Wireless industry sources said the FCC appears likely to impose an interim EAS requirement for wireless carriers, built around the use of text messages, or SMS, for alerts, patterned on the popular Amber Alert program, during its July agenda meeting. Much like the Universal Service Fund item scheduled for the June meeting, the agency’s action is likely to be couched only as a step toward a long range solution, we're told.

The 3rd draft of a telecom reform bill from Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) addresses net neutrality but doesn’t assuage critics’ fears that network operators like AT&T and Verizon will be able to discriminate against content providers like Google and Amazon.com, sources told us Sat. It goes further than Stevens’ previous draft, which simply required the FCC to conduct a study on the controversial topic. The new version of S-2686 is expected to become public Mon.

The VON Coalition urged the Commission not to go through with an interim plan to require VoIP providers to pay into the Universal Service Fund (USF) based on a percentage of their revenue (CD May 31 p1). The coalition said in a filing Wed. it was concerned the action, which is on the agenda for the June 21 open meeting, could delay broader reform of the USF contributions system. It said it supported FCC Chmn. Martin’s proposal to eventually move away from revenue as a basis for contributions and feared this interim plan, because it’s based on revenue, would stymie that move. The FCC in essence would be setting up an interim contributions process for VoIP providers and then turning around and setting up a 2nd one once full reform was accomplished, the coalition said. That would mean requiring 2 “fundamental shifts” in tracking and billing practices, the group said. The coalition also questioned whether adding VoIP providers to the pool would make up for contributions lost when DSL providers stop paying into the fund, which reportedly is one of the purposes of the interim plan. “The VON Coalition recommends that, instead of potentially putting the sustainability of the [USF] in jeopardy… the Commission should move promptly to adopt comprehensive reform measures.”

It would cost nearly $12 billion to install 6 million new lines needed to upgrade rural America’s communications infrastructure to handle “triple play” packages of voice, Internet access and video, NECA said Wed. That would pay for upgrading outside plant but wouldn’t include maintenance and other ongoing costs, Victor Glass, NECA dir. of demand forecasting, said on a webcast news conference. “DSL over fiber is going to be the communications line of the future [so] policy makers need to develop policy with a longer view,” he said. NECA based much of its annual study on responses from about 20% of 1,100 rural companies that participate in NECA’s tariff pools; cost figures came from a more tightly targeted group of about 5% that either offer a triple play of voice, Internet and video or are rolling out video to complete the package, Glass said. NECA asked those companies to price service over 8-Mbps pipes supporting voice, 2 standard digital video streams and one 1.54 Mbps Internet connection. Most companies surveyed used DSL wireline technology to offer broadband, he said. Cost per line differed “substantially” by area served and whether copper or fiber was used, Glass said. The survey found rural companies now offering DSL don’t offer it to all customers because some areas are too expensive. The survey determined that triple play packages aren’t profitable for rural telecom companies unless they can get more revenue from advertising and premium services, Glass said. The study concluded rural companies can’t deploy advanced networks without “balanced cost recovery from a combination of end users, adequate intercarrier compensation and sustainable universal service funding.”

The House subcommittee overseeing the FCC Wed. marked up a bill that would give the Commission $294 million -- $4.5 million more than last year but $8 million less than the agency requested. The bill would enable the FCC to conduct more audits and oversight of the Universal Service Fund (USF), where “reports of waste, fraud, and abuse plague the program,” according to statements by House Appropriations Science, State, Justice & Commerce Chmn. Wolf (R-Va.).

Internet piracy is “a dagger in the heart” of the copyright industries, MPAA Chmn. Dan Glickman told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. at a hearing on the latest version of its draft telecom bill (S-2686).

Internet piracy is “a dagger in the heart” of the copyright industries, MPAA Chmn. Dan Glickman told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. at a hearing on the latest version of its draft telecom bill (S-2686). A broadcast flag provision in Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) proposal is appropriately narrow in its focus on indiscriminate redistribution of digital broadcast TV content online, Glickman said. But critics said the flag shouldn’t have been in the bill, which includes video franchise, universal service fund reform and other hot topics.

Internet piracy is “a dagger in the heart” of the copyright industries, MPAA Chmn. Dan Glickman told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. at a hearing on the latest version of its draft telecom bill (S-2686). A broadcast flag provision in Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) proposal is appropriately narrow in its focus on indiscriminate redistribution of digital broadcast TV content online, Glickman said. But critics said the flag shouldn’t have been in the bill, which includes video franchise, universal service fund reform and other hot topics.

The House video bill’s passage (CD June 9 Special Report) doesn’t presage smooth Senate approval of franchise reform, including Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens’ (R- Alaska) telco proposal, said industry and Hill sources. They give low odds on 2006 overhaul because between now and the midterm elections there’s little time to pass Stevens’ bill - - still in draft -- and then reconcile the 2 bills. Differences between House and Senate proposals further complicate the path, they said.

Net neutrality crusaders licked their wounds Fri. and promised to fight hard in the Senate. The House rejected 152-269 a measure sponsored by House Telecom Subcommittee Ranking Member Markey (D-Mass.) and backed by an amalgam of Internet firms, consumer and public interest advocates and religious and family groups (CD June 9 Special Report). While the movement has its supporters in the Senate, like Sens. Snowe (R-Me.) and Dorgan (D-N.D.), Internet players said it’s too soon to tell how they'll fare on the other side of Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, telco and cable hailed their House victory.