Several rural telecom providers wrote the FCC Wireline Bureau to seek “clarification and further details” on the quantile regression analysis and related caps on USF support, said letters posted Friday. Twin Valley Communications in Kansas, Filer Mutual and ATC in Idaho and Nelson Telephone Cooperative in Wisconsin asked how their study area boundaries were established to develop the caps applicable to them, and what can be done to avoid falling under the caps in the future. Filer and ATC haven’t been affected by the USF caps, but Twin Valley and Nelson said they were both affected, and asked which specific costs are deemed “excessive” under the caps. Without that information, the companies fail to see “how the caps will encourage ‘efficient’ or ‘prudent’ behavior or provide a predictable support mechanism because we will not know what is expected by the new rules or how they will affect future support distributions,” they wrote. ATC sent a separate letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to ask him to suspend implementation of the USF/intercarrier compensation order, including the July 1 date for implementation of the regression methodology, “until the FCC can provide greater certainty that the rules will not jeopardize the services provided by rural rate-of-return carriers and the consumers that rely on them for broadband and other telecommunications services” (http://xrl.us/bncj99).

A group opposing the sale of KUSF(FM) San Francisco said in a news release it will file an appeal urging the FCC to reverse its approval of the sale. The University of San Francisco is selling the station to Classical Public Radio Network. The commission approved the sale as part of a consent decree that ordered USF and CPRN to pay $50,000 for violating rules in a public service operating agreement (CD June 8 p16). The decision “has serious local and national repercussions,” Save KUSF said. Although the FCC recognized that there were problems in the way USF and CPRN handled the license, it “just let the sale go ahead with a fine,” the group said.

House appropriators voted to cut FCC FY13 funding 5 percent to $323 million, during an Appropriations Committee markup Wednesday. The bill, which now awaits consideration on the House floor, gives the FCC $24 million less funding than the agency’s FY13 request of $347 million. The committee removed a provision that would have prevented the FCC from implementing its requirement for broadcasters to post political file information online.

The House Appropriations Committee approved $7.29 billion for telecom loans in the FY13 agriculture appropriations bill on Tuesday. The committee also approved $27.1 million for the Department of Agriculture’s distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program, including $15 million for rural telemedicine and distance learning grants. The committee said it was “disappointed” with the progress of broadband projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and ordered the USDA to “significantly quicken” the pace of broadband project review, approval and completion. The bill also ordered the agency to report on how the FCC’s plans to reform the USF and intercarrier compensation will affect Rural Utility Service telecom borrowers. The bill will next be considered by the House Rules Committee on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in room H-313 of the Capitol.

The FCC fined a company $1.7 million for “willfully or repeatedly failing to contribute fully” to the universal service, North American Numbering Plan, and local number portability funds; failing to pay regulatory fees when due; and filing inaccurate form 499s (http://xrl.us/bnb54d). The Florida-based telecom provider, Telseven, sold a service allowing consumers to obtain information about recently disconnected or out-of-service toll free numbers. Telseven charged a “Federal Universal Service Fund charge” and an “administrative recovery fee” to consumers, but according to the Universal Service Administrative Co., Telseven hadn’t made any USF payments since November 2007, and owed over $1 million in “delinquent USF contributions.” Telseven filed for bankruptcy in April and its website indicates it is no longer providing telecom services. Our efforts to reach Telseven for comment were unsuccessful.

*June 18 American Consumer Institute panel on “looming spectrum crunch,” noon, 2103 Rayburn building -- steve@theamericanconsumer.org

The Senate Appropriations Committee offered the FCC more than a handful of suggestions on how the commission should focus its resources in the coming year, including political file disclosures, consumer privacy guidelines and landline cramming rules. The committee’s position on FCC policy was included in its draft financial services and general government appropriations bill for FY13 (http://xrl.us/bnbvn7). The committee urged the FCC to implement the USF reform waiver process in a “transparent, timely and equitable manner.” Senate Indian Affairs Committee members recently took issue with the hurdles and cost of the FCC’s waiver process for telecommunications companies that serve native and rural communities (CD June 8 p6). The Appropriations Committee urged the commission to consider changes to its wireline cramming rules by implementing an opt-in requirement for third-party wireline charges rather than its proposed opt-out rules. The draft also suggested that the FCC consider solutions to the problem of cramming on wireless bills. The committee commended the FCC’s requirements for broadcasters’ public inspection files as a means to increase the transparency of campaign advertising purchases. The draft bill urged the commission to work with the FTC to issue guidance on best practices for protecting the privacy of consumer information over wireless networks. The committee directed the FCC to study the privacy policies that govern how major communications companies collect and use personal information online. The bill is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor following committee approval Thursday by a 16-14 vote along party lines (CD June 15 p8).

The FCC needs to become “more nimble” in “keeping pace with the marketplace and technological innovation,” new Commissioner Ajit Pai told the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee Friday. The FCC’s other new Commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, told the CAC consumer issues loom large for her.

The FCC special access order on circulation “lays out a path” for data collection, but the request will appear in a subsequent order, Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett said. The order doesn’t roll back existing grants of pricing flexibility, she told a conference on the transition to an Internet Protocol-based telecom framework. AT&T’s top lobbyist also discussed the transition to an all-IP network at the conference, and blogged (http://xrl.us/bnbvrn) about it. (See story below.) The draft puts new grants on hold while the commission “sets out a path to reform” legacy rules that “increasingly appear ill-suited to the competitive landscape that exists for today,” Gillett said Friday.

The FCC Wireless Bureau agreed to provide “limited, interim support” of $40,104 per month -- for at least three months and up to six months -- for Windy City Cellular, which serves remote parts of Alaska including Adak Island. Under the USF reform order approved by the FCC last year, support for eligible telecommunications carriers serving remote parts of Alaska was limited to $3,000 per line per year ($250 per line per month) beginning Jan. 1. WCC has warned that it would have to cease operations without additional funding. WCC said it saw the USF support it receives fall by some 84 percent, from $136,344 in December 2011, to $22,356 in January. “The Bureau finds that this limited relief is appropriate to ensure that WCC can maintain its wireless operations until we have a full opportunity to evaluate its Petition based on the totality of relevant information,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnbocq). Adak Island, part of the Aleutian chain, is among the more remote parts of Alaska with a year-round population of 326. Adak is Alaska’s southernmost town.