Independent - Regulatory
FCC chief choice likely next year – contenders emerge
With President-Elect Barack Obama’s transition slowing down for the holidays, it appears that the choice of a new FCC chair to replace current Republication chairman Kevin Martin will likely be held off until 2009...
Universal Service oversight under fire
The FCC found a new detractor this summer when the Government Accountability Office recommended that the commission strengthen its oversight...
NTCA throws support behind Adelstein
President Bush announced on Friday he would re-nominate Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein for another five-year term at the Federal Communications Commission. Representatives for rural telecom providers are all smiles...
Defending rural wireless
The NTCA's Kelly Bond speaks up for rural carriers in the 700 MHz auction...
Dossier: Curt Stamp, ITTA
In order to get their voices heard in Washington, a very select group of mid-sized Independent telephone companies came together in 1994 to form the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance...
Martin rebuffs VZW’s open access demands
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin today said he would not give in to Verizon Wireless’ demands to remove the open access requirements from the upcoming 700 MHz auction...
Verizon, FairPoint under regulatory scrutiny
FairPoint and Verizon officials remain optimistic that the $2.7 billion deal that merges Verizon’s Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont operations into FairPoint will be approved by regulators, despite public complaints and controversy concerned the merger plan announced last January...
OPASTCO: Job No. 1 remains USF reform
For their customers, members of OPASTCO (the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies) are focused on delivering broadband and whatever services that may entail...
Dossier: Roger Nishi, OPASTCO
Roger Nishi is the new chairman of the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and is also vice president of industry relations for Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom, a Waitsfield, Vt.-based telephone company. He talked to Telephony contributing editor Joan Engebretson recently about OPASTCO's plans and priorities...
Iowa telcos seek FCC pressure on incumbents
A group of Iowa telcos and their conference calling partners are in Washington this week, hoping to convince the Federal Communications Commission to pressure large incumbents such as AT&T, Embarq, Qwest and Verizon to stop blocking calls and start paying about $20 million in back access charges...
Iowa telcos: Stage set for showdown
The stage is set for a David vs. Goliath showdown next week, when a group of Iowa rural telcos and their conference-calling partners meet with the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to force major incumbents including AT&T, Qwest and Sprint to continue paying the high termination fees that fund their free and low-cost calling business....
New CALEA rules cast long shadow
With the May 14 deadline for compliance of broadband networks with CALEA little more than one month away, most rural operators already have plans in place...
Iowa telcos fight back over blocked calls
A group of small Iowa independent telcos and CLECs have banded together to fight back against the industry’s telecom giants, claiming AT&T, Qwest Communications and Sprint are illegally blocking calls in order to avoid paying legal termination fees...
AT&T pays to settle Citizens billing dispute
AT&T this week agreed to pay $37.5 million to Citizens Communications to settle billing disputes between the two carriers, Citizens disclosed in regulatory filings...
Deadline pressure drives CALEA compliance
With one CALEA deadline having come and gone last week and another looming in three months, procrastinating service providers are scrambling to comply....
Mr. Bellweather
Earl Bellweather broke through the snow drifts to wish a merry Christmas to his pals around the country...
NTCA: McDowell tells rural providers, ‘Go wireless’
In his first formal presentation to an industry association, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell gave the following advice to members of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association at the group’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.: Take advantage of the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction to arm yourself for the future...
FCC opens video inquiry
The Federal Communications Commission today said it will conduct an assessment of competition in the video market, to include the impact of Internet-based video and IPTV...
Adelstein assures rural telcos at NECA Expo
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein reassured the rural telecom community that the commission is working to ensure their ability to compete and deliver broadband services to their markets during his address yesterday to more than 800 attendees at the NECA Expo in Las Vegas...
OPASTCO: IPTV players may need consortium
HOT SPRINGS, Va.--As the number of independent telcos getting into IPTV is booming, the time may be right for a national consortium aimed at helping resolve integration issues and possibly addressing content acquisition, similar to the cable industry’s CableLabs...
OPASTCO: Rural telco unity increasingly important
HOT SPRINGS, Va.--Independent telephone companies are at a critical juncture in their history and run multiple risks in both the regulatory and competitive arenas, speakers at the 43rd Annual OPASTCO Summer Convention and Trade Show warned Monday...
In the Spotlight: John Rose, OPASTCO
It has been a hectic year thus far for John Rose, president of the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, as a number of issues impacting independent telcos continue to reverberate through Washington, D.C. On the eve of OPASTCO's 43rd Annual Summer Convention, July 15-19, Rose spoke with Telephony Editor-at-large Carol Wilson on the regulatory outlook to date...
TIA: Video franchising bill must pass
The Telecommunications Industry Association, whose membership consists of many network equipment manufacturers that cater to both telcos and cable TV companies, wants see national video franchising legislation be approved quickly by the U.S. Senate, or it may run the risk of slowing broadband deployment....
Incumbents back number-based USF funding
An unusual set of incumbent bedfellows, including the lobbying organizations for the telephone, wireless and cable industries, has come together to back a plan to adopt a numbers-based system for collecting Universal Service Fund money...
TIA back broadband act
The Telecommunications Industry Association is backing The American Broadband for Communities Act, saying rural communities would be among those that benefit...
