“The 4th try is a charm,” the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., said Fri., upholding a 4th FCC bid to carry out Telecom Act unbundling provisions (CD May 16 p3). Ruling in Covad v. FCC, the court rejected various challenges to the Feb. 2005 FCC order limiting competitor access to Bells’ high capacity facilities based on tests of whether competitors would be “impaired” without such access. Known as the Triennial Review Remand Order, the FCC decision also dropped mass market switching from the list of UNEs available to competitors at TELRIC rates, eliminating the UNE platform as a vehicle for low-cost entry.
The FCC should postpone action on plans to increase the wireless safe harbor for Universal Service Fund contributions and add VoIP providers to the contributions pool for the first time, the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy said in a June 15 letter to FCC Chmn. Martin. The agency hasn’t properly analyzed either action’s economic effect or submitted a regulatory flexibility analysis meeting Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requirements, the SBA said: “Doing so will bring the FCC into compliance with the RFA and will afford the Commission the opportunity to legitimately solicit input from small businesses on the regulatory costs of compliance as well as garner recommendations for significant alternatives that would minimize the impact on small businesses.” Last week NTCA also weighed in on the proposal, which is on the agenda for the FCC’s open meeting Wed. NTCA said it opposes eliminating DSL revenue from the USF contribution pot, which reportedly is a reason the FCC is considering expanding contributions elsewhere. NTCA urged keeping DSL revenue and adding revenue from cable, wireless, electric, satellite and other broadband access providers. NTCA said excluding such providers from the contributions base will “conflict directly with [Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska)] telecom rewrite legislation which ties the future of universal service to broadband deployment throughout the United States.” NTCA said “the regulatory classification of cable and wireline broadband Internet access service as an information service does not preclude the Commission requiring all providers of broadband Internet access service to contribute.” The association backs raising the wireless safe harbor and adding VoIP revenue to the pot, it said. But it warned the FCC that the legal basis for doing so might be tricky if VoIP is classified as an information service rather than a telecom service.
An FCC order approving the Intelsat/PanAmSat merger without conditions got concurring votes from all Commissioners and was being prepared for release Fri., sources said, but it hadn’t been released by our deadline. The order, which sources said doesn’t oppose a Justice Dept. decision to clear Intelsat’s acquisition of PanAmSat without conditions, began circulating early last week (CD June 15 p4). Intelsat wanted FCC action before the FCC meets this Wed., sources said.
In the June 7, 2006 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBPBulletin) (Vol. 40, No. 24), CBP issued a notice proposing to modify a rate of duty and NAFTA eligibility ruling on a sugar and gelatin blended in a foreign trade zone (FTZ). CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.
On June 13, 2006, legislation to authorize the termination of the application of Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions and the extension of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for Vietnam was introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Senate Judiciary Chmn. Specter (R-Pa.) may seek subpoena authority for various documents, including those related to a White House electronic spying program, if the Justice Dept. fails to provide material he wants, Specter said. His May 10 letter asking Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales to provide detailed information has drawn no response, Specter said at a committee meeting. Specter is drafting a bill that would set up procedures for review of govt. electronic surveillance.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued notice of the availability of a guidance entitled "Q8 Pharmaceutical Development." The guidance describes the suggested contents for the pharmaceutical development section of a regulatory submission in the ICH M4 Common Technical Document (CTD) format and indicates areas where the provision of greater understanding of pharmaceutical and manufacturing sciences can create a basis for flexible regulatory approaches. Written or electronic comments on agency guidance may be submitted at any time. (D/N 2005D-0021, FR Pub 05/22/06 available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-7727.pdf)
Senate Judiciary Chmn. Specter (R-Pa.) may seek subpoena authority for various documents, including those related to a White House electronic spying program, if the Justice Dept. fails to provide material he wants, Specter said. His May 10 letter asking Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales to provide detailed information has drawn no response, Specter said at a committee meeting. Specter is drafting a bill that would set up procedures for review of govt. electronic surveillance.
With House passage of COPE Act language ordering a fresh FCC study of BPL’s interference risk to ham radio, the ARRL said it’s working for similar language in Senate telecom bill S-2686. The BPL industry couldn’t get the language diluted or removed from the House bill because utilities were focused on other issues, ARRL CEO David Sumner said. “We're very optimistic that, once the House and Senate version of telecom legislation get reconciled, our concerns will be properly addressed,” Sumner told us. BPL interests wanted to axe the FCC study provision because they have “no solution to interference,” he said: “I don’t know of any utility that is in favor of deploying a [BPL] system that interferes with radio communications.” Many utilities use low band VHF for communications, he said. As for why ARRL wants another FCC study given its complaint that the agency doesn’t enforce existing rules, Sumner said an FCC study required by Congress would raise the “visibility of the interference issue.” Amateur radio always had faith in the FCC technical staff’s ability to understand the interference problem and “effectively address” it if allowed to, Sumner said: “Unfortunately, they have been trumped by policy people who walked into a position on the issue before they had all the facts.” But with recent “changes” at the Commission, he said, “we remain hopeful that this situation will improve.” The United Power Line Council didn’t comment by our deadline.
The ongoing Qualcomm-Nokia battle is mostly saber- rattling by the handset maker over the extent of Qualcomm CDMA technology rights, industry players said. Qualcomm seems likely to benefit most from the dispute but the conflict could indicate shift in the manufacturing sector, they said. Nokia, not surprisingly, disagreed about Qualcomm’s chances.