America’s Broadband Connectivity plan and its rural complement are “a useful and constructive starting point for USF and ICC reform” but they don’t do enough to protect mid-sized telcos, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance said in an ex parte notice dated Tuesday. If the FCC adopts the so-called “triple zero” option for intercarrier compensation, “it should commit to conduct proceedings … at a reasonable point in each plan’s transition process to make an affirmative determination regarding whether the industry framework is working as contemplated,” ITTA said. The industry plans also don’t address “what would happen should a carrier that is operating under rate-of-return regulation wish to move to price cap” which “introduces some uncertainties” into the proposed reforms, ITTA said. The association reiterated its position that “carriers should be free to change their regulatory status. … Given the sweeping changes anticipated by the new rules, carriers should have the flexibility … to assess the impact of those changes on their businesses,” the association said. Finally, the association said it was concerned about having access to the ABC plan’s cost modeling. A spokeswoman for the six companies behind the ABC plan said that the companies share those concerns about access to modeling data and are working hard to fix it.

The adoption of the America’s Broadband Connectivity Plan (ABC Plan) for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation revamp would drive small rural carriers out of business, several state commissioners said during a FCBA briefing Monday. Meanwhile, all three revamp proposals ignore the role of wireless, industry officials said.

The FCC should “maintain the key elements of the America’s Broadband Connectivity and Joint Rural Association proposals” to revamp the Universal Service Fund as the commission considers “other proposals to revise the plan,” Reps. Lee Terry, R-Neb., and Mike Ross, D-Ark., said in a letter circulating on Capitol Hill this week. The letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski hadn’t been sent and is dated Sept. 23. The FCC “must ask swiftly yet carefully to enact reforms that allow all Americans -- particularly those in hard-to-serve rural communities -- access to the burgeoning services and opportunities that are being created via innovations in broadband technology,” the lawmaker said. And the FCC “should pursue a USF reform framework that is fiscally responsible, enforceable, and sustainable, providing opportunities for a wide range of robust broadband technologies to compete.” The ABC and Joint Rural Association plans taken together “embody the core principles” of the National Broadband Plan, Terry and Ross said. “While many details remain to be fleshed out by the FCC, this framework clearly creates a path forward for comprehensive USF and intercarrier compensation reform.”

Two of the three judges who heard Vermont Public Service Board v. FCC cited the FCC’s plan to revamp the overall Universal Service Fund as they considered Vermont and Maine’s request to fix the FCC’s non-rural high-cost system. In a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing, judges questioned the use of outdated data by the FCC and the states’ failure to seek a waiver to request supplemental high-cost support. The case stems from a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remand in the so-called Qwest II case, in which the commission said rural and urban rates “are reasonably comparable.” State regulators have challenged, claiming the FCC “failed to compare rural rates in each state to a national average urban rate.”

A group of consumer advocates and public officials urged the FCC to reject the incumbent-backed America’s Broadband Connectivity plan and the rural “consensus framework” for universal service reform. In a joint letter posted as an ex parte notice to docket 10-90 and organized by the National Consumer Law Center and the Utility Reform Network, the advocates said industry’s reform proposals should be “flatly rejected” (http://xrl.us/bmdmo8).

The Rural Utilities Service should halt its broadband loan program while the FCC is overhauling the universal service system, said a study sponsored by NCTA. “By tying RUS loans directly to USF support, RUS effectively creates a vicious circle: The more a firm invests in inefficient infrastructure, the more it gets in USF support; the more it gets in USF support, the more it can qualify for in RUS loans; the more it can qualify for in RUS loans, the more it can invest; and, the more it invests, the more it gets in USF support,” said study author Jeffrey Eisenach of Navigant Economics. Efforts to reach officials at RUS for response were unsuccessful.

The FCC is likely to get the Universal Service Fund revamp done in 2011, panelists said during a Regulatory 2.0 workshop Thursday. Congress should give the FCC as much flexibility as possible as it considers legislation giving the commission authority for incentive auctions for broadcast and other spectrum, they said.

TracFone Wireless is proposing changes to the FCC’s Lifeline program, to guard against fraud, said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bmdeov). Among its proposals are requiring all eligible telecom carriers to collect date of birth and Social Security numbers from applicants, to verify, under penalty of perjury, that all Lifeline customers remain eligible and to put in place policies for de-enrolling subscribers that don’t use the service or don’t pay their bills. “The best way to minimize waste, fraud, and abuse of USF resources is to identify Lifeline enrollment and program processes that effectively prevent fraudulent and wasteful use of USF funds and to require all ETCs to use those processes,” the carrier said. “There is no rational basis for treating ETCs differently based on whether they are wireless or wireline, facilities-based or resellers, prepaid or post-paid (billed service) providers or based on any other distinction.” TracFone’s SafeLink program has 3.7 million customers, the company said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has asked cable lobbyists about what the commission should do with carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations as it contemplates universal service reform, cable executives told us Wednesday. Wireline staff have also asked questions about whether cable companies would be willing to go through the eligible telecommunications carrier process if the commission gets rid of the provision for ILEC right-of-first refusal in the proposed America’s Broadband Connectivity plan, executives said in a reporters’ briefing Wednesday at NCTA headquarters in Washington.

CTIA said any Mobility Fund created as part of FCC Universal Service Fund reform must be sufficient to meet the needs of wireless subscribers in high-cost areas. The remarks came in meetings with various FCC officials, including aides to all four FCC commissioners (http://xrl.us/bmc7ou). CTIA did not file reply comments in the USF rulemaking, though it did offer initial comments questioning whether the $300 million proposed for the fund in the ABC Plan is adequate (CD Aug 25 p8). CTIA again questioned during the meetings whether proposed funding levels are sufficient. “Consumers are rapidly migrating to mobile broadband, and a sufficient mobility fund that ensures that Americans have access to those services is consistent with the goals of Congress, the National Broadband Plan, and the Commission,” CTIA said. “In determining the appropriate size of a proposed Mobility Fund, the Commission must engage in a fact-based analysis and take account of the fundamental nature of mobile networks, which must be available wherever Americans live, work, and travel.” CTIA’s two biggest members, Verizon Wireless and AT&T support the ABC Plan and CTIA has been relatively quiet on the issue (CD Aug 25 p1). CTIA officials were last at the FCC in July to discuss changes to the USF, according to on ex parte filings at the agency.