The Wyo. PSC asked the FCC for supplemental universal service funding “for customers of Wyoming’s only non-rural incumbent local exchange carrier, Qwest.” The PSC said the petition relates to a Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service recommendation “to permit states to request further federal action… based on a demonstration that the state’s rates in rural, high-cost areas served by non-rural carriers are not reasonably comparable to urban rates nationwide.” Wyo. regulators said many of Qwest’s customers there were paying a monthly rate of $42.28, which is 124% higher than the national rate of $34.16. The PSC said: “Wyoming has very real universal service needs. It is a predominantly rural state with a small and widely dispersed population, few urban centers and some of the most physically difficult-to-serve territory in the United States.”
Italian defense group Finmeccanica has signed a $1 billion contract with the country’s space agency to supply 4 satellites for civil and defense earth observation, Agence France-Presse reported Dec. 22. The contract is funded at $836 million by the Ministry of Education, Universities & Research, and $209 million by the Defense Ministry. The first satellite is scheduled for liftoff 4th quarter 2006 and the constellation will be fully operational at 2008’s end, the news service said.
With the incoming 109th Congress expected to pass telecom reform legislation, wireline and wireless lobbyists see issues of state jurisdiction playing a role in the debate. Edward Merlis, USTA senior vp-govt. and regulatory issues, said state jurisdictional concerns are one reason he believes Congress, not the FCC, is the only body able to make the needed changes to the telecom regulatory regime. Bobby Franklin, CTIA vp-govt. affairs, said the issues raised in the VoIP debate during the last Congress are likely to be raised in other telecom contexts next year, including wireless.
High-speed lines connecting homes and businesses to the Internet rose 15% during the first half of 2004 to 32.5 million, the FCC said in a report. It used the criterion of speeds exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction. That compares to a 20% increase to 28.2 million lines the 2nd half of 2003, it said. The 12 months ended June 30, high-speed lines rose 38%. The report said that of the 32.5 million high-speed lines in service, 30.1 million served residential and small business subscribers -- a 16% increase from the 26 million lines 6 months earlier. For the full year, high-speed lines for residential and small business subscribers rose 46%. The report said high-speed connections in service over asymmetric DSL technologies increased 20% the first half of 2004 to 11.4 million lines, compared to a 24% increase to 9.5 million lines the preceding 6 months. For the full year, it said, high-speed ADSL rose 49%. The report said high-speed coaxial cable connections rose 13% the first 6 months of 2004 to 18.6 million lines, compared to a 20% increase the 2nd half of 2003 to 16.4 million lines. For the full year, it said high-speed cable modem connections rose 36%. The report said the remaining 2.5 million high-speed connections used satellite, wireless, wireline other than ADSL and fiber high- speed connections. The FCC said of the 32.5 million high- speed lines, 23.5 million provided advanced services, delivered at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in both directions. It said advanced services lines increased 15% the first half of 2004 to 23.5 million lines. The 12 months ended June 30, advanced services lines rose 44%, it said. The report said about 21.2 million advanced services lines served residential and small business subscribers. Among advanced services lines, it said, ADSL lines rose 24% and cable modem service 15% the first 6 months of 2004. In the 12-months ended June 30, ADSL advanced services lines rose 49% and cable modem 47%, the report said -- www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats. SBC said while DSL growth has been “impressive, it lags behind cable broadband service, partly because a myriad of government-mandated requirements apply to DSL service, not cable broadband service, including open access obligations, funding of the universal service program and a matrix of accounting and separate affiliate rules. We are hopeful that policy-makers and Congress will take the thumb off the broadband marketplace scale next year so that consumers can receive the benefits of a truly competitive marketplace.”
