The FCC is focused on encouraging more broadband competition, said Gigi Sohn, counselor to Chairman Tom Wheeler. In a speech Tuesday at a European Competitive Telecommunications Association event in Brussels, Sohn said competition is the most effective way to achieve the agency’s goals of promoting communications innovation and investment while upholding public interest values as technology changes networks. She said the benefits of competition are well known in the long distance, wireless, consumer device and information services markets. “However, in the broadband market, more work needs to be done for consumers and industry alike to realize the full range of benefits that competition can provide,” she said. Sohn highlighted FCC decisions on the IP technology transition, municipal broadband, net neutrality, USF support and broadband speeds, and its concerns that helped thwart Comcast's takeover of Time Warner Cable. She also outlined the commission’s efforts to stage a “historic incentive auction,” carry out further USF reforms to help rural and low-income consumers, and ensure “reasonable” rates, terms and conditions for special-access services in the business data market. Sohn said she recognized that the FCC values of competition, universal access, consumer protection and public safety were basically shared by the EU in its digital single-market strategy. "While our commercial markets differ and may, at times, require different policy solutions, these common values unite us," she said. Sohn said mobile networks now reach about 95 percent of the world's population, with about half having access to mobile Internet service. She noted the international Global Connect effort of governments and private parties to connect another 1.5 billion people by 2020. There are about 15 billion Internet-connected devices, she said, along with projections that number could grow to about 50 billion in five years. "McKinsey estimates that the emerging Internet of Things could generate up to $11 trillion in economic value over the next decade," said Sohn.
The Competitive Carriers Association outlined a proposal for a new USF mobility fund, in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and others at the agency, said a filing in docket 10-208. The program should have a “sufficient budget consisting of targeted support to preserve existing service where necessary while also expanding mobile broadband where services are unavailable, to be repeated consecutively over a period of two to four years,” CCA said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn backed the launch of Phase II of the Mobility Fund, in a speech in October at CCA’s annual convention (see 1510080024).
The FCC should be completely redesigned, starting from scratch, said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill, at the NTCA conference Tuesday. Both the Telecom Act and FCC's regulatory "silos" are “outdated,” as “technology is moving faster than regulators can regulate and legislators can legislate,” he said, suggesting some parties are starting to "game" net neutrality rules. “FCC reform is a big job that needs to be done,” said Shimkus, a senior member of the Commerce Committee and its Communications Subcommittee. He said if he gained power, he would start with a blank slate and ask stakeholders what the FCC should look like so that it becomes “agile and nimble” and “doesn’t get in the way.” Shimkus said USF subsidy support is key and called on the FCC to fix rural call completion problems, saying he's constantly getting “busted” by some local officials on the issue. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., told the audience the FCC’s Title II broadband reclassification was “misguided,” subjecting industry to 1930s utility regulation. He credited Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., with trying to find “common ground” and promote "common sense" through bipartisan legislation, but he offered no sense of the prospects. He urged the FCC to remedy the “stand-alone broadband problem” that prevents rural carriers from receiving USF support for broadband customers who get voice service from another provider. Noting a broadband stimulus project that he said overbuilt an existing fiber line of a Colorado rural telco, Gardner said policymakers must “protect against duplication, overlap and unfair competition.” He also backed streamlining permit processes and making an additional 200 MHz available for commercial use. “We have to have access to more and more spectrum,” he said. NTCA members were heading to Capitol Hill to lobby members on USF, rural calling, video obstacles, spectrum issues and repeal of an Affordable Care Act 40 percent excise tax on "high-cost" insurance plans to take effect in 2018.
Dig once legislation that is getting attention in Congress was sought Tuesday at an NTIA California broadband event. Some speakers, including public officials, said that such legislation could help expedite broadband penetration in the state. Many members of Congress support the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., was unsuccessful in her effort earlier this fall to attach HR-3805 to the highway bill (see 1511040047), but the issue continues to get attention on Capitol Hill.
The FCC shouldn’t prefer fiber over wireless in its planned USF reverse auction to allocate high-cost subsidies in areas where large telcos declined support going forward, CTIA and an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said this week. Another agency official told us Tuesday that an FCC draft order to set a USF reverse auction framework would favor fiber solutions, but said “everything is up in the air.” Others have concerns FCC eligibility requirements could discourage participation by smaller providers. An FCC spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
With the FCC struggling to revamp rate-of-return USF, some commissioners want the agency to make sure it at least addresses a “stand-alone broadband problem” this year even if it’s not ready to adopt a broader overhaul. Commissioner Ajit Pai said he “strongly” disagreed with speculation the commission can simply take more time despite a year-end commitment. “There is no reason whatsoever why we can’t act by December 31 if our focus is on solving the stand-alone broadband problem,” he said in a speech Monday at an NTCA Telecom Executive Policy Summit. “The difficulty only arises if we decide to link solving that problem to a number of other thorny issues.”
The House signed off Monday on the FCC Process Reform Act (HR-2583) by voice vote after its consideration under suspension of the rules, as expected (see 1511120051). Republicans dropped efforts to hitch three partisan proposals to the measure, which cleared its way for easy passage. The full House had approved the underlying process overhaul provisions in past sessions but they hadn't moved in the Senate.
Former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., pressed for the “right action” by the FCC in overhauling USF. “As the FCC and lawmakers look to reform USF, I hope they will show a commitment to service that is truly universal, by making smart updates that ensure rural Americans aren’t left behind,” Dorgan, now at Arent Fox and lobbying for NTCA, wrote in a blog post for The Hill Friday. “This should include preserving consumer choice, supporting sustainable networks and promoting reasonable rates. It makes sense to build on a system that has been working and to update it for the future. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or gamble on experiments that may undermine, rather than encourage, investments and ongoing operations in rural America.”
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.
USTelecom believes the FCC and industry are "close to the finish line" in the effort to overhaul rural USF voice subsidy mechanisms to support both broadband and voice service by rate-of-return carriers. USTelecom is "committed to reaching agreement on the few remaining points that need to be resolved," said a filing posted Thursday by Robert Mayer, USTelecom vice president-industry and state affairs, after a meeting with FCC and state officials. "I noted that USTelecom had been working closely with a group of associations and our members on the plan and that we had members who were leaning towards the proposed Model option and others who were interested in the Non-Model option. I indicated that it was in our mutual interest to reach agreement among the participating associations," Mayer's filing said. NTCA earlier this week warned there wasn't enough time to adopt a broad rural USF overhaul this year, though more targeted reforms to fix the "standalone broadband problem" were more doable (see 1511100064). Other groups posted short filings Thursday in docket 10-90 noting FCC meetings on USF issues.