NARUC formally adopted several resolutions relating to communications, following votes in favor from its telecom committee earlier in the week. The state regulators adopted the new policies Wednesday at the conclusion of its board meeting in Denver, with resolution language often clarified and adjusted over the last several days due to input from industry and debate among regulators (http://bit.ly/11ghREq). The resolutions urge the FCC to examine the Lifeline recertification process to ensure its proper function, and urge state and federal regulators to talk on how to make sure wireline and wireless communications are reliable during power outages. The resolutions affirm the agency should apply numbering resource utilization and optimization rules and obligations equally to all providers and that any future interconnection protects the public interest and that the commission should ensure that the Connect America Fund Phase II rules be transparent and help ensure voice and broadband services are comparable for those living in U.S. high-cost areas. State regulators also adopted a resolution urging states to collaborate with experts in cyberthreat management and mitigation. The telecom committee voted Tuesday to table a resolution on slamming until its November meeting due to a debate over the factual basis surrounding wireless slamming (CD July 24 p19).
Some Senate Republicans questioned the need for new regulations to govern telecom providers as they increasingly transition from copper wireline connections to IP-based connections, at a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Meanwhile, panel Democrats focused on what they called the persistent problems with call completion issues in rural areas. Next week, the Commerce Committee plans to mark up S.Res. 157 expressing the sense of the Senate that telephone service must be improved in rural areas and that no entity may unreasonably discriminate against telephone users in those areas. A committee spokesman did not confirm the date or timing of the markup.
DENVER -- Industry voices and regulators both state and federal wrestled this week with the principles NARUC has begun to articulate as part of its telecom task force on federalism. President Philip Jones formed the group last November, and its members have produced two drafts of principles facing two rounds of comments so far. Stakeholders’ responses split, some praising the tentative principles of collaboration the task force advanced, while others suggested it misses the mark in its definition of communication and stances on such controversial topics as interconnection between Internet Protocol-enabled service providers. One goal of Wednesday’s NARUC sessions in Denver was to directly engage stakeholders that commented critically on the latest draft paper, task force member Chris Nelson, vice chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, told us last week (CD July 22 p18).
Few details emerged Tuesday as lawmakers pressed Gary Epstein, chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, for information on the commission’s work to structure the spectrum incentive auctions authorized by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act. Epstein told lawmakers during a House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing that the commission has made “no final determinations” and has sought to engage “with all interested parties in an open and transparent process.” Epstein said he couldn’t confirm whether the auction would take place in 2014, but said “we will do everything we can in the commission to make that happen."
The hotly contested debate over spectrum aggregation and unlicensed spectrum rules will likely continue at Tuesday’s House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing on the FCC’s spectrum auction, according to advance testimony that circulated Monday. Representatives from T-Mobile and AT&T will offer opposing arguments for why the implementation or lack of a spectrum cap for larger carriers will reduce the amount of revenue from the auction. Meanwhile, broadcasters plan to lay out their top concerns about participation incentives, spectrum repacking proposals and interference issues, among other issues, according to prepared testimony. The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn, and the following witnesses are set to testify: FCC Senior Advisor and Co-Lead, Incentive Auction Task Force, Gary Epstein; Harold Feld, senior vice president, Public Knowledge; Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile vice president-federal regulatory affairs; Rick Kaplan, NAB executive vice president-strategic planning; Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory affairs; and Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition.
The FCC unanimously launched its long-awaited rulemaking on reforms to the E-rate program Friday. But beyond some broad “aspirational” goals, the specifics are anything but settled, officials said. The NPRM will take into consideration “a whole host of comments and options and opportunities and proposals,” said acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Only after comments are received will the commission make a “comprehensive decision” on best ways forward, she said. The item is expected to be released early next week.
Changing dynamics in Washington may influence the balance of federalism, multiple state utility commissioners told us. Commissioners from around the country will gather in Denver Sunday through Wednesday for NARUC’s summer meeting and will address questions of state-federal relations as part of NARUC’s Task Force on Telecom and Federalism and in policy debates. The state role remains critical, said the commissioners, stressing evolving technologies and consumer protections after years of what some consider federal and industry overreach. The five draft telecom resolutions being considered also speak to these changes, they said.
An FCC rulemaking on potential changes to the federal E-rate program has touched a political nerve in a Washington, where the debate takes place against the backdrop of a bigger fight between Republicans and Democrats over entitlement reform. The NPRM, teed up for a vote Friday, builds on a June speech by President Barack Obama urging the commission to make high-speed Internet available to enough schools and libraries to connect 99 percent of American students (CD June 7 p7).
Senate Republicans criticized what they called cost and service deficiencies of President Barack Obama’s recent proposal to reform the E-rate program. During a committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., questioned whether the president’s proposal would unfairly benefit those in schools in more urbanized areas. Obama recently proposed to modernize the E-rate program to ensure that schools and libraries are connected through broadband of at least 100 Mbps with a target of 1 Gbps (CD June 7 p7).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the “best thing” about Wednesday’s committee hearing on E-rate “will be Ed Markey on the committee,” during an interview at the Capitol. Markey, a Democrat, was sworn in as a senator Tuesday after winning the Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry, a term that ends in 2015. Hill aides said it’s likely Markey will be named to the Senate Commerce Committee but he had not been formally named at our deadline. A committee spokesman had no comment Tuesday. Rockefeller told us he started pulling the strings to get Markey on the Senate Commerce Committee “a year and a half ago.” Markey is “a natural for it. He’s the E-rate guy in the House,” said Rockefeller. Rockefeller brushed off recent suggestions by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., that the FCC should seek to cap USF funding. “Chairman Walden has made a career out of making life miserable for me -- but I'm still smiling,” Rockefeller told us. Rockefeller, the original author of the E-rate program, said he was unconcerned by Walden’s recent letter urging FCC acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn to implement a cap. “What they do on E-rate in the House is not going to go in the Senate, so he is free to do whatever he wants.” Walden had urged Clyburn to cap the overall fund at current levels and refer any USF expansion proposals to the Federal-State Joint Board on “whether to adopt expansion proposals and, if so, how to implement them within the cap,” according to the letter (CD July 16 p3). Clyburn previously circulated an NPRM ahead of Friday’s commission meeting tied to President Barack Obama’s proposal to modernize the E-rate program to ensure that schools and libraries are connected through broadband of at least 100 Mbps with a target of 1 Gbps (CD June 7 p7). The Senate Commerce Committee’s E-rate hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Scheduled to testify at the hearing are Sheryl Abshire, chief technology officer at Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish School System; Linda Lord, state librarian at the Maine State Library; Patrick Finn, senior vice president-public sector at Cisco Systems; and James Coulter, co-founder at TPG Capital.