Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, introduced telecom and broadcasting bills in the last two weeks, both referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. On Wednesday, he introduced the Rural Broadband Investment Act of 2013, S-1858. The bill proposes to end “well-documented flaws in the FCC’s 2011 Universal Service Transformation Order that caused financial burdens to small- and mid-size communications carriers operating in rural areas,” Begich’s office said, slamming the USF’s quantile regression analysis as “questionable statistical analysis.” His Thursday press release included statements of support from Greg Berberich, CEO of the Matanuska Telephone Association, and Alaska Telephone Association Executive Director Jim Rowe. Begich points to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s recent announcement that he may end the quantile regression analysis, but Rowe said the “legislation is important to rural telecommunication companies because it not only addresses the QRA, but also two other important provisions within the transformation order which are the safety net additive and waivers.” According to a summary of the bill provided to media, the legislation creates a timeline for the FCC to develop an order “to ensure USF reforms are achieved in a manner that is both consistent with the nation’s universal service objectives and fosters those objectives.” Under the bill’s proposal, quantile regression analysis would be halted, and on an interim basis, “at a level equal to the combined operating and capital expenses the carrier had for calendar year 2011 adjusted for any revisions resulting from restoration of the Safety Net Additive or FCC action on a waiver petition,” Begich’s office said. The FCC would also have to file qualitative and quantitative analyses for the Senate and House Commerce Committees within 60 days of the bill’s enactment “assessing the amount of USF necessary to meet the nation’s universal service objectives over the next ten years and a specific analysis identifying the unique circumstances and resulting high cost fund support needed to provide and maintain universal service in Alaska and on Tribal Lands,” it said. On Dec. 12, Begich introduced S-1819, which would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act “to provide eligibility for public broadcasting facilities to receive certain disaster assistance, and for other purposes,” according to its long bill title. Neither bill has cosponsors.

Ex-Commissioner Deborah Taylor-Tate and Education Networks of America met Nov. 13, 14 and 15 with FCC Wireline Bureau staff and aides to several commissioners, they said in an ex parte filing posted online Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18RnrOi). The group said it supports the FCC’s goals for modernizing the E-rate program, and offered ideas on streamlining the application process for E-rate funds. The E-rate program should also be able to provide partial funding “in situations that merit such treatment,” they said in a presentation that was included with the filing(http://bit.ly/18RnARR). They recommended exemption of schools, libraries and their underlying providers from paying into the Universal Service Fund on services and service components. They also suggested a standing committee of “E-rate constituents” to help ongoing improvement of the rules.

Ex-Commissioner Deborah Taylor-Tate and Education Networks of America met Nov. 13, 14 and 15 with FCC Wireline Bureau staff and aides to several commissioners, they said in an ex parte filing posted online Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18RnrOi). The group said it supports the FCC’s goals for modernizing the E-rate program, and offered ideas on streamlining the application process for E-rate funds. The E-rate program should also be able to provide partial funding “in situations that merit such treatment,” they said in a presentation that was included with the filing(http://bit.ly/18RnARR). They recommended exemption of schools, libraries and their underlying providers from paying into the Universal Service Fund on services and service components. They also suggested a standing committee of “E-rate constituents” to help ongoing improvement of the rules.

The impending end of the USF quantile regression analysis, disclosed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler while being questioned at Thursday’s House Communications Subcommittee hearing, came as a shock to industry members who had long been urging QRA’s elimination. Wheeler told Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., he had asked the bureau to draft an order “to eliminate the QRA and return to the high-cost loop support model” (CD Dec 13 p4). There’s no word from the Wireline Bureau about what the replacement will look like, but many industry officials we interviewed were hoping for a predictable model based on plant depreciation.

Digital currency experts were divided in interviews last week over the market potential for currencies like Bitcoin. One said that digital currencies demand government regulation and expressed skepticism over the question of Bitcoin’s alleged progenitor. Others said that digital currencies could prove to be an innovative tool for economics, particularly in the developing world, and expressed doubt over whether Bitcoin’s supposed founder has much bearing on the program. Federal agencies are in “education mode” on digital currencies, except for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), said Jerry Brito, director of the Mercatus Center’s Technology Policy Program at George Mason University. FinCEN issues “guidance on how the Bank Secrecy Act applies” to those who use digital currencies, he said. FinCEN’s guidance is “good” and provides “clarity,” but not on all sides of the digital currency issue, said Brito.

Rural ILECs urged the Pennsylvania House Consumer Affairs Committee to eliminate carrier-of-last-resort (COLR) obligations and revise the state Universal Service Fund, at a hearing Thursday. CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream were among the companies whose executives testified on House Bill 1608 at the hearing, sponsored by Rep. Warren Kampf (R). The committee also heard testimony from AT&T, AARP and the 60 Plus Association. This hearing was the continuation of one last month (CD Nov 22 p14) where Verizon, two Pennsylvania public utility commissioners and the state’s consumer advocate testified.

As the four primary Farm Bill conferees continue to hammer out legislation details into the December recess, opponents of a Department of Agriculture (USDA) administered catfish inspection program are ratcheting up pressure for the program’s repeal. Lawmakers, trade experts and industry officials claim the program is duplicative, wasteful and in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. Part of the 2008 Farm Bill, the program requires the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to ensure catfish exporting countries meet USDA equivalency standards in order to export catfish to the U.S., lawmakers and industry officials say. USDA officials have yet to implement the program, however. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently oversees catfish inspection.

The Utilities Telecom Council asked the FCC to “streamline” the process by which utilities or other critical infrastructure entities can access the Connect America Fund (CAF) as a certified eligible telecom carrier (ETC), and make available funds that go unused by price-cap carriers for serving unserved and underserved areas (http://bit.ly/1dmivDM). “By removing these barriers, the Commission would promote broadband deployment” by electric utilities, said UTC in a Monday letter. “UTC suggests that the Commission permit entities whose applications for ETC designation are still pending (and who are otherwise eligible) to be eligible to obtain access to CAF through its Phase I or Phase II funding mechanisms. That way, an entity that succeeds in applying for CAF to serve a certain unserved study area can become an ETC after it has successfully obtained access to CAF funds.” That would reduce the uncertainty and delay that often discourages utilities from participating in CAF, the group said. “This simple change can release market forces that are unnecessarily restrained under legacy requirements from the Universal Service Fund that have been carried over and made applicable to the CAF."

EU lawmakers and governments should make it easier for telecom companies to operate across borders, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes Monday. She’s pushing for action on key proposals in the European Commission’s “connected continent” telecom overhaul package, one of which is the creation of a one-stop shop for authorizing e-communications services. The proposed regulation eases telecom service expansion in several ways, the EC said. It replaces 28 different registration requirements with one single point of authorization and notification in the EU, lowering entry barriers for new companies and costs for service provision. The rule also ensures that multi-territory telecom companies get more consistent treatment from regulators, and makes it easier for smaller players to cross borders by ensuring that operators below a certain size don’t have to pay regulatory administrative costs or pay into universal service funds, it said. The European Parliament is about to begin discussion on possible amendments to the draft package.

The House Commerce Committee now takes up and may well pass two major telecom bills this week, aides and members said Monday. Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., introduced the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act of 2013 Monday, with support of a top committee Republican and Democrats. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., also has revived the FCC Process Reform in amended form, and it is now expected to pass House Commerce due to compromise between Republicans and Democrats.