House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) is sympathetic to FCC pleas for more and better-trained engineers and equipment, he told us last week. Upton said he and Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) planned to spend half-day at Commission soon to “kick the tires” and reach their own assessment of state of FCC’s equipment and personnel. He said Rep. Wolf (R- Va.), newly installed as House Appropriations’ Commerce-Justice Subcommittee chmn., also has been seen as sympathetic, although he hasn’t talked with Wolf yet. Wolf’s views should become known shortly, since his subcommittee plans hearing on FCC appropriations Thurs. (April 5), 10 a.m., Rm. 2362, Rayburn Bldg. Upton also said he expected President Bush to name full contingent of FCC commissioners by end of May, although confirmations could take some time after that.
Charging that FTC strayed far from antitrust law, antitrust attorney representing AOL in its takeover of Time Warner (TW) criticized agency’s year-long merger review that led to its AOL-TW consent decree. Speaking at American Bar Assn. conference in Washington Fri., Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue partner Joe Sims said FTC pushed for merger conditions that had nothing to do with any real antitrust violations. He also contended that agency based its open access and interactive TV (ITV) conditions on almost entirely unsupported theoretical “claims” that new AOL TW colossus already controlled high-speed data, ITV and instant messaging (IM) markets and would move quickly to quash competition in them. “I think what you see here is the antitrust equivalent of throwing deep,” Sims said, making football analogy. “When you throw deep, you end up with a lot of interceptions and incompletions.”
FCC Common Carrier Bureau seeks comment on Verizon request to eliminate reporting requirements under Bell Atlantic/Nynex merger order. Order required merged company to submit quarterly reports for monitoring service it provided to competitive LECs. Verizon said reporting requirements adopted in later Bell Atlantic/GTE merger order largely replace those in Bell Atlantic/Nynex order. Comments are due April 19, replies April 30.
Contentious issue for NAB is charge at FCC by Network Affiliate Stations Alliance (NASA) that TV networks are engaged in “unlawful tactics and practices” (CD March 9 p2) and issue is receiving wide discussion in industry circles. And, while subject isn’t on agenda for Wed. telephone conference of NAB TV board, question whether Assn. should file comments at FCC in support of NASA will be argued, we're told. “That’s the scuttlebutt going around at Monterey” last week during NAB Futures Summit, said TV dir. who attended Cal. sessions.
FCC Chmn. Powell called on Congress to bolster agency’s enforcement powers, measure he said was necessary to protect consumers as agency executed streamlined business plan that’s “aligned with the realities of a dynamic and converging marketplace.” He also told House Telecom Subcommittee at hearing Thurs. that legislative approval was necessary to carry out his bureau restructuring plan, which still was being formulated, and his “policy vision” of making FCC more “efficient, effective and responsive.” Powell said FCC, if given sufficient enforcement capabilities, would guarantee “fairness to all, and allegiance to none,” but warned potential regulatory violators that Commission likewise would levy severe penalties. “If you cheat, I'm going to hurt you, and hurt you hard,” he said.
FCC gave Intelsat spinoff New Skies Satellite unconditional access and blanket authority to operate in U.S. as privatized company. Commission order Thurs. said New Skies had fulfilled requirements of ORBIT Act and wouldn’t harm competition in U.S. market. New Skies received extended waiver of 2-degree orbital spacing requirements and International Bureau placed New Skies on Permitted Space Station List. Company currently has 4 satellites that will be able to communicate with routine earth stations. FCC said action would give U.S. more choices and “facilitate technological innovation.” However, ordering clause prohibits New Skies from providing direct-to-home (DTH), direct broadcast satellite service (DBS) or digital audio radio services (DARS) to, from or within U.S. PanAmSat, GE Americom and Loral filed partial opposition to request, but companies still have option to file petitions for reconsideration within 30 days.
