Lawmakers will consider new legislation this week to “promote a global Internet free from governmental control and to preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet,” said a House Commerce Committee majority staff memo made public last week. The memo circulated ahead of a Feb. 5 joint hearing with three House subcommittees to examine the events that occurred at the December World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). “This is the time to redouble efforts” with international allies to minimize any harm from the new international regulations on the Internet resulting from the WCIT, the GOP memo said. The joint hearing will be in Rayburn Room 2123 hosted by the House Subcommittees on Communications and Technology; Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade; and Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. Invited to testify at the hearing are: FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, former Ambassador David Gross, Sally Shipman Wentworth, the senior manager-public policy at the Internet Society, and Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge.
The NCTA said the five largest cable operators have deployed about 569,000 CableCARDs for use in retail-purchased CableCARD-enabled devices (http://xrl.us/bod6xu). Add in the four next largest operators and the number climbs to just over 600,000, NCTA said. “By contrast, since ... July 1, 2007, those nine companies have also deployed more than 39,000,000 operator-supplied set-top boxes with CableCARDs,” it said.
Fixed interconnected VoIP falls under state regulatory jurisdiction, the Kansas Corporation Commission ordered. The ruling, adopted Wednesday and mailed Thursday (http://xrl.us/bod6iw), negotiates a murky field of ambiguous jurisdiction from the last decade and specifically weighs in on TWC Digital Phone. That fixed interconnected VoIP provider is a public utility under Kansas rules and “must obtain a certificate to operate” and “must have approved tariffs on file,” the KCC said. TWC had argued for preemption and cited the FCC’s 2004 Vonage order but KCC staff said Vonage applied only to nomadic interconnected VoIP services: “While the Vonage Order concludes nomadic interconnected VoIP services are subject to FCC regulation and thus state commissions are preempted, it does not extend to fixed interconnected VoIP service.” The question arose in a proceeding about “why the Commission should not impose sanctions, fines and penalties on TWC for its failure to obtain a Certificate of Convenience and Authority authorizing it to offer services in Kansas and for its failure to have an approved tariff on file,” according to the order. In a January filing, TWC warned the commission that any enforcement actions taken against the company “would be unlawful” (http://xrl.us/bod6xm).
Conflicting language in the USF/intercarrier compensation order could leave price-cap telcos unable to recover their costs, companies are telling the FCC. The price-cap companies are responding to FCC requests about the potential impact on subscriber line charges (SLCs) if they use Interstate Access Support (IAS) to build and operate broadband networks instead of reducing SLC levels, according to ex parte filings posted Friday. USTelecom and ILEC representatives met with the Wireline Bureau in December to discuss an apparent conflict in the USF/intercarrier compensation support order. Some language appeared to direct carriers to allocate frozen IAS and interstate common line support (ICLS) to the calculation of interstate access charges, USTelecom said (http://xrl.us/bod6t2). Other language appeared to direct carriers to spend that money on building and operating broadband networks in certain areas, the association said. “The industry noted to the Commission that the same funding cannot be applied to both purposes at the same time.” USTelecom urged the bureau to clarify that the USF/ICC order language should be used “to compensate carriers for required reductions in interstate access charges and mandated limits on end-user charges.” If carriers must use a third of their frozen IAS toward broadband rather than constraining end-user charges, they would have to raise other charges, which could harm voice customers, USTelecom said. Verizon’s filing said that because potential SLC increases are capped, the telco couldn’t recover the entire amount of IAS if it were redirected to broadband networks (http://xrl.us/bod6uv). Verizon said almost $13 million would remain unrecovered for Verizon alone.
Measures the FCC is taking under its Broadband Acceleration Initiative, unveiled Jan. 25 (CD Jan 28 p12), offer only “small reforms” and a small step forward, said Trey Hanbury of Hogan Lovells in a post on the law firm’s regulatory blog (http://xrl.us/bod6uc). “Despite the hype, the two latest actions offer incremental improvements over the status quo, but no major change,” Hanbury wrote. “Of the two measures, the more important is the FCC’s release of some useful, but non-binding, interpretative guidance concerning the wireless infrastructure provisions of the recently enacted Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act. In a separate action, the FCC proposed to pursue a rulemaking to formalize and simplify the process of stationing temporary cell phone towers outside pre-planned, but non-emergency events, such as the Super Bowl. While perhaps helpful, these announcements do not alter the basic challenges that carriers and infrastructure providers face.” But FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is also promising to make other changes in the future, he said. “The true test for the Chairman, and the Commission, is whether the agency can finally start to move on some of the more potentially far-reaching measures, such as actions to speed [distributed antenna system] deployment and provide states and localities with model rules,” Hanbury wrote. “According to the Commission, action on the potentially more far-reaching measures should occur ‘in the coming months.’ The industry is waiting."
Departing FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz drew praise from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and criticism from a nonprofit advocate who wants the agency to do more on privacy. Leibowitz, who confirmed he’s leaving the agency Feb. 15, has done “excellent work,” Leahy said in a statement. But Leibowitz “fell far short on antitrust protection and relied on self-regulation too much” in the realms of Do Not Track and data brokers, said John Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project. “The next FTC chair must step up and get the commission to seek legislation. It’s the only way to drive things forward."
Comments are due March 4 on Sandwich Isles Communication’s petition for an FCC waiver of several high-cost universal service rules, including the study area boundary freeze, an agency public notice said Friday (http://xrl.us/bod6qr). The telco asked that its current study area be modified to include all of the Hawaiian homelands, seeks a waiver of rules relating to its participation in the National Exchange Carrier Association common line tariff and seeks a waiver of rules requiring it to remain an average schedule company after the acquisition of any lines and exchanges. The telco also seeks waivers that would let it “immediately” get high-cost support for lines it acquires from other carriers in the Hawaiian homelands based on projected costs, until actual data become available. Replies in docket 96-45 are due March 19.
The Lifeline reform order generated over $213 million in savings to the USF in 2012, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Thursday (http://xrl.us/bod6oa). “The Commission exceeded its savings target goal” of $200 million, the public notice said, going from an estimated $2.4 billion without the reform, to $2.2 billion with the new rules in place to combat waste, fraud and abuse. The bureau said continuation of in-depth data valuations, first begun in 2011, resulted in about $45 million in savings; elimination of Link Up support for installation costs saved $93 million; and a cap on Toll Limitation Service saved $1.5 million. Additional requirements regarding active usage, and stricter proof for eligibility and certification, also “likely produced savings in 2012,” the bureau said.
After receiving online feedback, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., released an updated draft of “Aaron’s Law” -- a bill to reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that she announced after the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz in January -- Lofgren said Friday on Reddit, which Swartz co-founded (http://xrl.us/bod6sn). The new draft would limit “the scope of CFAA by defining ‘access without authorization’ as the circumvention of technological access barriers,” she said. The new draft contains the original language, which would decriminalize terms-of-service violations. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., commented on Lofgren’s post, saying he is “looking forward to taking the lead in the Senate."
The FCC Wireless Bureau said Friday Auction 95 of 5,905 paging licenses will start July 16. The licenses were unsold in earlier auctions or were returned to the FCC (http://xrl.us/bod6jv). The FCC will offer 4,902 licenses in the lower paging bands (35-36 MHz, 43-44 MHz, 152-159 MHz, 454-460 MHz) and 1,003 licenses in the upper paging bands (929-931 MHz). The bureau also sought comment on competitive bidding procedures for the auction. Comments are due Feb. 22, replies March 14.