The Universal Service Administrative Corp. (USAC), which administers the $2.25 billion federal E-rate program, acknowledged at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tues. it had lost $4.6 million as a result of an accounting change requiring the corporation to have cash on hand to meet commitment letters. The change forced USAC to sell off high interest Treasury bills (T-bills) and other assets, paying significant penalties.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
A new economic analysis of the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger found that consumers will see wireless and wireline phone service costs increase $3 billion annually, CompTel/ASCENT said in a report released Fri. The analysis comes on the eve of a debate among commissioners’ offices on the merger, which is expected to be before them in the next few days. The filing is significant in that wireline-wireless issues are expected to get considerable attention as the FCC takes up the merger.
Comr. Copps said Thurs. the FCC should consider the wisdom of allowing further use of unlicensed devices in parts of the band occupied by wireless carriers. Under current procedures some spectrum, such as 2.4 GHz, is set aside for unlicensed use. In other spectrum, for example ultra-wideband, the FCC provides for unlicensed use under existing licensed use. Copps told a 3G Americas seminar on 3G technologies that wireless carriers may face enough concerns without having to worry about possible new interference: “Mobile phone licensees don’t know if tomorrow the FCC will allow another spectrum user to share their bands and what the rules will be… Maybe we need to decide that there is enough uncertainty for mobile carriers today and that underlay rights are not appropriate in the already heavily trafficked CMRS bands, even if they are appropriate elsewhere, which I believe they may be.” Copps also reiterated his calls for formal merger guidelines at the FCC on the eve of an order on the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger. “I can’t talk about pending mergers, but I can say that it amazes me that the FCC does not have wireless merger guidelines. We ushered in a new world with the elimination of the spectrum cap, making many new mergers possible, yet we didn’t replace it with anything.” Copps told the conference he hoped to see more growth in telecom investment led by wireless growth. To that end “governments, starting with our own, need to provide more predictability and transparency to the market,” he said.
The Supreme Court will review a decision against Rancho Palos Verdes, Cal., in a suit brought by an amateur radio operator who claimed the city wrongly denied him a permit to use a radio antenna for commercial purposes. In a case being watched by wireless carriers, the court will decide whether the Telecom Act provides for money damages against city officials when violations occur, or just a court order requiring compliance. The 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, held the radio operator should be compensated. The Rancho Palos Verdes case is important because there’s “no incentive to obey a law if there is no punishment for violating it,” a carrier source said Wed.: “A Supreme Court decision affirming that a state or local government is financially liable to pay money damages for improperly denying permission to construct a site for CMRS communications provides an incentive for zoning officials to properly apply the provisions of section 332(c)(7) of the Communications Act.”
The Satellite Industry Assn. weighed in strongly Wed. against a waiver request filed in Aug. by the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), one of the 2 main ultra-wideband (UWB) groups. With other comments still coming in, the SIA filing is considered critical since satellite operators are the incumbents that will be most affected by any UWB interference.
CTIA is joining Cingular and others in asking the FCC to back away from the use of Numbering Resource Utilization/Forecast (NRUF) data for assessing regulatory fees, in favor of subscriber counts that follow numbers in SEC filings. The use of the NRUF numbers has caused major headaches for carriers and raised questions at the SEC, carrier sources said. In a separate filing, all national carriers except Verizon Wireless supported Cingular.
Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue and Senior Vp Robert Foosaner met with 4 of the 5 FCC Comrs. Mon. and Tues. to make a high-level case for revisions to the 800 MHz rebanding order. Sources said the executives used a PowerPoint presentation and covered technical problems with the order, as well as arguments that the order should be changed to save the carrier hundreds of millions of dollars.
A Senate hearing today (Tues.) comes at an awkward time for wireless carriers, with the CTIA getting ready to launch a limited liability corporation offering wireless carriers an option to list in a national directory. Wireless carriers initially hoped the hearing requested by Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) would get delayed until next year. Wireless industry sources said congressional regulation of the list could hamper investment and participation in the system. Sources also said the hearing would be a chance for the wireless industry to educate the public about the service, which they said has been mischaracterized by detractors.
An air-to-ground (ATG) telecom order resolving a fight between Airfone, owned by Verizon, and competitors including AirCell and Boeing has been sent to Chmn. Powell from the Wireless Bureau. However, sources told us Fri. that the item may not make the agenda for the Oct. 14 meeting since some of the commissioners’ offices are just starting to focus on the issue and may not be ready to vote. A broadband over powerline (BPL) order also was sent to the chairman from the Officer of Engineering & Technology and is likely to be the item that gets the most attention at the meeting.
Nextel made its most complete filing yet on its concerns about the 800 MHz rebanding proposal published by the FCC on Aug. 6. Most issues raised were highly technical, but Nextel continues to put the most emphasis on financial issues.