Companies should have to provide broadband as a precondition to receiving universal service funding, said Public Knowledge. In a meeting with FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin, the group said the rule “would be phased in over a number of years, and would allow USF money to be used to help pay for the necessary infrastructure upgrades,” according to an ex parte. Also, Public Knowledge urged the FCC to map existing government fiber assets, and ask Congress to “remove any existing legal barriers to such a mapping.”
Net neutrality and wireless competition regulation emerged during a cordial House FCC oversight hearing Thursday as two potentially divisive issues facing policymakers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski responded cautiously to questions on a range of telecom policy matters at the Communications Subcommittee hearing. He told members he’s committed to upgrading the FCC regulatory processes, modernizing operations and delivering the broadband plan on time. Genachowski expressed his longstanding commitment to preserving an open Internet, and also said he has no plans to reinstate the fairness doctrine, a concern raised by several members.
Government support is necessary to deliver broadband to all Americans due to the cost of building broadband infrastructure in rural areas, a white paper by consulting firm McLean & Brown said. Rural broadband service providers depend heavily on a combination of explicit support provided by the Universal Service Fund and implicit support through intercarrier compensation, it said. But the current USF and ICC regimes are based on voice-service metrics that aren’t sustainable in an increasingly broadband world, it said, urging “fundamental reforms.” Without them, rural carriers will face financial collapse, it warned. Meanwhile, the historical dichotomy between “telecom service” and “information service” is no longer necessary and is inconsistent with the evolution and growth of broadband services, the consultant said. Wireless networks lack the speed and throughput capacity to fully or economically replace rural wireline networks as an “important rural broadband delivery vehicle,” it said.
Net neutrality emerged during a cordial House FCC oversight hearing Thursday as a potentially divisive issue facing policymakers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski responded cautiously to questions on a range of telecom policy matters at the Communications Subcommittee hearing. He told members he’s committed to upgrading the FCC regulatory processes, modernizing operations and delivering the broadband plan on time. Genachowski expressed his longstanding commitment to preserving an open Internet, and also said he has no plans to reinstate the fairness doctrine, a concern raised by several members.
The FCC sometimes doesn’t make letters between it and Congress public because the agency has no automatic way to do so, Communications Daily has learned. Most of the letters we reviewed under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request didn’t appear in docket files where they would be accessible to the public. Sometimes letters aren’t there because they don’t address specific rulemakings, but we couldn’t find in dockets some letters between the agency and Congress that are germane to particular rulemakings.
Government support is necessary to deliver broadband to all Americans due to the cost of building broadband infrastructure in rural areas, a white paper by consulting firm McLean & Brown said. Rural broadband service providers depend heavily on a combination of explicit support provided by the Universal Service Fund and implicit support through intercarrier compensation, it said. But the current USF and ICC regimes are based on voice-service metrics that aren’t sustainable in an increasingly broadband world, it said, urging “fundamental reforms.” Without them, rural carriers will face financial collapse, it warned. Meanwhile, the historical dichotomy between “telecom service” and “information service” is no longer necessary and is inconsistent with the evolution and growth of broadband services, the consultant said. Wireless networks lack the speed and throughput capacity to fully or economically replace rural wireline networks as an “important rural broadband delivery vehicle,” it said.
With investment in European broadband infrastructure predicted to reach $441 billion in the next decade, the European Commission Thursday issued guidelines for public financing of high-speed and very-high-speed networks. The guidelines will help EU governments and public authorities ensure their broadband funding plans comply with state aid rules and help boost deployment, said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. While most investment will come from private companies, public funding plays a key role in providing broadband access to underserved and non-profitable areas, she said.
With investment in European broadband infrastructure predicted to reach $441 billion in the next decade, the European Commission Thursday issued guidelines for public financing of high-speed and very-high-speed networks. The guidelines will help EU governments and public authorities ensure their broadband funding plans comply with state aid rules and help boost deployment, said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. While most investment will come from private companies, public funding plays a key role in providing broadband access to underserved and non-profitable areas, she said.
The FCC’s “reform play book” includes reviews of data, internal processes and public communication, senior commission staffers told reporters Wednesday. They gave the update a day before Chairman Julius Genachowski’s first appearance at an oversight hearing by the House Commerce Committee and two days before the FCC is set to complete an internal data review. “We have a chairman here who knows this stuff, cares about this stuff, and has charged us with transforming the agency into something that is going to be amazing,” said Mary Beth Richards, special counsel to the chairman on FCC reform.
The Government Accountability Office needs to study the FCC’s handling of a $400 million telemedicine program and the commission’s efforts to update children’s TV policies, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., wrote the GAO recently. More needs to be done than a pilot program on telehealth, aimed at using broadband, that the commission recently set up, he said. “I am concerned that the agency’s programs have not lived up to their statutory potential,” he said in his letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. We obtained a copy.