The FCC is likely to address digital radio multicasting and copyright protection issues at its agenda meeting Sept. 15, Commission sources said. “Parts are still in flux, but the FCC will address the issues,” an FCC source said.

USTelecom (ex-USTA) urged the FCC not to grant a TracFone Wireless petition that would let the prepaid wireless reseller get universal service support under the Lifeline program for lower-income consumers. TracFone seeks forbearance from Telecom Act language limiting universal service support to facilities-based carriers. USTelecom told the FCC in an Aug. 30 ex parte letter that the FCC shouldn’t grant the petition, or at least should open a rulemaking that would impact more than one carrier. However, if the FCC acts, it definitely should place conditions on the forbearance grant, USTelecom said. Among conditions urged by USTelecom: (1) TracFone must verify customers’ Lifeline eligibility “at TracFone corporate offices” rather than at retailers where TracFone cards are sold, and must obtain “verbal confirmation from the customer that his or her household is only receiving support for one line.” (2) The forbearance grant should let TracFone receive only Lifeline funding, not high-cost support. (3) TracFone must certify it’s offering E-911 service and all its handsets are E-911 capable. TracFone, in separate proceedings, also is seeking Eligible Telcom Carrier (ETC) status to get universal service funding in several states, but those requests are on hold until the FCC acts on this petition. The deadline for FCC action is Sept. 6.

Vendors ranging from Cisco to BellSouth didn’t back every change in E-rate eligibility proposed recently by the Universal Service Administrative Co. Vendors told the FCC it could save money, ease confusion and improve education if it refines the USAC proposal on what equipment and services can get E-rate funding. The FCC asked for comments by Aug. 25.

Vendors ranging from Cisco to BellSouth didn’t back every change in E-rate eligibility proposed recently by the Universal Service Administrative Co. Vendors told the FCC it could save money, ease confusion and improve education if it refines the USAC proposal on what equipment and services can get E-rate funding. The FCC asked for comments by Aug. 25.

A Colo. PUC hearing officer urged sanctions against Western Wireless for not offering certain services required of it as a recipient of universal service subsidies from late 2002 to early 2004. The administrative law judge (Case 04F-474T) said Western, which does business as Cellular One, failed to advertise and promote a basic monthly service plan priced at $14.99. The ALJ’s recommendation came on a 2004 complaint by the Colo. Telecom Assn. alleging Western failed to honor a commitment to provide no-frills basic service at the $14.99 price. The ALJ found Western’s Cellular One website didn’t mention the $14.99 basic plan and employees in its retail locations knew nothing of the plan. The ALJ urged Western be required to offer the basic plan throughout its service area, advertise the plan and prominently display this basic service offering in its retail outlets. The ALJ also recommended Western be required to file a plan for making reparations to customers denied the cheap service, and to forego state high-cost funds for the period between Nov. 2002 and March 2004 when it wasn’t in compliance.

The Federal-State Joint Board asked for comment on 4 proposals to improve high-cost universal service support for rural carriers. Several state members of the joint board developed the proposals, which stem from a proceeding that began in Aug. 2004. At that time, the joint board asked for comment on 3 support issues: (1) Whether the FCC should adopt a support mechanism based on forward-looking or embedded costs. (2) If, in determining support, the Commission should consider consolidating multiple study areas within a state support. (3) If the FCC should modify rules on universal service support for transferred exchanges. The joint board asked for comment by Sept. 16, replies Oct. 3. Commenters also were invited to “supplement the record” with new issues or facts raised since last year’s comment period. Proposals include: (1) A 4-year transition to a new State Allocation Mechanism (SAM) in which the FCC would make high-cost and lifeline allocations to individual state accounts, maintained by the Universal Service Administrative Co. Each state could set the distribution of its allocation to eligible telecom carriers (ETCs), subject to FCC guidelines. (2) A 3-stage reform whose first stage would combine all study areas within a state owned by a single company, move larger rural carriers to the FCC’s “high-cost model” for determining support and freeze per-line support for incumbent rural LECs when competitive entry occurs. Support would be based on each ETC’s own costs. (3) A “universal service endpoint reform plan” (USERP) that ups reliance on state commissions for wireline LEC support and proposes a new way to allocate universal service funds to competitive ETCs. (4) A “holistically integrated” plan that incorporates elements of the other 3 plans and the intercarrier compensation proposal submitted by NARUC’s task force.

