Martin promises telcos help on franchise rules

LAS VEGAS--The Federal Communications Commission is prepared to act on making sure video franchises are available to telephone companies as early as November, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told a Telecom ’05 audience today.

Speaking live via satellite from Washington, where his wife is expected to give birth to their first child any day now, Martin said the FCC is empowered by Congress under current law to make sure local video franchises are not handed out on an exclusive basis and that second franchises are not unreasonably difficult to get. Under a notice of proposed rulemaking that he has issued, the commission will be looking at the video franchise matter shortly, Martin promised.

Martin said the FCC would also address intercarrier compensation and Universal Service reform shortly, but warned that there probably are no perfect solutions to these complex problems.

Martin himself prefers using telephone numbers as a means of assessing Universal Service fees so that any service that requires a number contributes to the fund.

“This is a technologically neutral approach and one that promotes conservation of numbers,” he said. Admitting that there are many suggestions including revenue-based approaches and hybrid approaches, Martin said he “hadn’t heard of recent breakthroughs” on industrywide agreement on how to support Universal Service.

“The commission can’t wait much longer,” he warned. “The industry needs certainty, and the fund needs fixing. So I can’t promise the perfect fix, but I can promise whatever we do will be technologically neutral.”

On the distribution side of universal service, Martin reiterated his opposition to funding new competitors in high-cost areas, saying it’s not viable to pay for multiple operators in areas where costs are too high for a single service provider to succeed without subsidy. “I am hopeful we will address this area as well,” he said.