Several rate-of-return carriers said Monday they would file for requests for waivers of new rules in the USF/intercarrier compensation order limiting reimbursable capital and operating costs. The form letters, sent by five carriers, all blamed “a flaw” in the quantile regression analysis caps “that penalizes companies who have been diligent to bring advanced services to rural areas.” The five new waiver requests would more than double the existing number of waiver requests Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey said the FCC had received as of last week (CD April 12 p1).

A numbers-based USF contribution methodology would be relatively easy to implement and monitor, and provide stability and predictability in contribution obligations, members of the Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Thursday (http://xrl.us/bm3252). A “pure” numbers methodology is “still the FCC’s best option,” and would allow business users to contribute their “fair share” while not unduly burdening consumers, said the group representing some major companies that buy telecom services. A methodology based on connections to the Internet or network would be “viable,” but only if obligations are applied fairly, they said. A revenues-based methodology “has inherent flaws” that already plague the existing funding mechanism, they said.

Two months after the FCC’s declaratory ruling to “remind” carriers about the longstanding prohibition on traffic restriction, call completion problems aren’t getting any better, several rural carriers and state public utility commissioners told us. Call completion will remain a problem until the FCC actively enforces rules already on the books, they said, stressing the inability of state commissions to deal with problems that cross state lines. According to a survey by network and infrastructure company Anpi Zone presented Thursday at the “IP Solutions” conference in Indianapolis, more than 60 percent of ILEC and CLEC respondents said call-quality problems have either not improved or gotten worse since the declaratory ruling.

The FCC’s USF and intercarrier compensation order will lead to lower levels of investment in broadband and telecom assets because of new uncertainties over future cash flow, representatives from an industry consulting firm told agency officials, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm3j2c). As the cost of capital grows and loan defaults continue, rural LECs will be increasingly unable to get access to the capital, Balhoff and Williams said: “Retroactive” regulatory recovery rules and a “rigorous” waiver process will contribute to an “unclear path to a viable operating model in high-cost regions."

Congress is more than happy to let the FCC sort out the USF mess on its own, a House Communications Subcommittee Republican aide said Wednesday. “There is no motivation currently on the Hill to delve into these issues,” said Ray Baum, aide to Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. Even if there were motivation, “there is really no consensus,” he said, pointing to a schism between free-market proponents who'd like to see the fund disappear, and some who want it to grow. To Baum, Congress’s role at the moment is to seek input from interested parties and pass it on to the FCC to come up with a workable solution. “If this issue doesn’t lend itself to agency expertise, there isn’t one that does,” he told a Catholic University conference. “We're really wishing them the best."

The FCC should carefully consider broadcaster concerns as the commission moves forward with an order requiring public political files to be posted online, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Wednesday. Speaking at a Catholic University conference, Clyburn outlined an agenda for the rest of the year including work on spectrum, USF reform and accessibility. Clyburn and a later wireless industry panel urged rules to spur competition in the mobile market.

The FCC’s further notice of proposed rulemaking on USF contribution reform, on deck for the April 27 commissioners’ meeting, could pose “more questions than answers,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King said in a report Monday. Because of a lack of industry consensus on a new contribution mechanism, “our sense is the FCC plans to build a more complete record on various proposals in hopes of fostering a solution, which doesn’t appear likely before year end at the earliest,” King said.

The FCC sought comment on a request by the Texas Health Information Network Collaborative (TxHINC) for a 120-day extension of the June 30 USF rural healthcare pilot program funding commitment deadline for choosing vendors and requesting commitment letters from the Universal Service Administrative Co., said a Wireline Bureau public notice (http://xrl.us/bm263g). TxHINC wants its deadline extended to Oct. 30, “due to circumstances unique to the state of Texas” that have led to delays, the notice said. Comments are due May 7 in docket 02-60, replies May 21.

FCC names William Levis, Colorado consumer counsel, to USF Federal-State Joint Board, replacing Simon ffitch, state of Washington … Alliance for Women in Media new directors: Cyndee Everman, Time Warner Cable; Janet Noll, RFD-TV; Christine Travaglini, Christal Radio, Nicol Turner-Lee, NAMIC.

The FCC’s upcoming further notice of proposed rulemaking on USF contribution reform, expected to be voted on at the April 27 commission meeting (CD April 5 p1), will tackle the inconsistency over how different providers define how their contribution base is calculated, agency officials said. Because of outdated rules that haven’t kept up with changes in technology and how services are being sold, some providers can pass a lower USF charge on to customers, and that can lead to unfairness, a commission official said. The further notice will try to “avoid market distortions by closing loopholes and ensuring similar services face similar service obligations,” the official said.