High-speed lines connecting homes and businesses to the Internet rose 15% during the first half of 2004 to 32.5 million, the FCC said Wed. in a report. It used the criterion of speeds exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction. That compares to a 20% increase to 28.2 million lines the 2nd half of 2003, it said. The 12 months ended June 30, high-speed lines rose 38%. The report said that of the 32.5 million high-speed lines in service, 30.1 million served residential and small business subscribers -- a 16% increase from the 26 million lines 6 months earlier. For the full year, high-speed lines for residential and small business subscribers rose 46%. The report said high-speed connections in service over asymmetric DSL technologies increased 20% the first half of 2004 to 11.4 million lines, compared to a 24% increase to 9.5 million lines the preceding 6 months. For the full year, it said, high-speed ADSL rose 49%. The report said high-speed coaxial cable connections rose 13% the first 6 months of 2004 to 18.6 million lines, compared to a 20% increase the 2nd half of 2003 to 16.4 million lines. For the full year, it said high-speed cable modem connections rose 36%. The report said the remaining 2.5 million high-speed connections used satellite, wireless, wireline other than ADSL and fiber high- speed connections. The FCC said of the 32.5 million high- speed lines, 23.5 million provided advanced services, delivered at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in both directions. It said advanced services lines increased 15% the first half of 2004 to 23.5 million lines. The 12 months ended June 30, advanced services lines rose 44%, it said. The report said about 21.2 million advanced services lines served residential and small business subscribers. Among advanced services lines, it said, ADSL lines rose 24% and cable modem service 15% the first 6 months of 2004. In the 12-months ended June 30, ADSL advanced services lines rose 49% and cable modem 47%, the report said. SBC said the report demonstrated that “competition is thriving, and it’s bringing the usual benefits of more choices and competitive prices for both phone service and broadband services.” But, it said, while DSL growth has been “impressive, it lags behind cable broadband service, partly because a myriad of government-mandated requirements apply to DSL service, not cable broadband service, including open access obligations, funding of the universal service program and a matrix of accounting and separate affiliate rules. We are hopeful that policymakers and Congress will take the thumb off the broadband marketplace scale next year so that consumers can receive the benefits of a truly competitive marketplace.” -- www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.
The FCC said it fined BigZoo.com $20,000 for “willfully and repeatedly failing to respond to a directive of the Enforcement Bureau to provide certain information and documents.” The action comes after the Bureau repeatedly requested certain information from BigZoo, as part of its investigation into whether the prepaid long distance service provider violated the Commission’s rules by failing to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, but didn’t receive a response.
Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.), in a remarkably candid Phoenix Center session said Thurs. comprehensive telecom legislation covering the DTV transition could be ready for members’ votes by June 2006. Sununu, who spoke about 90 min. and answered dozens of questions from attendees, said telecom reform would be a difficult process with many issues to deal with, most notably universal service fund reform. “Nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to,” he said of the bill’s prospects: “It will be one very large vehicle.”
SBC will make a voluntary payment of $500,000 to settle an FCC investigation into E-rate irregularities in the New London, Conn., school system that SBC reported to the FCC in Aug. The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a consent decree Thurs. in which SBC also agreed to a companywide employee training program to avoid such problems in the future. The FCC said SBC invoiced the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) in one funding year for services provided in another, invoiced USAC for some services for which it hadn’t sought authorization and for some not eligible for E-rate support. SBC said it discovered the irregularities during a companywide review of its E-rate involvement. It said its SBC Conn. subsidiary refunded USAC all funds related to the project and withdrew pending invoices. SBC said the problem was limited to the Conn. unit.
The FCC took steps to increase use of the Rural Health Care portion of the universal service program. Acting at its agenda meeting Wed., the agency: (1) Redefined what constitutes a rural area to better target small towns and villages, particularly those that might be on the edge of a metropolitan statistical area. (2) Increased discounts available to mobile rural health care clinics for the purchase of mobile satellite services. (3) Streamlined the application process. The Commission also launched a further rulemaking to examine whether a flat 25% discount for Internet services is sufficient and whether network infrastructure should be funded under the rural health care mechanism.
TIA Pres. Matthew Flanigan wrote President Bush to congratulate him Wed. on his re-election and support his goal of universal broadband deployment by 2007. TIA said there’s some recovery in the telecom sector, but it still lags other sectors in the national economic recovery. “The bottom line is that the telecommunications sector remains on unsure footing with no assurance of achieving long-term stability and growth,” Flanigan wrote. The letter said several actions would help spur telecom recovery: (1) Encouraging deployment of national, advance, next-generation communications infrastructure. (2) Completing the FCC-led framework for broadband deregulation. (3) Establishing tax incentives for broadband deployment. (4) Reducing the number of taxes on communications services. (5) Creating a zone of concise, minimal and national regulation of IP communications. (6) Making additional spectrum available for new advanced wireless services, including expediting the nationwide transition to digital TV, which will free valuable spectrum for interoperable public safety communications and commercial advanced wireless services. (7) Appropriating and budgeting for additional targeted federal funding for communications research.