that audio communication components of Cisco’s WebEx conferencing service are a telecommunications service under the 1996 Telecom Act (CD Aug 7 p17), said Free State Foundation President Randolph May in a Wednesday blog post (http://bit.ly/12ttp31). “It is only natural that USAC has an incentive to want to expand the services subject to USF contribution payments to the extent possible,” May said. “But if the effect of its decisions is to narrow the understanding of what constitutes an ‘information service,’ the consequences can be far-reaching. This is because the FCC would then have authority to regulate as telecommunications services previously unregulated information services."

Adak Eagle and Windy City Cellular met with FCC officials to emphasize the struggles of their service territory and why a waiver of certain FCC USF rules is justified. Adak CEO Larry Mayes expressed “how frustrating it was to deal with the commission on our waiver and the waiver process,” with costs exceeding half a million dollars, said an ex parte filing posted online Wednesday (http://bit.ly/16uu0FT). It described the geographical struggles associated with Adak Island and the operations of the company to provide service, from barge deliveries to the cost of flights to the island. The two company representatives described small rural companies like themselves as the “backbone” of the country and in need of USF support. All the cuts required to deal with the waiver process and meet deadlines have created potential safety risks, the filing said. The Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on Adak’s waiver petition, it said Wednesday in a public notice (http://bit.ly/11MV9nz). Comments are due Aug. 19.

Cisco representatives urged the FCC Wireline Bureau Thursday to review the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s (USAC) finding that audio communication components of Cisco’s WebEx conferencing service are a telecommunications service under the 1996 Telecom Act (http://bit.ly/1cGPtju). Designating those components as a telecommunications service would make a portion of WebEx revenue eligible for assessment for USF contributions (CD May 20 p6). Jeff Campbell, Cisco vice president-government affairs, and Cisco counsel Walter Anderson told the bureau staff that USAC improperly applied FCC precedents and failed to “accept WebEx’s reasonable unbundling of its revenues -- positions that commenters broadly support,” Cisco said in an ex parte filing. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision that The Conference Group lacked standing to challenge the FCC’s ruling that audio bridging software by InterCall must pay into the USF (CD July 3 p4) “has no bearing on the application of the InterCall Orders to WebEx’s service because the D.C. Circuit concluded only that The Conference Group and WebEx lacked standing to challenge the InterCall Orders, and the court did not reach the merits of the parties’ challenge to the InterCall Orders,” Cisco said.

Frontier Communications sought reconsideration of the FCC Wireline Bureau’s July 1 order on its waiver petition on USF rules. The bureau had declined Frontier’s request to use a weighted average of local rates to determine if local rates meet the FCC’s rate floor requirement. Frontier will “bear losses of high-cost support contrary to the purpose of the rule, given the history of West Virginia local rate setting and Frontier’s high basic flat-rate local plan, and to the detriment of Frontier’s customers in West Virginia,” the telco said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1eqqhMg), calling the bureau’s decision flawed. It described and defended its many calling plans in West Virginia and criticized the FCC’s interpretation of the setup.