The telephone and cable industries “endorse” Universal Service Fund legislation by Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., USTelecom and NCTA executives said in written testimony for a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday morning. HR-5828 “balances many competing interests to modernize universal service and to bring robust broadband to areas of rural America where today’s business case would not support such deployment,” said USTelecom President Walter McCormick.
Free Wi-Fi is now available to visitors to the National Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chief Technology Officer Bryan Sivak of the District of Columbia announced Wednesday. Wi-Fi is available on the Mall from 3rd to 14th Streets Northwest. Sivak developed the access with businesses and government agencies including the Agriculture and Commerce departments, the General Services Administration, Cisco, Level 3, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., a member of the House Communications Subcommittee and the Smithsonian Board of Regents, endorsed the effort in a letter to the Smithsonian dated June 8 and released Wednesday. The mall is “a national symbol of openness in government,” she wrote. “Open, public Internet access on the National Mall would further that openness, and make the National Mall more accessible and attractive for our citizens and visitors."
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., will introduce legislation in September to enable smart grid players to coordinate their smart grid goals and standards, she told a smart grid event in Washington Monday. Energy and telecom companies need to work together to make grid modernization successful, she said. Smart grid technology is vital to modernizing the grid, which will benefit consumers by way of lowering energy bills and utilities by allowing them to better manage outages and peak power demand, she said. Because utility communications needs vary from one company to another, Verizon has come up with an “end-to-end” smart grid solution that utilities can tailor to their needs, said Mike Brander, vice president of sales of Verizon Utilities. Verizon is also very flexible in its pricing for utilities, he said. His company already has started addressing the key issues of interoperability, security and reliability, he said. Verizon has put in switches to handle hurricanes, and all its cell sites are backup power, he said, referring to reliability issues that the company has tackled. Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), which got a $127.5 million smart grid grant from the Department of Energy, plans to conduct a study on consumer attitudes to peak pricing and the ability of consumers to reduce peak energy demand using technologies such as programmable communicating thermostats, said Jim Parks, the utility’s program manager for energy R&D.
Wireline telcos of all sizes plus the cable industry backed comprehensive Universal Service Fund legislation introduced Thursday by Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., of the House Communications Subcommittee and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. The sponsors are upbeat about winning FCC support and getting the long-gestating bill through Congress, they told reporters Thursday. The measure will rein in the size of the fund and spur broadband deployment, they said. The legislation will make USF “durable and sustainable in the long term,” said Boucher.
Tech and Internet companies breathed a sigh of relief after learning that financial industry revamp legislation agreed upon Friday by the House and Senate did away with provisions they didn’t like (CD May 24 p2). Several groups said they were especially glad the FTC’s authority would not be expanded. The bill now goes back to the House and Senate for final floor votes.
The House passed calling card legislation in a 381-41 recorded vote late Wednesday. The bill, HR-3993, was approved under suspension of the rules, which prevented amendments and meant that a two-thirds majority was required for passage. Democrats and Republicans voted for the bill, but only Republicans objected. The bill would require disclosure of provider information, the card’s number of minutes or dollar value, per-minute rates, fees and charges, time period limits and expiration dates, and refund and recharge policies. It would also require the FTC to prosecute violations. “Just like the nutrition information on a box of cereal, consumers should be able to quickly and easily compare two [calling cards] side by side,” said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., on the House floor Wednesday. The legislation would herald the “end of hidden fees in the prepaid calling card market,” said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., applauded close bipartisan work and said the bill would help consumers “without hampering unduly the industry.” The legislation now moves to the Senate, which has a similar bill (S-563) by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
A hearing on Internet accessibility legislation exploded into a political brawl after Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., lashed out at CEA President Gary Shapiro. Testifying Thursday to the House Communications Subcommittee, Shapiro had said Markey’s bill (HR-3101) could kill start-up consumer electronics manufacturers by requiring them to make all products accessible to people with any disability. Republicans defended the CEA executive and scolded Markey. Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., tried to steer the discussion back toward areas of agreement.
Tech and advertising groups prefer the Senate financial overhaul bill passed late Thursday to the House version, they said Friday. The groups have voiced concerns about the FTC expansion envisioned by the House bill, among other things (CD May 5 p6). But so far, few Capitol Hill legislators have commented directly on the tech community’s concerns.
Rural telephone companies are bracing for a less sympathetic Congress in 2011, said executives from rural telco associations. They spoke with reporters at the annual legislative and regulatory conference of the Western Telecom Alliance and the Organization for the Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. WTA and OPASTCO members from around the country arrived in droves to lobby Washington policymakers about their concerns with the National Broadband Plan. They heard remarks Tuesday from long-time rural advocate Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who’s set to retire this year, as well as Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.
Expanding Lifeline and Link-Up programs to spur broadband adoption by those who can’t afford it should be part of comprehensive Universal Service Fund revamp legislation, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. At a hearing on the FCC’s adoption recommendations made in the National Broadband Plan, Boucher said he wants to work with Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., to integrate her adoption-focused USF bill with his own comprehensive USF bill. Boucher urged the FCC to accelerate its process to finalize details on an intended pilot program, saying the time frame for introducing his bill with Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., is “fairly near term.”