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 Many were tweaks eliminating outdated language and expired deadlines or updating definitions.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 But USTelecom didn’t convince the FCC to eliminate carrier recordkeeping requirements the group calls outdated.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.
The FCC should remove buildout requirements from the local franchise process as well as other provisions small and midsized telecom companies deem barriers to offering video services to customers, USTelecom said. In an ex parte filing Fri., USTelecom said the agency also should: (1) Prohibit “excessively long franchise application review and approval processes.” (2) Bar franchise fees and “in-kind payments that are not specifically authorized in the Communications Act and exceed the statutory maximum of 5%.” The comments went into MB Doc. 05-311, a proceeding in which the FCC is considering if there are barriers to competition in the franchise process that would violate Sec. 621 of the Communications Act. The statute “plainly limits” buildout requirements, even for incumbent cable operators, USTelecom said: “The timetable must be reasonable in light of market conditions, and a cable operator cannot be made to provide service where it is not economically feasible. With respect to competitive entrants, therefore, the best approach is to allow market competition to decide build-out schedules as this will establish reasonable build-out schedules more certainly and accurately than any regulator could do.” The FCC has “unquestionable authority” to adopt rules dealing with Sec. 621 franchising requirements, “despite the protestations of cable operators,” USTelecom said: “The Commission’s rulemaking authority is not affected by the fact that local franchise authorities have the primary role in applying, but not interpreting, the section.”
A collection system for the Universal Service Fund (USF) based on telephone numbers gained the support of a new telecom alliance called the USF by the Numbers Coalition. The coalition - made up of groups such as NCTA, CTIA and USTelecom and its members AT&T and BellSouth -- held a news conference call Tues. to “set the story straight” on misconceptions about the plan, it said.
The Senate Finance Committee Wed. approved a repeal of the communications excise tax. The markup of Sen. Santorum’s (R-Pa.) proposal (S. 1321) endorses eliminating a 3% tax on local telephone services. The proposal directs phone companies to cease tax collection on long distance services billed after July 31st. The bill has gained serious momentum since the IRS indicated last month that the tax doesn’t apply to flat-rate long distance calls. Service providers like BellSouth, AT&T and USTelecom praised the decision, predicting repeal of the tax this year.