CBP recently issued an ABI administrative message stating that the Food and Drug Administration had increased its surveillance of toothpaste, and reminding filers of the correct FDA product codes for toothpaste, as queries of the import data transmitted by filers showed many product code errors.
A federal appeals court ruled the Mo. PSC correctly read U.S. law when it decided a group of rural incumbent telcos owe reciprocal compensation, not access charges, to a wireless carrier on local landline-to-mobile calls routed through a 3rd-party interexchange carrier. The 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the PSC decision on a dispute between T-Mobile and 4 rural incumbent telcos. The 8th Circuit (Case 06-2401) said the FCC’s Local Competition Order and prior decisions by the 8th and 10th Circuits were clear in declaring that a phone call originating and terminating within the same wireless major trading area was a local call, regardless of how it was carried between the originating and terminating points: “We are bound by circuit precedent to hold that calls from a land line to a cellphone placed and received within the same major trading area are local calls, subject to reciprocal compensation arrangements” under the Telecom Act, with no exception in law or regulation for traffic connected through an IXC.
USF subsidy of wireless carriers doesn’t significantly increase wireless provider coverage in rural areas, said studies for Verizon by Criterion Economics. Economist Jeffrey Eisenach said FCC, USAC and wireless carrier coverage map data show “unsubsidized carriers cover more people than subsidized” carriers. Subsidized competitive carriers aren’t compelled to expand geographic coverage areas, he told a Wed. briefing. They can add subscribers merely by opening a retail store in a town they already serve, intensifying coverage in the town without pushing out to more rural areas, he said. Another way to look at it, said Eisenach: Most USF-subsidized wireless service occurs in areas where unsubsidized wireless providers already operate. “All but 3.2 million, about 2%, of the population in subsidized areas have duplicative coverage from unsubsidized carriers,” he said. For example, “all but 2 million of Alltel’s 34.7 million subsidized covered pops have coverage from unsubsidized carriers,” Eisenach said. “There is no statistical correlation between the amount of subsidies paid and the proportion of the population or land area that has wireless coverage. I don’t think most people, including policymakers, have focused on the fact that the USF subsidizes lines,” not coverage areas. “We would strongly disagree that USF subsidies don’t equal more wireless service to rural Americans, said a CTIA spokesman. “Rural Americans desire wireless service, just like suburban Americans.”
In February 2007, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted to its Web site a notice announcing the phased enforcement of mandatory Automated Commercial Environment electronic manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes at all land border ports in California, New Mexico, and Texas beginning April 19, 2007.
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection general notice and CBP sources, the next group, or cluster, of ports to be deployed for the Automated Commercial Environment/National Customs Automation Program test of the transmission of automated truck manifest data for truck carrier accounts1 will be all land border ports in the state of Minnesota that process cargo.
Landline-to-cellphone calls in the same area are local calls, subject to reciprocal compensation, even if routed through a long distance provider, the 8th U.S. Appeals Court, St. Louis, said in an order released Mon. The ruling affirms decisions by the U.S. Dist. Court, Kansas City, and the Mo. PSC in a case brought by Alma Communications, a rural LEC arguing the calls were long distance. Complicating the issue was the fact that cellphone provider T-Mobile had no direct connection to Alma’s rural network, instead interconnecting via Southwestern Bell. When there’s direct interconnection, there’s no question the calls are local and costs are handled by a reciprocal compensation agreement between the LEC and the wireless company, said Chief Judge John Gibson, who wrote the opinion. It’s also clear who pays when calls travel from the cellphone to the landline, he said: “The dispute in this case concerns calls going in the other direction, from a landline to a cell phone.” Gibson said Alma sends all traffic bound for T-Mobile through a long distance carrier, “even calls to a T-Mobile phone that originate and terminate within Alma’s local service area… Alma insists that it has no choice but to send T-Mobile’s calls through a long- distance carrier and that those calls are therefore inherently long-distance in nature.” Gibson said the court “cannot accept Alma’s argument that intra-major trading area land-line to cell-phone calls are not subject to reciprocal compensation” because it rejected a similar argument in another case involving local dialing parity. “We are bound by circuit precedent to hold that calls from a land line to a cell phone placed and received within the same major trading area are local calls, subject to reciprocal compensation arrangements” under the Telecom Act, Gibson wrote.
The N.M. Public Regulation Commission expedited its inquiry into an exchange transfer dispute between Qwest and the Pojoaque Pueblo -- which could affect up to 50,000 customers across northern N.M. -- after learning that Qwest and the pueblo had broken off negotiations. The dispute began in early spring when the pueblo tribal govt. chose Mescalero Apache Telecom to replace Qwest as the pueblo’s incumbent carrier in hopes of obtaining more-advanced phone services. The pueblo and Qwest entered into negotiations regarding transfer of the area’s exchange prefix and switching facility, but those talks stumbled on the matter of price. The facility is on a leased plot of pueblo land, and the pueblo decided not to renew the lease when it expires in Oct. The dispute caused the PRC concern because the switching office serves not only the pueblo but also adjacent Pojoaque Valley communities. It’s also where Qwest’s network connects with Windstream Communications’ facilities serving tens of thousands of customers across northern N.M. Qwest said it would build 5 microwave towers to reroute Pojoaque Valley traffic and Windstream meet-point traffic to its Santa Fe office. The PRC said it’s concerned that Qwest’s transition to a new routing system could disrupt phone service across northern N.M. Some Pojoaque Valley residents also voiced concerns about the towers’ visual and environmental impact. The PRC told all parties to file their written positions by June 13 and said it will hold hearings this month.
Wireline and wireless carriers lined up on opposite sides as comments accumulated Wed. at the FCC on capping USF subsidies to competitive rural carriers. The cap was recommended by the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service as an interim measure to slow the rampant growth of the Universal Service Fund. But the recommendation to apply it only to competitive eligible telecom carriers (CETCs), generally wireless carriers, has created a sharp division among rural carriers.
Apax Partners Wed. launched Vizada, the renamed France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications. Vizada develops and sells communications tools using mobile satellite technology for places short on terrestrial infrastructure, it said. It blends maritime and land-based services by Inmarsat, Thuraya, Iridium and others with its products, airtime and hardware, it said. Vizada plans this year to add broadband to its packages, it said.
Canon struck an agreement to buy 52 acres in Melville, N.Y., to build a new 864,000-sq.-ft. hq that will open by 2010, the company said Mon. Canon didn’t disclose how much it paid the Holiday Corp. and Tilles Cos. for the land, but Newsday pegged it at $103 million. A Canon spokeswoman declined to comment. Canon received incentives from the Suffolk County, N.Y., industrial development agency, including $35 million in tax breaks. It also got a $3.5 million capital grant from the Empire State Development Corp. In return, Canon is required to hire an additional 750 employees over the next 5 years. Canon currently has about 1,100 employees on Long Island. Unclear is where the new employees will be assigned. A spokeswoman declined to comment. Canon plans to break ground in spring 2008 on the 6-story building that will replace the Lake Success, N.Y., facility it has leased since 1971.