A Moscow Arbitration Court ordered the national regulator to issue a license for providing mobile services in Russia’s Far East to the country’s 2nd-largest operator, VimpelCom. The court upheld a lawsuit that VimpelCom had filed against the Federal Service for Communications, Rossvyaznador, which 35 times turned down VimpelCom’s request for the license. On Aug. 21, the same court is expected to consider a suit that VimpelCom filed against the State Radio Frequency Commission for failure to act on an antitrust ruling and issue the license to a VimpelCom subsidiary in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District. The antitrust regulator had ordered the commission to cancel its decision that rejected VimpelCom subsidiary’s application for radio frequencies and to reconsider the application. VimpelCom’s main competitors, mobile operators MTS and MegaFon, have licenses to operate in all the regions of the district. MegaFon is the only operator with a license covering all of Russia.
Resurrecting an idea first aired several years ago, the Federal-State Joint Board asked for comments on using “reverse auctions” to distribute universal service funds in rural and other high-cost areas. The idea gained currency earlier this year when FCC Chmn. Martin voiced interest in letting phone companies bid to provide universal service in rural areas (CD March 30 p6). The term “reverse auction” sometimes is used to indicate that low bidders, not high bidders, get contracts.
New technology, or even new uses for old technology like voice mail, could greatly improve communications in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, several organizations told the FCC in comments this week. “Policy makers and public safety officials alike should be attuned to the value that IP technologies bring to first responder and emergency communications,” said Cisco Systems.
Time Warner Cable said it won’t restore NFL Network, after removing it from systems it acquired. The FCC had intervened a 2nd time this week in a cable contract dispute (CD Aug 1 p9). The company balked at a Thurs. FCC order to “reinstate carriage” of the sports channel to Adelphia and Comcast subscribers. “At this point in time we have not moved forward to do that,” Mark Harrad, Time Warner Cable senior vp-communications, told us: “You cannot carry programming without a license to do so.”
The Dept. of Homeland Security missed a deadline to tell Congress how to meet needs in public safety communication, including interoperable modalities. The report was due June 20, a date reflecting a 6 months-plus extension. Congress told DHS to report in the 2004 Intelligence Reform Act. The report, originally due Dec. 17, was to accompany an FCC report on public safety use of 700 MHz spectrum, which the Commission sent Congress in Dec. (CD Dec 22 p2).
The Ariz. Corporation Commission (ACC) plans an Aug. 28 hearing on a staff recommendation to fine Cox $2 million for helping draft a special service deal with a housing developer last year that all but shut out rivals from providing local service to the 17,000-home Vistancia planned community in Peoria. The staff complaint alleged the contract between Cox and developer Shea Sunbelt violated state and federal laws that prohibit discriminatory and anticompetitive right of way access pacts for voice, data and video services. Under the arrangement, the town of Peoria granted Shea Sunbelt control over access to public rights of way within the Vistancia community. Shea charged Cox a $1 million ROW access fee, but also paid Cox $3 million to construct the telecom network within the development. Cox and Shea would have shared revenue based on the number of customers Cox signed up. The deal came to light after competitive phone provider Accipiter Communications sued in state court and filed a complaint with the ACC alleging the pact imposed onerous terms on Cox’ rivals that made it all but impossible to serve Vistancia customers. Cox settled the Accipter suit for $1 million, but the ACC staff continued the complaint case. Cox said the proposed fine is excessive and inappropriate, particularly since Cox cooperated in addressing the situation. But the ACC staff said Cox engaged in blatant anticompetitive behavior and the $2 million fine would send a very strong signal to all telecom providers that the ACC is serious about ensuring fair competition.
More than four and a half years after CableLabs devised the first technical standards for digital cable set-top boxes and cable-ready digital TV sets able to work on any cable system, cable operators finally are preparing the way for those devices.
Senate Commerce Committee negotiations on a hefty manager’s amendment to pending telecom reform legislation were expected to continue “well into the night and tomorrow,” a committee spokesman told us Wed. The committee is scheduled to markup Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) 3rd draft of the bill today (Thurs.). Some Hill watchers said the marathon meeting could spill into next week. The broad draft contains hot topics like net neutrality and preemption of state wireless regulation (CD June 21 p1), as well as issues like video franchising and Universal Service Fund (USF) reform.
The FCC has authority to reject a telecom carriers’ tariffs, even years after they were filed, the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., said Tues., ruling on a case brought by Verizon. Verizon had challenged an FCC decision to reject its tariffs for not using an “add back” in setting rates it charged for network access. In a decision written by Judge Thomas Griffith, the court said the accounting issue was complex but the decision was “relatively straightforward because, at its core, petitioners’ challenge cannot overcome the broad delegation of power Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission to suspend petitioners’ rates and determine whether they are ‘just and reasonable.'” Verizon had complained it was unreasonable for the FCC to require that it revise its 1993 and 1994 tariffs to comply with the add-back rule several years after the tariffs were instituted. Griffin concluded: “But Congress has expressly authorized the FCC to do what petitioners urge it cannot: suspend petitioners’ tariffs upon their filing, subject the petitioners to an accounting order to track revenue earned under the tariffs, and determine at a later date whether petitioners’ tariffs contain ‘just and reasonable’ rates.” The court concluded that the FCC “reasonably applied its ‘quasi-legislative authority.'” The “add- back” accounting procedure originally was a feature of rate- of-return regulation and involved “adding back” refunds for prior excess earnings into calculations for current earning periods. The more recent application of add-back was used by the FCC under price cap regulation, which replaced rate-of- return. The ILECs had applied add-back in different ways, depending on how it affected their finances, the court also noted: “We fail to see how the FCC’s determination on add- back was arbitrary. Given the conflicting uses of add-back by various LECs depending upon whether add-back would contribute to their financial well-being, the Commission sought to take a uniform, fair position on add-back and reasonably chose the position most consistent with its price cap regime.” Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg and Judge Judith Rogers also were on the panel.
Senate Commerce Committee Co-Chmn. Inouye (D-Hawaii) leveled strong criticism Mon. at the Committee’s latest attempt to write omnibus telecom legislation (CD June 17 Special Report), saying some of the changes were “disappointing” and he wondered if a reform package could be passed in this Congress.