FCC to Move Speedily on Fees Submarine Cable Operators Pay
The FCC Friday approved 5-0 an order giving itself 60 days to address regulatory fees it charges submarine cable systems. The move responded to concerns raised by the operators. Regulatory fee payments cover all but $1 million of the agency’s $313 million fiscal 2008 budget.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell had pushed the FCC to address the submarine cable issue this year, before 2009 fee assessments. Submarine cable’s international bearer circuit status leaves operators overcharged, industry says. Level 3, which has tripled its capacity in recent years, now pays triple regulatory fees, it said in a filing.
A rulemaking notice approved Friday tees up several other issues for comment -- including whether the FCC should treat IPTV providers as it does cable operators and whether it should calculate fees for DBS by counting subscribers, as it does for cable operators, FCC officials said.
“The commission has been reviewing this issue for about three years and we have heard and considered the proposals and views of the relevant parties, common carriers and companies with submarine cable interests, and cable landing licenses,” McDowell said. “It’s time for the commission to make a decision that makes sense given the incredible expansion of capacity on these systems.”
Despite huge changes in FCC-regulated industries and at the agency itself, the commission hasn’t scrutinized the fees it charges and its assessment of them, Adelstein said. The fees are significant, he said. “I've issued a yearly call for us to conduct a thorough review of our regulatory fees policies,” he said. “I'm pleased we finally acknowledge that our methodology for calculating regulatory fees paid by submarine cable operators is impaired and requires revision.”
“Today’s item correctly concludes that the current methodology needs to be fixed and I'm particularly glad that we set a short timeframe for taking action,” Copps said. “This is a can that we've kicked down the road for too long.”