Verizon critiqued the Colorado Public Utilities Commission proposal to deregulate telecom. The telco wants to say Internet Protocol-enabled and interconnected VoIP service is “exempt from regulation” rather than “deregulated telecommunications services,” a document exhibit submitted Wednesday said (http://bit.ly/Sf4gFO). It said Colorado customers who come to the PUC with complaints should be notified of FCC complaint procedures, not assisted by the PUC in “resolving complaints regarding service quality or billing disputes with the appropriate provider,” as the PUC deregulation proposal’s original language said. Various Colorado stakeholders submitted their statements of positions to the PUC in briefs in late October. These briefs, including from Comcast, AT&T, PUC staff, CenturyLink’s Qwest, the Colorado Office of the Consumer Counsel and the Colorado Telecom Association, discuss the broader move toward deregulation the PUC initiated earlier this fall (CD Sept 21 p10). These parties have been debating the best way to reduce Colorado’s high-cost USF support and the proper way to regulate IP services.

Verizon’s access recovery charge (ARC) computation and allocation in its July 2012 tariff filing “follows the Commission’s rules,” the California Public Utilities Commission told the FCC Monday (http://xrl.us/bnw87f). The CPUC argued that the FCC should deny the Pennsylvania PUC petition for a ruling that Verizon’s actions violate the commission’s rules against rate discrimination (CD Oct 1 p21). The rules are meant to “confer flexibility to carriers” by letting them allocate ARCs at the holding company level, and to “exercise their own business judgment” in order to ensure rates remain affordable, CPUC said. These allocation decisions let carriers “recover lost intercarrier compensation revenues from their own customers to the greatest extend possible, thus limiting the potential drain” on the USF, CPUC said. “The fact that these rules have caused frustration and a sense of unfairness is regrettable; however, the CPUC objects to the direction of this frustration towards the residential customers of California. The CPUC does not agree that the Commission should revise Verizon’s rates in California simply because Pennsylvania (or D.C., for that matter) is unhappy with its rates.”

The Competitive Carriers Association asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to seek comment on how wireless carriers can use unclaimed funding from Phase I of the Connect America Fund. “Wireless carriers offer the best opportunity to bring much needed broadband services to unserved and underserved areas, and it only makes sense for the FCC to consider proposals from wireless carriers,” said CCA President Steve Berry. “Many of our members are ready and willing to build out these networks, but depend on USF support in order to do so. Wireless remains underfunded, and this could be an opportunity for the FCC to provide significant support for the services consumers want most."

Telecom hasn’t played a “forefront” role in Montana’s public service commission races, Commissioner Gail Gutsche told us in an interview. The District 4 Democrat is running for reelection against State Sen. Bob Lake, a Republican, on the Nov. 6 ballot. “We hardly regulate at all,” she said of the PSC’s telecom oversight. The FCC’s November 2011 USF order has come up multiple times, however, she said, in questions to her opponent and before a newspaper’s editorial board. The FCC reform “could increase cost of service dramatically and put some rural carriers out of business,” she said, citing great concern for rural customers. Montana has “quite good” buildout of broadband, which is an important concern, she added. Her campaign has taken her through the seven counties of District 4 and to canvassing 2,000 doors, placing cable TV and radio ads and attending other events. “People don’t know why we're important in their lives,” she said, stressing the need to educate people on what the PSC is. Most don’t know the PSC, she said. “If you start talking regulation, you put people to sleep,” she said. She was first elected to the PSC in 2008, and there are three Montana seats open this year. The big election issues in 2012 are electricity and natural gas, not telecom, she said. Those first issues tend to split the five-member commission in 3-2 votes but commissioners tend to “vote together” on telecom issues, she said. The commission race is one among many across the country this fall (CD Oct 29 p3).

Oct. 29 FCBA Intellectual Property Committee brown bag lunch on Internet Radio Fairness Act, 12:15 p.m., Wilkinson Barker, 2300 N St. NW, Suite 7 -- http://xrl.us/bimfn6

Three state commissioners from largely rural states questioned whether the U.S. can ever provide universal access to broadband service. It’s like the notion of energy independence, Idaho Public Utilities Commissioner Paul Kjellander said Thursday during a National Regulatory Research Institute panel on state USF funds (http://xrl.us/bnv2ow). “But we're never going to get it,” he said. “It’s too expensive. ... Some divides just can’t be bridged.”

Google spent $4.18 million in lobbying in Q3, up 6.6 percent from the previous quarter, according to recent filings with the Senate. The company has spent $13.1 million on lobbying in the first nine months of 2012 as it faces an antitrust investigation for allegedly favoring its products and platforms in search rankings. It also focused lobbying efforts on legislation related to privacy, online ads, intellectual property, cybersecurity, mobile geolocation, Internet freedom, immigration and autonomous vehicle technologies.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must “invalidate this FCC regulatory ‘gun to the head'” that is the FCC’s November 2011 USF order, a coalition of regulators, telcos and consumer advocates said. NARUC led the charge on In re: FCC 11-161 two briefs representing multiple parties, which attacked the FCC on several fronts Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnvuhd). The ongoing court case challenges the year-old order. The attack was one among many in the 10th Circuit this week. Industry forces weighed in with briefs assailing the FCC for its stances on VoIP and other elements of the order that let the fund pay for broadband and not only phone-service deployment.

Tennessee’s consumer advocate division disagrees that the Tennessee Regulatory Authority should kill the state Lifeline fund, as a coalition of state industry forces have encouraged in recent months. The advocate filed its objections with the TRA Monday (http://xrl.us/bnvop9). “It is not simply a question of whether to end or continue Tennessee’s Lifeline program,” the advocate said. The 93,000 state residents who use the program amount to a “significant” consideration and the TRA should investigate its options rather than just end the program, it said. The consumer advocate pointed out options, such as creating a state USF fund, changing the eligibility requirements for Lifeline credit and possibly to sunset the program for future thorough review. “At this time, the Consumer Advocate is unaware of any state that has ended its state Lifeline credit program or state universal service fund,” it said, calling the move possibly “premature.” AT&T reiterated its objection to the “unfunded, landline-only discount,” in a Monday brief (http://xrl.us/bnvoqf). CenturyLink, TDS Telecom, tw telecom and Level 3 endorsed the AT&T brief in separate filings submitted Monday and Tuesday. Monday marked the authority’s deadline for filing briefs on the proposal to end the program.

The FCC is meeting with stakeholders to decide what to do with the unallocated Connect America Fund Phase I money, according to industry officials and ex parte filings. Carriers accepted only $115 million of the original $300 million, leaving about $185 million still available (CD July 26 p3). The commission is teeing up several questions for a potential rulemaking about how to use that money, industry officials said. The notice, circulating on the eighth floor, proposes adding the unused money into another Phase I round of funding that could dole out $485 million for broadband buildout, an agency official said. As an alternative the notice also contemplates rolling the unused money into Phase II, the official said.