MeetingOne.com asked for review of an FCC decision that the company must contribute to the Universal Service Fund, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice released late Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bmkzyh). The bureau found that MeetingOne’s IP audio bridging services should have to pay into the USF and also follow USF reporting requirements. Comments on MeetingOne’s application for review are due by Jan. 12, replies Jan. 27.

Two projects to develop “cohesive infrastructure” for broadband services in Northern California and to encourage broadband adoption recently got funding from the California Public Utilities Commission. The Northeastern California Connect Consortium (NECCC) and the Upstate California Connect Consortium (UCCC) were funded for $449,991 and $448,184, respectively, over a period of three years. Both joint efforts by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California and the Center for Economic Development at California State University, the two consortia will focus on building a 16-county regional middle-mile network and 11 countywide backbone systems and last-mile community networks during the first year. Then the consortia would work on developing and implementing adoption and training programs, they said.

The FCC said it will look into allegations of anticompetitive conduct against Intelsat in a coming proceeding about the structure and operation of the fixed satellite service (FSS) sector. In a satellite-market report for Congress covering calendar years 2008-2010 filed late Tuesday, the commission withheld conclusions about whether any of the industries’ sectors -- FSS, mobile satellite service (MSS) or satellite radio -- are competitive. In the two previous reports, the FCC found the industry competitive. The report was pulled from the agenda of this week’s commission meeting because the commissioners voted ahead of time to approve it. Satellite TV is covered by a Media Bureau report.

Executive from price cap carriers Frontier, Windstream and CenturyLink sought clarity on the new Universal Service Fund rules (CD Oct 28 p1) with FCC staff last week, according to an ex parte notice we obtained Tuesday. “Specifically, we sought to understand the (1) calculation of and eligible uses for Phase I [Connect America Fund] incremental support … (2) calculation … and application of the adjustment in frozen Phase I CAF support where end-user rates are below a benchmark in price-cap study areas … (3) extent to which the new Eligible Telecommunications Carrier service obligations are linked to the receipt of explicit” USF support, “(4) application of the new default reciprocal compensation rules for traffic exchanged with Commercial Mobile Radio Service providers … and (5) relationship of collected access revenue to the calculation of eligible recovery through the new Access Recovery Charge and Intercarrier Compensation Charge,” the executive said, according to the ex parte notice. Most of the new rules take effect Dec. 29, and it’s doubtful the price cap companies will challenge the order, one telecom official told us Tuesday.

The FCC changed a rule in its UnivUSF order and the change’s impact is being felt in the ongoing efforts to reform the Lifeline program. Under the USF order adopted in October (CD Oct 28 p1), an eligible telecom carrier will not meet facilities-based requirements if it uses its facilities only for directory or operator assistance.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission appealed the FCC’s Universal Service Fund order in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati Dec. 8. The Ohio commission’s interests are “adversely affected” by the FCC’s order because, among other things, it preempts states’ authority to regulate intrastate access rates and reciprocal compensation rates under the Telecom Act, a court filing said. The state commission seeks an order and judgment that the FCC’s order is “arbitrary and capricious” and that it exceeds the FCC’s jurisdiction.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act could “break a fundamental aspect of the Internet,” Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told reporters Monday after a luncheon hosted by the Washington, D.C. Economic Club.

NTCA held a flurry of last-minute meetings with FCC staff just days before the group filed an appeal of the commission’s Universal Service Fund order (CD Dec 12 p7), records on docket 10-90 showed. NTCA Vice President Michael Romano joined executives from Vantage Point Solutions and TDS in two meetings with Wireline Bureau staff on Wednesday, one meeting addressing the costs of meeting increased speed standards and the second meeting addressing traffic exchanges, according to an ex parte dated Friday and released Monday (http://xrl.us/bmks85). A day later, Romano joined executives from the National Exchange Carrier Association, OPASTCO and TDS Telecom to discuss caps on operating and capital expenses, a separate ex parte notice showed (http://xrl.us/bmktat).

A thousand-plus telecom attorneys were treated to the comedic stylings of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Thursday night at the FCBA’s annual Chairman’s Dinner. Genachowski’s routine centered on three set pieces: A montage of clips from Saturday Night Live, standup comedian Louis C.K., “SouthPark” and “Anchorman” to make fun of the emergency alert system; a parody of Herman Cain’s now-infamous “smoking” ad featuring a falsely mustachioed FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus declaiming how “f--- up” the Universal Service Fund was; and an extended bit where Genachowski was stymied by Apple’s voice assistant app, Siri. Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein was compared to Charlie Sheen, and Genachowski’s senior counselor Josh Gottheimer was compared to Washington Nationals’ mascot Screech the Eagle. Public Knowledge’s Gigi Sohn and Harold Feld were compared to Statler and Waldorf, the crotchety hecklers from The Muppet Show, and LightSquared was told it would have to vacate a higher table and that its remaining lower table was “still too loud.” There were at least three AT&T jokes, all from Siri, who told Genachowski that Justice Department antitrust lawyer “Christine Varney’s not the only woman who does your dirty work,” but that Genachowski was chicken for not making a direct AT&T/T-Mobile joke. When Genachowski responded, “Siri, you know I can’t talk about that,” Siri said: “That’s not what [AT&T CEO] Randall Stephenson’s phone records say."

*Dec. 12 Google Chair Eric Schmidt speaks at Economic Club of Washington, Ritz-Carlton Hotel -- 202-481-3260