The Senate Appropriations Committee last month told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) it could not use any of its money to impose a "primary line restriction" on universal service subsidies.

Under the primary line restriction, one carrier could receive support for only one household instead of the current system where carriers receive support based on how many lines are served. This system has allowed both wireline and wireless carriers to receive support for serving rural customers.

In an effort to inhibit the growth of the universal service fund, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service in February recommended that support be limited to one primary line. The FCC has one year to act on the recommendation.

The Association has sent a letter to Senator Byron Dorgan a letter of appreciation and congratulated him for his leadership on this issue.

The National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) announced the election of four new members and the reelection of one member to its Board of Directors last week. Wally Beyer of North Dakota was reelected to a term as an outside director.

Elected as Subset 3 representatives were Ed Buchanan, President and General Manager of Interstate Communications in Truro, Iowa and Raymond Henagan, General Manager of Rock Port Telephone Company in Rock Port, Missouri. Subset 3 includes companies with less than $40 million in annual telecom revenue. Henagan and Buchanan replace Gerry Anderson of Montana and Lee Dillard.

Kevin Albaugh, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at North Pittsburgh Telephone Company in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania was elected as the Subset 2 representative. Albaugh replaces Jeff Jung who is retiring at the end of the year. Subset 2 includes companies with more than $40 million in annual telecom revenues.

Elected as a representative was Robert Blau of BellSouth. He replaces Edward Young, III, who is retiring at the end of the year. Subset 1 includes the former Bell Operating Companies.

The fifteen member NECA board includes two representatives of Bell Operating Companies, two representatives of companies with greater than $40 million in annual revenue, six representatives from all telephone companies with less than $40 million in revenues and five outside directors.

The Nemont Telephone Cooperative board of directors has
announced that Tim Dupic has assumed the General Manager/CEO duties at the company and its subsidiaries. Dupic replaced the retiring Dick Thronson effective September 1st.

With the September approval by members of Noonan Telephone
Cooperative, the wheels have been set in motion for its acquisition
by Northwest Communications Cooperative. The Noonan board
of directors had previously approved the sale.

Northwest, whose service territory is adjacent to Noonan's, is currently seeking a certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the North Dakota Public Service Commission to serve the area. Following the agency's approval, a Federal Communications Commission waiver must be acquired. It is anticipated the sale will close with all governmental hurdles cleared by early 2005. Northwest currently provides limited wireless television and Internet services within the Noonan service territory.

AT&T, VONAGE CUT VOIP PRICES

Vonage also said it would eliminate its Unlimited Local plan, which gives users unlimited local calls plus 500 minutes of long distance, and put customers in that plan on the Premium Plus plan, which allows unlimited local and long distance anywhere in the United States.

AT&T also announced that it will enhance its offer by giving away the first month of service free to new CallVantage subscribers who sign up before January 31st.

Polar Communications of Park River, North Dakota has
purchased Wolverton Telephone Company.
Wolverton, which was established in 1946, serves the communities of Wolverton, Minnesota; Walcott, North Dakota; and Christine, North Dakota. It has been a family-owned company and was purchased from Mathew and Paul Ihland.

The purchase will add 500 access lines to Polar's family of customers.

The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved settlement agreements between 11 small local telephone companies and Western Wireless resolving implementation cost issues related to the FCC's local number portability (LNP) rules.

Nearly all of the small local telephone companies in Montana had requested that the PSC suspend the FCC's LNP requirement, but Western Wireless opposed their requests. With the settlement in place, all of the Montana local telephone companies, with the exception of Ronan Telephone and Hot Springs Telephone, will have implemented LNP by January 2006.

Under the new agreement, the wireline companies will implement LNP by a specific deadline negotiated with each ILEC, with all carriers agreeing to be LNP compliant no later than January 1, 2006. In addition, the local telephone companies agreed to deliver ported calls as local through direct connection or through a Qwest tandem switch.

