Lack of clarity on VoIP at the federal level opens the door to additional state activity, state officials told us. Regulators in states like Wisconsin are looking at VoIP issues, including authority over the technology. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission had a prehearing Tuesday and will look into the appropriate level of regulation on VoIP. A decision is expected in July.

Similarly situated wireless eligible telecommunications carriers do not face the same non-usage requirements and procedures, TracFone complained in a filing at the FCC. TracFone is subject to rigorous non-usage requirements under which its customers with no usage during a time period in excess of 60 days are de-enrolled from the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline program. “TracFone urges the Commission to require all wireless ETCs that provide free airtime minutes to their Lifeline customers, such as Virgin Mobile USA … and others, to implement the same non-usage procedures and requirements as those imposed on TracFone,” the carrier said. Competitive neutrality and the FCC’s interest in limiting use of Lifeline support from the USF only for active customers “compel that all similarly-situated ETCs be subject to the same requirements."

An FCC vote on net neutrality principles proposed by Chairman Julius Genachowski in September 2009 appears unlikely before the January open meeting, industry and some agency officials said. Genachowski in particular appears ready to give Congress one last chance to approve net neutrality and broadband reclassification legislation during an expected lame-duck session, though congressional action seems unlikely.

intercarrier compensation, high-cost USF and the contributions methodology.

AT&T urged the FCC “to create a rational, sustainable business model for Universal Service Fund support for broadband, the company said in an ex parte filing. Executives met with Chairman Julius Genachowski’s wireline adviser, Zac Katz, and renewed calls for comprehensive USF and intercarrier compensation reform. Windstream sat down separately with Angela Kronenberg, wireline adviser to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn; Brad Gillen, wireline adviser to Commissioner Meredith Baker; and Margaret McCarthy, wireline adviser to Commissioner Michael Copps, to discuss USF reform. The agency ought to find a way to let companies recoup lost revenue after mandated rate reductions, Windstream said. It backed a five-year transition period to reduce rates and recommended an order assessing USF fees on VoIP providers.

Repurposing the Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) bands should be a top priority of the FCC to promote the rollout of 4G services, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said Tuesday at the Law Seminars International Conference on Spectrum and Broadband. Baker listed three other “action items” the FCC should move on quickly to promote 4G service in the U.S. She also predicted that work on overhauling the Universal Service Fund will start in December and dominate the commission’s agenda next year.

The FCC should be “vigilant” in its oversight of middle-mile prices and access, seek public comment on whether its rules on retirement of copper-wire networks let ILECs keep small carriers out of the market, consider a rulemaking on access to and device interoperability on the newly auctioned 700 MHz spectrum and “examine the impact” on CLECs before increasing rates on pole attachments, the Small Business Administration’s advocacy office said. The comments came in response to last month’s public notice from the Wireline Bureau, which asked for input on how broadband affects small and medium-sized businesses. SBA said its comments reflect the views of leaders from small broadband companies who participated in an Oct. 5 agency roundtable.

Verizon, Verizon Wireless and 11 rural LECs have urged the FCC to reject Corr Wireless’s appeal to redistribute high-cost universal service funds to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs). Last month, the commission agreed with Corr that the Universal Service Administrative Co. couldn’t alter the interim high-cost USF cap after Sprint and Verizon agreed to forgo their support funds (CD Sept 7 p1). But the commission ruled against Corr’s request that the money surrendered be doled out to CETCs. Corr and Allied Wireless Communications have asked the FCC to reconsider. In comments filed late Thursday, Verizon and Verizon Wireless said nothing in the interim cap order that forced them to walk away from high-cost support contributions required redistribution. The 11 RLECs -- 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative, BEK Communications Cooperative, Choctaw Telephone, Delhi Telephone, Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative, Harrisonville Telephone, Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative, Smart City Telecom, SRT Communications, Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone and Wiggins Telephone Association -- said Verizon and Sprint represent some $530 million of the high-cost fund and giving CETCs a slice would be “an end run” around cap rules.

The FCC approved 5-0 a rulemaking notice on a mobility fund to become part of the Universal Service Fund. The NPRM also seeks comments on reverse auctions to select carriers to build out 3G networks in unserved areas at a competitive cost. The program would not expand the size of the USF, and it would be paid for from funds that Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel voluntarily surrendered as merger commitments. The fund will be small, FCC officials acknowledged, offering as little as $100 million -- about 1/40th the amount already handed out by the federal government through Recovery Act programs.

The VON Coalition tried to hold off an impending order giving states the right to assess Universal Service Fund levies on nomadic VoIP providers, said an ex parte notice filed by the group late Tuesday. Executive Director Glenn Richards said he met with Commissioner Meredith Baker’s new wireline adviser, Brad Gillen, and Chairman Julius Genachowski’s wireline adviser Zac Katz and argued that the FCC’s 2004 Vonage preemption order ought to keep states from levying their own USF fees on nomadic carriers. Last month, at eighth-floor urging, Kansas and Nebraska amended their request for a declaratory ruling on nomadic VoIP by deleting requests to make any USF assessments retroactive. This clears the way for a declaratory order, which FCC and industry officials had expected to already have been issued. State officials indicated they may still seek retroactive payments (CD Sept 21 p6). This has the VON Coalition worried. “The commission must make clear that it is changing (and not simply clarifying) the law, or there … may be unnecessary litigation,” Richards said.