The FCC assessed $298.8 million in regulatory fees due by the end ...

The FCC assessed $298.8 million in regulatory fees due by the end of the fiscal year, 6.67% more than last year. The total includes an extra $10 million mandated by a govt. debt reduction program. Few changes were made in the way fees are assessed, leading FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Copps to object. Copps said he concurred in the decision “to emphasize my long-held… belief that the Commission should consider opening a rulemaking to address the adjustment of regulatory fees” to reflect changes in regulated industries. Adelstein concurred in part “because I remain troubled with the Commission’s inability and reluctance to consider changes that undoubtedly occur from time to time in the costs of regulatory fees for individual services.” In approving the new fee schedule, the Commission rejected a proposal by NCTA and the American Cable Assn. to apply the same per-subscriber assessment for DBS as to cable operators. DBS is assessed per license, which NCTA calls outdated. But the FCC was “not persuaded” of the need for modifications, it said: “The existing regulatory fee classification and related methodology has ensured that regulatory fees are reasonably related to the benefits provided by the Commission’s activities.” On 2 other points, the FCC said: (1) It adopted a framework for broadband radio service regulatory fees recently, but hasn’t time to implement it. (2) A petition by VSNL Telecom urging the Commission to modify the international bearer circuit fee rules for private submarine cable operators is still pending.