AT&T Wireless and other mobile operators balked at an AT&T petition for reconsideration on part of a universal service fund order that covered what portion of a wireless bill was considered interstate to recover USF contributions from customers. AT&T said the FCC “blatantly discriminated” against wireline IXCs by allowing CMRS-based interstate long distance providers to charge averaged universal service recovery fees. The FCC decision raised to 28.5% from 15% the safe harbor for wireless carriers that chose not to break out the amount of interstate calling they carried. The FCC said carriers could rely on the 28.5% safe harbor or break out the percentage of revenue based on interstate calling. “In contrast, wireline providers must charge recovery fees based on a specific customer’s interstate usage,” AT&T argued. “It is time for the Commission to end this ’tangled web’ of special relief for CMRS interstate long distance providers.” It urged the FCC to create a methodology for wireless carriers to conduct and update traffic studies used to set a carrier-specific factor for allocating revenue to interstate traffic. AT&T Wireless last week asked the Commission to dismiss AT&T’s petition as untimely. Even on its merits, AT&T Wireless said, the FCC should reject the challenge because the agency’s decision doesn’t discriminate against interstate long distance carriers. Instead, it said, the order “simply takes into account that wireless carriers do not have the ability to determine the proportion of interstate traffic carried on their networks on a customer- specific basis, either for reporting or recovery purposes.” AT&T Wireless said AT&T never had challenged the earlier USF order that set the original 15% safe harbor for wireless carriers, so its attempt to challenge the idea of a safe harbor by seeking reconsideration of this order should be thrown out. Nextel also opposed AT&T’s challenge. Rather than unfairly favoring wireless providers, it said, the order clarifies that those that “have developed the capability of sampling traffic flows are permitted to estimate in good faith the breakdown of their interstate and international telecommunications traffic as a proxy for interstate revenue.” Nextel said carriers that had developed that capability shouldn’t be penalized by being forced to use the nearly doubled safe harbor percentage of 28.5% or investing in new billing and accounting systems to capture traffic and revenue information. CTIA also opposed the AT&T petition, saying: “In setting the revised safe harbor… the Commission was careful to balance the goal of encouraging reporting of actual interstate revenues with the realization that some wireless carriers are unable to report the exact jurisdictional breakdown of traffic.”
Country of origin cases
With the end of the Easter congressional recess, DTV legislation is expected soon from House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.). While committee staffers have said generally that the bill would be introduced “after Easter,” industry sources predicted it in early May. Some said there would be few changes in the controversial measure floated as a “discussion draft” last year (CD Sept 20 p1). But most industry sources agreed the larger question on DTV legislation lay with the Senate, which didn’t appear anxious to tackle the issue.
BOSTON -- ILECs and IXCs on both sides of the UNE-P debate pitched their respective views to state legislatures Fri. at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Spring Conference here. A panel Fri. summarized the new role of state PUCs in using “impairment” criteria from the FCC at the local level in determining whether to keep UNE-P. The predictable messages from AT&T and MCI to keep the UNE-P liberal and by Verizon “to consider local investment” and eliminate the UNE-P were somewhat misdirected in a room filled with state lawmakers, few of whom were likely to have telecom as their top priority.
The La. PSC voted 3-2 to revise exemptions for the state’s no-call telemarketing list, eliminating the exemption given to newspapers. The PSC’s original rules to implement the state’s 2001 no-call law exempted newspapers under the political activity exemption provided in the law. Comr. Foster Campbell, who sponsored the no-call bill when he was a state lawmaker, said that wasn’t what the legislature meant by political activity and moved to rescind the PSC’s newspaper exemption. The La. Press Assn. challenged the action, saying the PSC didn’t give opponents adequate notice that the issue would be voted on. The PSC also voted to add an exemption for real estate agents calling home sellers who have publicly posted their phone numbers on sale signs.
Correction: The new Maine law that requires the PUC to conduct a rate case before approving new alternative regulation plans for utilities won’t affect Verizon or other incumbent telecom carriers. The bill originally was to cover all types of utilities, but a late amendment to the measure (LD-371/HB-291) exempted telecom companies. The bill as signed affects only energy utilities, not telecom.
