NARUC urged the FCC not to deal with jurisdiction separately from other VoIP issues because “acting in a piecemeal fashion can only undermine resolution of other issues raised in that docket and the related open proceedings on intercarrier compensation and universal service.” In an Oct. 20 ex parte letter, NARUC warned that ruling separately on jurisdiction “could prompt existing carriers to mimic AT&T’s phone-to-Internet-to- phone ‘least cost ruling’ to potentially destabilize intrastate access charge regimes as well as erode the support base for the, at least, $1.9 billion that 24 states disburse from their own universal service programs.” The FCC should act first on intercarrier compensation and then act “on all issues presented in the IP Enabled Service proceeding simultaneously,” NARUC said.

A panel of federal appeals court judges indicated Thurs. that timing concerns might prevent them from issuing a mandamus order involving the FCC’s special- access policy. During oral argument, U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., judges repeatedly noted that a petition seeking an update of the agency’s special-access pricing flexibility order was filed only 2 years ago. Not enough time may have passed to require the court to intervene and force action, the judges said. AT&T, CompTel, the eCommerce & Telecom Users Group and the Information Technology Assn. have asked the court to issue a mandamus order forcing the FCC to act on the petition.

FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Jeffrey Carlisle told reporters Wed. the bureau expects to get an intercarrier compensation item to FCC Chmn. Powell in a month or 2, making it possible to see action by the middle of next year. In a press briefing, he said the bureau is “on track” in developing final TRO rules by the Dec. target and also considers VoIP jurisdiction, e-rate enforcement and the universal service contributions system as top priorities.

House Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) and House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) asked the FCC on Wed. whether Sinclair Bcst.’s plan to run an anti-Kerry documentary on all 62 of its stations violated the broadcaster’s public interest obligations. In a letter to the FCC, Dingell and Markey wrote: “Airing programming such as ‘Stolen Honor’ just days before Election Day is to us, and many of our colleagues in Congress, inconsistent with the public interest that broadcasters are licensed to serve.” The Democratic members asked the FCC for a specific explanation how the FCC determines “whether an action by a licensee serves the public interest.” Dingell and Markey asked: (1) If it served the public interest to air a “one-sided propaganda piece” against a presidential candidate 2 weeks before an election. (2) If the FCC could deny a license renewal to a station that’s acted outside the public interest. The letter also cited the recent flap over CBS News’ broadcast of questionable documents, saying “that incident has reemphasized the need to ensure that broadcasters air accurate and balanced information about candidates seeking elected office.” The letter asked the FCC to answer the questions by Oct. 20. Meanwhile, Public interest groups called Wed. for the return of the FCC’s fairness doctrine and the personal attack rule in response to Sinclair Bcst.’s decision. Common Cause, the Alliance for Better Campaigns, Media Access Project, Media for Democracy and the United Church of Christ’s Office of Communication said nothing in current FCC rules requires Sinclair to give others the air time to provide contrasting views. The fairness doctrine, repealed by the FCC in 1987, had required broadcasters using public airwaves to provide balance in politically oriented programming. The personal attack rule, in force until 2000, gave individuals an opportunity to respond to character attacks over controversial issues. The groups said Sinclair’s using the public airwaves for a partisan purpose demonstrated the dangers of media consolidation. “Any decision by a broadcast station to use the publicly owned airwaves to promote one candidate over another raises questions about its fitness as a public trustee,” Alliance for Better Campaigns Exec. Dir. Meredith McGehee told reporters. Kerry had been invited by Sinclair to a panel discussion after the program, but he reportedly declined. Sinclair continued not to comment on the matter.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued an interim final rule (see below for effective dates) in order to add a new Part 60 to 7 CFR to provide for a mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) program for farm-raised and wild fish and shellfish (fish and shellfish covered commodities) at retail.

FCC Chmn. Powell said Wed. the Commission acted properly in ordering the Universal Service Administrative Corp. (USAC) to change how it accounts for money in the federal E-rate program fund, the subject of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing yesterday. The issue has gotten considerable national attention in recent days, including coverage in the N.Y. Times and across the country. But the FCC’s 2 Democrats sharply criticized Powell over the way the Commission handled the issue.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued an interim final rule (see below for effective dates) in order to add a new Part 60 to 7 CFR to provide for a mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) program for farm-raised and wild fish and shellfish (fish and shellfish covered commodities).

The CE industry is reportedly putting the final touches on a financing model to support a national electronics waste collection and recycling system, after months of deliberations to bridge differences between TV and computer manufacturers. But state agencies are getting increasingly restive with the slow pace of progress in intra-industry deliberations and are promising a new round of legislative initiatives next year.

British Telecom (BT) will announce next week it’s cutting prices on IPStream broadband office products around 5%, a spokesman said Fri. The incumbent has been dueling with U.K. ISPs over its decision this year to raise fees for its end-to-end service (CD Aug 16 p4). It has met with the U.K. ISP Assn. (ISPA) and the U.K. Internet Federation (UKIF), a group of more than 70 small and medium-sized ISPs. Last Thurs., the BT spokesman said, the company met with ISPA to discuss IPStream. BT raised its prices for the products in anticipation of an Office of Communications (Ofcom) requirement on the margin between IPStream and DataStream, BT’s local access product, the spokesman said. When the decision came down, however, some numbers were lower than the telco had anticipated, so BT is now reducing its prices by 5% to bring them in line with Ofcom’s figures. The lower rates -- which Ofcom will have 28 days to review -- will be published next week and retroactive to Sept.1, the spokesman said. The price cut amounts to about 90 pence off BT’s original increase on IPStream products, an ISPA spokesman said. ISPA members are happier than they were, he said, but they're still talking “quite constructively” with BT about the costs. Another issue of concern to ISPs is when BT will introduce usage-based charging (UBC), under which ISPs pay for the amount of data they transfer along BT’s fat pipe. Under the current capacity-based charging (CBC) system, ISPs are charged as if they carried 5,000 customers per main pipe even if the actual number is much smaller. Last week, BT reassured ISPs it’s on target to launch UBC this year, the BT spokesman said. It’s important that ISPs work with BT to get UBC and CBC right, the ISPA spokesman said. Service providers hope UBC will help solve the issues of BT’s price hikes for smaller ISPs, he said. BT’s announcement that its UBC launch is on schedule is “good news,” the ISPA spokesman said. BT’s price reduction is really only BT giving back the 7% increase it “accidentally” overcharged when it acted on Ofcom’s order before it was published, a UKIF spokesman said. “This does not yet represent a change in the price structure on CBC but is really a rebate,” he said. The 5% cut isn’t the “big news we were hoping for,” the spokesman said.

Comr. Abernathy said Thurs. she would oppose making key changes to the 800 MHz rebanding order, at least on the scale of some changes Nextel has sought, without an FCC vote and probably only following a formal petition for reconsideration. Abernathy also said during a press briefing that she expected the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger order to be sent to the commissioners in the next few days.