The FCC is scheduled to vote on only one order at its Jan. 25 meeting, a likely non-controversial further notice of proposed rulemaking on 700 MHz interoperability issues (CD Jan 30 p2). The notice is not expected to delve into the future of the D-block, the most controversial 700 MHz issue. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski also scheduled a presentation on “the status of the comprehensive reform efforts to improve the agency’s fact-based, data-driven decision-making,” the agency said Tuesday night. The agenda for January meetings has often been light in the past, sometimes including just presentations by various bureaus and offices. The FCC’s meeting agenda is expected to be heavier in February and March. The Feb. 8 meeting at this point is expected to take on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation overhaul and possibly a rulemaking on AllVid rules for pay-TV providers. The FCC is likely to issue a number of follow-up orders to the National Broadband Plan in the first quarter (CD Jan 3 p1), officials said last week. March 17, two weeks after the scheduled date of the March meeting, marks the one-year anniversary of release of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.

The FCC will take back high-cost universal service money given up by eligible telecommunications carriers and reduce the caps in the states where the relinquishing telcos had been operating, the commission said in an order published late Thursday. The commission said redistributing the forgone cash to competitors wouldn’t necessarily help deploy high-speed broadband and “could simply subsidize duplicative voice service.” The order (dockets 05-337 and 96-45) paves the way for commission to offer direct USF subsidies for broadband. It takes effect immediately.

The FCC has fallen months behind its aggressive schedule for issuing follow-up orders to the National Broadband Plan. By the FCC’s latest count, 21 of 68 action items set up by the report remain incomplete. The agency has made “incremental progress” on two others, an agency spokesman said Friday. Two items which were scheduled to be wrapped up by the end of June remain on the FCC’s to-do list. Critics of the net neutrality order approved by the agency Dec. 21, including Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, say the agency’s months’ long focus on that order is in part responsible for sometimes slow progress implementing the plan.

A top state telecom official will join the House Commerce Committee staff, incoming Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Wednesday. Ray Baum, chairman of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecom Committee, will be senior policy adviser for the Communications Subcommittee under Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. Meanwhile, Neil Fried -- who was senior minority counsel under Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas -- will stay on the committee as chief counsel of the Communications Subcommittee. As state chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Baum had been active in efforts to revamp the Universal Service Fund. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the incoming vice chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, has said he will reintroduce USF legislation early in the session (CD Nov 23 p5). Baum is leaving NARUC and the Oregon PUC, a NARUC spokesman confirmed: “He will be greatly missed, but we wish him the best.”

Virgin Mobile won provisional approval to receive universal service fund support under the national Lifeline program in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, the FCC’s Wireline Bureau said Wednesday. Commission staff agreed to grant a conditional forbearance from legal requirements that eligible telecommunications carriers serve customers using their own facilities. “We disagree with comments suggesting that Virgin Mobile cannot treat its parent’s facilities as its own because the two are distinct legal entities or because Virgin Mobile has a distinct brand and customer base from Sprint,” the Wireline Bureau said in an order issued Wednesday. Under the order, Virgin must require each customer to self-certify that he or she is the head of a household and receives Lifeline supported service only from Virgin; establish “safeguards to prevent its customers from receiving multiple Lifeline subsidies”; deal “directly with customers” to check Lifeline eligibility; and certify that it’s following 911 and E-911 requirements, the order said.

A top state telecom official will join the House Commerce Committee staff, incoming Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Wednesday. Ray Baum, chairman of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecom Committee, will be senior policy adviser for the Communications Subcommittee under Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. Meanwhile, Neil Fried -- who was senior minority counsel under Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas -- will stay on the committee as chief counsel of the Communications Subcommittee. As state chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Baum had been active in efforts to revamp the Universal Service Fund. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the incoming vice chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, has said he will reintroduce USF legislation early in the session. Baum is leaving NARUC and the Oregon PUC, a NARUC spokesman confirmed: “He will be greatly missed, but we wish him the best.”

Verizon Wireless used Alltel’s license to obtain high-cost Universal Service Fund support without getting permission from state regulators, U.S. Cellular, Allied Wireless, Commnet Wireless, and Viaero Wireless said in an ex parte filing published Tuesday. The wireless companies said “the core issue is whether Verizon Wireless was ever properly designated by state authorities” and that using Alltel’s high-cost support caused “ongoing harm … by driving up statewide support levels, causing steep reductions under the cap.” The high-cost issue involves tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, in USF support, one industry official said.

A group of small wireless carriers asked the FCC to reject a TracFone petition seeking new rules for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) under the Link-Up program. The Competitive ETC coalition accused TracFone of seeking a competitive advantage. TracFone, which provides pre-paid wireless service, asked the FCC for a ruling that ETCs may not receive support for providing Link-Up benefits unless they routinely charge customers for commencing service, and may not expand services they offer under the program to wireless service without obtaining approval from the proper authority.

The amount of regulatory activity at the FCC and the convergence of telecom and energy could mean a busier 2011 than 2010 in telecom for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, said Tony Clark, the group’s recently elected president, in an interview. He forecast progress in revamping the Universal Service Fund and the Intercarrier Compensation regime. Meanwhile, smart grid will be a significant issue for state commissioners next year, said the North Dakota Public Service Commissioner.

The FCC’s new net neutrality rules are largely a non-issue for many satellite companies, said industry executives. Although some of the same issues affect satellite networks as impact terrestrial services, including limited spectrum and network management, most satellite companies don’t expect to discriminate among content based on its source, they said. While satellite broadband companies had some initial concerns over universal service fund implications of a Title II net neutrality push, which never came, they're largely unaffected as well (CD Dec 17 p5).