FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is taking an aerial view of revamping universal service and intercarrier compensation in a new rulemaking notice. It takes up in general the necessity of subsidizing and deploying high-speed broadband but leaves contentious questions like the contribution factor for another day, commission and industry officials said. As expected, the FCC circulated a rulemaking notice late Tuesday for the commission meeting Feb. 8. The commission wants to use “market-driven, incentive based policies and increased accountability” to shift universal service money to “near term support for broadband deployment in unserved areas,” the agency said in a news release. It seeks to adopt measures to address intercarrier compensation (ICC) “arbitrage, as well as a long-term transition from current high-cost support and ICC mechanism to a single, fiscally responsible Connect America Fund,” the FCC said.

A mobility fund offering only the $100 million to $300 million proposed by the FCC won’t be enough to meet the many needs for mobile deployment, said CTIA and many of the wireless carriers it represents, in reply comments to the commission. Commenters also said there’s widespread concern about a proposal to use reverse auctions to determine which carriers get funding. The comments arrived at the FCC as it announced that a rulemaking to overhaul the Universal Service Fund is scheduled for a vote at the Feb. 8 commission meeting. (See the related report in this issue.)

Nullification of FCC net neutrality rules through the Congressional Review Act topped a list of communications and technology priorities for Republicans on the House Commerce Committee. Also listed in a staff memo Tuesday as “key issues” this year: Spectrum auction legislation, revamping the commission’s processes, broadband stimulus oversight and a Universal Service Fund overhaul. Colin Crowell, former aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, said on a panel Wednesday at the State of the Net Conference he doubts that the GOP’s planned resolution of disapproval concerning net neutrality will succeed.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is taking an aerial view of revamping universal service and intercarrier compensation in a new rulemaking notice. It takes up in general the necessity of subsidizing and deploying high-speed broadband but leaves contentious questions like the contribution factor for another day, commission and industry officials told us. As expected, the FCC circulated a rulemaking notice late Tuesday for the commission meeting Feb. 8. The commission said in a news release that it wants to use “market-driven, incentive based policies and increased accountability” to shift universal service money to “near term support for broadband deployment in unserved areas” and adopt “measures to address ICC arbitrage, as well as a long-term transition from current high-cost support and ICC mechanism to a single, fiscally responsible Connect America Fund.”

Payphone operators’ request for emergency cash and long-term Universal Service Fund support was panned by Sprint-Nextel, Verizon, USTelecom and TracFone Wireless. The American Public Communications Council filed a petition last month asking the FCC for about $57 million in emergency Lifeline money and for a proceeding on whether payphones should receive universal service support permanently (CD Dec 6 p6). The petition drew support from the Florida Public Telecommunications Association, which said that the collapse of the payphone industry “has been greatly exacerbated in Florida and other states … due to the introduction of ‘free’ governmentally supported cell phone service offered by TracFone and more recently Virgin Mobile.”

Nullification of FCC net neutrality rules through the Congressional Review Act topped a list of communications and technology priorities for Republicans on the House Commerce Committee. Also listed in a staff memo Tuesday as “key issues” this year: spectrum auction legislation, revamping the commission’s processes, broadband stimulus oversight and a Universal Service Fund overhaul. Colin Crowell, former aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, said on a panel Wednesday at the State of the Net Conference he doubts that the GOP’s planned resolution of disapproval concerning net neutrality will succeed.

Verizon and Bandwidth.com agreed to exchange voice over Internet protocol traffic at $.0007 per minute, privately held Bandwidth announced Tuesday. The deal comes just as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is circulating a rulemaking notice that’s the first step toward overhauling the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation. The two companies are treating VoIP calls as information under Title I, not telecom services under Title II, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus said in a note. “The existence of such deals with low VoIP rates could help Verizon make arguments for why rural carriers … should be willing to back proposals to drive down access charges and other ICC rates through a regulatory glide path,” the analysts said. Pillsbury, Winthrop partner Glenn Richards, who represents several VoIP carriers, said he was “encouraged” by the announcement. “Until the FCC broadly considers intercarrier compensation, carriers and VoIP providers should be free to pursue arrangements that better account for the transition to IP networks and eliminate the unnecessary disputes that have burdened the industry,” Richards told us by e-mail.

Verizon and Bandwidth.com agreed to exchange voice over Internet protocol traffic at $.0007 per minute, privately held Bandwidth announced Tuesday. The deal comes just as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is circulating a rulemaking notice that’s the first step toward overhauling the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation. The two companies are treating VoIP calls as information under Title I, not telecom services under Title II, analysts at Stifel, Nicolaus said in a note. “The existence of such deals with low VoIP rates could help Verizon make arguments for why rural carriers … should be willing to back proposals to drive down access charges and other ICC rates through a regulatory glide path,” the analysts said. Pillsbury, Winthrop partner Glenn Richards, who represents several VoIP carriers, said he was “encouraged” by the announcement. “Until the FCC broadly considers intercarrier compensation, carriers and VoIP providers should be free to pursue arrangements that better account for the transition to IP networks and eliminate the unnecessary disputes that have burdened the industry,” Richards told us by e-mail.

Congress is unlikely to take up a total rewrite of the Telecom Act until late this session at the earliest, telecom trade group executives said Tuesday on a Broadband Breakfast panel. USTelecom, CompTel and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association will be busy early this year lobbying members on broadband issues, they said. But “the next two years are going to go by pretty fast,” and “there just won’t be enough time to address all the issues that we'd like to see addressed,” said Qwest spokesman Tom McMahon.

Congress is unlikely to take up a total rewrite of the Telecom Act until late this session at the earliest, telecom trade group executives said Tuesday on a Broadband Breakfast panel. USTelecom, CompTel and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association will be busy early this year lobbying members on broadband issues, they said. But “the next two years are going to go by pretty fast,” and “there just won’t be enough time to address all the issues that we'd like to see addressed,” said Qwest spokesman Tom McMahon.