AT&T has hired former Rep. Michael Forbes, D-N.Y., to lobby on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other telecom issues, according to registration documents filed with the Secretary of the Senate. Forbes, who quit the GOP while in office to become a Democrat in 1999, spent three terms in Congress and was among the first members to develop a website accepting campaign donations. AT&T’s signing of Forbes stands out by publicly identifying work on FISA legislation. Phone companies have hesitated to discuss their alleged involvement in a secret warrantless surveillance program ordered by the president after Sept. 11.
The House unanimously passed a bill (HR-3919) Tuesday to create a map of broadband providers nationwide with the goal of finding areas with little or no service. “This will give us the data we need to construct policies” to increase broadband deployment throughout the country, and help the U.S. become more competitive internationally, said bill sponsor and House Commerce Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass. A separate bill (HR-3403) to promote E-911 service was set to pass Tuesday evening on a roll call vote. HR-3403 had strong bipartisan support during floor debate earlier in the day.
USTelecom elections: Ron McCue, Star Communications, to chairman; Dan Hesse, Embarq, vice chairman. Arne Haynes, Rainier Connect, rejoins board… Jeff Oxley, ex- Eschelon Telecom, named executive vice president and general counsel at Integra Telecom… Minoo Mortazavi, ex-JDS Uniphase, named vice president, strategic materials, at network systems company Infinera… Cable in the Classroom Executive Director Helen Soule leaving at year-end for unspecified other opportunities.
Wireless broadband easily outpaced wireline last year in new high-speed broadband connections, the FCC said in its twice-yearly report on U.S. broadband data. The commission’s numbers echo reports from wireless carriers about rapid growth in their data offerings. Wireless carriers hope the FCC will view the report as evidence it shouldn’t cap Universal Service Fund payments to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETCs).
The FCC launched a rulemaking that proposes a single rate for pole attachments, to be paid by wireline carriers, cable operators and competitive local exchange carriers alike. That would be bad news for cable operators, which generally pay the lowest rates. Incumbent local exchange carriers generally pay the highest rates. The rulemaking also asks an extensive series of questions on matters that have been raised by telecom carriers and cable companies.
Exclusive service contracts between cable operators and multiple dwelling unit owners will be outlawed by an order adopted Wednesday by the FCC. The ban, on current exclusivity clauses as well as future ones, applies to most wire-based pay-TV services. The commission opened a new rulemaking that would extend the ban to DBS and private cable operators. About 30 percent of Americans live in apartment buildings or other MDUs, the commission said. Wednesday’s action will make sure those consumers can choose which pay-TV provider to do business with and help keep cable prices down by removing hurdles for phone companies that want to sell video services, Chairman Kevin Martin said. “Trying to remove any barriers to those cable overbuilders is really critical,” he said. The FCC also adopted a cable franchise order originally slated for the commission’s Sept. 11 meeting.
Voting 402-0, the House passed HR-3678, banning Internet access taxes for seven years -- the third and longest extension since the moratorium’s 1998 adoption. The telecom and high-tech industries lauded the vote, saying it enhances certainty for Internet-dependent businesses. Lawmakers who back a permanent ban voiced pleasure at improvements made last week by the Senate to the bill that the House passed Tuesday. The president is expected to sign the measure. The current moratorium expires Wednesday.
The House and Senate Commerce committees approved broadband bills aimed at helping facilitate services in rural and underserved areas. Bills reauthorizing the FTC’s do-not- call registry also were approved in both committees Tuesday. Separately, Senate Commerce approved a bill (S-1853) that would enable state and local governments set up their own wireless networks, and another (S-1675) setting standards for low-power radio. House Commerce passed bills ensuring that all voice providers could supply 911 services (HR-3403), and requiring the FTC to set up an Internet safety education program (HR-3461).
Telecom is upset that markup of a broadband data bill is moving forward without a hearing, industry associations said in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. A major concern is S-1853’s promoting municipal broadband, which would “chill private investment in existing and future broadband networks,” said the letter to Inouye from USTelecom, OPASTCO, the Independent Telephone Telecommunication Alliance and the Western Telecommunications Alliance. Federal promotion of municipal broadband encourages “cherry picking the easier-to-serve areas within town limits,” the letter said, adding that 14 states have “already come to the conclusion that regulating municipal entry enhances broadband deployment.” The bill should be changed to limit its effect to places without broadband service and to prevent municipal broadband networks from getting multiple subsidies and “thus able to offer cut-rate prices that cannot be matched by private firms,” the letter suggested. The committee plans to take up the bill Tuesday.
A late night Senate deal to extend the Internet tax moratorium for seven years faces an uncertain fate in the House, but the bill (HR-3678) is still likely to be considered next week either in the Judiciary Committee or on the House floor. House leaders hadn’t decided by our deadline how many years to extend the moratorium, a Democratic aide said Friday. Many Senate and industry sources said they expected the seven-year deal, which includes some changes to tax provisions requested by Democrats, to pass in the House despite reservations by some House members.