Western Wireless agreed to reimburse ILECs for transit and transport charges incurred when the ILECs route calls to numbers that have been ported to wireless carriers. Additionally, all parties agreed to work on establishing direct trucking connections, or the FCC issues an order deciding who is responsible for transit costs.

The agreement approved by the PSC included approval of the settlement between Western Wireless and local carriers including: 3 Rivers Communications, Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative, Lincoln Telephone Co., Range Telephone Cooperative, Southern Montana Telephone Co., Northern Telephone Cooperative, Triangle Telephone Cooperative, Central Montana Communications ( a subsidiary of Triangle Telephone), InterBel Telephone Cooperative, Nemont Telephone Cooperative, and Project Telephone Co..

Local number portability allows both wireline and wireless customers to switch phone companies without changing numbers.

In its order, the Nebraska commission said requiring the companies to make the switch was technically unfeasible, as well as it not being in the public interest because there wasn't enough demand from customers to switch carriers. The rural telcos also cited the $2.5 million expense of making their companies LNP compliant.

One third of those who answered the survey said they were dissatisfied with their current landline telephone service. Although the majority of people surveyed said they felt the quality of service was fine, 67 percent say they pay too much to have a landline phone in their homes.

More than six in 10 AARP Wyoming members, according to the Associated Press, say they use a cellular phone on a regular basis-- 10 percent higher than the national average--while 47 percent say they have or have considered switching from a landline to a wireless telephone for all of their needs.

Verizon Wireless has received antitrust clearance from the FederalTrade Commission to acquire Qwest's wireless assets for $418 million. The agreement includes spectrum licenses in 62 markets in 14 western and midwestern U.S. States, covering a population of 30.8 million, and also adds network switching centers, cell sites and other network equipment.

The spectrum licenses include several new markets for Verizon Wireless and will expand the company's network to another 1.5 million people.

The controversy over Qwest's unfiled agreements began in 2001, when the PUC opened an investigation to determine whether the company was engaging in anticompetitive conduct by reaching interconnection agreements with competitors and failing to file them with the Commission. As a result, terms of those agreements were not on file for review by other competitors and requesting carriers.

In 2003, the PUC ruled that Qwest's action was "anticompetitive and discriminatory" and violated both State law and the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The Federal Court rejected the PUC's $10 million fine against the telephone company because Minnesota law does not authorize the PUC to grant equitable relief and that the restitution imposed is equitable in character.

Western Wireless has filed an appeal in Federal Court in Colorado seeking to prevent the State's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) from enforcing conditions to their designation of the wireless company as an "eligible telecommunications carrier" (ETC).

The PUC granted Western Wireless ETC status, which made it eligible to receive Federal universal service funds, but conditioned the designation on regulatory requirements, which the wireless company said constitute rate and service quality regulation. Western Wireless said such regulation is "improper and invalid."

In its appeal, Western Wireless, according to State NewsWire, contends that the PUC exceeded its authority by establishing such conditions. The carrier also said the Commission's regulation of rates is preempted by Section 332 of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, which provides that "no State or local government shall have any authority to regulate the entry of or the rates charged by any commercial mobile service."

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell told an audience that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is "broken" and needs a rewrite. Powell said it is "not because it is bad legislation, but because it's dated legislation."

According to the Rocky Mountain News, Powell added that the Internet needs to be a central consideration of any Congressional rewrite of telecommunications law. Powell advocates a "light touch in regulation, in which the government needs to prove why certain things should be regulated rather than the current regime where companies must ask for ‘forbearance' from FCC regulation on a on a case-by-case basis."

"Internet-based telephone calling especially is forcing the conversation on how to regulate new technology, because, Powell said, it's moving two mountains toward a collision course: the telephone industry and the Internet."

Some two-dozen South Dakota rural telephone companies have won a 16 month delay in implementing Federal Local Number Portability (LNP) rules. LNP allows wireline and wireless customers to keep their telephone numbers when they move from one carrier to another.

