Rural carriers asked Congress to intervene in FCC efforts to overhaul intercarrier compensation. In a scathing letter to House and Senate members, CEO Michael Brunner of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association condemned a $0.0007 uniform terminating access rate proposed for all traffic by AT&T, Verizon and others. The agency is “seriously considering” the proposal, which Brunner predicts would “wrongly relieve communications industry titans… of more than $8 billion in annual access and intercarrier compensation responsibilities,” he said: “For rural carriers alone, this disruption could jeopardize more than $2 billion” annually. The plan also would affect rural telecom lenders, which hold $9.1 billion total in loans, he said. Brunner condemned the idea of using the Universal Service Fund to replace carriers’ lost access revenue. USF “has already been strained by unbridled program growth resulting from regulatory lapses,” he said.

Pushing for a Universal Service Fund contribution revamp, AT&T and Verizon met Monday with Amy Bender, an aide to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. AT&T and Verizon contend that carriers should contribute to USF based on their phone number count, instead of interstate revenue (CD Sept 15 p2). The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates urged the FCC to reject numbers-based contribution. In a letter to Martin and other commissioners, NASUCA said moving to numbers is “unnecessary, will create new opportunities for arbitrage, and will not benefit consumers.” The interstate revenue base for USF “has been remarkably stable for the past six years,” it said. And a numbers system would require exemptions so some carriers don’t overpay, the association said. The exemptions would open new opportunities for fraud, it said. And because a numbers system would treat interstate and intrastate traffic the same, a customer who doesn’t call long distance often would have to pay higher USF fees, the association said.

The FCC sought comment on a Centennial Communications petition seeking expedited waiver of annual certification filing deadlines for universal service interstate access support. The Louisiana public service commission designated Centennial eligible for support in 2005, but the company didn’t file certifications for IAS funding until February of this year, the FCC said. Now Centennial wants IAS funding from Q4 2005 forward, or alternatively, from Jan. 1, 2008, forward, the agency said. Comments are due Oct. 30, replies Nov. 14.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed three telecom bills addressing universal service and infrastructure development. SB-1193 establishes a new California Advanced Services Fund that will support broadband deployment with state grants covering up to 40 percent of a private company’s cost to extend broadband into unserved areas. The fund will be supported by a new phone bill surcharge. The Public Utilities Commission must audit the fund in 2010 and the fund will expire at the end of 2012. The governor also signed SB- 1149. It extends the Rural Telecom Infrastructure Grant program by four years, to the end of 2012. The program, supported by the state universal service fund, provides $10 million annually in grants to extend broadband to remote rural areas. The measure amended the program to allow unspent funds from one year to be rolled forward into the next year. Schwarzenegger also enacted SB-780, which extends the state’s universal service high-cost programs until 2012. They were to expire in December. The measure directs the PUC to study the economic and demographic factors affecting affordability of basic local service and report its findings to the legislature by July 2010.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two broadband bills addressing universal service and infrastructure development. SB-1193 establishes a new California Advanced Services Fund that will support broadband deployment with state grants covering up to 40 percent of a private company’s cost to extend broadband into unserved areas. The fund will be supported by a new phone bill surcharge. The Public Utilities Commission must audit the fund in 2010 and the fund will expire at the end of 2012. The governor also signed SB-1149. It extends the Rural Telecom Infrastructure Grant program by four years, to the end of 2012. The program, supported by the state universal service fund, provides $10 million annually in grants to extend broadband to remote rural areas. The measure amended the program to allow unspent funds from one year to be rolled forward into the next year.

The following are the trade-related bills and resolutions that were introduced in the House or Senate during September 25-28, 2008:

CBP has issued a CSMS message stating that ACE Report users are intermittently experiencing a "Could not download the universe" error message in the ACE Reporting tool when accessing the ad hoc reporting functionality. When a user clicks on "modify" and/or "edit query" they may receive the error message and have challenges accessing the ad hoc reporting functionality. If a user closes and re-launches the ACE Reporting tool they may be able to access the ad hoc reporting functionality or they still may receive the error message discussed. (CSMS 08-000227, dated 09/24/08, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17251&page=&srch_argv=08-000227&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby.)

AT&T and Verizon met with the FCC Wireline Bureau to review the carriers’ data analysis on their plan to revamp Universal Service Fund contribution. The Bells want the FCC to collect universal service fees based on carrier’s quantity of phone numbers, rather than interstate revenue (CD Sept 12 p8). The carriers provided updated data, including “slightly” changed consumer vs. business share percentages, AT&T and Verizon said. The carriers also estimated per- telephone number charges and consumer impact, they said. Much of the telecom industry supports a numbers-based contribution system, but disagreement persists on exemptions and other details, Stifel Nicolaus analysts said in a recent note.

The Kansas Corporation Commission ordered interconnected VoIP providers to begin contributing to the state universal service fund starting in January. The commission said VoIP providers can determine their intrastate revenue by direct measurement, company specific traffic study or by using the FCC’s “safe harbor” revenue split for the federal universal service fund that assigns 35.1 percent of total revenue to intrastate service. The commission said if a provider wants to use some other method, it must file a proposal. The order said interconnected VoIP providers can be identified through public sources like advertisements, state and federal reports, or through companies and customers. The commission said its order (Case 07-GIMT-432-GIT) applies to both nomadic and fixed VoIP services as long as they interconnect with the public switched telephone network. VoIP-to-VoIP calls that don’t originate or terminate on the PSTN are exempt from contribution.

The Kansas Corporation Commission ordered interconnected VoIP providers to begin contributing to the state universal service fund starting in January. The commission said VoIP providers can determine their intrastate revenue by direct measurement, company specific traffic study or by using the FCC’s “safe harbor” revenue split for the federal universal service fund that assigns 35.1 percent of total revenue to intrastate service. The commission said if a provider wants to use some other method, it must file a proposal. The order said interconnected VoIP providers can be identified through public sources like advertisements, state and federal reports, or through companies and customers. The commission said its order (Case 07-GIMT-432-GIT) applies to both nomadic and fixed VoIP services as long as they interconnect with the public switched telephone network. VoIP-to-VoIP calls that don’t originate or terminate on the PSTN are exempt from contribution.