The National Association of State Consumer Advocates fired back at the Rural Cellular Association, which argued in a July letter that the interim cap on the Universal Service Fund has stunted wireless growth in North Carolina, Virginia and other states. “RCA asserts that ‘NASUCA is more concerned about how much consumers pay into the fund rather than ensuring that rural consumers receive the benefits that the fund was intended to deliver,'” NASUCA said. “RCA is incorrect: NASUCA is equally concerned about both. We are especially concerned, however, because the record does not show that the benefits rural consumers will receive are substantial compared to the total amounts that other consumers would be paying if funding to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers is uncapped.” The evidence that RCA presented is thin, NASUCA said. “RCA cites no specific examples of wireless carriers that have actually curtailed investment, and gives no concrete examples of areas where wireless service is not available because of such curtailments.”

The FCC broadband team assigned “homework” to groups participating in the development of the agency’s national broadband plan. At a broadband workshop Thursday about fixed broadband, FCC moderators urged “rigorous” input on appropriate minimums for speed, latency, jitter and other broadband attributes. “We need to come up with a very real definition of broadband,” said Stagg Newman, the team’s lead technologist.

The FCC broadband team assigned “homework” to groups participating in the development of the agency’s national broadband plan. At a broadband workshop Thursday about fixed broadband, FCC moderators urged “rigorous” input on appropriate minimums for speed, latency, jitter and other broadband attributes. “We need to come up with a very real definition of broadband,” said Stagg Newman, the team’s lead technologist.

The FCC broadband team assigned “homework” to groups participating in the development of the agency’s national broadband plan. At a broadband workshop Thursday about fixed broadband, FCC moderators urged “rigorous” input on appropriate minimums for speed, latency, jitter and other broadband attributes. “We need to come up with a very real definition of broadband,” said Stagg Newman, the team’s lead technologist.

Academic authors will choose influence over money any day, and their preferences should be reflected in the pricing structure under the Google Book Search settlement, some lawyers told an event sponsored by the Computer and Communications Industry Association on Tuesday. They were responding to an analysis of the settlement by a former FTC antitrust regulator from the Clinton administration, David Balto, who said he was “quite confident at the end of the day this settlement will sail through” court scrutiny. New York Law School Associate Professor James Grimmelmann, a vocal critic of some provisions, and Jonathan Band, counsel to the Library Copyright Alliance, said the U.S. District Court in New York must keep a close eye on the implementation of any approved settlement.

State consumer advocates denounced a Qwest filing on universal service rules for nonrural carriers as “seriously incomplete” and filled with errors. In 2005, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the FCC to revamp rules on carriers like Qwest that serve high-cost areas but have too many lines to be considered “rural” by the statutory definition (CD May 12 p3). In an ex parte filing last week, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said the FCC should reject Qwest’s proposal for handling the court remand. A July ex parte by the carrier failed to mention much of the USF support it receives in other ways or that its plan would increase the high-cost fund by $1.2 billion, the association said.

Eliminating telephone excise and Universal Service Fund taxes are options that the Congressional Budget Office suggests lawmakers consider as they works on future federal budgets, a new report said. The options are two of 188 in a report sent to the House and Senate Budget Committees last week to help Congress set priorities in its annual budgets, said CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf. The ideas in the report aren’t recommendations and they aren’t given in order of priority, he said in the report’s preface.

The FCC sought comment on a forbearance petition by Conexions. The prepaid wireless provider seeks designation as an eligible telecom carrier so it can receive Lifeline and Link-Up support under the Universal Service Fund. State consumer advocates have raised concerns about similar petitions by other wireless resellers (CD July 8 p1). Comments are due Sept. 9, replies Sept. 24.

CTC Telecom is an eligible telecommunications carrier entitled to federal funds to expand its wireless network in four Idaho counties, the state utility commission said on Thursday. ETC designation positions the wireless carrier, operating as Snake River PCS, to receive about $171,300 yearly from the federal Universal Service Fund. The company has ETC status in New Meadows, Council, Indian Valley, Cambridge, Garden Valley, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho City and Lowman. But commissioners denied CTC’s request to extend that to the Midvale exchange, because the company “did not demonstrate to the commission that it would serve the entire exchange,” the regulator said. CTC denied targeting low-cost areas in the exchange. “However, CTC’s decision to disaggregate the Midvale service area requires the commission to adhere to its previous rulings granting ETC status only in those areas where an entire service area is included in the carrier’s expansion plans,” the commission said. ETC status for Snake River also means its customers who meet state Health and Welfare Department guidelines will be eligible for Lifeline assistance of $13.50 a month, the commission said.

Residents of northern Mississippi are being surveyed on cellphone access, to help persuade carriers to improve service in that part of the state. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, who represents the region, began a Zap the Gap campaign to pinpoint places where wireless access doesn’t match demand, he said. He isn’t trying to impugn the performance of carriers, he told us. “We just need more input. With the kind of Universal Service Fund money that the companies are getting, you should be able to get a good cell phone signal and not have dropped calls anywhere in Mississippi. The question is, why isn’t service better? Until now we've had to rely totally on the companies to monitor access and service quality, and they're not always right. But consumers know where the problems are, and we hope that by collecting that information and informing the companies we can get them to fix the situation.” He said carriers providing cellphone service in Mississippi have received more than $512 million since 2004 in federal USF payments. Presley said the money is supposed to go toward increasing rural deployment of cellphone services. “Yet we still have many places in the state, especially rural areas of North Mississippi, that don’t have service,” he said. “In today’s world, having reliable, dependable cellphone coverage is an important factor in the safety and quality of life.” The survey is at www.psc.state.ms.us/commissioners/northern/zapthegap.html. Presley said he’s talking up the survey in personal appearances and may produce public service announcements about it.