The Federal law allows telcos to receive a "suspension" or "modified" if they show that it would be technically infeasible or financially hurt the companies or their customers.

The PUC ruled to suspend the requirement until at least the end of 2005.

"We see it as a quality of life issue," said Dave Pokorney, the Chaska city manager who oversees the project. "At one time people needed to have telephone service at home, and now most people want and need Internet service at home. And when you have higher-speed Internet, it's a powerful communications tool."

Chaska will begin selling its service at the end of September and charge them on their city utility bills. About 1,800 households have been using the service for free as part of a test that began in June. The city says it can break even if 1,500 households subscribe.

Chaska.net offers consumers download speeds of 800,0000 to 2 million bits per second, according to the StarTribune, by turning the suburb of Minneapolis into a city-wide Wi-Fi "hot spot."

Using 200 antennas mounted atop city-owned light poles, the Chaska.net service reaches an area of about 14 square miles and covers the homes of about 95 percent of the city's 22,000 residents.

Of Chaska.net's competitors, Time Warner Cable's cable modem service costs $45 per month and Sprint's DSL costs $40 per month.

T-Mobile, Nextel Partners, IDT Corporation and three other wireless carriers want the equipment to increase their networks' capacity.

One part of the 15-year deal is cheap Wi-Fi phones for neighborhoods where less than 95 percent of resident have home phones, according to the Wall Street Journal. IDT, which has agreed to market the cheaper phone service in those neighborhoods, would pay lower rates for poles there than other companies would in wealthier areas.

No wireless equipment is on the lampposts yet because the plan must undergo an aesthetic review by the city's Art Commission. The equipment must be the same color as the lamppost, cannot carry logos and must meet size constraints.

Broadband Access will allow users with access their information, according to a press release, at download speeds of 300 to 500 kilobits per second.

The wireless carrier said it will debut the service in New York City, Atlanta, Austin, Texas, Baltimore, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Diego, Tampa, Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach, Fla..

Qwest is still the subject of a Department of Justice criminal investigation, shareholder lawsuits and a suit brought by 14 States demanding $500 million to $600 million in back taxes, according to the New York Times.

In October 2003, Qwest restated its earnings for 2000 and 2001, admitting it had understated losses during the period by $2.54 billion. The majority of the phantom income came in the late 1990's when "Qwest and other long-haul fiber carriers routinely swapped capacity on one another's networks. Qwest recorded as revenue the capacity that it provided other carriers as if that capacity had been sold rather than exchanged for in-kind service."

In June 2002, Qwest announced the resignation of Joseph Nacchio, the chief executive, and named Richard Notebaert as his successor.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) this summer started a wireless outreach initiative designed to assist wireless phone customers in the State, according to an agency's press release.

The PSC has no authority under either Federal or State law to regulate wireless companies.

The Commissions initiative consists of two programs: "Zap the Gap" and "Connecting Consumers".

The "Zap the Gap" effort is designed to encourage wireless investment in the State, especially underserved areas. The PSC will collect information from consumers to determine areas where there is demand but low wireless coverage. The information will be forwarded to wireless providers to help bring attention to areas needing service. PSC staff, according to the press release, will also create a clearinghouse of planning information for wireless companies. The information will include approximations of the number of wireless phones per capita in different countries in the State, traffic counts on major roads, and lists of suitable structures for wireless antennas. The PSC will help facilitate discussions between communities that want wireless service and providers to change their service offerings or coverage areas, the PSC can offer providers consumer information and data that may aid them in improving their service offerings in North Dakota.

"Zap the Gap" will also identify strategies to advocate for North Dakota's interests in wireless matters with other government agencies. Many of the decisions that affect wireless investment in North Dakota are made at the Federal level. This component of the initiative will target Federal rulemakings and opportunities with the Federal Communications Commission, Rural Utilities Service and other State Commissions.

