FCC granted application of Columbia Communications for authority to launch and operate satellite in C-band at 37.5 degrees W to replace its Columbia 515 satellite at 37.7 degrees W. FCC said Columbia also was authorized to launch and operate a replacement satellite in Ku-band at 37.5 degrees W.
Four former state consumer advocates who now work for competitive carriers told National Assn. of State Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) that if Telecom Act failed to bring about open local markets, only other choice would be breakup of incumbent telcos into fully separate wholesale and retail business units. NASUCA held its annual meeting in conjunction with NARUC convention in Philadelphia. Daniel Clearfield of Harrisburg, attorney formerly with Pa. consumer advocate but now representing AT&T, said combination of high wholesale prices, CLEC difficulties in using incumbents’ operation support systems and inherent conflict of interest when incumbent provided both wholesale and retail services were structural issues that must be dealt with if local exchange competition was to flourish. Donna Sorgi, WorldCom federal regulatory vp and former Mass. consumer advocate, said incumbent Bell companies “force the CLECs to jump through many hoops while they campaign for deregulation” and seek limits on use of unbundled network elements (UNEs). “We [CLECs] can’t go it alone,” she said. “We need the states’ consumer advocates to fight for market-opening conditions at the states and the FCC. Consumer advocates are critical to the fight to save the ‘96 act. Your voice will validate what we are saying.” If regulators can set wholesale pricing and operation support system (OSS) access to rights before approving Bell long distance entry, she said, “we can do the rest.” Bill Haas, deputy gen. counsel for McLeod USA and former Iowa consumer advocate, said “Competition is perilously close to failure not because of bad CLEC business plans but because 5 years after the Telecom Act we still can’t get wholesale pricing right.” He urged that incumbents be required to provide wholesale services and network elements at discount until true wholesale-retail ordering parity was achieved. He urged consumer advocates to support lower wholesale prices, preservation of UNE platforms as local entry option, strong enforcement. Renardo Hicks, regulatory counsel for XO Communications and formerly with Pa. consumer advocate office, said local resale was failure because it limited CLECs’ ability to innovate. He said UNE-P “is the quickest way to achieve significant local market entry. That’s why the incumbents want to kill it.” He said consumer advocates should support UNE-P because that was key to getting CLECs to move into rural markets.
Industry participants consider Internet backbone market to be generally competitive, General Accounting Office (GAO) said in report responding to request by Sen. DeWine (R-O.). Participants told GAO that prices were declining and “the ability of purchasers to negotiate other favorable contract terms has improved.” However, GAO said only “a handful” of backbone providers had extensive scope and it often was difficult to change providers because of difficulty readdressing their networks. Participants also told GAO that limited choice in market for local telephone providers was creating problems for ISPs. GAO said future evolution of backbone market was likely to be affected by increasing demand for time-sensitive services such as voice, and demand for bandwidth-intensive services such as broadband video: “Many of the officials we interviewed were concerned about the availability of necessary infrastructure in the local telephone networks to support the delivery of broadband content.” FCC periodically should evaluate whether there’s sufficient data about competitiveness of backbone market, GAO concluded.
Linda Blair promoted to deputy chief, FCC Enforcement Bureau… Robert Annunziata, ex-Global Crossing, named exec. chmn., Velocita… David Snapp, ex-ABC, joins Crown Media as vp-video design… Steve Friedman, ex-Playboy TV, named vp- strategic development, eUniverse… Michael Hanafee, ex- Random/Order, joins Mixed Signals Technologies as vp-sales & mktg… Ross Ireland, SBC, to become Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions chmn. in 2002; new board members are Venkates Swaminathan, Nightfire Software; Jacquelene Mitchell, Billing Concepts… Dale Frew promoted to vp- operations, Internet Cable Corp… Tony Waggoner advanced to vp-controller, ESPN… Donald Baker, Baker Group, joins Universal Broadband Communications board.
Term “Project Orange” actually is colorful metaphor FCC officials have been using to visualize dilemma over cable open access. FCC Cable Bureau Chief Ken Ferree recently called cable open access proceeding “Project Orange” and challenged reporters to discover its derivation (CD Nov 5 p9). Ferree dropped several hints, including one that Robert Pepper, chief of Office of Plans & Policy (OPP), was author of title. Turns out Pepper, who has written several books on communications issues, has no such title on his curriculum vitae. However, he has had several discussions with Ferree on cable open access. FCC sources say “Project Orange” is meant to show what happens when one type of company, say red, allows another type of company, perhaps yellow, to use its fiber to deliver service. “All consumers see is orange,” said one FCC official. FCC staff already has made some recommendations on pending Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on issue to Chmn. Powell’s office and has begun drafting item (CD Nov 8 p3). Ferree said previous terms to describe issue -- forced access, for example -- were loaded and favored one side or other.
