The FCC’s first white space license brought wireless broadband to a small community in Virginia, in a launch announced Wednesday by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. Business leaders involved in the project said more spectrum is needed to facilitate wireless broadband. But movement on comprehensive wireless legislation won’t come until “probably next year,” Boucher told reporters after a Capital Hill event that was connected to the town using the new apparatus. Work on universal service and online privacy legislation will precede movement of a comprehensive wireless framework bill, Boucher said: “It’s going to take a little bit of time, but that’s a priority before us.”

The FCC should respond to a current remand using rate data submitted by Verizon in its earlier comments (96-45), the company said in its FCC filing (05-337) after it met with the Wireline Bureau to address issues raised by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Qwest v. FCC case. That rate information shows that non-rural LECs’ rural and urban local exchange rates are reasonably comparable, it said. Reasonable comparability between rural and urban rates is further assured by robust competition from intermodal providers like wireless carriers and VoIP providers, which offer competing voice services using national pricing plans, it said. Finally, the Commission could respond to the court’s concern that the Commission didn’t consider the Act’s principles as a whole by explaining that the non-rural fund operates within a larger framework that, overall, is quite effective in achieving Congress’ goal of universal service, it said.

CHICAGO - Network neutrality rules could slow or “halt” progress toward a fully connected world, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a keynote speech Wednesday at Supercomm. “While this future is imminent, it is not inevitable, and the decisions we make today - as an industry and as a country - will determine whether the benefits of these transformational networks will be felt sooner or much, much later.”

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., announced support for her broadband bill (HR-3646) from the Communications Workers of America and United Auto Workers. The bill would allow universal service funds to be used to pay for broadband for low-income groups.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said he has grown increasingly convinced that disabilities access must be a critical part of the National Broadband Plan. He said the commissioners have been invited to a commission hearing Nov. 6 at Gallaudet University on disability issues. Copps spoke at a daylong broadband staff workshop Tuesday on the topic, the second the commission has held on disability matters as it develops the plan.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said he has grown increasingly convinced that disabilities access must be a critical part of the National Broadband Plan. He said the FCC commissioners have been invited to a commission hearing Nov. 6 at Gallaudet University on disability issues. Copps spoke at a daylong broadband staff workshop Tuesday on the topic, the second the commission has held on disability matters as it develops the plan.

Federal judges at oral arguments Friday didn’t appear inclined to overturn an FCC order that maintained the agency’s rate cap on telco intercarrier payments for ISP- bound dial-up traffic and a related “mirroring” cap/rule that helps keep wireless intercarrier payments low, a Stifel Nicolaus report said. If the FCC is upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it would be good news for parties including incumbent local exchange carriers and wireless carriers, the research firm said. Verizon, AT&T, Level 3, Sprint, CenturyLink/Embarq and MetroPCS filed in support of the FCC’s order. Upholding the order would be a setback for competitive local exchange carriers and others, including petitioner Core Communications and intervenors Pac-West and EarthLink, the report said. But Stifel noted that oral arguments are sometimes a “shaky indicator” of a court’s ultimate ruling, and this case presents particularly complex statutory intricacies about the FCC’s authority to regulate compensation between phone companies. However, none of the three judges seemed skeptical of the FCC’s reasoning, the report said. Judge Stephen Williams was openly unsympathetic to the arguments of Core and state petitioners, while Judge Raymond Randolph also appeared to push back harder against petitioner arguments than against the FCC’s and those of their telco interveners. Judge David Sentelle made a few comments, but didn’t make negative comments about the regulator’s case, the report said. If the FCC wins, it would preserve current payment arrangements, which would be good for the incumbents, it said. The FCC attorney noted that Level 3 had entered evidence that dial-up still constituted 10 percent of the Internet access market and had been 20 percent as recently as 2007, the report said. If Core were to win, it and others could argue that they were due higher payments, including retroactively. A FCC victory would also remove one potential pressure point for quick regulatory action on intercarrier compensation in general and related universal service funding, giving the commission a little more breathing room to craft an overhaul, though other pressures remain, including from the Bells, the report said.

