Recovery funding for price cap carriers necessary as a result of the plan filed by a USTelecom-organized group of carriers (CD Aug 1 p1) “will be relatively small and will fit easily within the overall budget set out in the Consensus Framework.” That’s what leading members of the group told Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett and other FCC officials. The group “committed to file information showing year-by-year modeling of the transition from current USF to a reformed system focused on supporting broadband,” it said in a filing (http://xrl.us/bk97hv). “That modeling will include both the ... plan and Joint Rural Association filing as modified by the Consensus Framework.” The group “also discussed the likelihood that there are a significant number of locations without broadband service that are in areas that are not modeled as high-cost, and what solution the” plan would provide for such locations,” it said. The “plan is focused on supporting the delivery of broadband in high-cost areas and does not directly address unserved locations in areas that are not high-cost,” the filing said. The “plan would account for new service locations in areas that receive broadband support,” it said “Under the plan, new service locations within supported areas would be included in the support recipient’s broadband network obligations or through operation of the alternate technology provisions of the plan."

The National Conference of State Legislatures approved a resolution at its 2011 Legislative Summit, urging Congress, the FCC and state regulators and legislators to review and address the requirements and goals for universal service by adopting policies that promote universal mobility and universal competition. Any federal USF revamp shouldn’t impact or hinder innovation at the state level or interfere with the administration of state USF, the resolution said. While investments in communications infrastructure have received considerable national attention, the federal government must recognize that states have unique priorities that require state and regional specific solutions, the resolution said. NCSL urges Congress to work with states in developing an integrated broadband strategy to ensure universal deployment and affordable access to every constituent, regardless of geography or economic status. NCSL supports the creation of a national advisory board, including state, federal and local policymakers, as well consumer and industry representatives, to develop principles to facilitate deployment of advanced broadband communications services. NCSL urges the FCC, in conjunction with state, federal and local policymakers, to reevaluate the distinction between telecom and information services and gather additional information on the state of advanced broadband and communications services. Meanwhile, NCSL will oppose any effort to authorize or prohibit the establishment of municipal or state created public agencies broadband networks through congressional or federal regulatory action. Should Congress or the federal government take such action, NCSL will challenge the constitutionality of such action. NCSL also urges state and federal policymakers to work together to ensure that industry targeted consumer protections can be applied within a national framework that ensures the continued ability of the state attorneys general to enforce such consumer protections. In order to preserve the states’ sovereignty, NCSL endorses state action to enhance the use of collocation of cell antennas and the streamlining of the current tower siting process. Collocation of antennas should not be subject to additional zoning, land-use or regulatory approval process beyond the initial process for siting the wireless facility. NCSL also believes government should not levy discriminatory fees for the siting of wireless facilities or the application for collocation. Application fees levied on the siting as well as taxes on the wireless facility must not be higher than fees or taxes applied to other general business. While NCSL acknowledges the historic role of states as the primary regulator of intrastate telecom, state legislators also recognize that the historic distinctions between intrastate and interstate communications is fast becoming irrelevant in today’s global marketplace. Services like VoIP that involve integrated functionalities that cannot even be characterized as jurisdictional, it said. NCSL calls upon the Congress and the FCC to partner with states in a national framework for communications policy that ensures minimal regulation but guarantees “all Americans with a choice of mediums and service providers.”

Supporters of the Universal Service Fund overhaul agreement brokered by USTelecom asked the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Commerce committees and their communications subcommittees for support. A Thursday letter was from USTelecom, AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, FairPoint, Frontier, Windstream, OPASTCO, the NTCA and the Western Telecommunications Alliance. “This universal service fund (USF) and intercarrier compensation reform framework represents the country’s best chance to stabilize, modernize, and expand rural networks for years to come,” the coalition said. “With our carefully balanced compromise, we believe the industry can work through a major transition process without damaging vital communication infrastructure or disrupting customer services.” The FCC has said it hopes to complete reform this fall, the coalition noted. “After years of frustration and dead-ends, we are on the precipice of reform and now have a rare opportunity to push for significant change in these vital programs. Please join us by encouraging the FCC to make this reform a reality.” In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe urged the FCC “to take advantage of this historic opportunity” presented by the broad industry agreement on universal service and intercarrier comp revisions. “We may never see a better chance than this, and it’s time to end the waiting for those without broadband,” Beebe, a Democrat, wrote in a letter dated and released Thursday.

