Consensus is building on universal service legislation that would expand the fund to cover broadband, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., told the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association Tuesday. Boucher asked the group, which held its annual legislative conference this week, to urge members of Congress to support legislation he hopes to introduce “in the near term.” He declined to say when the legislation would be ready.
The FCC, states and cellular carriers should come to terms on early termination fees and remove that “distraction” for good, Nebraska Public Utility Commissioner Ann Boyle said on a panel Tuesday at NARUC’s winter meeting in Washington. The group seeks to draft consumer-protection standards for cellphone users.
Largely reiterating past arguments, telecom interests fought over when and how to revamp the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation. In comments last week, carriers, states and others dissected three FCC overhaul plans, known as Appendices A, B and C. Appendix A is FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s Oct. 14 revamp plan, B is a proposal addressing USF only, and C a revised Martin plan incorporating changes sought by the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and other groups. Earlier this month, Martin said a revamp this year is unlikely (CD Nov 19 p2). But other commissioners have said they want to vote on an order at the December meeting. (See separate story on the FCC agenda in this issue.)
The FCC seems to be setting up intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund overhaul proposals for its Nov. 4 meeting. Whether Chairman Kevin Martin will propose a complete overhaul there was still fluid, sources said. A court order gave the commission until Nov. 5 to explain the statutory basis for its ISP-bound traffic compensation regime. Industry officials said the Wireline Bureau is soliciting comments on several comprehensive proposals.
The FCC will reform intercarrier compensation and the Universal Service Fund together, perhaps this year, Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president, told reporters Thursday. “If [reform is] going to happen, it’s going to happen in a package,” Tauke said. Two months ago, he doubted intercarrier reform could happen this year, he said. Taking compensation together with USF distribution and contribution is “a lot to swallow,” but court pressure and growing industry consensus makes him optimistic, Tauke said. Now is the “last best chance” for the telecom and technology sector to ally and reform an “unsustainable” system, he said.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell announced Monday that he had cast an electronic vote supporting a cap on the high- cost Universal Service Fund. He became convinced that a cap is needed because the contribution factor - the proportion of long-distance revenue that carriers must contribute to the fund -- is again on the rise after declining last year. McDowell’s support gives Chairman Kevin Martin the deciding third vote in favor of a cap (CD April 28 p1). Commissioner Michael Copps previously voted against the cap. All the commissioners but Jonathan Adelstein have voted, sources said.
The Internet voice industry is divided on a popular proposal to base universal service fund contributions by carriers on phone number count rather than interstate revenue. Vonage and other interconnected VoIP carriers support a numbers approach as making the fund technology- neutral. Others say a numbers world would force overhaul of business models at Google’s GrandCentral and other enhanced service providers. That shouldn’t be, Feature Group IP CEO Lowell Feldman said in an interview. Ten-digit phone numbers represent “1970 technology, not 2008 technology,” he said. “The numbers scheme is really a sleight of hand to try to force the industry to always use numbers.”
The Internet voice industry is divided on a popular proposal to base universal service fund contributions by carriers on phone number count rather than interstate revenue. Vonage and other interconnected VoIP carriers support a numbers approach as making the fund technology- neutral. Others say a numbers world would force overhaul of business models at Google’s GrandCentral and other enhanced service providers. That shouldn’t be, Feature Group IP CEO Lowell Feldman said in an interview. Ten- digit phone numbers represent “1970 technology, not 2008 technology,” he said. “The numbers scheme is really a sleight of hand to try to force the industry to always use numbers.”
Colleges’ Universal Service Fund (USF) costs will rise “astronomically” if the FCC moves fund contributions from a revenue- to a numbers-based approach, universities and a higher education group told Communications Daily. Colleges could have to choose between removing dormitory phones and paying the drastically higher fees, they said. Either way, there will be “negative financial, technical and social impact,” said Jeri Semer, executive director of the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA). FCC chairman Kevin Martin last May said he has “long favored” a numbers-based model and plans to propose to reform USF contribution this fall (CD May 15 p1).
Arguments against capping universal service subsidies to competitive carriers are based on “short-term self interest rather than long-term public interest,” OPASTCO told the FCC. “Excessive growth in the High-Cost program that is threatening its sustainability is attributable solely to competitive ETCs,” said OPASTCO in reply comments on the cap proposal. On the other hand, extending the interim cap to all rural telecom companies would “seriously threaten” wireline rural carriers, OPASTCO said. “At greatest risk would be continued service to subscribers in the most remote and highest-cost regions that may not have other reliable service options,” said the group, which represents wireline LECs.