ADELSTEIN RECUSED FROM VOTING ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE CONTRIBUTIONS
FCC Comr. Adelstein has been recused from voting on pending proposal to change way carriers make contributions to Universal Service Fund, he told reporters at breakfast Tues. He said FCC’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) advised him late last week that he should be recused from universal service issue because of “family financial situation.”
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Adelstein said later issue involved his wife’s family holdings but didn’t elaborate. “I'm working to divest those interests and I should be clear of any conflicts of interest in the next couple to 3 weeks and be ready to operate on any issue before the Commission,” he said. “I'd really love to get to work on the universal service contributions methodology” but Commission might have to move on that without him, Adelstein told reporters. Because of his interest in rural issues, he was expected to focus on issues such as universal service (CD Dec 2 p1).
Adelstein also told reporters that conflict would bar him from working on any of items on agenda for today’s (Wed.) open meeting, all of them wireless issues, generally involving telecom. “It’s really a case-by-case thing that OGC lays out,” he said. “I'll be back in the mix very soon and this is going to clear up and there won’t be anything that I can’t do.”
Adelstein said Commission “can’t do too many” hearings or studies on media ownership and he would be “happy to participate in any other hearings that might be arranged.” Comr. Copps, who has been pushing for hearings, has said he would try to do more than one in Richmond that Comr. Powell announced last week (CD Dec 5 p7). Adelstein acknowledged criticism by some that courts had demanded hard evidence, as opposed to anecdotal evidence that might be generated by hearings, but he said both were valuable. “You can’t get too much information on this,” he said. “The courts are demanding that we come up with a solid record of evidence to support any rules that the Commission might establish. In that process, I think we can’t do too much reaching out, we can’t have too many hearings, we can’t have too much input, we can’t do too many studies.”
Adelstein said he believed Commission could be “a little insular sometimes” and he would like to see it get broader perspective on issues affecting public interest. “I'm hoping to get out of Washington on a regular basis and go talk to people in their communities and see how they feel about these issues and what kind of services that they're getting as consumers,” he said.
Adelstein said he hoped to bring “independent perspective” to Commission: “I'm hoping to be open and fair and, most of all, committed to doing what is in the public interest.” He said he hoped to help restore telecom economy and expressed strong interest in making sure broadband was available to rural areas, inner city residents, minorities, people with disabilities, native Americans.
Several reporters asked whether he was concerned about shortness of his term, which expires in June because it’s remainder of term held by ex-FCC Comr. Tristani. “I just got here,” Adelstein said, gesturing around his sparsely furnished office. “I haven’t even put anything up on the walls yet,” he said, indicating it was premature to talk about leaving.
Adelstein said he didn’t want to get into details of pending broadband proceedings, but said he helped shepherd through Congress largest rural broadband in history. Farm bill he worked on makes millions of dollars in loans to promote broadband deployment where it’s not currently available. Asked whether broadband should be part of universal service, he said it was “envisioned” by Telecom Act “eventually.” Sec. 254 of Act, which deals with universal services, uses words “advanced services” 5 times, he said, “so clearly Congress was contemplating advanced services as part of the system. But there are a number of questions as to when and how that might happen.”
Declining to discuss many questions before him, Adelstein said they either were pending proceedings or that he still was studying issues, including question of whether broadcasters legally could demand multicast carriage of DTV on cable systems. After spending 15 years as congressional staffer, he said coordination between agency and lawmakers could be better and he hoped to take on role as something of emissary to Congress, in consultation with Chmn. Powell, of course.
As for his personal habits, Adelstein said he was Comcast subscriber of digital TV and cable modem, spending about $160 per month. “That’s because I've got a lot of boxes, I get digital cable and the cable modem, which I think is a package deal,” he explained. Overall, he said, he was “pretty happy” with service. “People are concerned about price but you also have a lot of new technology being deployed, so you have to look at both sides of that equation.” He joked about length of time his confirmation took in Senate: “It’s known as the world’s most deliberative body and I think it really is. They certainly deliberated a while with me.”