Ill. Commerce Comr. Terry Harvill accused SBC of trying to confuse Congress on Ill. policies for competitive provision of DSL services. Harvill, in letter to House Speaker Hastert (R-Ill.), was responding to March 14 letter to Congress from SBC CEO Edward Whitacre. In letter, Whitacre complained that an ICC policy requiring SBC’s Ameritech unit to open DSL-capable remote loop carrier terminals to DSL line-sharing competitors had made DSL service into such a money loser that Ameritech was forced to halt deployment of DSL network upgrades and stop selling retail DSL. Harvill said SBC was “attempting to obfuscate the issues” by implying ICC acted unlawfully and was out of touch with current policy trends. He said ICC’s action was legal and consistent with current policy of FCC and other states -- namely, that DSL line sharing should apply to customers served with hybrid fiber-copper loop carrier systems as well as to customers with all-copper loops connected directly to their central office. Harvill said Whitacre’s position against line sharing over loop carrier systems “would effectively eliminate the obligation to line share.” He also said Whitacre’s “chilling” portrayal of the ICC decision as turning Ill. into a technology backwater without broadband services revealed that Ameritech “controls the market so completely that it alone can determine whether more than one million customers in Illinois will ever have access to broadband services.” As Congress considers broadband policy issues, Harvill suggested FCC and state rulings be used as template for national policy that would provide technology deployment incentives and opportunity for “unfettered” broadband competition.
FCC regulatory fees would increase average of 7.75% for FY 2001, agency said in rulemaking released Thurs. Fees generally followed previous 2 years’ practice of across-board increase to meet congressional mandate for FCC to recoup larger portion of its operating budget through regulatory fees. Congress required Commission to collect $200.1 million in regulatory fees this year, up $14.4 million from FY 2000. In early years, FCC attempted to base regulatory fees on actual cost of regulation, but it generally has used across-board increases since FY 1999. It said it hoped to have new cost accounting system in place in time for setting fees for FY 2002. Comments on fees are due April 27, replies May 7 (MD 01-76).
No single solution exists to provide competitive access to fiber-fed transmission deployed between end-user customers and ILEC central offices. That was consensus of 15 ILECs, CLECs and local loop equipment vendors questioned at FCC public forum “Transmission Capability Between the Central Office and End-Users in Next-Generation Networks” Thurs. by Common Carrier Bureau and Office of Engineering & Technology. Bureau Chief Dorothy Attwood said meeting was to focus on technical issues and not to discuss legal or policy issues, but several on panel said both issues were interrelated. “From a network perspective it is very difficult or impossible to separate technology from policy,” said John Lube, SBC Gen. Mgr. Network Services-Regulatory. “For us to deploy equipment is an engineering decision, but it will be made with a clear understanding of policies set by the FCC and how new regulations affect all broadband technologies.” Early in DSL rollout, SBC predicted CLECs would ask to colocate standalone DSLAMs in remote terminals, Lube said. SBC spent “several million” dollars in effort to upgrade controlled environment vaults and huts, but “to his knowledge” only one CLEC had colocated in SBC remote terminals. It isn’t economically feasible for ILEC to pre-equip entire remote terminal line capacity with cross-connect fields, he said. Access methods are chosen on case- by-case basis. Verizon Dir. Technology Engineering Planning Charles Kiederer said that in outside plant environments, each one is different: “We need to be careful here to not oversimplify and try to find one solution. As engineers we can solve any problem given enough time and money, but sooner or later we get yanked back to economically reality.”
Commerce Secy. Donald Evans met with wireless industry Thurs. on 3rd generation wireless issues, sending signal that all spectrum bands still were on table, sources said. Evans held hastily-called 30-min. meeting with wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers in advance of final reports that are set for release today (Fri.) from FCC and NTIA on options for additional spectrum for advanced wireless services. “The report that is coming out tomorrow is a first step in the process,” Evans spokesman said. Several sources indicated meeting appeared to be proactive step by Administration to allay industry concerns over serious questions raised by Dept. of Defense on challenge of sharing spectrum with commercial wireless systems in short term.