The FCC Thursday unanimously approved three items aimed at improving communications and radio service on tribal lands. Commissioners also heard testimony from tribal leaders about the state of communications in Indian country. The meeting came as the White House held a follow up meeting on last year’s Tribal Nations Summit.

Meredith Baker may get another term as FCC commissioner. Her name apparently was sent to the White House for renomination for a full term by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Republican industry lobbyists watching the process. Baker, a Republican, joined the commission in 2009, filling the unexpired term of Kevin Martin. He resigned just before President Barack Obama was inaugurated. Baker’s current term ends June 30. She had the backing of Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a Texas Republican.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission should rule it has authority to require wireless carriers and VoIP providers to contribute to a proposed Universal Service Fund, AT&T North Carolina, the RLEC Coalition and the North Carolina Telephone Membership Corporations said. The commission has the authority to mandate such contributions and that “any fund that exempts these technologies will create a mechanism that is not technologically and competitively neutral and will impose a disproportionate burden on certain consumers, which is greater than necessary,” they said in a joint filing. The decision regarding whether certain parties can be legally required to participate in a USF that’s related to a comprehensive intrastate access revamp isn’t ripe for a decision and “must not be addressed at this time,” said the North Carolina Cable Telecom Association (NCCTA). Should the commission decide that the matter is “ripe,” NCCTA asked the commission to issue an order concluding that the agency doesn’t have the legal authority to establish a “revenue recovery” fund as commended by the Movants, the group said. Verizon agreed, saying “not only is this issue not ripe for review, but the requested ruling would violate North Carolina law, which exempts these categories of services from Commission regulation.” Even if the issue were ripe for decision, the commission doesn’t have the authority to require wireless carriers, VoIP providers and interexchange carriers to pay into a universal service fund, Verizon said. The state’s General Assembly has exempted wireless, VoIP and interexchange services from commission jurisdiction, the telco said. The commission initiated the proceeding in 2009 when Sprint Nextel petitioned to reduce intrastate access rates of ILECs, requesting that the commission reduce ILECs’ access rates to cost, or alternatively, to parity with the ILECs’ corresponding interstate access rates. Commission staff said in a filing that the issue of whether the commission has the authority to compel wireless carriers, interconnected VoIP providers, and IXCs to contribute to a state USF is ripe for adjudication. A decision by the commission on the issue would determine the parties to any further proceeding and frame and narrow the issues, the staff said.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission should rule it has authority to require wireless carriers and VoIP providers to contribute to a proposed Universal Service Fund, AT&T North Carolina, the RLEC Coalition and the North Carolina Telephone Membership Corporations said. The commission has the authority to mandate such contributions and that “any fund that exempts these technologies will create a mechanism that is not technologically and competitively neutral and will impose a disproportionate burden on certain consumers, which is greater than necessary,” they said in a joint filing. The decision regarding whether certain parties can be legally required to participate in a USF that’s related to a comprehensive intrastate access revamp isn’t ripe for a decision and “must not be addressed at this time,” said the North Carolina Cable Telecom Association (NCCTA). Should the commission decide that the matter is “ripe,” NCCTA asked the commission to issue an order concluding that the agency doesn’t have the legal authority to establish a “revenue recovery” fund as commended by the Movants, the group said. Verizon agreed, saying “not only is this issue not ripe for review, but the requested ruling would violate North Carolina law, which exempts these categories of services from Commission regulation.” Even if the issue were ripe for decision, the commission doesn’t have the authority to require wireless carriers, VoIP providers and interexchange carriers to pay into a universal service fund, Verizon said. The state’s General Assembly has exempted wireless, VoIP and interexchange services from commission jurisdiction, the telco said. The commission initiated the proceeding in 2009 when Sprint Nextel petitioned to reduce intrastate access rates of ILECs, requesting that the commission reduce ILECs’ access rates to cost, or alternatively, to parity with the ILECs’ corresponding interstate access rates. Commission staff said in a filing that the issue of whether the commission has the authority to compel wireless carriers, interconnected VoIP providers, and IXCs to contribute to a state USF is ripe for adjudication. A decision by the commission on the issue would determine the parties to any further proceeding and frame and narrow the issues, the staff said.

Converting the Universal Service Fund to broadband could cause the fund to balloon unless policymakers first reexamine “the purpose, design, and management” of the subsidy program, the GAO said in a report. The report dated Tuesday deals with opportunities to reduce duplication in government, save tax dollars and increase revenue. GAO recommended that Congress give USF increased attention since it falls outside of the annual appropriations process. In a speech Wednesday, Aspen Institute’s Blair Levin said “waste, fraud and abuse” are buzz words that don’t grasp the USF’s real problems.

The FCC should phase out Lifeline and Link-Up and “build on a new foundation” rather than tweak the systems, National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin said Wednesday. There’s too much “dead weight loss” in the programs, because it’s not enough to make broadband available -- it has also to be adopted, he said. “How will the public react if they find out we're subsidizing other people so they can watch funny cat videos on YouTube?” Levin said at a Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies conference.

CLECs have to be given a chance to recover their investments in high-cost areas under any Universal Service Fund reform, TDS Telecom said in meetings with FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett and Wireline Policy Adviser Patrick Halley. Robert DeBroux, a director of public policy,” also discussed the tension in the relationship between the concepts of disaggregations and carrier of last resort in high-costs areas,” TDS said in its ex parte notice, posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. “He also noted the need for any incentive-based regulatory framework to include an option for rate-of-return carriers."

The FCC’s proposed overhaul of the Universal Service Fund has created a “growing” sense of a “lack of predictability and stability” for rural carriers, the Rural Broadband Alliance said in an ex parte notice filed in docket 10-90. “I suggested that an unintended and ironic consequence of the proposals set forth in the [rulemaking notice] is growing financial uncertainty among rural providers that is impacting both infrastructure investment and job creation, and may lead to rural community job loss,” alliance lawyer Stephen Kraskin said in his letter, which was published on the FCC website Tuesday.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, said Congress should not take on a Universal Service Fund revamp. Americans want a hands-off approach, she said during a TechFreedom briefing on Tuesday. A hands-off approach applies to the Internet too, she said (see the story in this issue), since there’s no evidence of market failure.

In light of the FCC’s rulemaking on the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation, Sprint Nextel filed for reconsideration of the Iowa Utility Board ruling that access charges should be applied to VoIP. The Board had concluded that cable telephony VoIP traffic is jurisdictionally intrastate. Most of the proposals the FCC discusses for immediate application involve structures other than traditional tariffed intrastate access, Sprint said in a filing. Addressing VoIP specifically, the FCC made clear that the commission has recognized the need to move away from the existing intercarrier compensation system, Sprint said. To the extent the FCC is strongly suggesting compensation models far removed from traditional tariffed intrastate access, Sprint would be harmed if forced to pay the full traditional rates, including embedded subsidies, the carrier argued. The Board should either reopen this issue and stay its decision until the FCC has ruled on its choice of immediate compensation regimes for VoIP traffic, or should re-open the issue for further evidence on a reasonable rate that recognizes VoIP is distinct and which requires a rate more consistent with the FCC’s policy statements and Iowa laws, Sprint said. The company also urged the Board to stay the repayment obligations under its previous order until the Board has made a determination on reconsideration.