The business of Internet, wireless, and telecom law.
On April 18, 2011, comments were due for the USF Reform Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making. Various parties filed 130+ comments. Reply comments are due on May 23, 2011. USF reform comments were filed by ILECs, RLECs, CLECs, state commissions, fiber providers, cable companies, mobile providers, associations, and [...]
On February 9, 2011, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on numerous proposed changes to “fundamentally modernize” the USF (Universal Service Fund) and another subsidy program called the “intercarrier compensation system.” The USF “High Cost Fund” is a multibillion dollar annual subsidy created in [...]
Technorati Tags: NTIA,ARRA,Recovery Act,National Broadband Plan,Recovery.gov On May 18, 2009, NTIA submitted the first required quarterly progress report to Congress on getting the Recovery Act funding out the door. Without a press release or press conference, NTIA “quietly” (a word GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham used) explained to Congress that the first tranche of broadband funding would [...]
The FCC announced yesterday that it will host a summit on February 25, 2009, for coordinating Next Generation 911 deployment for IP-enabled voice service providers. The summit is required by the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (NET911 Act) which was unanimously passed by Congress last July. The NET911 Act required the [...]
Yesterday FCC Commissioner McDowell released a letter addressed to Acting Chairman Copps. One great suggestion (see the list) in his letter was the proposal that the Commission schedule in advance Open Meeting dates. Commissioner McDowell explained: We need to improve our external communications regarding FCC processes and actions. As an immediate first step, I suggest [...]
In its first order after the resignation of Chairman Martin and departure of Commissioner Tate, the three remaining commissioners at the FCC, Copps, Adelstein, and McDowell, denied on January 21, 2009, a Petition for Forbearance filed by Feature Group IP. Feature Group IP requested in its October 23, 2007 Petition that the FCC forbear from [...]
This month the FCC narrowly avoided addressing the messy political hot-potato of comprehensive intercarrier compensation reform. Very few, even inside the industry, have a full grasp of the complex problems involved with reform. On November 5, 2008, the FCC issued a lengthy order addressing the dial-up reciprocal compensation issues related to the Core Communications order [...]
Technorati Tags: FCC,VOIP On April 9, 2008, the FCC released an order, in an obscure enforcement bureau matter, declaring that a provider’s VoIP peering service was a “telecommunications service” subject to Title II regulation. In the order, In the Matter of Compass Global Inc., the Commission used its rationale of the 2004 AT&T IP-in-the-Middle calling [...]
On April 24, 2008, the FCC granted AT&T’s request for forbearance pursuant to Section 160 of in WC Docket No. 07-21 and 05-342 from accounting rules that assigned costs for the regional bell operating companies (RBOC). The FCC’s cost assignment accounting rules were created to ensure that the monopoly regulated side of the RBOC business was [...]
Femtocells were all the rage at PulverMedia’s FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) Conference in Chicago last week. One carrier in the U.S., Sprint, is leading the pack. As of today, there are no femtocell rollouts in any geography. There are a few trials, some announced and others not. Telefonica, as reported in WSJ last week (9/6/2007), is [...]