The "Connecting Consumers" effort is designed to help consumers with wireless questions and concerns that they may have with their current services. The PSC will establish an information center on its webpage for consumers wanting to learn more about wireless issues. The Commission has commissioned an e-mail address...wireless@psc.state.nd.us...for consumers wishing to contact the PSC with questions and concerns over wireless phone issues.

The Commission also announced that it will hold a statewide wireless conference in late summer 2005.

New York Governor George Pataki signed into law a measure that allows seven counties to impose up to a 30 cent fee per month on mobile phone users to fund enhanced 911 (E911) implementation and costs in the county.

"We expect global levels of Spam to reach 80 percent by the middle of the year," Natasha Staley, information security analyst at MessageLabs said.

The BBC reports that there is evidence that the nature of junk mail is changing. According to content filtering firm Clearswift, spammers are abandoning pornography for the more profitable area of financial spam. Junk mail offering stock price tips, cheap loans and mortgages account for nearly 38 percent of all spam, while pornography accounts for just 5 percent.

Healthcare still leads the pack, with promises of Viagra, miracle diets and hair restorers till the spammers favorite, making up 40 percent of all junk mail.

With terms for the directors due to expire this year, all RTB stockholders have been sent nomination forms.

Under the bylaws, six directors...three representing cooperative members and three representing commercial members...are elected by stockholders to serve two-year terms. RTB stockholders may nominate up to three eligible candidates from their own industry segment: cooperative or commercial.

Directors representing the commercial sector and also seeking re- election are Mick Jensen of Great Plains Communications in Nebraska, Curt Sampson of Hector Communications of Minnesota and John Dillard of Monroe Telephone Co. in Oregon.

Earlier this year, the Senate approved language making room in next year's budget for two key parts of the Act: a venture capital fund that could be tapped by entrepreneurs to help start or grow businesses in communities where venture capital would otherwise be unavailable, and a provision for the partial repayment of student loans for graduates who agree to live and work in communities suffering from high out-migration.

In May, the Senate approved other important provisions from the New Homestead Act that would provide an estimated $641 million in business tax credits over 10 years--including up to $87 million for North Dakota--to encourage investments, job creation and population growth in areas experiencing high out-migration.

Organizations that have joined Senators Dorgan and Hagel in their support of S. 602 include the North Dakota Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives, the Independent Community Banks of North Dakota, the North Dakota Bankers Association, The North Dakota Credit Union League, the North Dakota Farmers Union, the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, North Dakota Association of Realtors, North Dakota Association of Builders and the North Dakota Association of Counties.

National groups include the National Association of Counties, National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the National Association of Realtors, the National Farmers Union, the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Credit Union National Association and the Center for Rural Affairs.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) granted an application from Western Wireless, which does business as Cellular One, seeking eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation for eight additional services areas, making it eligible to receive universal service fund support to provide wireless services.

Western Wireless is being designated as an ETC in the study areas of nine different rural telephone companies, including Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, James Valley Cooperative Telephone, Tri-County Telecom and Vivian Telephone Company.

Cellular One said the decision will allow it to invest additional Federal support dollars into its network in the State. They said they are scheduled to build at least 20 more cellular towers by the end of this year, nine of them were contingent upon receiving its ETC designation.

In order to maintain its ETC status, the PUC said that Cellular One must comply with certain conditions, such as providing its advertising plan, providing a list of its local calling areas, advising customers they might qualify for financial assistance and notifying the PUC when it begins to offer its universal service package and in what study areas.

Oct. 27-28:
NTCA Region 6 Meeting
Sioux Falls, S.D.

Nov. 3-4:
NDTA Fall Conference
International Inn
Minot, N.D.

Nov. 8-9:
NTCA Legal Seminar
Hyatt Regency
San Antonio, TX

Dec. 6:
NDATC Board Meeting
Ramkota Hotel
Bismarck, N.D.

Dec. 6-8:
NDATC Annual Meeting
Ramkota Hotel
Bismarck, N.D.