Many state public utility commissions (PUCs) have been reluctant to support the United Church of Christ (UCC) in its effort “to ensure corporate character among telecom companies who have licenses to operate on behalf of the public interest,” Rev. Robert Chase, dir. of the UCC Office of Communication, said in an interview: “We have one legislator so far who has written a letter in support of this effort -- Congressman [Richard] Burr (Rep.-N.C.),” who also is a vice chmn. of the House Commerce Committee. “We are looking for Sen. [Joseph] Lieberman [D-Conn.] and Congressman Dennis Kucinich [D-Ohio] to do likewise,” Chase said. He visited Washington Tues. and Wed. to meet with lawmakers and others to encourage them to join the UCC and pressure the FCC to conduct an industrywide investigation and, based on its results, open a rulemaking to prevent financial fraud. Chase expressed concerns about “egregious” behavior by WorldCom and others in the telecom industry: “Our effort is to get the FCC to take action on behalf of the public, which is now being faced with $11 billion in fraudulent misstatements. How many more billions do we need to go before the regulatory bodies are going to step up and say ‘enough'? It’s time that we put policies in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.” He said groups such as Urban Link, Rainbow Push, the National Council of Churches, the Communications Workers of America and others had filed letters with the FCC supporting the effort: “We are looking to extend that group of supporters.” Chase said the UCC was planning to act on both the federal and the state level (CD March 13 p10). He said he had received responses from a dozen state PUCs, including Fla., N.J., Pa. and S.C. “In many cases their initial response is to say that this lies outside our purview,” he said. However, he said D.C. PUC Comr. Anthony Rachal was “more than supportive to the point that he initiated our meeting.”
Five years after a presidential directive ordering federal agencies to take explicit steps to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, “the current situation remains unacceptable,” House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) said jointly Wed. “These agencies should have completed their tasks long ago,” they said, referring to the findings of a General Accounting Office (GAO) report they had commissioned that found mixed results by agencies.
Expressing frustration at the FCC’s pace of developing solutions to problems facing the universal service program, Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R- Mont.) said he would like to see a summit involving members of Congress, the FCC and the Federal-State Board on Universal Service. “This horse [the FCC] isn’t going to run any faster unless we put the spurs on,” Burns told reporters after a hearing Wed. on universal service. He said such a summit would help members determine whether legislation was needed in any areas and, if so, whether Congress could begin work on a bill this year.
FCC legal advisers said Wed. they were aware of concerns by rural ILECs that universal service money was shrinking while requests for it were growing with the arrival of competitive carriers in rural areas. But they also told members of the National Telecom Co-op Assn. (NTCA) that those were very difficult problems to solve because the Telecom Act encouraged competition as well as universal service. The advisers told NTCA that numerous universal service issues were teed up at the Commission, including what services should be funded and how the support money should be raised, and they wouldn’t be easy to solve. NTCA members were in town for their annual Legislative & Policy Conference.
The FCC is set to open a broad inquiry at today’s (Thurs.’s) agenda meeting on receiver performance requirements, ranging from TV receivers to more traditional wireless handsets. Among the key questions expected is the Commission’s statutory authority in that area and incentive- based ways to make such specifications work, a source said. The agency’s Spectrum Policy Task Force included in its wide range of policy recommendations last fall minimum receiver performance requirements. Today’s agenda item has drawn particular attention because it specifically cites DTV receivers as part of a broader inquiry.
The appropriateness of public TV (PTV) stations’ using federal, state and local govt. allocations to fund their proposed ad-supported ancillary and supplementary services was raised by judges of a U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., panel hearing a challenge to the FCC order that permitted PTV stations to solicit ads on their excess nonbroadcast digital capacity. While the arguments of petitioners the United Church of Christ and Media Access Project (MAP) and the FCC focused on whether the statutory prohibition on carrying ads covered PTV’s subscription services and the definition of broadcasting, Judges Raymond Randolph and Judith Rogers showed more interest in issues such as tax dollars’ being used for such services and the tax status of PTV. Randolph asked Kevin Newsom, counsel for the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS), the intervenor, whether: (1) There was no prohibition on the use of federal, state and local funds for funding subscription services. (2) PTV stations proposed to use taxpayer dollars for these services to turn a profit. PTV stations weren’t planning on turning a profit from those services, Newsom said, but would plough all revenue generated from them back into the system to broaden their noncommercial educational service offerings. Rogers asked what problems would be created under tax laws if public broadcasters put their spectrum to commercial use and why it would be a good thing for them to do so. Newsom clarified that ad-supported revenue wouldn’t supplant govt. and membership funding. In fact, he said, Sec. 399(B) of the Communications Act, gives broad authority to public broadcasters to use their facilities for remunerative purposes, he said. Referring to FCC counsel Daniel Armstrong’s statement that PTV stations would use excess digital capacity to provide Internet service to rural areas, stock quotes and information on homeland security, Randolph wondered whether the stock quote service by PTV stations would be in competition with cable and other offerings. “You are subsidized and they are not,” he said. Newsom said the Commission had made it clear in its order that it would address such issues. Harold Feld, counsel for petitioners, said it was clear that Congress intended the meaning of “broadcasting” to include subscription services and Congress had no reason to think it had to explicitly prohibit ads on subscription services. Even if the meaning of broadcasting were ambiguous in the statute, the FCC’s order was “arbitrary and capricious” and contrary to past precedent, he said. The Commission in 1951 had rejected the public broadcasters’ plea for limited commercial operations, Feld said, saying it was imperative to insulate noncommercial educational stations (NCEs) from commercial pressures. Armstrong sought to assure the court that the Commission’s order would ensure that the ad-free nature of PTV’s over-the- air broadcasts would continue. The FCC’s order allows ad- support only on PTV’s ancillary and supplementary services, while stipulating that public broadcasters should use a substantial majority of their digital capacity for noncommercial educational services. The same court 15 years ago in National Assn. for Better Broadcasting v. FCC had upheld the Commission’s authority to interpret the term “broadcasting” to not include subscription services. Referring to tax breaks enjoyed by NCEs, Randolph asked whether if there were anything to prevent them from putting all kinds of editorials on their subscription services. Armstrong said that as long as public broadcasters’ tax- exempt status was in jeopardy, there were limitations on their ability to do that.
