The FCC should use its biennial review to eliminate rules that “jeopardize the development… of next generation IP-enabled ‘all distance’ services,” Verizon said in comments filed with the agency. The FCC asked for views on rules to be eliminated in a review that the Telecom Act requires every 2 years. The Act requires the agency to see which regulations no longer serve a purpose, particularly in light of competition.
A diverse array of telcos and public interest groups savaged the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) broadcast treaty in a statement Tues. Industry and activists earlier had separately pressed Congress to review the treaty negotiations, warning that new wholesale intellectual property rights (IPR) were being invented for broadcasters, “cablecasters” and possibly webcasters (CD June 12 p12). The latest letter, given to the Copyright Office (CO) and Patent & Trademark Office (PTO), comes ahead of a WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights meeting next week to discuss the treaty. CO and PTO also met with critics Tues.
Comr. McDowell Tues. named John Hunter as his chief of staff & senior legal advisor for wireline issues. Hunter formerly worked for Rep. Davis (R-Va.) as counsel to the Govt. Reform Committee. McDowell has strong ties to Davis and has hosted an annual fundraiser on his behalf. Among other jobs, Hunter has worked for USTelecom. McDowell also appointed Angela Giancarlo as his wireless advisor. Giancarlo, formerly with the Wireless Bureau, is well known in wireless circles and had been McDowell’s interim advisor. She is a veteran of Hogan & Hartson. McDowell also named Cristina Pauze, his acting media advisor, permanent advisor. She’s a veteran of the Media Bureau and was with Morrison & Foerster.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced its standard telephone tax refund amounts, arising from an earlier decision to stop collecting federal excise tax on phone service. Refunds of $30-$60 will be available for 2006 tax returns filed next year. The agency killed the tax (CD May 26 p4) after losing a series of federal court fights over the 3% tax, which dated to the 1898 Spanish-American War.
A 2-year-old FCC decision to limit CLECs’ ability to opt into interconnection agreements negotiated by other carriers was upheld unanimously Tues. by the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco. Finding Sec. 252(i) of the Telecom Act “ambiguous,” the panel said “the FCC’s all-or-nothing interpretation is reasonable,” so the agency didn’t “abuse its discretion.” Sec. 252(i) says carriers must make interconnection agreements available to other carriers but doesn’t say how.
ASPEN, Colo. -- Verizon won’t seek a federal franchise bill next Congress if the telecom bill (HR-5252) fails to pass this year, Verizon Exec. Vp Tom Tauke said Tues. at the annual Progress & Freedom Foundation conference here: “We aren’t going to be starting out from the same place -- the appeal of video is going to be less.” Verizon’s state-level success with franchise laws significantly weakens demand for federal reform, Tauke said.
The FCC adopted rule changes proposed by the Wireline Bureau in 2004 in a biennial review required by the Telecom Act. Many were tweaks eliminating outdated language and expired deadlines or updating definitions. In interconnection rules, a reference to providing the bureau chief “paper and diskette copies” was dropped. Under numbering rules, American Samoa now is listed among U.S. territories participating in the N. American Numbering Plan. But the FCC didn’t make some proposed changes. Civil rights groups convinced the FCC it should keep requiring common carrier licensees to file annual employment reports intended to reveal employment bias. The Rural Telecom Group (RTG) convinced the FCC not to drop some local number portability (LNP) transitional measures, though in many areas LNP deadlines have passed. RTG reminded the FCC that some rural telecom companies haven’t yet gotten a request to deploy LNP, so the measures should be kept in case those companies must deploy LNP. But USTelecom didn’t convince the FCC to eliminate carrier recordkeeping requirements the group calls outdated. The FCC said USTelecom hadn’t proposed less costly ways to collect and maintain records.
An outdated “separations” process for splitting telcos’ costs of providing services between local and interstate jurisdictions inadvertently overburdens local ratepayers, the Pa. PUC told the FCC in comments filed Tues. The PUC also took a jab at the FCC for extending the current separations freeze without seeking comments on its effect (CD May 18 p13). “The PaPUC understands that the press of other regulatory matters… complicated, and possibly prevented, opportunities for comment on this extension,” the regulators said: “Nevertheless, the PaPUC is concerned about… the substantial intrastate rate implications.”
TIA expanded, adding 10 corporate members and enlarging its board, it said Tues. TIA sees the additions as building on 2005’s debut of the Globalcomm trade show, and presaging a bigger buzz for the 2007 Globalcomm in Chicago.
More interim changes to the Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions system simply will delay reform, VoIP providers and others told the FCC in comments filed Wed. The FCC in a June order making interim fixes (CD June 22 p1), asked if more temporary changes were due. Commenters told the FCC not to waste time on interim fixes but to replace the revenue- based system.