Although the FCC has made strides in encouraging broadband investment, “much remains to be done” to achieve President Bush’s goal of “universal, affordable access” to broadband technology by 2007,” the High Tech Broadband Coalition (HTBC) said in a letter sent Thurs. to FCC officials. HTBC said the FCC should, in the near term: (1) Resolve outstanding petitions for reconsideration of the Triennial Review Order to strengthen ILECs’ “incentives to invest in last mile broadband facilities serving multiple dwelling units and neighborhoods.” (2) Establish “a minimal regulatory structure in the cable and wireline broadband proceeding.” HTBC said the FCC could provide more certainty “by determining that the transport component of DSL and cable modem service can be provided under private carriage even if they are ultimately held to be telecommunications.” (3) Keep VoIP “largely free from regulation.” HTBC said the agency should “expeditiously reform intercarrier compensation and the contribution methodology for universal service” to eliminate some of the pressure to regulate VoIP. (4) “Reform the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation to enable mobile and fixed wireless broadband services.” (5) Begin a rulemaking to permit the reuse of vacate UHF TV channels 21-51. (6) “Expedite the availability of UHF TV channels 52-69 for other services.” HTBC said for the longer term, broadband investment would be stimulated by action on any remaining universal service and VoIP issues, speeding the DTV transition and “action on more fundamental spectrum reforms enabling flexible use of spectrum where appropriate.”
The broadband over power line (BPL) industry opposed as “unduly burdensome and unnecessary,” the FCC’s proposal to require that BPL operators develop and maintain a public database on the location, operational frequencies and modulation type of BPL systems. Its purpose would be to speed resolution of interference issues (CD Feb 13 p9). DSL and cable modem operators aren’t subject to notification and database requirements, and that would put BPL at a competitive disadvantage, the Power Line Communications Assn. (PLCA) said in comments on the FCC’s rulemaking on changes to its Part 15 rules to promote BPL. The United Power Line Council (UPLC) said utilities were concerned about disclosure of what could be considered “protected critical infrastructure information” under the Homeland Security Act. Meanwhile, public safety groups called for a year-long, industry-funded demonstration that BPL systems cause no or only rare interference.
Consumer groups called for a moratorium on the FCC’s allowing Comcast or Time Warner Cable to acquire new systems, at least until the Commission has adopted a cable horizontal ownership cap. Media Access Project and the Georgetown U. Law Center -- on behalf of Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America and the United Church of Christ -- told FCC Chmn. Powell in a letter that they were concerned about recent talk by Comcast and TWC officials about acquiring systems, in particular systems currently owned by Adelphia, which is up for sale. “We oppose FCC consideration of any such transaction unless and until the Commission complies with its 11-1/2-year-old statutory mandate, and its 3-year- old judicial directive, to establish a limit on cable horizontal ownership,” the letter said.
NCTA said it generally supports subjecting broadband telephony providers to CALEA, it said in reply comments on the petition for rulemaking filed by federal agencies. NCTA said that decision can be made without affecting the regulatory classification of VoIP. NCTA said it supports a declaratory ruling that providers of broadband telephony be viewed as telecom carriers for the purposes of CALEA, with 2 qualifications: (1) The Commission should include all similarly situation providers, including Vonage and CallVantage. (2) The Commission should make clear that when services like Vonage and CallVantage are provided over the facilities of other companies, the responsibility for complying with CALEA lies with the provider, not the facilities owner. On cable modem services, NCTA said it supports a rulemaking because CALEA in that context “raises complex technical and practical issues.” NCTA said if the Commission eventually decides that cable modem is subject to CALEA, it can do that without abandoning its earlier findings that cable modem is not a telecom service for Communications Act purposes.
The FCC opened a rulemaking to improve its Form 477 local competition and broadband data gathering program. It proposed to extend the program for 5 years beyond its March 2005 sunset and collect more granular data from broadband service providers. Comments are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 60 days after publication.
FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree plans to present his staff’s DTV transition plan next week to what’s expected to be an unsympathetic audience of broadcasters. Invited by the NAB to its annual convention in Las Vegas, Ferree joked with reporters at FCC hq Tues. that broadcasters “would rather eat their children” than release their “death grip” and give back the spectrum the govt. loaned to them. Nevertheless, he said he intends to lay out a scenario in which broadcasters would have to do so by 2009. Ferree said he expects to be pelted with tomatoes, among other things.
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The digital migration isn’t just about technology, it’s about “the infrastructure for U.S. competitiveness, period,” FCC Chmn. Powell told a town meeting here Tues. sponsored by the N.H. High Technology Council. Broadband networks will affect the future competitiveness of the U.S. economy, he said. With the overseas outsourcing of jobs an issue in the Presidential campaign, “I've wondered why we don’t outsource jobs to Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta -- with broadband networks in place, we could,” Powell said.
With the Energy Bill stalling in Congress, states continued to press with legislative initiatives this year to slap energy standards on cable and satellite set-top boxes and digital converter boxes. The cable and CE industries had successfully warded off legislation last year that would have mandated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) voluntary Energy Star standards for set-top boxes and 8 other products, but bills continued to crop up in state legislatures this year.
The FCC proposed to collect $272,958,000 in regulatory fees for FY 2004 to recover the regulatory costs associated with the Commission’s enforcement, policy and rulemaking, user information and international activities. Last year, it said it would collect $269 million through the assessment. Comments are due April 21, replies April 30.
National broadcasters are more effective in communicating a national emergency to the disabled than the FCC-administered emergency alert system (EAS), said Susan Fox, Disney vp-govt. affairs. “EAS -- the sense that I got from the folks in my own company -- is not the answer,” Fox said during a panel here on defining emergency at FCC’s Emergency Communications and Homeland Security: Working With the Disability Community Summit. “I think what we do, the information that we provide, is greater and broader than EAS,” she said.