Senate Commerce Technology Subcommittee Chmn. Brownback (R-Kan.) said Wed. he wanted FCC reform to be a priority for the Commerce Committee this session. In a statement to accompany a Communications Subcommittee hearing on E911, Brownback said he would meet with Committee Chmn. McCain (R- Ariz.) to discuss the committee’s agenda, particularly FCC reform. “How can the Commission be expected to help make E911 a success if the Commission is broken?” Brownback asked, again criticizing the agency for its Triennial Review ruling. “Today we are faced with unprecedented uncertainty in the telecom sector created by fly-by-night rulemaking, public admissions by a Commissioner suggesting he didn’t know what he was voting on and a final product consisting of what appears to be conflicting federal-state jurisdictional standards supposedly derived from one federal standard in the [Telecom] Act.” He said he voted for the Telecom Act, but didn’t recall voting in favor of “regulation by multiple choice.” Brownback also said the process leading to the order “leaves much to be desired.” A spokeswoman for McCain said FCC reauthorization was included in the committee agenda McCain released in Nov.
Verizon agreed to pay $5.7 million to U.S. Treasury to settle FCC investigation into violations of Telecom Act ban on Bell companies’ providing long distance service before receiving authority from FCC. Commission announced it had entered into consent decree with Verizon in which company admitted it had marketed long distance in its local service region on 5 occasions in Jan.-July 2002 through cable TV ads, bill inserts and direct mail solicitations. FCC Chmn. Powell said action demonstrated agency’s “commitment to deterring companies from entering the market prematurely.”
OPASTCO said Tues. it was upset with way many state PUCs were allowing competitive carriers to receive Universal Service Fund (USF). Group said it would start pushing message to Congress that states were straying from congressional intent of Telecom Act of 1996 and that FCC needed more oversight of PUCs. With OPASTCO members in Washington for annual legislative and regulatory conference, many were planning to meet with members of Congress this week in attempt to put more focus on USF issues, particularly designations of eligible telecom carrier (ETC) by state PUCs.
Technology companies opposed petition that asked FCC to require retailers of 2-way voice or data radio equipment, excluding mobile phones, to undertake detailed record-keeping on customers. Dale Reich, self-described retail vendor of used radio equipment, petitioned FCC in Nov. to require retailers of such equipment, including unlicensed devices, to keep records of buyers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, signatures. CompUSA, Intersil, Symbol Technologies, Vanu and XtremeSpectrum jointly opposed petition Fri., citing burdens such requirements would impose without regulatory purpose. Such mandates would threaten market for consumer wireless devices such as Wi-Fi, filing said. “Emerging technologies such as ultra-wideband would be cut off before they can establish a foothold,” companies said. Requested labeling and record-keeping would extend to devices such as cordless phones, wireless speakers, garage door openers, baby monitors and wireless toys, joint comments said. Request would have FCC require ownership tagging for certain radios, including Part 15 devices, used beyond operator’s home area, which would include information such as whether license was required and FCC call sign or file number. “It is simply not feasible for the checkout clerks at CompUSA or Toys ‘R’ Us to interrupt their duties to fill out purchaser-specific paperwork, open boxes and prepare and apply individualized labels,” filing said. Petitioners raised concern that under proposal retailers would have to keep large amount of material “private from unauthorized inspection, yet accessible to a ‘reasonable request’ from law enforcement officials; and a retailer can invite police inspection if it suspects the radios are used unlawfully.” That means retailers would have to make “close judgment calls” on which law enforcement requests were reasonable and “what observations about a customer create a sufficient suspicion to justify showing the records to police,” filing said. Companies said no govt. agency required such detailed level of records for any consumer product other than vehicles. Agere Systems opposed Reich’s petition, citing potential impact on devices that operate under Part 15 unlicensed rules. Agere said petition was without merit, would impose unnecessary burdens on FCC and retailers and would “represent an unwarranted invasion of privacy of the purchasers of such equipment for no legitimate regulatory purpose.” It said Reich had failed to establish problem that record-keeping proposals would address. IEEE group raised similar concerns, including invasion of privacy involving consumer purchases. IEEE 802.18 radio regulatory technical advisory group said proposals “fly in the face of federal preemption of local and state regulation of radio communications devices, which the Commission reserves to itself the right to regulate.” Local agencies don’t have authority over such matters because of federal preemption of state and local regulation of such radio communications devices, IEEE group said.