The FCC should stop “excessive” special-access pricing by AT&T and Verizon, the NoChokePoints Alliance, a new coalition of competitors and customers of the big phone companies (CD June 18 p7), told reporters Monday. “Releasing the broadband economy from the choke hold these huge phone companies have on the special-access market will be a catalyst for innovation and investment in the broadband marketplace,” said spokeswoman Maura Corbett. The coalition’s statement prompted a flurry of counter-statements from incumbent local exchange carriers and others.
AT&T could cope if the FCC adds a fifth principle on nondiscrimination to its Internet policy statement, but the company doesn’t think it’s necessary, Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi said Friday. “If it were structured properly, I could certainly conceive of one that we could live with,” Cicconi said on a panel on net neutrality at the Pike & Fischer Broadband Summit.
Verizon won its appeal of an FCC decision denying the company unbundling forbearance in six metropolitan statistical areas. Ruling Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded the order, directing the FCC to better justify its use of a market-share test. But the ruling doesn’t necessarily mean that Verizon will get what it wants.
The FCC aims to open soon a proceeding that will “closely examine” wireless handset exclusives, acting Chairman Michael Copps said Thursday. In a keynote speech at the Pike & Fischer Broadband Summit, he also called for an overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and reflected on the agency’s development of a national broadband plan.
Embarq and CenturyTel CEOs were in Washington to lobby acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps on their pending merger, said an ex parte filing. In a meeting Tuesday, Embarq’s Tom Gerke and CenturyTel’s Glen Post urged Copps to promptly sign off on the $11.6 billion deal, which has received all other required approvals. Copps still hasn’t circulated a draft order on the deal, a commission official said Wednesday. But in a recent research note, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus downplayed speculation (CD June 12 p6) that the FCC is waiting for the anticipated incoming Chairman Julius Genachowski. “With the merger review now at 190 days and [Copps'] oversight of the DTV transition successfully behind him, we would expect he will endeavor to wind up the review of this deal while he retains the chairman position, recognizing the risk that decisions that are held over for a new chairman could be held back by several weeks as the new leadership is installed,” they said.
The FCC ordered all U.S. carriers to immediately suspend termination payments to Tonga Communications. In an order Monday granting a petition by AT&T, the International Bureau said the Tongan company acted anti-competitively by blocking AT&T and Verizon circuits to Tonga since Nov. 24 (CD June 4 p12). The U.S. companies had refused to pay 30 cents per minute for international calls to Tonga, a new rate set by the Tongan government that’s triple what the carriers agreed to pay.
The FCC should block the imposition of a 12.9 percent universal service fund contribution factor, the highest in history, David Bergmann, chair of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates telecom committee, said in an interview Tuesday. The FCC, which released the proposed new factor Friday (CD June 16 p4), has until June 26 to act before the percentage request is deemed granted. The higher factor could mean $1-$2 hikes on some consumers’ phone bills, Bergmann said. In a filing last week at the FCC, NASUCA said the commission could reduce the factor by directing USAC to dip into $1 billion in unused USF E-rate funds, or nearly $6 billion in assets held for the federal fund. NASUCA believes that that’s a good temporary fix but that the FCC ultimately must revamp USF distribution to limit payouts to companies that don’t actually need subsidies, Bergmann said. Moving to a numbers-based system for USF contribution, which has been suggested by wireline companies big and small, isn’t the answer, he said. The existing system of basing contribution on carrier revenue works because it means people who use long distance service more also pay more to USF, he said. However, if the FCC wants to direct USF funds to broadband, NASUCA supports requiring all broadband providers to pay into USF, he said.
Carriers must pay 12.9 percent of their long-distance revenue to the Universal Service Fund in the third quarter, 1.6 percentage points more than this quarter. Big phone companies were quick to note that’s the highest figure in the fund’s history. But some small rural carriers disputed that the high factor shows that a thorough revamp of USF is needed.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is still deciding whether to approve a new cybersecurity command under STRATCOM that would “lead, integrate, and better coordinate” day-to- day protection of defense networks, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn told the Center for Strategic & International Studies at an event Monday. Gates is “evaluating proposals,” while “the joint staff is still working out the details of how this command would work and what the reporting relationships are,” Lynn said. No legislation is needed since the command would be a subordinate to the existing STRATCOM, he said. However, the commander of the program would have to be confirmed by the Senate, and Defense plans to “consult actively with Congress before we move forward,” he said. The new command “would not represent the militarization of cyberspace,” he said, because it would be responsible only for defense and military networks, he said. Civilian networks are the Homeland Security Department’s responsibility, he said. Protecting defense computer networks is a top priority for the Defense Department, Lynn said. DoD “has formally recognized cyberspace for what it is: a domain, similar to land, sea, air and space,” he said. However, the U.S. has room for improvement on cybersecurity, Lynn said. DoD is working to improve awareness, training and capabilities for dealing with cyberthreats, he said. Partnerships among the U.S. government, international governments, academia and the private sector will also be critical, Lynn said. “That in the end will be the only way that we'll meet the challenge.”
The FCC extended by more than four months the deadline for people with hearing problems to register 10-digit phone numbers with Internet-based telecom relay service providers. In an order Monday, the FCC said TRS providers may continue to connect calls by unregistered users until Nov. 12. The original deadline, June 30, was criticized by many telecom relay providers (CD May 1 p5), which pointed to unresolved technical problems and low consumer awareness.