FCC Chmn. Powell is expected to start circulating draft UNE rules among commissioners today (Wed.) so they can have input on the item before the rules are placed on the agency’s Dec. 15 agenda meeting. Lobbying has stepped up as various industry segments attempt to push their views in the much-contested proceeding. One 8th floor aide reported having 9 meetings with industry lobbyists Tues. “It’s already starting and the schedule looks pretty solid” the next week or 2, he said.

Members of Congress were still trying to push forward several telecom measures on Thurs. as Congress prepares to wrap up a “lame-duck” session. Senate sources said the Senate was likely to move at least 3 telecom bills in a legislative package that would also include Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain’s (R-Ariz.) bill to establish a national boxing commission. The package would include the spectrum relocation trust fund, E-911 legislation and a bill that would temporarily exempt the universal service fund and E-rate from Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) accounting requirements, which have raised fears that millions in E-rate funds couldn’t be delivered. Sen. Snowe (R-Me.) introduced a bill Wed. (S-2994) that would create the temporary exemption. But Senate sources told us the package could unravel. McCain was adamant that the boxing provision remain in, but Senate staffers indicated there could be objections to the measure in the House. One source said there were worries that House leadership could block the package to retaliate against McCain for voting against energy legislation supported by House leadership. And Senate source said the House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) could try to add spyware legislation to the package.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that on November 17, 2004, the U.S. and Australia exchanged diplomatic notes certifying that each country has completed its internal requirements to allow the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to enter into force on January 1, 2005.

A federal appeals court struggled Thurs. to decide if an FCC number portability ruling last year should be stayed since the agency may not have met procedural requirements. At issue was an FCC order in Nov. 2003 in response to a CTIA petition for clarification of existing rules involving the scope of “intermodal” local number portability -- wireline telephone company requirements to port numbers to competing wireless companies.

NASHVILLE -- Telecom makes investors nervous because it has regulatory and technological uncertainties that don’t exist in other industries competing for capital, said NARUC panelists at the group’s annual meeting here Mon. The advent of paradigm-breaking new technologies like VoIP and the prospect of a major rewrite of the federal Telecom Act next Congress have led many telecom investors to move to the sidelines and wait out the stormy times, panelists said.

A coalition of fair-use groups will try to defeat an omnibus copyright bill during the lame-duck session of Congress, which convenes today (Tues.). The coalition -- which includes CEA, CCIA, Public Knowledge, Verizon and the American Conservative Union -- said the legislation would deeply limit public access to content, create a new class of copyright violators and overlook key advantages of new technology in the marketplace.

NASHVILLE -- NARUC’s Telecom Committee adopted 3 controversial policy resolutions on preemption, intended to send a signal to the FCC and Congress that it recognizes the possible need for preemptive national policies in some telecom areas and is willing to discuss new jurisdictional alignments in such areas. A 4th resolution in the set, specifically addressing VoIP, was tabled until the group’s winter meeting in Feb. The telecom panel’s resolutions, adopted Mon. at the NARUC annual meeting here, must be approved by NARUC’s board before becoming official policy. A board meeting was scheduled after our deadline.

Several important communications-related items could pass Congress this week as it returns for a brief lame- duck session, industry and congressional sources said. The loudest buzz is on the universal service fund (USF) and the controversy over the FCC’s change in accounting mechanisms that could slow some E-rate payments and possibly lead to a rise in contributions, and several sources expected some efforts to push a legislative solution.

Citing an 800% rise in counterfeit and pirated goods intercepted at European Union (EU) borders 1998-2002, the European Commission (EC) approved an action plan Wed. aimed at persuading non-EU countries to clean up their intellectual property (IP) enforcement acts. The strategy covers copyright, patent and trademark violations in all sectors, including Internet piracy, bogus music and software CDs, and DVDs. It claims not to impose any new IP enforcement rules on poor countries, but to help them comply with existing commitments.

More groups are urging Congress to pass legislation that would exempt the universal service fund (USF) and E- rate programs from Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) account requirements. Several groups joined NTCA -- which sent letters Mon. -- in sending letters to the Hill urging a legislative fix in the lame-duck session scheduled to start Nov. 16. By applying the ADA rules to USF, the FCC forced the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to withhold millions in E-rate funds until cash flow issues can be corrected. These groups also said the accounting change could affect USF programs and force USAC to raise USF contribution levels. NARUC told Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) that USAC already has been forced to hold $460 million in E-rate funding. “It is our strong view that applying the accounting standards contained in these acts does nothing to stabilize the fund or promote the goals of universal service, and in fact jeopardizes the stability of the fund,” NARUC said. These groups urged action before the congressional session’s end. NARUC also said USF should also be exempted from the Miscellaneous Receipts Act, even though the Office of Management & Budget ruled that the Act’s not applicable to USF. NARUC noted that the Federal Highway Fund and Fish & Wildlife Service were also exempt from ADA. Joining NTCA and NARUC were OPASTCO, the Independent Telephone & Telecom Alliance, the Rural Telecom Group and the Western Telecom Alliance.