Although adoption of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (NPA) to protect historic interest and streamline the review process for telecom facilities in historic areas is a laudable goal, the draft agreement contains flaws that must be corrected, parties said in comments to the FCC. They generally supported the draft NPA by the FCC, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Offices. The agreement would streamline siting decisions under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which requires federal agencies to consider the impact of construction and modification of wireless facilities located near historic properties.
Country of origin cases
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) opened the bidding process for wireless telephone licenses in Iraq to state-owned telecom companies and reduced the bond requirements. It said the changes, which modified the final requirements issued earlier this month (CD Aug 6 p9), were in response to bidders’ concerns that some conditions precluded their participation or were “unduly onerous.” The CPA said the new requirements would allow companies more than 10% owned by a foreign govt. to submit their bids for the licenses as part of a consortium, as long as total foreign govt. participation there didn’t exceed 10%: “This change opens the bidding process to most companies worldwide, even if they are wholly state-owned, provided that company’s ownership of a consortium does not exceed 10%.” Secy. Gen. of the Ministry of Transportation & Telecommunications Shakir Abdulla said: “We would have preferred 0% ownership by foreign governments in Iraq’s system, obviously, but as a compromise we agreed to 10% at the absolute highest.” The CPA also said it had reduced the cost of the performance bond required to be secured as part of the license to $30 million at a substantially reduced cost. The original rule required a bond for the full price of the build-out, thought by some to impose a very significant bonding fee for a build-out estimated at $150 million. The CPA said the changes would encourage more companies to participate in the bid process. “We have provided a level playing field for all interested parties to submit substantive bids for wireless communication in the 3 designated regions,” said Ambassador Paul Bremer, SPA Administrator: “We are proceeding at a rapid pace in this endeavor because Iraq must have a modern communications system for voice and data to jump start the post-war economy.” Bidders must submit their proposals by Aug. 21, and selection is expected by Sept. 5.
The Ohio PUC declined to reconsider its June decision allowing SBC to increase its late fees for residential consumers. The PUC approved a change in the residential late fee to impose a minimum $5 late charge on past-due balances over $25, but also added 4 more days to the grace period before late charges would apply. Ohio Consumer Counsel Robert Tongren asked the PUC to reconsider, saying it was a rate increase prohibited by SBC’s regulation plan. The PUC said Tongren had presented no new evidence to alter the original conclusion that the late fee was neither unjust nor unreasonable.
The General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) proposed debarment of MCI/WorldCom is refocusing industry attention on the long distance potential of local telecom contracts held by Bell companies and AT&T. The Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) contracts cover local telecom services to federal agencies in certain metro areas. Under a GSA “crossover” program, MAA contractors can expand their services to offer agencies options for long distance otherwise available on the FTS 2001 contract, held by MCI and Sprint.
Cal. wireless carriers asked the Cal. PUC for more time to prepare their comments on the agency’s proposed Telecom Consumer Bill of Rights that detailed fundamental consumer rights and set forth rules to protect those rights (Case 00- 02-004). The Cal. Cellular Carriers Assn. and 7 of the state’s largest wireless carriers said they couldn’t do a proper job of evaluating the impact of the proposed rules on their industry by the PUC’s Aug. 25 deadline. They sought a 5-week extension to Sept. 30, with replies due Oct. 21. The carriers said the PUC would be “doing itself a disservice” by holding to its original 30-day comment period. Meanwhile, the PUC set an Aug. 19 workshop to discuss technical compliance issues relating to the proposed bill of rights. The workshop will have separate sessions for carriers with and without intrastate tariffs.
