Claiming two-party collegiality still exists in tech politics, the GOP and Democratic co-chairs of the High Tech Caucus said they planned to sit together at Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. “We are simply reinforcing that even in a highly polarized political environment we intend to put the issues most important to America’s innovators ahead of any political agenda,” said co-Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas. Democratic co-Chair Doris Matsui of California said, “The High Tech Caucus brings together leaders on technology issues from both sides of the aisle, and proves that these issues can, and must, transcend politics.”
Civil rights and “digital divide” erasure advocates gave mixed reviews to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Lifeline reform proposals Monday. As expected (CD Jan 9 p7), Genachowski promised what he called “cost controls” and “a budget” for Lifeline and Link-Up, with most of his efforts focused on rooting out some 200,000 duplicate claims and building a database to prevent future “waste.” The draft order will circulate Tuesday, Genachowski said.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, may add spectrum auction authority to a larger spending package that’s to be voted on this week on the House floor, a Boehner spokesman told us Friday. Boehner is discussing using spectrum as a “pay-for” for a payroll tax extension, the yearly pay correction for doctors serving Medicare patients and other items in the package, the spokesman said. If the spectrum proposal goes straight to the floor, it would skip a vote by the full Commerce Committee that had also been expected for this week. The House Communications Subcommittee approved draft spectrum legislation on Thursday (CD Dec 2 p1) amid objections by Democrats.
Spectrum legislation survived a lengthy House Communications Subcommittee markup in which the political parties squabbled over many details of the complicated bill. The subcommittee voted 17-6 to approve the GOP draft bill with amendments. Every Democrat voted no except Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga. The approved version would authorize voluntary incentive auctions and give public safety the 700 MHz D-block and $6.5 billion for a national wireless broadband network. The draft would not let the FCC provide for unlicensed use spectrum freed up by incentive auctions. States and a private company would play a large role in governance of the public safety network. And the bill would limit FCC authority to make rules in auctions.
The Senate won’t move spectrum legislation this year, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. That development came the same day that House Commerce Republicans reversed position on the 700 MHz D-block, bringing the House and Senate closer to consensus. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who previously supported a commercial auction of the D-block, released a new draft of his spectrum bill that would give public safety the license to the D-block. However, House Commerce Democrats, who still have reservations about unlicensed spectrum and some other issues, released their own rival draft bill. The House Communications Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up spectrum legislation Thursday.
An order on Lifeline reform is expected to circulate Tuesday, FCC and telecom officials said. Wireline staffers were continuing to work on the order through Monday, but the eighth floor hadn’t been briefed on its contents yet, an FCC official said. Industry has been atwitter over the proposed order because of speculation that the commission could still cap the fund (CD Nov 17 p9). On Monday, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she hoped that wasn’t the case. Matsui plans “to convey to the FCC that the Lifeline program should not be capped,” she told us in an email. “Instead, the FCC should restrain any uncontrolled growth of the Low-Income Fund, similar to what they do with the High Cost Fund. The Low-Income fund plays a critical role in connecting the most vulnerable Americans, including our seniors, with their communities and families. That should not be compromised.” Matsui said she'll also urge the FCC to use the Lifeline program as a model to promote broadband adoption among the poor.
House Judiciary Committee leaders should consider “narrow and targeted remedies” against online infringement, rather than the “overly broad” provisions in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), scheduled for a hearing Wednesday (see separate report in this issue), lawmakers said in a letter Tuesday. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both Silicon Valley Democrats, and nine others told Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., SOPA “would target legitimate domestic websites, creating significant uncertainties for those in the technology and venture capital industries.” SOPA overturns the “basic protection” provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s notice-and-takedown system and safe-harbor provisions, the letter said: “The result will be an explosion of innovation-killing lawsuits and litigation” that will scare away venture capitalists from Internet-based businesses. The bill as written “would cause serious and long term damage to the technology industry, one of the few bright spots in our economy.” The letter was also signed by Reps. Jared Polis, D-Colo., Ron Paul, R-Texas, Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Mike Doyle, D-Pa., Mike Honda, D-Calif., Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Mike Thompson, D-Calif., George Miller, D-Calif., and John Campbell, R-Calif.
Congress needs to find a balance between unlicensed and licensed spectrum in “any spectrum legislation it may move this fall,” CTIA President Steve Largent said in a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. “To be clear, any band plan adopted by the Commission for the repurposed broadcast bands must not sacrifice spectrum in the TV bands that is ideal for licensed mobile wireless broadband service to accommodate unlicensed use,” Largent wrote. “That does not mean there is no opportunity for unlicensed usage in those bands. Because there will need to be a gap between the uplink and downlink bands used for licensed services, there may be a possibility (subject to appropriate interference safeguards that protect adjacent, primary licensed services) to permit secondary unlicensed usage in that gap.” Congress should allow unlicensed use in the white spaces of a repacked TV band and also approve additional unlicensed usage in the 5 GHz band as recommended in HR-2520, sponsored by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Largent said.
Thirteen cable operators will follow Comcast’s lead in selling broadband service for about $10 monthly to low-income households, the cable industry and FCC confirmed Wednesday. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and House Commerce Committee Democratic members Doris Matsui of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts praised the plans. The agency described it as a $4 billion “unprecedented, in-kind offer” by ISPs and others for 15 million to 25 million Americans to get Internet service. That’s the sum of commitments made by Microsoft, Morgan Stanley and others, including some like Best Buy that have been previously publicized, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. NCTA said companies ranging from Time Warner Cable to BendBroadband, with less than 50,000 subscribers in central Oregon, are participating in the Connect to Compete Program (CD Oct 13 p11). The program that NCTA said its members are participating in resembles a service Comcast agreed to offer as part of getting FCC approval to buy NBCUniversal. “Comcast has also been an early and important leader with their Internet Essentials Initiative,” Genachowski said at a public school in Washington. He said (http://xrl.us/bmh9ph) Commissioner Mignon Clyburn “is going to be playing an active role in mobilizing the ground game.” Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, GCI, Mediacom, Midcontinent Communications and Suddenlink are among the cable participants. Cable operators will start adding participants in the spring, with a nationwide rollout next fall, the NCTA said: “An eligible family may enroll anytime during that three-year window for a period of up to two years.” There are 5.5 million households with kids eligible for free school lunches -- the population that can take advantage of the cable offer -- who don’t buy broadband, the NCTA said (http://xrl.us/bmh9ot). AT&T, not part of Wednesday’s event, has “always and will continue to be on the look-out for opportunities to promote the benefits of broadband and to bring more Americans into the broadband era,” Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said (http://xrl.us/bmh9nm). Cable operators participating in the program reach 86 percent of U.S. households, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said (http://xrl.us/bmh9o3): “Eligible households will have the option to purchase a refurbished computer for $150."
The telecom world largely responded cautiously as the FCC on Thursday adopted its Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime changes. But telecom officials and observers predicted lawsuits would begin pouring in after the 400-plus page order is published and digested. Meanwhile, the order itself hadn’t been finished, an FCC official told us. Staff were continuing to incorporate edits agreed upon by the commissioners late in the process but before the vote, and the order won’t be ready for release until at least the end of next week, the official said. Less-substantive changes are also still being made.