DALLAS -- Competitive phone companies believe procedural reform is needed at the FCC, representatives of competitive local exchange carriers said Tuesday on a CompTel panel on agency hot topics. Competitors should submit their ideas to the commission, perhaps together under the CompTel banner, said attorney Genevieve Morelli. Officials made predictions on other issues important to competitive local exchange carriers, including how the FCC will deal with two Verizon forbearance petitions and the longstanding fight over universal service and overhauling intercarrier compensation.

Satellite re-authorization, universal service and Internet privacy legislation are the top three immediate priorities for the House Communications Subcommittee, Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said in an interview Tuesday. The subcommittee plans oversight hearings of NTIA once the agency has received its new $650 million funding for the DTV transition. It also will monitor how NTIA and RUS are implementing plans to spend the $7.2 billion in broadband funds just approved in the economic stimulus bill, Boucher said.

Broadband funds made available through the economic stimulus package and Universal Service Fund monies could play a big role in moving public safety answering points into a new world where they have to take a growing number of VoIP calls and otherwise modernize their systems, Greg Rohde, executive director of the E911 Institute said Wednesday. Rohde spoke at an FCC summit on the future of 911 and the problems local governments face trying to keep up in an IP era.

The FCC should “take a good hard look” at its mission statement, Acting Chairman Michael Copps said Tuesday at the FCBA summit on the 75th anniversary of the Communications Act and the agency. The commission has sometimes “strayed pretty far” from serving the public interest, he said. “Too often we spend our days refereeing disputes between powerful interests, with consumers and other non-traditional stakeholders pretty much left outside the loop of discussion and decision.”

The FCC should keep an “open mind” on spectrum allocation because the U.S. has parceled out frequencies less efficiently many other countries, said EchoStar Chairman Charles Ergen. He said Tuesday he’s “excited” about getting new FCC members because that leads to “new ideas.” Broadcasters may use too much spectrum, he said, and TV stations and cable networks are becoming more readily available a la carte online.

Congress is expected to vote this week on spending bills covering the NTIA, FCC and RUS for fiscal 2009, which started Oct. 1, 2008. House Democrats released the spending requests Monday, bringing an outcry from Republicans who are arguing for a spending freeze. Proposed spending for the FCC is $341.8 million, slightly more than the $338.9 million approved last summer but never enacted. Instead, Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the government running

GameStop is testing in-store interactive kiosks that feature trailers and provide information about new games, Chief Operating Officer Paul Raines told the Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit in Las Vegas Friday. A key feature of the kiosks is that they can be tied into the retail chain’s game reservation service, he said. The retailer “will continue to invest” in technology like the kiosks to grow its business, Raines said.

Broadband stimulus efforts may influence debates on the Universal Service Fund and pole-attachment fees, Medley Global Advisors said in a research note. As the FCC develops a national broadband strategy, required by the American Recovery Act, the commission probably will decide whether to expand the USF high-cost fund to cover broadband, Medley said. The effort could face obstacles, however, since it will come “on the heels of a large capital infusion of federal grant and loan money for broadband network investment entering the telecom market.” Meanwhile, the stimulus program could reinvigorate the debate over pole-attachment fees, because rural carriers “will need pole space and possibly more poles installed in rural areas to reach customers.” On the business side, stimulus should be a boon for broadband equipment makers, since the whole communications industry will need to buy gear for new network facilities, Medley said. That should translate into higher sales from Q2 through 2010, it said. Medley expects all sizes of broadband providers to apply for grants, it said. Even large incumbent phone companies will take part, to defend themselves against “cable applicants or municipal entities seeking grant money to build out their existing network footprint,” it said. The big telcos, and possibly large cable companies, “may decide to apply for grant money in certain areas and do so with a public sector partner” to increases their chances of getting an award, it said.

The law creating a $7.2 billion broadband program delegates many important decisions to the government agencies charged with spending the money, panelists said Thursday at a Georgetown University seminar. The law, written in haste in response to the economic crisis, leaves it to agencies to decide who has priority for grants and to set Internet speed benchmarks for grant recipients. “We have a lot more work to do,” said FCC Chief Technologist Jon Peha. But the law gives agencies flexibility, “which is a great advantage when you are trying to do something hard,” he said.

The law creating a $7.2 billion broadband program delegates many important decisions to the government agencies charged with spending the money, panelists said Thursday at a Georgetown University seminar. The law, written in haste in response to the economic crisis, leaves it to agencies to decide who has priority for grants and to set Internet speed benchmarks for grant recipients. “We have a lot more work to do,” said FCC Chief Technologist Jon Peha. But the law gives agencies flexibility, “which is a great advantage when you are trying to do something hard,” he said.