A Universal Service Fund overhaul should be “calibrated to ensure the equitable treatment of satellite” services, which have an important role in broadband policy and public safety, Iridium Satellite said in comments to the FCC. The current USF contribution process is too complex and expensive to run and needs revamping, it said. Iridium asked the FCC not to charge business services based on “assessable numbers” and “assessable connections” and said if it does take that approach it should ensure that the charges don’t unfairly burden satellite providers. Increased USF fees would probably hurt the growth of satellite services in underserved regions, the company said. New rules should also take into account the “global nature of many satellite networks and avoid overly broad definitions that would inappropriately extend the reach of the United States USF fee to users or entities not under its jurisdiction,” Iridium said.

The Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FCC to remake the Universal Service Fund into a broadband fund, in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice #19, on USF and intercarrier compensation issues. Five mid- sized incumbent telcos offered a proposal for revamping both. Most filers agreed that USF and ICC overhauls should be included in the plan, due to be submitted to Congress in February. Many comments built on those filed in previous comment rounds.

Small cable operators’ lobbying group proposed to cap the Universal Service and the high-cost fund at their Dec. 31, 2009, levels. A new broadband fund for unserved and underserved areas should be created, said the group, the American Cable Association, in comments to the FCC on the role of the USF in the National Broadband Plan. (See the separate report in this issue.) The plan “evolves and reforms Universal Service to support broadband in an efficient non-discriminatory manner where 1) one industry segment is not favored over another and 2) one technology is not favored over another,” said the filing Monday. “ACA supports the consideration of a Universal Service mechanism to fund broadband but only if it is competitively and technologically neutral and is precisely targeted to users that lack access in areas that are unserved or underserved.”

The FCC wants comment on NCTA’s Universal Service Fund proposal, which would set up a two-step process for those interested to ask the FCC to reconsider USF high-cost support levels for particular places (CD Dec 7 p13). Comments are due Jan. 7, replies Jan. 22.

Health care providers and the telecom industry urged changes to universal service rules, as the FCC collected comment Friday on how broadband helps health care delivery. Some urged more spectrum allocation and renewed calls for a national public safety wireless network. All said broadband is key to providing better health care.

Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network will be a key example of how broadband can be deployed “immediately and cost-effectively for public safety and health care delivery” where terrestrial service isn’t available, said the company during a Dec. 3 meeting with the FCC Public Safety Bureau, Office of Strategy Planning and Policy Analysis, and Broadband Task force. According to an ex parte filing, Inmarsat also said the National Broadband Plan should recognize that mobile satellite broadband can play a major role in public safety and telemedicine needs because it’s available everywhere in the country “regardless of density of population or local conditions.” The company also recommended satellite as a cheap way to deliver mobile broadband, which should be considered in future grants or universal service fund eligibility criteria. An “arbitrary speed cut off” shouldn’t be used when addressing mobile broadband services and should instead focus on producing an optimal and cost-effective broadband experience, said Inmarsat. The broadband plan should also include training programs that would help first responders and others learn to use mobile satellite broadband, the company said.

The FCC shares the goal that Universal Service Fund audits “be efficient and not unduly burdensome” on small rural telcos, Chairman Julius Genachowski said. In a letter last month to Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Genachowski said the commission is “aware that recent audits of beneficiaries have at times been complicated by miscommunications between the auditors and the beneficiaries and that the audit findings may not have always provided meaningful results. The FCC is seeking to remedy these concerns and to establish a USF audit program that best meets the FCC’s oversight needs and incorporates lessons learned from previous audits.” The commission began an inquiry on USF administration in September 2008 and is reviewing the record, the chairman added.

NCTA told the FCC broadband team it would “attempt to develop additional data” specifying how much the association’s proposal on the Universal Service Fund could reduce the high-cost fund. The association proposed a two-step process for those interested to ask the FCC to reconsider universal service support levels for particular places (CD Nov 6 p14). In an ex-parte meeting Wednesday, the association warned that its ability to provide good numbers “is limited because we do not have access to ILEC cost and revenue data that may be relevant to such a calculation.”

FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker wants a spectrum policy plan that’s not just a “subset” of the National Broadband Plan, she said at a Phoenix Center event Thursday. The “cross-governmental long-term strategic framework” on spectrum “should be one of our major efforts of 2010 and should chart the government’s course well into the decade,” she said. The plan would include a spectrum inventory and a review of secondary market rules, she said. “By taking full stock of our spectrum resources and how they are being used, and adapting secondary market and service rules to the changed conditions and technologies we have today, I think we can make great strides to help ensure that the U.S. consumers are the beneficiaries of a world-class mobile broadband infrastructure.”

Net neutrality rules proposed at the FCC probably wouldn’t affect the financial outlook of communications companies through next year, Fitch Ratings said in a report. The FCC is expected to act on the proposal shortly after it completes the National Broadband Plan in February. “While there are a large number of regulatory issues that need to be addressed in the telecommunications and cable industry, led by universal service funding and intercarrier compensation, these issues will be complicated and take a long time to resolve,” said the report. “Instead, it appears that in 2010 the Federal Communications Commission will focus on their involvement in the broadband development allocation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and net neutrality. Neither of these issues is likely to have a material impact on financials or prospects for the industry in 2010.”