Wireless carriers pushing for a bigger piece of the Universal Service Fund pie through a larger Mobility Fund still likely face an uphill fight, despite advocacy by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (CD Oct 21 p1). With several parts of the USF/intercarrier compensation order in flux, wireless industry officials said Friday the three Democratic commissioners are not united in agreeing that more money should be added to the wireless fund. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Friday separately voiced a number of objections to USF reform proposals before the FCC.

Helped by solid wireless growth, Verizon posted Q3 profit of $3.5 billion, up 31 percent year-over-year. The revamp on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation would benefit some of the company’s business, but it’s still too early to tell the impact on each business unit, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Friday. Meanwhile, union workers at Verizon joined the Occupy Wall Street protest Friday over “Verizon’s corporate greed,” a move that Verizon called “misdirected outreach."

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is pressing other FCC members to look more closely at the appropriate size of a proposed Mobility Fund as the agency completes its Universal Service Fund proceeding, her wireless aide, Louis Peraertz, told a Federal Communications Bar Association lunch Thursday. Elsewhere, aides to the four commissioners mostly talked about spectrum, with several conceding that spectrum sharing will be the trend of the future.

Telecom and consumer and states’ rights advocates were making final efforts to blunt the impact of the pending Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system reforms on their interests. The FCC extended the open lobbying period to the close of business Friday. More than one critic accused FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski of being unnecessarily opaque with his intentions. “I think a lot of things are still in flux,” Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey said Thursday. “The details are moving targets.” The proposed USF order is on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s proposed Universal Service Fund reform proposals “understate the significant funding needs for wireless carriers,” the Rural Cellular Association wrote him, according to a Wednesday news release. RCA urged Genachowski to expand the proposed mobility fund “and not to prematurely withdraw existing high-cost support without set replacement mechanisms to prevent a gap in funding that would unnecessarily harm consumers,” the group said. President Steven Berry said in he is “extremely concerned” by the proposals in the pending order. “The future of many competitive carriers depends on USF reform, and I can only hope that the FCC’s decision in the coming days will look to the future of wireless and provide sufficient and predictable funding for mobile services."

The FCC must lower eligible telecommunications carriers’ obligations at the same time it reduces legacy high-cost universal service payments, Verizon Senior Vice President Kathleen Grillo told FCC officials, said an ex parte notice. Grillo said she spoke with Zac Katz, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s top wireline aide, on Saturday, and Angela Kronenberg, wireline adviser to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, on Monday. “The purpose of these discussions was to address the draft universal service and intercarrier compensation reform order now circulating, as well as America’s Broadband Connectivity Plan submitted by a coalition of companies, including Verizon,” Grillo said. Telcos have left meetings with FCC officials with conflicting interpretations of the contents of the agency’s pending Universal Service Fund order. Some are convinced that the FCC means to require telcos to comply with ETC requirements even if they're not receiving USF cash; others have been assured that funding will be explicitly tied to obligations, telecom officials said.

State legislators in Wisconsin, Maine and Ohio urged greater focus on mobile broadband as the FCC takes on Universal Service Fund reform, in letters to the agency. Wisconsin Rep. John Nygren (R) is concerned that the FCC’s USF draft proposal will ignore the need for reliable mobile broadband access in the state and across the nation, he said in a letter to the agency. Wisconsin Sen. Julie Lassa (D) was contacted regarding some concerns about the USF revamp process, a spokeswoman said, without further details. Other legislators couldn’t be reached immediately for comment on why they filed comments. Maine Senator Thomas Saviello (R) urged the FCC not to jeopardize the development of mobile broadband in Maine’s rural communities. It’s critical to allow ample time for public comment and debate because the reform would have major implications for Maine, he said. “A potential change of this magnitude deserves more transparency,” he said. Any reform proposal shouldn’t reduce spending for mobile broadband services, he said. Other state lawmakers that filed letters include Reps. Jerry Petrowski (R) and John Murtha (R) of Wisconsin and Oregon Sen. Joanne Verger (D).

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., voiced concerns but urged reform of the Universal Service Fund. In a letter Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Inslee said the commission should “ease the financial burden on ratepayers, provide support only where it is necessary, offer all telecommunications providers an equal opportunity to deploy to an unserved area and consider the broadband deployment in the coming years.” Inslee said he is “concerned” with the FCC’s current USF plans, but “recognize[s] the important social and economical goals that result from extending broadband to areas that are currently unserved."

The cable industry wants provisions made for Alaska in Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation rule changes, executives of NCTA and the state’s No. 1 cable operator GCI reported telling the top aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. NCTA said CEO Michael Powell and Executive Vice President James Assey told FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus about “the unique costs and challenges of providing broadband in Alaska.” The association “urged the Commission to ensure that these challenges are adequately addressed,” it said a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 (http://xrl.us/bmgimd). A letter posted Monday to the docket from GCI and Alaska Communications made the case for the phone and cable companies’ Alaska Connected America Fund (CD Sept 21 p19), which would be different from the Connect America Fund which the FCC may adopt for other states. The USF and ICC changes ILECs seek in their ABC plan, “if applied to Alaska, would likely halt the deployment and upgrade of telecommunications and broadband services in the state,” GCI reported separately telling Lazarus, Zac Katz -- Genachowski’s aide who’s helping to lead work on the order -- Wireline and Wireless Bureau officials and aides to Commissioners Michael Copps and Robert McDowell. The proposed plan would harm “the extension of basic wireless voice services to unserved areas, as well as the expansion and upgrade of broadband services,” the cable operator said (http://xrl.us/bmgim8).

Representatives of the state of Hawaii urged the FCC to adopt a definition of tribal lands for purposes of its Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation proceeding that includes the Hawaiian Home Lands (HHL), they said in an ex parte filing. The FCC has previously included the HHLs in its tribal land definitions for purposes of USF, but the agency, without explanation, omitted the HHLs from its definition of tribal lands in its National Broadband Plan, the filing said. Meanwhile, many elements of the draft USF/ICC plan don’t address the challenges in highly remote and insular areas like Hawaii, it said. The representatives also urged the FCC to explore those challenges in a further rulemaking.