The NARUC Telecom Staff Subcommittee advanced an intercarrier compensation resolution signaling the states’ general agreement the time has come for overhaul of the entire intercarrier compensation (ICC) system. The resolution, advanced unanimously at the NARUC winter meeting here, urged the FCC in its new ICC reform docket to “carefully consider” the most recent version of an ICC reform proposal developed from more than a year of consensus-building effort by NARUC’s ICC Task Force.
The Bells lined up against competitors on a Verizon petition seeking forbearance from Title II and Computer Inquiry rules as they apply to broadband service. The Bells said the broadband marketplace is highly competitive and the regulatory structures they face give cable providers in particular an unfair advantage. Competitors argued that Verizon wants to destroy competition. The 2 sides recently faced off in a similar battle over a BellSouth forbearance petition also before the Commission.
The FCC formally opened a rulemaking on intercarrier compensation (ICC) Thurs. to gain comment on 7 different proposals for unifying the varied regimes carriers use to reimburse each others. While the FCC action at its agenda meeting was far from unexpected, commissioners also revealed an undercurrent of disagreement about how the process should be conducted -- including how prominently an analysis by the Wireline Bureau should figure in the process. An FCC staff member said the further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) may be released as soon as next week. The item is considered one of the most significant telecom issues to be undertaken by the agency this year.
The House Commerce Committee approved indecency legislation (CD Feb 9 p9) Wed., sending to the House floor the same bill that passed the House with 391 votes last year. The measure passed committee 46-2, with only 2 Democrats voting against it.
House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) suggested that federal preemption of states and localities is needed when Congress looks to rewrite telecom law this session. But separately Wed., Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said local govts. should stay involved at least in consumer protection and service quality.
In a potentially troubling development for wireless carriers, the FCC Fri. asked for formal comment on a petition for declaratory ruling asking the Commission to further streamline its rules on tower siting, in this case for towers that have already received wetlands clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Cities are bracing for a fresh push by telephone and cable companies for state legislation to keep them out of the broadband business, even as they prepare to deal with the regulatory implications of Bell efforts to enter video markets. Bills restricting or placing conditions on municipal entry have cropped up in Ind., Ore., Neb. and Ohio, said Desmarie Mosco, an American Public Power Assn. (APPA) lobbyist. Similar legislation is expected in Fla. and Ia., she said. Interestingly, the Bells and cable haven’t always seen eye to eye on legislation to limit cities’ ability to provide broadband services, but lawyers for cities said it was too early to say whether that results from Bells’ video plans.
Cities are bracing for a fresh push by telephone and cable companies for state legislation to keep them out of the broadband business, even as they prepare to deal with the regulatory implications of Bell efforts to enter video markets. Bills restricting or placing conditions on municipal entry have cropped up in Ind., Ore., Neb. and Ohio, said Desmarie Mosco, an American Public Power Assn. (APPA) lobbyist. Similar legislation is expected in Fla. and Ia., she said. Interestingly, the Bells and cable haven’t always seen eye to eye on legislation to limit cities’ ability to provide broadband services, but lawyers for cities said it was too early to say whether that results from Bells’ video plans.
T-Mobile urged the FCC to act at its Feb. meeting on a petition it and 2 other independent carriers filed 2-1/2 years ago challenging certain “unlawful” LEC state tariffs. “The Commission’s failure to act on this petition has harmed consumers and impeded wireless carriers’ ability to serve rural markets,” T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson said in an ex parte filing with the FCC Wed.: “Prompt resolution of this longstanding petition is a matter that is of the highest priority for T-Mobile and its customers.”
The NAB joined big media companies in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, ruling that blocks media companies from buying more local TV stations and newspapers. The NAB said the case raises “critically important questions” about the FCC’s disregard of congressional decisions in the Communications Act regarding radio and TV station ownership. The local radio market redefinition upheld by the appeals court also violates the Act and violates Congress’s intent to deregulate the industry, the NAB said. The Newspaper Assn. of America (NAA) also petitioned the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision to remand the FCC’s new cross-media ownership rules. The FCC rule changes on newspaper-broadcast cross- ownership were based on “solid evidence” that repealing the old rules would serve the public interest, said NAA Pres. John Sturm.