Expanding the scope of the universal service fund (USF) to broadband networks may be “timely,” the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said Wed. In a 76- page report, CRS analyzed options for telecom reform in Congress and at the FCC, assessing levels of support and dissent among industry players and political constituencies. The report cited 2 main public policy issues: (1) Devising the best regulatory framework for encouraging investment and innovation in the broadband network and applications riding over the network. (2) Deciding whether the govt. should intervene in rural markets by expanding universal service to include access to broadband networks at affordable rates. Despite widespread consensus that today’s statutory and regulatory framework for telecom is ill-suited for the market, there’s disagreement about how to fix it, the report said. A key barrier -- an “administrative and legal morass,” in the authors’ words -- is deciding if an information service is purely an information service or has a telecom component invoking more rigorous regulation. The recent Supreme Court Brand X decision and an Aug. 5 FCC order helped clarify classification of information services, but the Commission has yet to address how to classify and regulate specific service offerings based on the underlying network architecture, the report said. For example, the FCC’s re-classification of DSL service as an information service rather than a telecom service had 2 effects on universal service: It reduced the funding base and limited funding to telecom services. Two other challenges to Congress in tackling a telecom law update: (1) Creating a regulatory framework that market changes won’t render obsolete. (2) Identifying regulatory elements suitable for handling at the state and local level versus those that should be centralized, the report said. It’s also timely for Congress to consider reviewing Title VI regulations to see if it would be in the public interest to streamline franchising by consolidating it at the state or federal level and lessen or eliminate some regulations, the report said. To enhance broadband competition, the report said, intramodal competition will continue to be important, especially for large business markets. It suggests maintaining some current statutory provisions for CLECs to foster that competition, “given the inability of facilities-based CLECs to attain the economics of scale needed to support ubiquitous networks. On the issue of intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform, where there again is widespread agreement on problems but dispute over solutions, the report advises Congress to “use its deliberations” to give the FCC statutory guidance. As for USF reform, congressional action clearly is needed for change, particularly in regard to assessments on providers and recipients of funds. With VoIP service emerging, Congress should consider reviewing Title II requirements on voice services. The FCC is “constrained by current statute” in its ability to provide regulatory parity to competing voice services, the report said, because some services meet the definition of telecom, some are information and some are “ambiguous.” Finally, on DTV transition, the report said Congress should leave multicasting to the FCC to “study and construct recommendations for rules (and, if necessary, statutory changes) to address the potentially related issues of mandatory carriage of multiple broadcast signals and better serving the needs and interest of viewers in different governmental jurisdictions.” This is likely to give momentum to political forces seeking to address the multicasting issue as a “study item” in DTV legislation. - - AV

The wireless industry urged the FCC to ignore ILECs’ request and modify a requirement that wireless ETC applicants submit formal 5-year network improvement plans to the agency to show they can provide the supported services. Wireline incumbents, who want that requirement maintained, said the plans provide target completion dates for each project that receives universal service support and ultimately will lead to a network that provides coverage throughout an ETC-designated area. Calling the requirement “unrealistic” and “overly burdensome,” wireless carriers asked the Commission to shorten the required build-out plan to 18 months or less.

State lawmakers from across the U.S. will tackle telecom and technology issues this week at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual conference in Seattle. Proposed state and national telecom law rewrites and wrangles over municipal Wi-Fi are among the hot topics at the 5-day conference, which begins today (Tues.). About 7,000 state legislators, policy experts, advocates, govt. leaders and media are expected to attend.

State lawmakers from across the U.S. will tackle telecom and technology issues this week at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ annual conference in Seattle. Proposed state and national telecom law rewrites and wrangles over municipal Wi-Fi are among the hot topics at the 5-day conference, which begins today (Tues.). About 7,000 state legislators, policy experts, advocates, govt. leaders and media are expected to attend.