Windstream’s Q2 profit was $93.2 million, up from $79 million in the same period last year. Though more work needs to be done, the USTelecom-brokered USF proposal is a good start, CEO Jeff Gardner said during an investor call Friday.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s effort to issue another joint public statement by the FCC commissioners on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system reform appeared to be in flux late Thursday, agency officials said. Genachowski had hoped to get his colleagues to sign another Web post, as they did in March. Then, the full commission had promised “a busy spring and summer” of reform work and a promise to move to order’s “within a few months” of the comment cycle’s end in May (CD March 16 p10). Commissioners apparently couldn’t agree on language in the proposed new post, the officials said. Efforts to reach Genachowski’s spokesman for comment were unsuccessful at deadline.

The longer the FCC delays in providing VoIP providers with legal certainty and consistency across their multi-state operations, the more difficult it will be to replace the “growing body of disparate state regulation with a single coherent national regime,” telecom groups said. The VON Coalition, TechAmerica, National Association of Manufacturers, Telecom Industry Association and Information Technology Council wrote the FCC Wednesday. They cited growing state efforts to regulate VoIP.

The House sponsors of last year’s Universal Service Fund overhaul bill support the FCC acting on the industry USF agreement brokered by USTelecom. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., no longer plans to move USF legislation, aide Brad Schweer told us Wednesday. He said that Terry “will now be encouraging the FCC to produce details that reflect suggestions” proposed by the industry group. Terry’s former co-sponsor Rick Boucher agreed that the commission should move forward on its own.

Nearly all of the telcos that have borrowed from the Rural Utilities Service receive high-cost Universal Service Fund support, RUS said in an analysis (http://xrl.us/bk3xqr). Of the 480 companies that have borrowed for telecom infrastructure, 476, or 99 percent of them, receive interstate universal service cash, the RUS said. More than 70 percent of RUS’ borrowers rely on universal service for more than a quarter of their operating revenue, RUS said. A 5 percent reduction in universal service cash would strand some 98 borrowers, representing nearly $794 million in loans, RUS said. The three largest rural telecom associations, calling themselves the Save Rural Broadband alliance, seized on the RUS filing, saying it was “independent confirmation of a point Save Rural Broadband has long argued -- the FCC’s USF reforms will force many rural broadband providers to either delay their deployment of broadband services or go out of business.” Rural carriers made a separate peace with bigger incumbents last week and filed a “complementary” brief with the USTelecom-brokered industry agreement (CD Aug 1 p1). A spokesman for the three associations said the RUS filing had no bearing on the incumbent compromise.

Rural Cellular Association President Steve Berry sharply criticized the Universal Service Fund/intercarrier compensation proposal formally filed by a U.S. Telecom-organized group of carriers at the FCC Friday (CD Aug 1 p1). He argued it’s a wireline-centric plan that largely leaves wireless in the cold. Berry called the proposal “a joke.” RCA represents small to mid-sized carriers. Satellite broadband companies, who also were not part of negotiations on the proposal, also criticized it Monday. Consumer groups and states’ rights advocates expressed concerns, while executives representing small and mid-sized cable operators expressed support for elements of the plan.

Incumbent telcos were able to bang out an agreement on the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime reforms after months of negotiations. The rest of industry said the real debate has only begun. The USTelecom-brokered agreement won a last-minute okay from the three biggest rural telecom associations Friday. Left out of the discussions, though, were cable, CLECs, states’ rights and consumer advocates, many of whom were already slinging arrows at Friday’s announcement. CompTel, XO Communications, NARUC, NCTA, Sprint Nextel and the Rural Cellular Association all issued statements praising the agreement as a step forward but raising substantive questions about the deal.