The FCC probably won’t tackle contribution reform before the end of the Q1, Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey told an FCBA luncheon Thursday. The National Broadband Plan called for reform by the close of this quarter, but “at this point, I don’t think anybody should be looking on that timetable,” she said. Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett told the event that contribution reform will be handled “in due course,” but contribution and distribution questions “are not joined at the hip.” Each official was asked to respond from comments by broadband plan architect Blair Levin, who said that trying to handle contribution and distribution in Universal Service Fund reform would have led to political “stalemate” (CD Feb 24 p6).

The New York Times endorsed FCC efforts to repurpose the Universal Service Fund to support broadband. “The fund has fulfilled its original mission and it needs to meet new technological demands,” the Times said in an editorial in Thursday’s editions. It said the proposed overhaul “unsettles many small and medium-size firms in rural areas that rely on the flow of subsidies” but the “FCC plan is a good one. The commissioners should approve it.”

The FCC’s forthcoming rulemaking notice on the Lifeline/Link-Up funds would cap support -- and that’s already drawing resistance, industry and commission officials said. A group of Florida public officials wrote the commission this week, urging it to recognize that low-income support is “cyclical” and to focus on other ways of trimming the funds’ costs. TracFone Wireless “will oppose any capping of the fund,” said Greenberg Traurig telecom lawyer Mitchell Brecher, who represents that company. The agency will take up a rulemaking notice on the fund next week.

U.S. cybersecurity training programs lack a uniform body of knowledge from which the next generation of cyberdefenders can learn, speakers said Thursday at a homeland security conference in Washington sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. And cybersecurity recruitment remains far below the increasing demand, they said. The solution is spending more time and money on cyber educational programs and encouraging more collaboration with the private sector, the experts said.

Broadcaster participation need not be high to raise nearly $28 billion from voluntary incentive auctions, said Phil Weiser, National Economic Council senior adviser to the director for technology and innovation. The White House estimated in its FY 2012 budget that the wireless effort could raise $27.8 billion. At a New America Foundation event Wednesday on the Hill, Weiser and other government officials acknowledged that the auctions and much else in Obama’s wireless plan rely on Congressional action. Meanwhile, speakers from industry and public interest groups urged government not to lose focus on spectrum sharing as it moves forward on auctions.

The FCC made the right decision by putting off a fight over contribution reform to focus on reforming the high-cost Universal Service Fund distribution system, said National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin. There are “too many moving parts” in the debate over contribution factor, so the commission focused on “low-hanging fruit” in its recent rulemaking notice, Levin said on a panel Wednesday sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. He was having an exchange with fellow panelist National Telecommunications Cooperative Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield. She said she “would have liked to see the FCC wrestle with contribution.” NTCA members are seeing up to 10 percent of their bandwidth gobbled by companies like Netflix and the situation is critical, she said.

Taxes on mobile phones are “significantly higher than many other common consumer items” and are often hidden or obscured by state and local governments, said an analysis from the Tax Foundation. The average U.S. wireless consumer pays taxes and fees of 16.26 percent, of which state and local charges average 11.21 percent. Twenty-three states have average state-local wireless taxes and fees in excess of 10 percent, and with federal taxes, some cellphone subscribers pay more than 20 percent in taxes. States favor the taxes because they can raise revenue in a relatively hidden way, the study said. Universal Service Fund charges are modest in most states but particularly excessive in Nebraska and Kansas, where they exceed 4 percent of wireless bills. In Nebraska, the combined federal, state and local average rate is 23.69 percent, and in Florida, Illinois, New York, and Washington it exceeds 20 percent. Notably among local jurisdictions, Baltimore imposes a $4 a line monthly tax on wireless users, on top of federal and state charges. Montgomery County, Md., imposes a $3.50 a line monthly tax. These per-line charges are especially burdensome on low-priced “family share” plans, the study said.

The FCC should fix the “disparity” between what states pay into the Universal Service Fund and what they get out of it, Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Bill Nelson of Florida and John Kerry of Massachusetts wrote Chairman Julius Genachowski. “We appreciate the commission’s focus on constraining growth in the size of USF.” But the “disparity between USF support and contributions for our states is significant,” they wrote Thursday. New Jersey customers paid $4.68 into the fund for every dollar they got back; Massachusetts customers paid $3.66 for every dollar they got back and Florida customers paid $2.23 for every dollar, the senators said. “Although we support the concept of universal service and recognize the importance of universal access to broadband for all Americans, the USF desperately needs to be changed to address the numerous inequities and inefficiencies in its current administration,” the senators wrote.

Verizon Wireless wrongfully “pocketed” Universal Service Fund support without talking with states’ regulators and now is “seeking absolution for sins committed across the country” from the FCC, lawyers for competitive eligible telecom carriers said in an ex parte notice filed Tuesday. “There is no legal authority supporting Verizon Wireless’ position -- only the informal and non-binding staff advice that Verizon Wireless claims it was provided.” The lawyers responding to Verizon’s assertions last week that it had not used Alltel’s CETC designation to obtain USF for non-Alltel lines (CD Feb 22 p8). “Perhaps most disturbing about Verizon Wireless’ rather arrogant actions is the significant harm it causes to rural citizens,” the lawyers said. “We urge the FCC to refrain from interfering with ongoing state proceedings and investigations, and to follow the law and the facts to conclusions that serve rural consumers, not any one company’s interests. … It is disingenuous for Verizon Wireless to claim that the act of commingling should cause everyone to conclude that nothing can be done. Quite to the contrary, there’s a simple solution that is both just and reasonable.” The lawyers said the FCC “should immediately suspend all high-cost support to Verizon Wireless and open an independent investigation by the Enforcement Bureau,” wait for states to finish their review of Verizon’s eligibility and have support “disgorged” if it’s found that Verizon wasn’t an eligible carrier, and have Verizon Wireless start “anew” in its quest for USF support in the states. Company officials couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

The FCC seeks comment on Funds for Learning’s petition for 80 percent discount level funding for priority 2 services under the E-rate program, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice. The Universal Service Administrative Co. has recommended that the commission reject the request and Funds has urged the commission to reject USAC’s advice. Funds said USAC’s recommendation “is premature given that: (1) demand at the 80 percent discount level … stands at approximately” $279 million, “yet $400 million in unused funds is currently available … and (2) there is a strong possibility that unused E-rate funding earmarked specifically for funding year 2010 will become available to fund all requests at the 80 percent discount level,” the public notice said. Comments on the matter are due March 7, replies March 14.