The FCC should set a goal for everyone in the U.S. to have broadband access by early 2014, major phone companies said late Monday as comments for the commission’s national plan continued arriving. There was wide agreement that overhauling the Universal Service Fund must be a high priority.

The FCC should reject the 12.9 percent contribution factor proposed by the Universal Service Administrative Co. for the universal service in the third quarter, said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. The new factor takes effect July 1 unless the FCC acts to modify it. In a request filed at the FCC late Tuesday, NASUCA said the FCC could reduce the factor by directing USAC to dip into $1 billion in unused USF E-rate funds, or nearly $6 billion in assets held for the federal fund. “With high unemployment levels, foreclosures across the nation and everyone’s household budgets being stretched thin, we call on the FCC to reduce the proposed hike in the Universal Service Fund’s contribution level,” said NASUCA President David Springe. “The goals of the universal service fund are extremely important, but to demand that consumers pay the highest contribution level in history is to hurt the very customers we are trying to help.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau overstepped its bounds when it required multiprotocol label switching providers to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, Sprint Nextel and other providers of MPLS services said in comments Monday on a petition by Masergy Communications. Masergy, an MPLS provider, sought clarification of a recent edit to the FCC’s form 499A characterized by the bureau as a “nonsubstantive” change. “The imposition of such an obligation is beyond the Bureau’s delegated authority,” Sprint said. “MPLS services are information services not subject to USF obligations, and the Bureau did not have the authority to determine that MPLS information service providers should be treated otherwise.” BT Americas agreed, saying “MPLS is not a type of telecommunications but is in fact a technology used to offer services that constitute information services.” But big phone companies said the FCC has already clarified it’s not requiring contributions on an information service. In separate filings, AT&T and Verizon cited an April letter (CD April 3 p15) from the FCC to the Universal Service Administrative Co., in which the bureau said companies need only pay a universal service contribution for the telecom service aspects of multi-protocol label switching. “It is clear that the addition of MPLS to the list of services that might be subject to contribution did not alter in any way the Commission’s rules and policies, or expand in any way carriers’ obligation to contribute on revenues derived from MPLS services,” AT&T said. The bureau’s letter to USAC was only somewhat enlightening, said NTT America. “In the absence of a more formal and definitive clarification issuing from the Commission itself, regulatory uncertainty will persist for Form 499 filers that may use MPLS technology in some of their service offerings.”

The Universal Service Fund is “unsustainable” in its current format, and the public should be notified about the program’s sources of revenue and spending obligations, the two top Republicans on the House Commerce Committee said in a letter Tuesday to FCC acting Chairman Michael Copps. “American consumers should not bear the burden of paying more and more to support a broken system while universal service reform languishes,” said the letter from Reps. Joe Barton of Texas and Cliff Stearns of Florida. The members asked the FCC to include in each quarterly public notice of the proposed USF contribution factor: A statement of whether any sources of revenue other than industry affected the contribution factor, and if so, the sums from each source; a summary of why the projected demand increased or decreased from the previous quarter; and a summary of why the projected industry revenue decreased or increased from the previous quarter. Barton and Stearns asked the FCC to begin providing the information with the public notice for the third quarter of 2009. If the commission declines to include it in the public notice, the congressmen asked that the FCC provide it to the Commerce Committee “no later than the date of the release of each Public Notice of a proposed contribution factor.”

Several national civil rights groups are forming the Broadband Opportunity Coalition, which will submit a joint application for some of the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds, the groups said Monday. Among the groups are the National Urban League, National Council of La Raza, Asian American Justice Center, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The groups hope to increase the amount of effort and funding that’s going to increase broadband adoption, an issue which disproportionately affects communities of color, they said. The coalition will be officially launched within a month.

If Nebraska asks the FCC for a declaratory ruling on whether the state can assess Vonage and other VoIP providers for its universal service fund, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners will support the state, said NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay. Nebraska officials have said they will pursue declaratory ruling (WID June 8 p6). On Friday the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Nebraska an en banc hearing on its appeal of a lower court’s rejection of the assessment. Earlier, a panel of the appeals court endorsed the lower court ruling. The FCC backed Nebraska, as did NARUC. The latest 8th Circuit rebuff is “disappointing but not unexpected,” Ramsay said. “This is not over yet. Whatever Nebraska does, NARUC will support them.”

If Nebraska asks the FCC for a declaratory ruling on whether the state can assess Vonage and other VoIP providers for its universal service fund, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners will support the state, said NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay. Nebraska officials have said they will pursue declaratory ruling (CD June 8 p7). On Friday the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Nebraska an en banc hearing on its appeal of a lower court’s rejection of the assessment. Earlier, a panel of the appeals court endorsed the lower court ruling. The FCC backed Nebraska, as did NARUC. The latest 8th Circuit rebuff is “disappointing but not unexpected,” Ramsay said. “This is not over yet. Whatever Nebraska does, NARUC will support them.”

The FCC sought comment on a request by TeleQuality for waiver of a Universal Service Fund rural health care program rule. Under the rule, a carrier may only receive USF money after an offset is credited against that carrier’s USF support obligations. In addition, TeleQuality asked the FCC to grant an expedited stay of a USAC decision so that it may continue to receive bi-monthly support disbursements while the FCC considers the waiver. Comments are due June 19, replies June 26.

The U.S. should increase its focus on broadband adoption rates rather than bringing service to the unserved, said Net Literacy and the U.S. Internet Industry Association in a white paper released Monday. The groups said a community- based approach can help universal broadband adoption to “reach the 10 percent of Americans who are not using broadband because of price and availability.” Community centers should have education programs and customizable curriculums to demonstrate the value of broadband, the groups said. The majority of broadband stimulus funds is expected to be spent on building infrastructure to regions where broadband is unavailable.

Nebraska officials plan to seek a declaratory ruling from the FCC on whether the state can require Vonage and other VoIP companies to contribute to Nebraska’s universal service fund, Nebraska Public Utilities Commission chair Ann Boyle said Friday. That day, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused a Nebraska request that the full court hear the state’s appeal of a lower court’s rebuff of the universal service charge. “We were not surprised by this,” Boyle said. “We always had assumed that we'd go to the FCC, but we didn’t want Vonage saying that we hadn’t exhausted all possible remedies.” The filing could come this week, and will be supported by the state of Kansas, Boyle told us.