State officials want to promote mobile coverage and broadband deployment, said Lukas, Nace attorney David LaFuria at an FCBA panel Friday on state universal service issues. “They all have a desire to do something,” said LaFuria, who represents wireless carriers in FCC and state proceedings. He said some state regulators face statutory limitations but states could “regulate” broadband USF by following an FCC approach that combined “voluntary” industry acceptance of support with broadband conditions. States can help by removing regulatory barriers to broadband deployment, said Micah Caldwell, ITTA vice president-regulatory affairs. Jennifer Schneider, vice president-legislative affairs for Frontier Communications, said more states should reduce ILEC voice regulations, including carrier-of-last-resort (COLR) obligations.
Major corporate investment in satellite systems is likely to grow, financing experts said Tuesday in New York at SatCon. As "the Googles of the world" step into this space, "it's something for the industry to take advantage of," said John Schuster, principal with 32 Advisors' Project and Structured Finance practice. Satellite mergers and acquisitions -- slower than expected in recent years -- almost surely will pick up, said Randy Russell, co-head of Americas Telecom Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank.
Major corporate investment in satellite systems is likely to grow, financing experts said Tuesday in New York at SatCon. As "the Googles of the world" step into this space, "it's something for the industry to take advantage of," said John Schuster, principal with 32 Advisors' Project and Structured Finance practice. Satellite mergers and acquisitions -- slower than expected in recent years -- almost surely will pick up, said Randy Russell, co-head of Americas Telecom Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank.
Major corporate investment in satellite systems is likely to grow, financing experts said Tuesday in New York at SatCon. As "the Googles of the world" step into this space, "it's something for the industry to take advantage of," said John Schuster, principal with 32 Advisors' Project and Structured Finance practice. Satellite mergers and acquisitions -- slower than expected in recent years -- almost surely will pick up, said Randy Russell, co-head of Americas Telecom Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank.
Three small video relay service providers welcomed an FCC proposal to freeze their compensation rates in the face of ongoing regulatory cuts. ASL Services, Communication Axess Ability Group and Convo Communications Wednesday called the proposed rate stabilization helpful. But ASL said more needed to be done, and CAAG and Sorenson Communications, a larger VRS provider, criticized the agency for not going further to address industry concerns, or at least seek comment on its consensus proposals.
The Obama administration is pushing Congress to tack language onto a Customs Reauthorization compromise bill that would stop ENFORCE Act provisions when the administration launches other investigations into covered merchandise, a number of lobbyists close to the process said in interviews over recent days. Domestic manufacturers and ENFORCE supporters on Capitol Hill, however, are flatly rejecting that proposal, calling it an outright poison pill, the lobbyists said.
An NAB petition to deny asking the FCC to freeze its review of Charter Communications' planned buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable until the agency completes the 2010 and 2014 quadrennial ownership reviews is intended to gain attention rather than a sincere attempt to block or slow the deals, industry critics said in interviews Tuesday. Approving huge pay-TV deals while not reviewing or eliminating the rules that prevent broadcasters from matching their scale is anticompetitive, NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan said. NAB and others have challenged the FCC’s lack of action on the quadrennial review in an ongoing proceeding in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Though numerous industry officials agreed that the FCC has been ignoring the quadrennial review, NAB’s gambit is expected to get little to no notice from the agency, they said.
An NAB petition to deny asking the FCC to freeze its review of Charter Communications' planned buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable until the agency completes the 2010 and 2014 quadrennial ownership reviews is intended to gain attention rather than a sincere attempt to block or slow the deals, industry critics said in interviews Tuesday. Approving huge pay-TV deals while not reviewing or eliminating the rules that prevent broadcasters from matching their scale is anticompetitive, NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan said. NAB and others have challenged the FCC’s lack of action on the quadrennial review in an ongoing proceeding in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Though numerous industry officials agreed that the FCC has been ignoring the quadrennial review, NAB’s gambit is expected to get little to no notice from the agency, they said.
Senate efforts to overhaul FCC process hit the brakes due to a bigger committee leadership focus on the regular, ongoing net neutrality negotiations, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee said last week in an interview. His comments confirm what telecom and media industry officials told us weeks ago (see 1509210052). Those FCC process measures are wrapped up in an FCC reauthorization bill that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., has wanted since the beginning of the year. His staffers first began circulating a reauthorization draft among industry lobbyists in early June, but progress has stalled since summer.
Senate efforts to overhaul FCC process hit the brakes due to a bigger committee leadership focus on the regular, ongoing net neutrality negotiations, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee said last week in an interview. His comments confirm what telecom and media industry officials told us weeks ago (see 1509210052). Those FCC process measures are wrapped up in an FCC reauthorization bill that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., has wanted since the beginning of the year. His staffers first began circulating a reauthorization draft among industry lobbyists in early June, but progress has stalled since summer.