FCC candidates can expect questions from Congress on broadband and universal service policies, said a recent Government Accountability Office report. How to remedy the U.S. slide in international broadband rankings should lead the list of inquiries during confirmation hearings, GAO said. Scrutiny of the FCC’s role in running the universal service program also should be high on the list for nominees, although FCC confirmation hearings aren’t likely for several months, the report said.
The FCC was within its authority to not reinstate the license of KVEZ(FM) Parker, Ariz., the commission told the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit in a brief last week opposing an appeal by the station’s owner. Section 301 of the Communications Act allows the commission to prevent broadcast towers from interfering with air navigation, it said in Eagle Broadcasting v. FCC. The regulator said it was correct in deciding that the station needed Federal Aviation Administration permission to transmit from a site near an airport.
NEW ORLEANS -- State phone regulators see December as a key month, said panelists at the annual NARUC meeting here. Nebraska Public Service Commission member Sue Vanicek said her state’s suit over its power to assess Vonage and other intrastate VoIP providers a 6.95 percent fee to support the state universal service fund will affect USF efforts by other states, as will an FCC ruling expected next month on changing the federal system for ensuring universal phone service and agency controls on intercarrier compensation.
NEW ORLEANS -- Qwest CEO Ed Mueller said the economic crisis shows that regulation has its place. Lauding state regulators for “successfully opening the industry to competition,” Mueller told NARUC telecommunications committee members Monday that state commissions gave his company and other incumbent providers “the flexibility to offer new services, bundles and promotions and adjust pricing to compete effectively and better serve customers.”
The FCC must improve administration of the Universal Service Fund, USF payers and recipients said last week in comments on an October FCC inquiry into how it might strengthen USF management, administration and oversight (CD Sept 15 p7). High error rates cited in a 2007 Inspector General audit worry the FCC. Meanwhile, Universal Service Administrative Co. and parent National Exchange Carrier Association urged the FCC to approve a divestiture of USAC from NECA.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Barack Obama’s victory opens the door to federal net neutrality rules, including on wireless, Google and Free Press executives said last week on a panel at the Wireless Communications Association Symposium. Debate had died down in recent months as the sides gained an appreciation of each other’s interests, AT&T and Google executives said.
The FCC acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in allowing an improperly filed American Public Communications Council complaint against NetworkIP to proceed, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said. The decision’s overall effect is that NetworkIP no longer must pay a significant part of a sum the FCC said it owes three payphone providers for calls made using NetworkIP calling cards, said an official familiar with the case.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mobile devices that don’t use a planned geolocation database to avoid interfering with other uses of the TV white spaces (CD Nov 5 p1) will have to jump through hoops including approval by the FCC commissioners, the acting Wireless Bureau chief said. Jim Schlichting said late Wednesday he expects the order to be released “in a matter of days.”
Four members of the FCC pledged to work together on broad intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund reform, for a vote at the Dec. 18 FCC meeting. The four cited growing consensus on several issues teed up for decision, in a statement they all signed. But FCC Chairman Kevin Martin questioned whether his colleagues will really be ready to reach a decision in December. The letter was released just before midnight Wednesday, as the FCC responded to a writ of mandamus by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit addressing the so-called ISP remand (CD Nov 6 p1).
The FCC likely will have busy months ahead, even with pending changes at the agency with the likely departure of Chairman Kevin Martin as early as January. Unless Martin stays on, the FCC will be left with only three commissioners at the end of January -- Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein and Republican Robert McDowell. Martin likely has only one more regular meeting over which to preside, scheduled for Dec. 18.