The FCC sought comment on five requests from carriers contesting decisions by the Universal Service Administrative Co., in public notices issued Thursday. CalTel and South Bell Payphones want the FCC to waive fees assessed to the companies for filing late their FCC Forms 499-A in 2008. 10D Telecom wants the same relief. Sunshine Community Health Center wants the FCC to review a USAC decision that “substantially reduced” Sunshine’s rural healthcare funding request in 2006. Via Talk seeks reversal of a USAC decision denying the company’s amended 2007 FCC Form 499-A, which was filed more than one year late. Via Talk also asked the FCC to correct its USF debt, because the company “erroneously over-projected revenue” in 2007 and 2008 filings. Meanwhile, Ascent Media Group asked for reconsideration of an FCC order dismissing Ascent’s request to review a USAC decision about a late-filed FCC Form 499-Q. Comments on all the proceedings are due April 20, replies May 5.

The FCC may soon answer a court remand on universal service high-cost support for non-rural carriers. Last week, the commission circulated a notice of inquiry that includes a laundry list of questions asking how the FCC should respond to a 2005 remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, an FCC official told us. In 2005, the court called unlawful the FCC’s current non-rural rules, which address carriers like Qwest that serve high-cost areas with too many lines to be considered “rural” by the statutory definition. Earlier this year, Qwest petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus to force the FCC to make new rules (CD Jan 16 p6). Qwest wants the FCC to change the rules so it can receive more USF support for its rural territories.

Satellite reauthorization, universal service and broadband oversight are among the leading telecom priorities for the House and Senate Commerce Committees, according to interviews with members, Hill aides and industry lobbyists. Three hearings have already been held on satellite issues, and DTV oversight hearings are the next priority. The House Commerce Communications Subcommittee plans one Thursday. Oversight of new government broadband programs also will be a priority: Commerce will look at the NTIA’s activities and the Agriculture committees at the Rural Utilities Service’s.

Carrier contributions to the Universal Service Fund will jump 19 percent this quarter, mostly from rising support requirements for rural health care and schools and libraries, the FCC said Friday. Next quarter, carriers must contribute 11.3 percent of their long distance revenue to USF. That’s 1.8 percentage points more than in Q1 and the same as in Q1 of 2008. To set the carrier “contribution factor,” the commission divides projected carrier revenue by expected subsidies for a quarter. Of a forecast $1.88 billion in Q2 subsidies, about $1.1 billion is projected for the rural high-cost program, $537 million for the E-Rate program, $201 million for low-income support and $67.5 million for the rural health-care program.

Congress must change the universal service program to cover broadband and eliminate inefficiencies, members and industry executives said at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Chairman Rick Boucher of Virginia said he plans to introduce revised legislation that builds on work he’s done with Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the past three years. “We have consulted with dozens of stakeholders and sought consensus among various competing interests,” work that continues, Boucher said.

DALLAS -- Competitive phone companies believe procedural reform is needed at the FCC, representatives of competitive local exchange carriers said Tuesday on a CompTel panel on agency hot topics. Competitors should submit their ideas to the commission, perhaps together under the CompTel banner, said attorney Genevieve Morelli. Officials made predictions on other issues important to competitive local exchange carriers, including how the FCC will deal with two Verizon forbearance petitions and the longstanding fight over universal service and overhauling intercarrier compensation.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal stimulus grants to spread broadband may not be distributed as quickly or effectively as hoped, speakers, including a California PUC official, said Monday at a Practising Law Institute seminar. “I think it’s going to be a challenge” making the NTIA and Rural Utilities Service grant programs timely successes, said Michael Morris, head of the PUC’s video franchising and broadband group. Daniel Brenner, who just became a partner at the Hogan & Hartson law firm after having been the NCTA’s senior vice president for law & regulatory policy, said he’s “just worried about the broadband” grants programs.

Broadband funds made available through the economic stimulus package and Universal Service Fund monies could play a big role in moving public safety answering points into a new world where they have to take a growing number of VoIP calls and otherwise modernize their systems, Greg Rohde, executive director of the E911 Institute said Wednesday. Rohde spoke at an FCC summit on the future of 911 and the problems local governments face trying to keep up in an IP era.

A hearing on universal service is planned March 12 in the House Communications Subcommittee, Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said Tuesday. He said he hopes to get USF legislation marked up and moved to the full Commerce Committee. Boucher also plans an oversight hearing on the DTV transition some time before the June 12 analog shutoff, he said during a hearing on re-authorizing satellite TV laws. “We will probably wait until new money has made its way into the system and the converter box program has been re-energized,” Boucher said. He announced plans for the DTV hearing after several GOP lawmakers questioned whether the government needs to spend all of the $650 million it just received for the converter-box program. “This would be a great place to save money,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. Boucher said the rest of the subcommittee’s agenda is “under construction,” but he promised a busy schedule.

Broadband stimulus efforts may influence debates on the Universal Service Fund and pole-attachment fees, Medley Global Advisors said in a research note. As the FCC develops a national broadband strategy, required by the American Recovery Act, the commission probably will decide whether to expand the USF high-cost fund to cover broadband, Medley said. The effort could face obstacles, however, since it will come “on the heels of a large capital infusion of federal grant and loan money for broadband network investment entering the telecom market.” Meanwhile, the stimulus program could reinvigorate the debate over pole-attachment fees, because rural carriers “will need pole space and possibly more poles installed in rural areas to reach customers.” On the business side, stimulus should be a boon for broadband equipment makers, since the whole communications industry will need to buy gear for new network facilities, Medley said. That should translate into higher sales from Q2 through 2010, it said. Medley expects all sizes of broadband providers to apply for grants, it said. Even large incumbent phone companies will take part, to defend themselves against “cable applicants or municipal entities seeking grant money to build out their existing network footprint,” it said. The big telcos, and possibly large cable companies, “may decide to apply for grant money in certain areas and do so with a public sector partner” to increases their chances of getting an award, it said.