Many factors affect what actual impact broadband availability has on economic growth, economists cautioned the FCC in a broadband workshop Wednesday. Historically, broadband deployment has spurred economic growth in some -- but not all -- areas, they said. “If all we did is provide broadband to underserved communities, it would probably not provide any benefits at all,” said University of Maryland Prof. Brent Goldfarb.
Network connectivity is crucial to building a smart grid that enables more efficient electric power use in the U.S., government and electric industry officials said at an FCC broadband workshop Tuesday afternoon. However, panelists disagreed about whether the public wireless network is robust enough to support applications that go beyond basic metering.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated three Universal Service Fund items Friday. They concerned the E- rate program, a petition by the Coalition for Equity in Switching Support about the high-cost program, and a petition by U.S. Cellular regarding Lifeline verification rules. The chairman also circulated an order Thursday closing a 1995 investigation into GTE tariffs. The E-rate item is a notice of proposed rulemaking on updating the program to comply with last year’s Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, an FCC official told us. The item on switching support includes an order and a notice of proposed rulemaking that would deny the coalition’s petition but open a new proceeding to look into the matter, the official said. The switching support coalition protested an FCC rule that reduces a small incumbent carrier’s LSS support when its number of access lines climbs above a specified threshold but doesn’t increase support if its access-line count falls below the threshold (April 22 p9).
AT&T saw wide support from other carriers on its appeal of a decision by the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), which found that the telco submitted inaccurate line count filings during an audit. USAC uses line counts to determine USF support for carriers. In separate comments last week, Verizon, Qwest, USTelecom and the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance urged the FCC to revise the quantitative standard that USAC used when it determined that three regional AT&T companies’ noncompliance with FCC rules was “material.”
International comparisons are important to the FCC’s development of an effective national broadband strategy, but the commission can’t rely on them alone, panelists said Tuesday at an FCC broadband workshop, about lessons from abroad. “No single equation or set of equations will replace reasoned, well-informed judgment,” said Yochai Benkler, a co- director of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
Video providers are covered in a draft FCC notice of inquiry on truth in billing, commission officials told us Friday. The notice asks about extending existing wireline and wireless rules to broadband and video providers and about expanding the rules’ scope, they said. The FCC will vote on the notice at its Aug. 27 meeting. Few companies have been meeting with the commission about the item, which states no tentative conclusions (CD Aug 13 p4).
The FCC broadband team assigned “homework” to groups participating in the development of the agency’s national broadband plan. At a broadband workshop Thursday about fixed broadband, FCC moderators urged “rigorous” input on appropriate minimums for speed, latency, jitter and other broadband attributes. “We need to come up with a very real definition of broadband,” said Stagg Newman, the team’s lead technologist.
An intercarrier compensation overhaul would prevent disputes regarding access fees charged for VoIP traffic, said AT&T and other wireline carriers in comments filed Wednesday at the FCC. AT&T urged the FCC to reject a petition by Texas competitive local exchange carrier UTex asking the FCC to arbitrate a dispute with AT&T over $7.5 million in access fees charged by AT&T for VoIP traffic terminating on the public switched telephone network (CD July 29 p8). The dispute isn’t the right context to make rules, but FCC guidance on the switched-IP access charge issue is needed, the carrier said.
Raising the initial cash to build out broadband is the biggest barrier to rural deployment, said industry executives and others at an FCC broadband workshop on wireline deployment. Spurring more adoption is also key to making a business case for broadband, they said. “You have to think about the return on investment of capital for the players, because at the end of the day, unless they are earning an acceptable return on capital, then what we're doing as a country is not viable,” said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett.
Reform of the FCC should include more focus on issues important to deaf individuals, said executives from consumer groups and telecom relay service providers. It’s unclear how FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski views TRS issues, because he’s said little about them in public. But some matters, like the November transition to 10-digit phone numbers for Internet-based TRS, could demand significant FCC attention in the next few months.