In comments to the FCC on how new UNE rules should be written, Bell companies urged the FCC to eliminate switches and high-capacity loops and transport from the list of UNEs Bells have to share with competitors. Meanwhile, CLECs said it’s clear competitors still need those elements under the Telecom Act’s guidelines. The FCC had asked for comments to gain input as it writes rules to replace those overturned by the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C.
The Universal Service Administrative Corp. (USAC), which administers the $2.25 billion federal E-rate program, acknowledged at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tues. it had lost $4.6 million as a result of an accounting change requiring the corporation to have cash on hand to meet commitment letters. The change forced USAC to sell off high interest Treasury bills (T-bills) and other assets, paying significant penalties.
Efforts to pass E-911 funding were delayed last week when the House Rules Committee rejected an amendment to the House intelligence reform bill (HR-10). Rep. Shimkus (R-Ill.), sponsor of E-911 legislation (HR-2898) that passed the House last year, offered language as an amendment to HR-10, but it was rejected. A spokesman for Shimkus said House leaders wanted to keep the bill clean. HR-10 would enact several intelligence reform measures recommended by the 9/11 Commission. Industry sources said there were ongoing talks between staff for Senate sponsors and House Commerce Committee staffers on differences between House and Senate E-911 bills. While the House proposed spending $100 million a year on E-911 upgrades, Senate legislation (S-1250) sponsored by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) proposed $500 million. Burns recently said he was talking with Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-Tenn.) about moving a $250 million funding bill in the Senate. Industry sources said House members wanted E-911 legislation that was tighter in size and scope. Fiscally conservative members worried that the Senate bill allotted too much, sources said. Other House members also worry S-1250 is too broad and too many entities are eligible for funding, sources said. That issue has riled some public safety entities in states that have already devoted significant resources to E-911 - - and argue it’s unfair to give grants to states with lackluster funding of E-911 after other states have made strides toward E-911 funding without federal assistance, sources said. Burns and co-sponsor Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) would still like to move the bill independently on the floor, but are prepared to attach it to other legislation, an industry source said. Shimkus recently said the Senate should simply pick up the House version of the bill, to avoid scheduling a conference this late in the legislative session. Also, the fate of E-911 efforts in the Senate is unclear; Senate Appropriations Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) is pushing for E-911 provisions as part of the spectrum relocation trust fund (HR-1320), which has stalled in the Senate.TL
With an Oct. 8 deadline looming, the FCC hasn’t come to agreement on how to legally justify a reciprocal compensation plan for ISP-bound traffic that will hold up in court. Inside sources said there appear to be enough votes to rule that ISP traffic is defined as interstate, meaning under federal jurisdiction and not subject to the Telecom Act’s reciprocal compensation requirements. However, the commissioners are struggling with how to make sure that decision holds up legally and, said an FCC official, “there’s high drama attached to it.”
The European Commission’s (EC) approach to development of digital rights management (DRM) technologies is too pro-industry, consumer and user groups said in comments. In July, the EC launched a consultation on a report -- by its High Level Group (HLG) on DRM -- on whether European Union (EU)-wide policies were needed to boost DRM deployment (WID July 19 p1).
The federal govt.’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) must put much more emphasis on interoperable communications, L.A. County Fire Chief Michael Freeman told a House hearing Wed. The ability of first responders to communicate emerged repeatedly as a critical issue at the hearing by the Committee on Homeland Security’s emergency preparedness and response subcommittee. NIMS was launched by the Bush Administration under the Dept. of Homeland Security to coordinate response to terrorist attacks and disasters, including communications.
Local govts. are looking to BPL to add to marketplace competition and provide service to rural and unserved areas, but it appears unlikely they'll regulate BPL any differently from other communications providers that use the public rights-of-way (ROW), including cable. That’s the view of industry officials and municipal lawyers we spoke to. Their prediction will give little encouragement to a nascent BPL industry banking on an unregulated approach, based on the reception BPL deployments have received so far.
Refusing to accept money from individual companies, the Federation for Economically Rational Utility Policy (FERUP) leaders expects to emerge as a strong voice in key telecom debates at the state and federal levels, members told us. An organization of reform-minded state commissioners, also members of NARUC, was officially launched this year and is made up of at least 14 commissioners from 12 states. FERUP held a D.C. Summit last week (CD Sept 15 p2). An IRS filing for 501(c)(3) non-profit status is in process, officials said.
FCC Chmn. Powell said the Commission will be very active with indecency complaints in coming weeks as many broadcasters licenses come up for renewal. “This is why we are so active with our indecency complaints,” Powell told reporters at a press briefing Wed.
Wash. regulators fined AT&T $1,000 for failing to file local interconnection agreements it made with Qwest. AT&T was one of 13 CLECs named by the Wash. Utilities & Transportation Commission (WUTC) in a complaint (Case UT- 033011) alleging they and Qwest violated state and federal law by failing to file their pacts and their supplementary agreements for dispute resolution so these could be available to other requesting carriers. AT&T agreed to the fine in a settlement that also required it to file by the end of Oct. any remaining unfiled agreements and in future to file any new agreements within 30 days. AT&T said that when the agreements were made, it believed Qwest had the sole obligation to file them. Three other CLECs named in this case, MCI, Covad and XO Communications, settled this summer.