Federal judges at oral arguments Friday didn’t appear inclined to overturn an FCC order that maintained the agency’s rate cap on telco intercarrier payments for ISP- bound dial-up traffic and a related “mirroring” cap/rule that helps keep wireless intercarrier payments low, a Stifel Nicolaus report said. If the FCC is upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia panel, it would be good news for parties including incumbent local exchange carriers and wireless carriers, the research firm said. Verizon, AT&T, Level 3, Sprint, CenturyLink/Embarq and MetroPCS filed in support of the FCC’s order. Upholding the order would be a setback for competitive local exchange carriers and others, including petitioner Core Communications and intervenors Pac-West and EarthLink, the report said. But Stifel noted that oral arguments are sometimes a “shaky indicator” of a court’s ultimate ruling, and this case presents particularly complex statutory intricacies about the FCC’s authority to regulate compensation between phone companies. However, none of the three judges seemed skeptical of the FCC’s reasoning, the report said. Judge Stephen Williams was openly unsympathetic to the arguments of Core and state petitioners, while Judge Raymond Randolph also appeared to push back harder against petitioner arguments than against the FCC’s and those of their telco interveners. Judge David Sentelle made a few comments, but didn’t make negative comments about the regulator’s case, the report said. If the FCC wins, it would preserve current payment arrangements, which would be good for the incumbents, it said. The FCC attorney noted that Level 3 had entered evidence that dial-up still constituted 10 percent of the Internet access market and had been 20 percent as recently as 2007, the report said. If Core were to win, it and others could argue that they were due higher payments, including retroactively. A FCC victory would also remove one potential pressure point for quick regulatory action on intercarrier compensation in general and related universal service funding, giving the commission a little more breathing room to craft an overhaul, though other pressures remain, including from the Bells, the report said.

Supercomm returns later this month with its old name but a new focus on broadband applications, services and content, said the show’s managing director, Jan Maciejewski, in an interview. This year’s event will be the first Supercomm managed by Maciejewski and Expocomm Events. Organizers expect the show to take a hit on attendance and exhibit space due to the poor economy, but are aiming for quality, not just quantity, Maciejewski said. Supercomm under its various other names has seen declining attendance and shriveling exhibit space rentals for the past several years (CD Sept 29/08 p1). The 2008 show in Las Vegas had 13,000 attendees, less than half the number that came in 2005, and 180,000 square feet of exhibit space, down from 300,000 in 2004. Maciejewski wouldn’t speculate on attendance for 2009, but said “we are tracking ahead of our expectation at this time.” Exhibit space is “clearly going to be smaller than [it was in] the hey-day of Supercomm,” he said. “The trend in the industry due to the economy … has had an impact on expectations, but if we get the people that we've seen have preregistered, then I think we will have met our expectations,” he said. “We're trying to be realistic. We've very specifically targeted and segmented the market into key buyers [and] key industry leaders. … What I would like to see is the exhibitors going home saying, ‘It may have been smaller due to the economy … but the quality of the people I met while I was there was outstanding.'” Maciejewski’s team studied past Supercomm shows, with an eye on “what’s worked well [and] what we can develop,” and collaborated with exhibitors to pick the right location, content and direction for the show, he said. For example, exhibitors almost universally wanted the show in Chicago, and Maciejewski’s team has already targeted the city for next year’s edition, he said. The 2009 program includes an emphasis on broadband stimulus efforts, with keynote speakers including federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and CEOs of big service providers, he said: “We're trying to steer [the show] … in a way that is relevant to the market, showcases the very latest, next generation of applications and services, and make it very focused on business.” Supercomm was originally scheduled for the summer, but was delayed primarily to better align it with possible dates for stimulus funding announcements, Maciejewski said. The extra time allowed the team to improve educational programming, as well as better target and attract potential attendees, he said.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The FCC plans to seek more information on the Universal Service Fund (USF) as part of its development of a national broadband plan, said Jennifer McKee, acting chief of the FCC Wireline Bureau’s telecommunication access policy division. On a panel Tuesday at the CompTel show, she said she expects an FCC public notice on how USF fits into the plan to surface in “the next couple of weeks.”