Incumbent telcos’ hold on “411” directory assistance (DA) access code must be broken to facilitate new competitive entry, competitive DA providers said at NARUC panel on DA issues. Klaus Harisch, CEO of Germany-based competitive DA provider Telegate, said incumbent telcos didn’t own 411 but their hold on code was major obstacle for new entrants in DA marketplace. He said his company’s expansion plans in U.S. market were being hampered because there was no way it could use familiar 411 code for customer access to its services. He said his company had asked FCC to investigate competitive impact of incumbents’ 411 monopoly. But not all DA competitors agreed that 411 opening was key to competition. Dean Polnerow, pres. of Internet-based DA provider Switchboard Inc., said his company and others like it were doing well without 411 by offering value-added services. He said competitive DA market offered large choice of prices and services to customers willing “to change their minds and dialing habits.” Melissa Newman, Qwest regulatory affairs vp, said opening 411 to presubscription or other provider selection method would be costly and disruptive for incumbents while providing doubtful public benefit. She said only 20% of residential customer base used 411 regularly. She said lack of 411 hadn’t been barrier to competition since Qwest overall had lost about 50% share to DA market despite having 411 code. Jeff Carlyle of FCC Common Carrier Bureau said Telegate petition raised interesting issues: “We believe DA competition is a vital component of local exchange competition. The question Telegate raises is whether DA dialing parity is needed for DA competition. Do we need to act in this area and, if so, what do we do and who will pay for it?”
PHILADELPHIA -- FCC Chmn. Powell told state regulatory commission members here that they should view themselves as “ambassadors” of broadband rather than just its regulators if they wanted to have influence over how broadband service developed. Powell, keynote speaker at closing session of NARUC annual convention Wed., said broadband was “more than just a pipe. It’s a synthesis of communications power and computer power with content and applications. You must take a holistic approach to broadband. No one government entity has control over all 3 elements, but without all 3 elements, broadband is nothing.”
FCC officially announced creation of Homeland Security Policy Council (CD Oct 31 p5), directed by FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride and composed of senior staff from each bureau. Its duties include: (1) Evaluating efforts to protect U.S. communications services. (2) Ensuring rapid restoration of communications services that have been disrupted. (3) Ensuring adequate communications services for public safety and other emergency personnel. Council will have 2 deputy dirs., Linda Blair and Brad Berry, both deputy chiefs of Enforcement Bureau. Peter Tenhula, senior legal adviser to Chmn. Powell, will be special counsel. Council members include: Jeff Carlisle, senior deputy chief, Common Carrier Bureau; Barbara Douglas, assoc. chief, Consumer Information Bureau; Linda Haller, asst. chief, International Bureau; Paul Jackson, acting deputy dir., Office of Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs; Deborah Klein, chief, Cable Bureau’s Consumer Protection & Competition Div.; Jane Mago, gen. counsel; Scott Marcus, special adviser to Chmn. Powell for Internet technology; Ken Moran, chief, Common Carrier Bureau’s Accounting Safeguards Div.; Bob Ratcliffe, deputy chief, Mass Media Bureau; Catherine Seidel, assoc. chief, Wireless Bureau.
Telecom equipment vendors at UBS Warburg Global Telecom Conference in N.Y. Wed. stressed extent to which they were reacting to reduced spending by service providers and altered buying patterns in face of sagging demand. “The best-laid plans will be slowed,” Tellabs CEO Richard Notebaert said. “Physical deployments or expenditures will not perhaps go as quickly as people thought 6 months ago.” Like several other top executives at 3-day conference, Notebaert, former Ameritech chmn.-CEO, said carriers still would invest in networks because broadband demand remained. But while network investments will continue, “I think it will go a little slower than some startups led people to believe,” he said. Several wireless equipment manufacturers were bullish on prospects that mobile data finally would take off, with emphasis on target marketing to niche user segments and technology that pushed content to consumers. Ericsson Investor Relations Vp Gary Pinkham said company expected international market for mobile systems to be flat to down 10% in 2002, although he added: “We think we are in a position to grow faster than the market overall.”
NARUC adopted as official policy 5 Telecom Committee resolutions that: (1) Support universal UNE-P availability to ensure that form of local entry remains viable option. (2) Call for coordination among regulatory and public safety agencies on upgrading 911 systems for demands of new telecom technologies. (3) Urge FCC-state collaboration in developing national base guidelines for incumbent telcos’ wholesale service performance. (4) Oppose Verizon Wireless’s petition to FCC for wireless number portability forbearance. (5) Support coordination among all entities involved in telecom emergency preparedness efforts. NARUC also adopted Finance & Technology Committee’s version of resolution opposing phase- out of federal Uniform System of Accounts until telecom market forces were strong enough across the board to substitute for regulation. Resolution also calls for Federal-State Joint Conference on accounting issues. Telecom Committee had adopted similar resolution that lacked F&T’s calls for longer comment cycle in FCC’s current Phase 3 review of accounting requirements, and referral of certain accounting issues to Federal-State Separations Joint Board. Telecom panel Chmn. Smith said her group would defer to F&T’s version since differences were minor. NARUC also adopted Consumer Affairs Committee resolution urging all states to participate in pending FCC remand proceeding on what methods of customer consent would form legally acceptable compromise between customers’ right to keep their proprietary network information private and carriers’ rights to use such information for lawful marketing purposes. Resolution said state government and regulators had clear and substantial interest in privacy issues and should detail their experiences on regulated utilities’ use of customer information. The resolutions were approved by NARUC board and ratified by convention floor membership. NARUC’s members also elected new slate of officers for 2002. Group without dissent elected Comr. William Nugent of Me. PUC as pres., Mich. PSC Comr. David Svanda as 1st vp, and Ga. PSC Comr. Stan Wise as 2nd vp.