The Ind. Senate Republican leadership acted swiftly to head off a move by House Democrats to revive a moribund SBC- backed broadband deregulation bill through the conference committee process. State Rep. Ed Mahern (D-Indianapolis) sought to persuade a conference committee on HB-1664, a natural resources bill, to amend that measure to include major provisions from the failed broadband bill HB-1627. Mahern wanted language that would deregulate broadband entirely and compel state regulators to apply certain ratemaking standards that would increase the UNE rates paid by the state’s 2 largest CLECs, AT&T and MCI/WorldCom. But Senate Pres. Pro Tem Robert Garton (R-Columbus), a foe of the SBC bill who also appoints senators to conference committees, quickly replaced the original Senate conferees on HB-1664 with members who were opposed to the SBC-backed broadband bill. Rather than pass the SBC bill, the Senate earlier this session had adopted a resolution (SCR-44) urging the Ind. Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to reconsider SBC’s UNE rates. The IURC has opened a docket to do exactly that.
Qwest put fresh offers on the table in Ariz. and Wash. in an effort to win those states’ approval of its pending sale of its Dex directory publishing assets. The Ariz. Corporation Commission staff and Qwest reached agreement on how the carrier would compensate ratepayers for the sale of its directory publishing affiliate. Under the agreement, which will be reviewed by an administrative law judge before being presented to the commission for approval, Qwest will impute $72 million annually for the next 15 years. That represents an 80% increase from the $43 million in annual directory revenue Qwest has been imputing under a 1988 agreement that allowed the old Mountain Bell operating company to transfer its Ariz. directory assets to its regional parent U S West. Qwest said the increased imputation under the settlement would bring rate benefits to consumers this summer, and the sale would enable it to avoid a bankruptcy. In Wash., Qwest offered a new compromise in the hope of obtaining that state’s regulators’ approval of the sale. Qwest’s new offer calls for imputing $103.4 million annually for the next 10 years if the directory sale is approved. Its original offer called for the imputation to last only 4.5 years. But the state Attorney Gen. has proposed requiring a $147 million bill credit up front, plus the imputation of $103.4 million for 20 years. The staff of the Wash. Utilities & Transportation Commission (WUTC) has opposed any approval of a Dex sale, saying the price is a distress-sale bargain and that ratepayers would be better off if the sale were blocked and Qwest allowed to go bankrupt. If the WUTC were to approve the sale, the staff urged that all proceeds from the sale of the Wash. directory assets be invested in Qwest’s network, with none going to Qwest’s debt reduction program. The Ariz. and Wash. proceedings are part of the 2nd phase of the Qwest Dex sale transaction, which covers 7 Qwest states. The first phase closed last Nov.
NextWave lauded the FCC’s grant of its construction notification filings Tues. as complying with its PCS build- out rules. The FCC changed the status of NextWave’s licenses in its universal licensing system without fanfare Mon. The Commission approval removes a significant hurdle to NextWave moving ahead with plans for its PCS licenses, which many analysts expect to be sold in whole or in part, although the timing of such a deal remains unclear.
Globalstar will ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Wilmington, Del., Thurs. to approve its business plan, a company spokesman said. The company announced earlier this month that New Orleans-based Thermo Capital Partners was the successful bidder in Globalstar’s equity auction. Thermo plans to invest $55 million into Globalstar in return for 67% of the company, Globalstar said. A proposal by the original investor, New Valley, involved an investment of the same amount for a 50% stake (CD Jan 16 p10). Globalstar’s spokesman wouldn’t discuss the terms of the proposal, but said that although the dollar amounts were identical, the choice was based on more than just raw cash. The judge’s decision is expected during the hearing, the spokesman said. He said it was unlikely creditors would reject the proposal as they had New Valley’s, but if a better deal were presented, the company would consider it.
ITC DeltaCom urged the FCC to turn down a US LEC petition on intercarrier compensation involving wireless networks. The plan proposed by US LEC “is contrary to FCC rules and the public interest,” ITC DeltaCom said in an ex parte filing last week. US LEC had sought a ruling that LECs were entitled to recover access charges from IXCs for providing access service on interexchange calls originating from or terminating on wireless networks. ITC DeltaCom said US LEC’s proposal would subject IXCs to a “potentially endless ‘daisy chain’ of access charges.”