Rep. Udall (D-N.M.) led group of 21 House members in defending e-rate in letters to FCC Chmn. Powell and President Bush. They said they found “alarming” Powell’s comments questioning existence of “digital divide” since FCC had such discretion over size of e-rate fund. “Mr. Powell’s comments reflect a lack of understanding about the new economy and why wiring our schools is so vital to our future,” Congress members said. In their letter to Bush, they urged President not to roll e-rate into block grants to states.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) told FCC Chmn. Powell in informal discussion Mon. that market generally didn’t address communications needs of rural residents and emphasized challenges govt. faced in finding remedy to telecom services in remote areas, congressional staffer said. Stevens believes that continued support of universal service program, for example, is critical to rural America’s future broadband service deployment as well as existing basic phone service, staffer said. “The market just doesn’t go where the roads don’t go or where there’s no government support,” she said. “Communications becomes a life-or-death issue” for Alaskans and other residents of remote areas, particularly when facing medical- or weather-related emergencies and phone service isn’t available, she said. Stevens and Powell also spoke about possible action to prevent exodus of “best and brightest” FCC engineers to higher paying positions in private sector, staffer said. They explored possible remedies such as including FCC budget assessment to accommodate competitive salaries and increase staff retention, solution Stevens said also was needed in retention of key Hill telecom staffers, aide said. Stevens asked what Powell needed to address engineering staff retention issue, but didn’t have immediate plan to introduce legislative remedy, she said.
Pegasus filed motion with FCC Tues. to combine first-round and 2nd-round actions to resolve impasse on satellite slots between company and agency. Company proposed making 4 Conus orbital locations available from first round: 95 degrees W, 113 degrees W, 91 degrees W and 87 degrees W; giving priority for 2 of Conus slots to new entrants and requiring first-round licensees to submit evidence of ability to meet deadlines for making satellites available for use. Pegasus also filed information it said demonstrated that Netsat had abandoned its license and requested that Motorola licenses be reassigned.
“Some of the answers we've gotten so far are vague at best,” House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) spokesman Ken Johnson said of responses CLECs sent to committee questions on costs of terminating calls made to ISPs. Correspondence was meant to get at “root question” in reciprocal compensation debate, “what is the true cost of terminating a call,” Johnson said. “There continue to be ongoing discussions between the companies and our committee staff,” he said. Only one response -- that of WorldCom -- was posted to Committee’s Web site, with other 5 citing inclusion of proprietary information. WorldCom Exec. Vp-Gen. Counsel Michael Salsbury told committee his company now felt it was “more appropriate” to treat reciprocal compensation received from incumbent phone companies as cost offsets rather than revenue, an accounting practice change made Sept. 30. He said WorldCom “incurs actual economic costs” in terminating phone calls, but rather than provide specific economic data he referred to past rulemakings by FCC, state commissions, Telecom Act. Salsbury said federal and state laws “generally do not require CLECs to file cost studies measuring and reporting their actual costs,” so WorldCom never has compiled them.
President Bush announced Tues. he would nominate Patrick Wood to be commissioner on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Announcement ended months of speculation about Wood’s possible appointment to FCC. Wood is Tex. PUC chmn. and was staff member of FERC in 1991-1993. According to Pa. PUC source, White House also is expected to nominate PUC Comr. Nora Brownell to FERC.
FCC called for comments on reports on potential for ultra wideband (UWB) systems to cause interference to other radio operations, including GPS systems. Commission wants comments by April 25, replies May 10, on: (1) March 5 Qualcomm report on interference potential to PCS wireless phones. (2) March 9 report from UWB developer Time Domain on report by U. of Tex. and Johns Hopkins U. on interference potential to GPS receivers. (3) March 9 NTIA report on interference potential to GPS receivers. (4) March 21 report by Dept. of Transportation, through Stanford U., on GPS interference potential.
FCC granted motion by DBS operators EchoStar and DirecTV Fri. for extension of deadline until April 5 for reply comments in Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Services (MVDDS)- Northpoint proceeding involving spectrum sharing. Commission clarified its ruling Mon. following confusion over new deadline. DBS operators had asked for 30-day extension, but FCC granted them 10 days. Comments were due March 26. Rival Northpoint in motion to deny argued that request was untimely and not justified by emergency. Company called it stalling tactic to stop proceeding from moving forward. Meanwhile Assn. of America’s Public TV Stations (APTS) filed reply comments asking Commission to make certain MVDDS operators would be held to same standards as satellite and cable operators on must-carry rules. “MVDDS service must possess the same rights and responsibilities as the industries in which it competes,” filing said.
Cable operators, programming networks, broadcasters, DBS providers, consumer electronics interests, Bell companies, ISPs, sports leagues, software developers, electronic program guide creators, personal video recording firms and consumer groups all battled over possible interactive TV (ITV) regulations at FCC. In comments filed last week in response to Commission’s ITV inquiry, 28 entities debated whether federal govt. should regulate nascent interactive market in wake of AOL’s takeover of Time Warner (TW) earlier this year. They also feuded over how govt. should define interactive services if it chooses to regulate them.
PEBBLE BEACH, Cal. -- Because so few consumers get their TV over air, broadcasters may soon have difficulty justifying their continuing control of big block of spectrum unless they refocus on public service, analyst Thomas Wolzien said in speech opening NAB Futures Summit here Sun. Although he said figure probably was inflated by various factors, Wolzien said recent auctions indicated broadcast spectrum could be worth as much as $367 billion, even though total market value of all TV stations is only about $100 billion.
FCC Chmn. Powell said Commission would rely on new Consumer/Disability Telecom Advisory Committee to provide “input and advice” to help agency be more responsive to needs of people with disabilities. He said it was well-known that he preferred marketplace forces to regulation but FCC sometimes had to step in because marketplace “often bypasses” consumers with special needs. Said Comr. Ness: “A lot of creative ideas come from groups such as yours.” Committee Chmn. Shirley Rooker, Call for Action pres., said group would listen to diverse opinions represented in its membership and make recommendations to FCC on variety of issues.