The FCC decided not to adopt a new high-cost support mechanism for non-rural insular carriers in Puerto Rico. “Telephone subscribership in Puerto Rico is not yet at the same level as in the mainland United States, but the data before us indicate that the gap is closing rapidly and may well be eliminated entirely in the near future,” the commission said in its order. The commission also pointed to increased wireless service as a factor in its decision. Low-income customers in Puerto Rico “increasingly are served by wireless competitive eligible telecom carriers (ETCs),” it said. “Customers of wireless carriers received more than one-third of the total low-income support disbursed to Puerto Rico in 2008."

The FCC won’t undertake Universal Service Fund reform specifically for the non-rural high cost support mechanism, it said in an order. The commission decided it has met its statutory obligation to provide sufficient support, it said late Friday. The FCC also found that “rural rates are reasonably comparable to urban rates if they fall within a reasonable range of the national average urban rate. … The current non-rural high-cost support mechanism comports with requirements of Section 254” in the Communications Act.

The Georgia General Assembly’s passage of the Telecom Jobs and Investment Act (HB 168) on Wednesday drew praise from non-profit coalition Citizens for a Digital Future. It called the measure “an important step in increasing broadband investment and deployment in Georgia.” The bill deregulates telecom rates. As originally written, it would have shrunk the Public Service Commission’s role on utility complaints to accepting them, but a rewrite preserved the agency’s complaint-handling authority. The original also would have abolished the state universal service fund. A compromise preserved the fund, with tighter restrictions on access. Coupled with 1995 state telecom reforms, the reforms will draw business to the state, “strengthening the Georgia economy and promoting innovation for broadband enhancement and digital technologies,” Citizens for a Digital Future said. The General Assembly passed the bill 136-17. Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, is expected to sign it.

The American Public Communications Council said the FCC should act with care on a seemingly “innocuous” request by Virgin Mobile to be allowed to sign customers up for the federal Lifeline program online or through automated voice response, without talking to a sales representative for the prepaid mobile provider. The District of Columbia’s Public Service Commission expressed similar concerns about risks of Universal Service Fund fraud. Comments on the petition were due at the FCC last week.

Universal Service Fund “reform” should focus on consumers and “reflect market reality,” CTIA said in a presentation to Priya Aiyar, aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski. “USF should focus on the services that consumers demand, namely mobility and broadband,” CTIA said, in an ex parte letter, saying there now are 285 million wireless subscribers and contributions make up 43 percent of the total USF contribution base. “Reform should avoid marketplace distortions; encourage efficiency; minimize administrative complexity; and require accountability."

BERKELEY, Calif. -- The vision of the electronic personal health record has foundered because care providers haven’t filled in patients’ files with information useful to them, Intel and Kaiser Permanente executives said Thursday. Kaiser found in a pilot program with Microsoft that the technology “is just tedious and takes forever” to set up, said Anna-Lisa Silvestre, the organization’s vice president of online services. Consumers haven’t pushed hard enough to make the records a reality, she said at the 21st Century Tools for Health Leadership conference at the University of California campus. Silvestre pointed to a great deal of “hype over the past couple of years” about the concept.

The Universal Service for America Coalition urged the FCC to seek to achieve the goals of the National Broadband Plan by implementing measures that are based directly upon the provisions of the current Telecom Act rather than the specific measures recommended in the National Broadband Plan, said the group in an ex parte filing. The coalition asked the FCC to request comment on its alternative universal service revamp proposal in the upcoming rulemaking regarding universal service revamp. While implementing the coalition’s proposal, the agency should clarify that eligible telecom carriers (ETC) can use funding for broadband networks and equipment that currently are, or soon will be, used to provide supported services and rule that ETCs can use funding to support broadband Internet services as long as the ETC voluntarily agrees to offer the underlying transmission component as a telecom service, the group said. In any event, the agency shouldn’t eliminate or phase out funding for traditional telecom services until the agency has identified revamp proposals that fall within its authority to adopt, the coalition said.

Because of the Comcast v. FCC decision, the commission needs to move quickly to open a proceeding to classify high-speed Internet services as a telecommunications service, Executive Director Markham Erickson of the Open Internet Coalition said on a teleconference. There’s concern that the commission’s 2005 Internet policy statement isn’t enough to protect consumers and that the “FCC’s ancillary authority wasn’t strong enough to survive a legal attack if it were put to the test,” he said. Christopher Libertelli, Skype’s director of government and regulatory affairs, said, “The Comcast decision in many ways was a blessing.” Some National Broadband Plan recommendations, like expansion of the Universal Service Fund to increase broadband access and the truth in labeling provisions, are at risk, they said. Reclassifying broadband would aid follow-through on the plan and put the commission on “more stable legal footing,” Libertelli said. He suggested a Title II “light” set-up allowing ISPs flexibility but giving the FCC a “legal foundation to implement its agenda.” Regulation would be “no more or less complicated and difficult to sustain” than under Title I, he said. Without reclassification, “we're left with a situation where the consumers will have no protection.”

Because of the Comcast v. FCC decision, the commission needs to move quickly to open a proceeding to classify high-speed Internet services as a telecommunications service, Executive Director Markham Erickson of the Open Internet Coalition said on a teleconference. There’s concern that the commission’s 2005 Internet policy statement isn’t enough to protect consumers and that the “FCC’s ancillary authority wasn’t strong enough to survive a legal attack if it were put to the test,” he said. Christopher Libertelli, Skype’s director of government and regulatory affairs, said, “The Comcast decision in many ways was a blessing.” Some National Broadband Plan recommendations, like expansion of the Universal Service Fund to increase broadband access and the truth in labeling provisions, are at risk, they said. Reclassifying broadband would aid follow-through on the plan and put the commission on “more stable legal footing,” Libertelli said. He suggested a Title II “light” set-up allowing ISPs flexibility but giving the FCC a “legal foundation to implement its agenda.” Regulation would be “no more or less complicated and difficult to sustain” than under Title I, he said. Without reclassification, “we're left with a situation where the consumers will have no protection.”

The FCC has plenty of authority under the Communications Act to provide Universal Service Fund support for broadband deployment and move forward with other proceedings prompted by the National Broadband Plan, regardless of the decision last week in the Comcast v. FCC case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, AT&T said in a filing Tuesday at the commission. The carrier asked the FCC to proceed with caution and reject advice that the decision means the commission must reregulate broadband as a Title II service.