Committees Approve Broadband, Do Not Call Bills

The telecom industry praised the House broadband census bill (HR-3919), which would create a nationwide census of broadband service providers to identify places with little or no coverage. It’s modeled on a successful state project in Kentucky. Without knowing geographic reach of broadband legislators can’t act effectively, said House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., the bill’s principal sponsor. The bill includes changes welcomed by the telecom industry that protect their proprietary information.

The measure that passed, Markey’s substitute amendment of his own bill, “reflects several weeks of negotiation” with representatives from wireless, cable and telecom, he said. The bill tells the FCC to collect data from providers, come up with service-speed categories and produce an annual report including the numbers of subscribers in each ZIP code. It also requires the NTIA to create a searchable and interactive broadband-availability map, and the FCC to do comparisons of U.S. and international broadband capabilities. The broadband collection provision would sunset after six years and the broadband mapping provision after seven.

CTIA and the telecom industry welcomed the mapping bill. The measure will “help improve broadband delivery and take rates in communities across the nation,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said. The Communications Workers of American said the bill would “greatly improve” the quality of information available on broadband service. “Getting broadband to as many people as possible, no matter where they live, is an important policy goal,” said Peter Davidson, Verizon senior vice president, federal government relations.

The broadband bill passed Tuesday by the Senate Commerce Committee (S-1853) would enable state and local governments to build their own services. It was adopted with two amendments offered by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. One would bar the use of federal money to bail out failed public projects, and the other would allow companies to bid on municipal broadband projects for up to 30 days after public notice of a government’s desire to build a network. Free Press said the Senate’s broadband bill would help local communities get broadband services.

“As the United States continues to fall further behind other world leaders in price, speed and availability of high- speed Internet, these networks are essential for restoring competition and closing the digital divide,” Free Press said in a statement. The bill would give localities faster, cheaper and more reliable broadband, the group said.

Do Not Call

Bills reauthorizing the FTC’s do-not-call registry and requiring permanent maintenance of the database also were approved in both committees. The Senate bill (S-2096), sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is a companion to (HR-3451) offered by Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Chip Pickering, R-Miss. “It is time to make the ‘do not call’ list the ‘never call’ list,” said Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Dorgan said he was thinking of calling the bill “don’t even think of calling” and called it hugely popular.

HR-3451 also would make the Do Not Call Act permanent, eliminating the need for consumers to register their numbers every five years. “The legitimate telemarketing industry has grown” despite the list, Doyle said. He offered an amendment that would balance “making it permanent and keeping it accurate” by allowing consumers to remove their numbers from the list, he said. House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., said the bill won’t move to the floor until “small imperfections are addressed.”

The House committee also approved HR-2601, a bill that would extend the FTC’s authority to collect fees to maintain the registry. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., withdrew an amendment that would have required the FTC to conduct a study on the use by telemarketers of what he called a Do Not Call loophole. “The issue at hand… is that there are a handful of clever firms targeting retirees,” with numbers on the registry sending “request for more information” cards that, once accepted by the company would constitute a “prior business relationship,” allowing telemarketers to contact them with impunity, he said. Stearns said he withdrew the amendment because it would only slow the bill’s progress, since the Senate has same bill and if the Senate passes it, a conference session would be required. Instead, Stearns suggested that Dingell send a letter to FTC asking the Commission to do the study without an amendment. Dingell said he shared the concerns and would consider writing the letter.

Low-Power FM, Internet Safety

The committee also approved a bill (S-1675) enabling low-power radio stations, but added several amendments. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., offered an amendment that would require third-adjacent channel protection for full-power FM stations that are licensed in significantly populated states. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, proposed two amendments. One would require an economic study on the impact that low-power FM stations would have on full-power commercial FM stations. The other would deny low-power FM licenses to any applicants that have violated provisions of the Communications Act.

The House easily approved an Internet safety education bill (HR-3461) that would require the FTC to create campaigns for governments, schools, law enforcement and industries. The bill would allocate $10 million for the project, which could be used to alert the public to online financial scams, privacy threats and practices that could expose children to online predators. The Committee approved an amendment brought by Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., to set up under the Department of Commerce an online safety working group of corporation, agency and public interest group members to look at Internet service providers’ efforts against child porn, record retention of evidence of crimes against children, and development of technologies to shield children from inappropriate content online.

Although not the subject of any of the bills, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. and Markey agreed that the Universal Service Fund needs review. “It’s high time,” Markey said.