The FCC should retain the international settlements policy (ISP) and associated benchmarks in a modified form and adopt a position of cost-orientation for international mobile rates “to ensure the continued support of U.S. consumer and business interests,” NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory wrote in a letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. She said NTIA supported the private, commercial negotiation of international settlement rates in competitive markets, but said “where there are market distortions… some government action may be necessary. Above-market termination rates disrupt the competitive marketplace by raising costs for consumers, which in turn diminishes demand for telecommunications services and harms the overall global economy. As a result, targeted government intervention, such as the ISP, is warranted in these circumstances.” Victory said the ISP and associated benchmarks were “still necessary on routes where free and fair competition is threatened, restricted or absent.” However, she said, the Commission should suspend the ISP and associated filing requirements for U.S. carriers on U.S.- international routes where “free and fair competition is present and flourishing.” Victory said NTIA was aware of recent attempts by foreign governments to intervene in previously competitive markets and establish artificial price floors, and “we favor retaining certain safeguards on routes where ISP requirements have been eliminated. One safeguard [that] has merit is the retaining of automatic examination of a route when a foreign government mandates a price floor that increases rates above competitively negotiated levels, regardless of whether the increase is below current benchmarks.” Victory said the FCC also should investigate the feasibility and practicality of downward revisions in existing benchmarks, considering that the original benchmark rates were determined using an analysis of existing tariffs and weren’t based on actual costs, and taking into account technological innovations that had resulted in lower transmission and switching costs. Victory also strongly encouraged the Commission to adopt a principle of cost- orientation for international mobile termination. She said the approach the FCC took in 1996 when it adopted a Policy Statement on International Accounting Rate Reform, which was to promote effective competition through prices more closely related to cost, had proved to be effective. There has been “substantial reduction” in prices for international calls originating in the U.S., which had dropped on average to 33 cents per min. in 2001 from 67 cents in 1997. Over the same period, she said, international minutes originating in the U.S. had increased to 33.3 billion from 22.7 billion: “We believe consumer pricing trends will emerge in the mobile market if the principle of cost-orientation is extended to cover international mobile services.” Victory also said NTIA was “troubled” that U.S. consumers might be paying higher surcharges for placing calls to foreign mobile numbers, and urged the FCC to “thoroughly” investigate such allegations and to “take actions as appropriate.”
EchoStar and Rainbow DBS are each petitioning the FCC to deny their competitor’s application for special temporary authority (STA) to use Ch. 23 and 24 at 61.5 degrees W until the channels are auctioned off at a later date (CD June 13 p11). The STAs it has held for the channels since 1998 are expiring, EchoStar said. Rainbow’s interest in the STA stems from its recent successful launch of Rainbow-1 to 61.5 degrees W (CD July 21 p8). Service is expected to begin in Oct.
FCC Chmn. Powell and NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory outlined plans Thurs. for their agencies to follow up on decisions at the World Radio Conference (WRC) in Geneva that ended last month. Their agreement marks the first time both agencies have gotten together to set such a detailed schedule for implementation. They said they would take action by year-end on items such as unlicensed spectrum at 5 GHz, earth stations aboard vessels and a secondary allocation to allow aeronautical mobile satellite service.
AT&T expanded its accusations against MCI/WorldCom in a court filing Wed., saying it had routed Defense Dept., Army and Navy calls through Canada, creating a security risk. The accusation, in an objection AT&T filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, N.Y., disagreed with MCI/WorldCom’s statement (CD Aug 5 p1) that there wasn’t any access charge fraud as alleged by AT&T in an earlier objection (CD July 29 p1).
The FCC’s Wireline Bureau told the Commission at its agenda meeting Wed. that broadband subscribership was growing in rural as well as urban areas, but Comrs. Copps and Adelstein questioned the timing of the report and the quality of the data. The bureau submitted a report showing the percent of occupied housing units with high-speed lines in service grew nationwide to 16% in Dec. 2002, from 2% in Dec. 1999. On a state-by-state basis, rural areas also were gaining more broadband subscribers, for example growing in S.D. to 6% of housing units in Dec. 2002 from less than 0.5% in Dec. 1999, in Ark. to 9% from 1%. Among more urban states, the N.Y. percent of high speed lines increased to 25% from 2% and Mass. to 24% from 4%. The bureau said the percentages were estimates. Other data it reported: (1) The number of high-speed lines connecting homes and businesses to the Internet at the end of 2002 was nearly 20 million, vs. 2.8 million at the end of 1999. (2) In Dec. 1999, 60% of the nation’s zip codes had at least one service provider with at least one subscriber to its high-speed service, 10% had at least 4 providers and only 1% had 7 providers. By the end of 2002, the comparable figures were 88%, 39% and 17%. The report defined high-speed lines as those that provided services at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction. Copps said the report “seems like good news” because progress was being made in the number of people with high-speed access. However, he questioned the survey’s methodology in 2 areas: (1) The use of “skeletal zip code data” to measure use of high-speed services because “finding one high-speed subscriber in a zip code and counting it as service available throughout is not a credible way to proceed.” (2) “Basing our measurements and our objectives on a broadband revolution at 200 kilobits may be just a little passe.” He said it might be time to use “a more rigorous bandwidth standard.” Copps said the Commission wasn’t conducting the congressionally mandated Sec. 706 broadband surveys frequently enough: “When the Commission undertook its first Sec. 706 inquiry, it stated that the agency would inquire annually into the deployment of broadband. Yet it has been a full 2 years since the Commission released its last notice of inquiry.” Adelstein said the report was “a good effort but we must do more.” It has been 2 years since the Commission began its last inquiry and 19 months since it issued its last report, he said. A bureau spokesman said the Commission planned to release a notice of inquiry this fall. -- EH