In what could be a messy November election for Democrats, telecom industry lobbyists are closely watching the re-elections of several members active on their issues. Those races include House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and subcommittee members Zack Space, D-Ohio, and Lee Terry, R-Neb. They also include Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Senate Commerce Committee member Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Boucher has a large financial advantage over his Republican opponent and political analysts and others give him the edge.
Issuing a retroactive declaratory ruling is “the least transparent way” of addressing the states’ request to charge Universal Service Fund fees to interconnected VoIP providers, said Vonage in a meeting with the FCC Tuesday. Vonage said the “regulatory certainty” which the commission offered in its 2004 preemption order should not be undermined by the FCC’s consideration of a petition from the Kansas and Nebraska commissions. Furthermore, any imposition of retroactive USF obligations would be “manifestly unjust and unlawful,” the company said. The Voice on the Net Coalition also opposed a retroactive declaratory ruling on interconnected VoIP regulation in a subsequent meeting with the FCC Wednesday. The group urged the FCC to launch a rulemaking to limit states’ powers to charge USF fees, it said. To make any declaratory ruling that betrays the “Vonage Preemption Order” would hurt consumers and prevent the innovation and growth of the VoIP industry, the VON Coalition said. Instead, the FCC should seek comment on the best way to assess state USF fees and how much it would cost VoIP providers to modify their billing systems to account for USF fees, said the VON Coalition. Furthermore, any rulemaking should not be imposed retroactively, the group said, because VoIP providers would be unable to collect fees directly from past customers.
The FCC shouldn’t subject VoIP to state universal service fees without first seeking comment, said House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. In a letter Tuesday to Genachowski, the Republicans said the FCC should “afford this issue due consideration in a notice of proposed rulemaking, rather than just address it in a declaratory ruling.” Levying state fees “would alter settled expectations and could have a significant impact on investment, economic growth, and broader universal service reform,” they said. “Addressing this in a declaratory ruling would not only provide short shrift to a matter of consequence, it could also raise additional issues about retroactive applicability of such fees.” The FCC circulated an item July 22 responding to a petition by the Nebraska Public Service Commission and the Kansas Corporation Commission for declaratory ruling that states may assess Universal Service Fund (USF) fees on VoIP intrastate revenue (CD Aug 9 p9). States “disagree with any suggestion that a rulemaking is necessary,” said Brad Ramsay, general counsel of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Vonage has stated it doesn’t object to paying state USF fees, and the FCC previously agreed that the statute requires Vonage to pay, he said. “Blocking these assessments can only increase pressure on the already burdened federal USF programs."
The FCC should formally deny states’ regulatory authority over entry, rates and other conditions of VoIP services, said a group of 12 Internet, telecom and VoIP companies, Thursday. Google, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, Microsoft and eight other companies and associations asked the FCC to “exercise caution” as it considered a petition filed by the Kansas and Nebraska commissions to require interconnected VoIP providers to pay state universal service fees.
The FCC should formally deny states’ regulatory authority over entry, rates and other conditions of VoIP services, said a group of 12 Internet, telecom and VoIP companies, Thursday. Google, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, Microsoft and eight other companies and associations asked the FCC to “exercise caution” as it considered a petition filed by the Kansas and Nebraska commissions to require interconnected VoIP providers to pay state universal service fees.
The time has come for the FCC to formally seek comment on whether it should “reclassify” broadband as a Title II service, subject to common carrier regulation, Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld said Tuesday in a debate sponsored by the New America Foundation. Hank Hultquist, vice president of federal regulatory affairs at AT&T, countered that the FCC has plenty of authority regardless of the recent Comcast decision, and reclassification would be a mistake.
The time has come for the FCC to formally seek comment on whether it should “reclassify” broadband as a Title II service, subject to common carrier regulation, Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld said Tuesday in a debate sponsored by the New America Foundation. Hank Hultquist, vice president of federal regulatory affairs at AT&T, countered that the FCC has plenty of authority regardless of the recent Comcast decision, and reclassification would be a mistake.
A “fundamental” recommendation of the National Broadband Plan will be creation of “partnerships” between the government and the private and nonprofit sectors to bring down the cost of computers and monthly broadband service for the poor and to provide free training and applications to help people access education and employment information online, said Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan Tuesday at the Digital Inclusion Summit, co-hosted by the FCC. “The government can’t do it alone,” Donovan said. Tuesday’s summit included four of the five FCC commissioners and members of Congress. It came a week before formal unveiling of the National Broadband Plan by the FCC. The Tuesday meeting was also hosted by the Knight Foundation.
A “fundamental” recommendation of the National Broadband Plan will be creation of “partnerships” between the government and the private and nonprofit sectors to bring down the cost of computers and monthly broadband service for the poor and to provide free training and applications to help people access education and employment information online, said Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan Tuesday at the Digital Inclusion Summit, co-hosted by the FCC. “The government can’t do it alone,” Donovan said. Tuesday’s summit included four of the five FCC commissioners and members of Congress. It came a week before formal unveiling of the National Broadband Plan by the FCC. The Tuesday meeting was also hosted by the Knight Foundation.
As VoIP evolves, states and the FCC should exercise regulatory control, with the understanding that IP-based telecom and older modalities will co-exist for a long time, said panelists at the winter meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington, D.C. VoIP is telecom’s future, but its proliferation will be matched only by its malleability and capacity to spawn new technologies, they said Monday.