Prospects of a slimmer Universal Service Fund (USF) with potentially higher charges for rural carriers is discouraging investment in the industry, panelists said Fri. at a Rural Telephone Finance Coop (RTFC)panel. “Any change in the regulatory environment gives us concern,” said Robin Reed, RTFC vp-portfolio management.
Paging company USA Mobility told the FCC in an ex parte letter any changes in assessing USF fees mustn’t mean a bigger burden for the sector. Paging firms make “relatively little use of the PSTN” with paging calls from phones transferred to the paging network after an average of 10 sec., it said. Many of its clients are health and emergency workers or “critical to the nation’s safety and security,” the firm said. “Under current revenue-based methods, paging carriers incur roughly $.07 to $.10 per customer per month on average in federal USF payment obligations,” USA Mobility said. “Should the FCC adopt a per-line or per-number methodology, any fees imposed on paging carriers ought to be comparable in size to this current amount… Any sum that is higher will be difficult for USA Mobility to pass through to its customers, or, to absorb should its customers refuse to pay that increased fee.”
USAC said demand for USF schools and libraries program funds will hit $3.55 billion in fiscal 2006. That forecast is based on 39,416 applications filed by the Feb. 16 deadline, USAC said in a filing at the FCC. The demand is $98 million less than the previous year. Priority one funding requests (telecom services and Internet) rose 7.7% to $1.69 billion. Priority 2 (internal connections other than basic maintenance) fell 10.5% to $1.86 billion. USAC said requests are still coming in, since the FCC extended to Sept. 30 the filing window for applicants directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
SAN DIEGO -- With net neutrality the burning issue at CompTel’s spring conference, FCC Chmn. Martin diplomatically said he'd with neither Bells nor CLECs. The jury remains out on points each side claims to know everything about, he said. And Martin warned against the Commission’s adopting rules preemptively. He briefly defended his Verizon forbearance decision, an anathema to the CompTel crowd. Competitive carriers voiced displeasure with the ruling and with what they call a trend toward a reconstituted AT&T monopoly, this one without the safeguards of regulation.
The FCC decision not to act on a Verizon forbearance petition seeking regulatory relief regarding charges to business customers for high-speed data was a win for Verizon -- but how big remains unclear, analysts said Tues. The exact relief provided by the FCC is uncertain because the Commission has released statements and a news release, but no order yet, analysts said.
SAN DIEGO -- Net neutrality stirs more Commerce Committee disagreements than any other issue, Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Mon. in his keynote address at the CompTel spring show here. Briefing CompTel members on issues the committee is tackling, Stevens praised the ‘96 Act but said any rewrite must address the extent to which courts struck down the original. He said he and Co-Chmn. Inouye (D-Hawaii) expect to have a bill before the committee right after the Easter recess.
The universal service fund (USF) has hidden costs well beyond what subscribers pay into the program, since taxes usually reduce use of services, Jerry Ellig, senior research fellow at George Mason U.’s Mercatus Center, said Thurs. during a USF discussion at the Digital Age Communications Act conference. A new study puts those hidden costs at $2 billion a year, about 1/2 what the program brings in, Ellig said.
A NARUC task force presented its proposed agreement on intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform in a closed door meeting at the FCC. Sources familiar with the presentation Wed. said the proposal would “harmonize” access charges significantly, dividing carriers into 3 groups and providing different compensation rates for large, medium and small carriers.
Telecom reform is possible if Senate Commerce Committee members can strike a deal on fixing the Universal Service Fund (USF), Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Tues. at a hearing on rural telecom. “We're close to getting some consensus that USF is going to survive; it’s going to be workable; it isn’t going to be a tax… and it’s going to be managed by the industries involved,” Stevens told reporters. He made clear USF shouldn’t come under Anti-Deficiency Act requirements that funds be in hand before agencies commit to spending them. Stevens said he expects to mark up a bill before Easter.
If Howard Stern had told CBS Radio in 2004 he was interested in jumping to Sirius when he was negotiating his contract with the satellite radio provider, it would have “pursued a satellite radio project jointly” with him. So says the 43-page suit filed last week against Sirius, Stern and Don Buchwald, Stern’s agent and manager. CBS Radio seeks damages for the value of the airtime it says Sirius “misappropriated for its own use through… unfair competition.”