** This is the last Headlines of 1997. (Read: Shoot me if I send you email
after today) Thanks for your continued readership. We wish you an issue-free
(communication or otherwise) holiday season. See you again on Monday,
January 5, 1998. **
Universal Service
CD: Hill Chairmen Challenge FCC On New Universal Service Rates
NYT: Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Internet Subsidies
WSJ: Phone Tax, Continued
TelecomAM: Texas PUC Starts Implementation of New State Universal Fund
TelecomAM: Virginia Increases Lifeline Subsidy, Producing Rates
Low as $1 a Month
TelecomAM: N.C. Rules It Lacks Jurisdiction to Authorize Co-ops
For Universal Service
Telephone
WSJ: Holy Toll Calls: Telecom Companies Now Turn to Heaven
WSJ: Ameritech to Sell Stake in Overseas Carrier
WSJ: MCI Communications Corp.
Internet
WP: Lawsuit Challenges Internet Restrictions At Loudoun Libraries
WP: Slow Start for a High Speed Connection
WP: Cisco Systems to Buy Sterling Tech Firm
TelecomAM: Tel-Save Gains 27,000 customers in AOL Sales Blitz
Microsoft
WSJ: Dole Is Helping Efforts to Curb Microsoft Plans
Holiday-related Headlines
NYT: Hanukkah Celebrated With Web-Cast Menorah Lighting
NYT: PC Gift Idea: Software With a Smile
** Universal Service **
Title: Hill Chairmen Challenge FCC On New Universal Service Rates
Source: Communications Daily
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and House
Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin said that the Federal
Communications Commission may have violated the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA) by conducting negotiations with long distance carriers that resulted
to changes in universal support for schools and libraries. In a letter to
FCC Chairman Kennard dated 12/19/97, the Chairmen asked for lists of
contacts between FCC and private parties on development of Commission's
universal service order generally and on decisions on whether universal
service-related charges should be listed on long distance bills. The fact
that discussions took place "raise[s] a number of troubling substantive and
procedural issues" as to how order was developed: "The fact that the
Commission and the Administration have apparently engaged in substantive,
nonpublic dealings with selected carriers on long distance rates raises
unavoidable questions about whether the Commission's Dec. 16 actions comply
with the minimum requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act." The
Chairmen said "lack of public notice and participation calls into added
question the reasonableness and other aspects" of FCC order. The letter also
1) asked FCC to identify its authority to regulate carrier billing practices
and relationship between access charge reductions and universal service
support ("Is the
Commission using reductions in interstate access charges as a means to fund
universal service support?"); 2) under what authority FCC can require long
distance carriers to flow through access charge reductions; 3) asked about
administrative expenses for universal service programs; 4) requested
information on relationship between FCC's program and funds being made
available to school systems through Technology Challenge Literacy Fund
(administered through Education Dept.); and 5) asked for list of all other
federally funded programs that help schools and libraries obtain access to
telecom services. A reply was requested by Jan. 12.
Title: Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Internet Subsidies
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/122397fcc.html
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-VA) are
raising concerns that subsidies for schools, libraries and rural health care
providers to hook up to the Internet were not publicly debated before
regulators adopted them last week. The two politicians have requested that
the Federal Communications Commission provide them with the information
involving communications that lead up to the Dec. 16 decision. The decision
was that the FCC will slow the phasing-in of universal service to these
three areas through an approximate one-third cut in funding. FCC
Commissioner Harold
Furchgott-Roth dissented from the decision last week on the basis that it
wasn't publicly debated. But FCC Chairman William Kennard rejected those
grounds saying that the new subsidies were sufficiently discussed and the
commission received more than 110,000 pages of public comments regarding the
proposed cuts. In a Dec 19 letter to the FCC by the lawmakers, they wrote
"The lack of public notice and participation calls into added question the
reasonableness" of the FCC's decision. The FCC has not commented on the letter.
Title: Phone Tax, Continued
Source: Wall Street Journal (Rvw&Outlk, A14)
http://wsj.com/
Author: WSJ Editorial Staff
Issue: Universal Service
Description: A few years ago Vice President Gore and the FCC decided it
was the Beltway's job to wire the nation's schools and libraries for the
Internet. By the time the project was ready--this year-- half of America's
schools and libraries were already wired. But reality didn't deter Mr. Gore
and the FCC. Their plan was to force phone companies to quietly fork over
$2.2 billion a year to a specially created Schools and Libraries Fund. The
requirement was officially known as the "universal service contribution."
But, with the effort towards deregulation, companies told the FCC they
wouldn't hide the hike in bills. They would treat the "universal service
contribution" like what it was--a tax--and itemize it. [See "The Boy Who
Cried 'Tax,'" Andrew Blau's answer to the "phone tax" hysteria
http://www.benton.org/Blau/taxboy.html]
Title: Texas PUC Starts Implementation of New State Universal Fund
Source: Telecom AM---Dec. 23, 1997
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The Texas Public Utility Commission will begin a roughly
four-month process to implement a new state universal service fund that will
be consistent with the new federal universal support structure that takes
effect Jan. 1. In addition to low-income customer support and high-cost
telco support, the Texas fund also supports the state's telephone relay
service for the handicapped. The PUC framework for the new fund requires
that contributions be competitively neutral.
Title: Virginia Increases Lifeline Subsidy, Producing Rates Low as $1 a Month
Source: Telecom AM---Dec. 23, 1997
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The Virginia Corporation Commission is modifying its
Lifeline program to conform to the new federal universal service support
structure that takes effect next month. The commission decided to increase
the lifeline support to the maximum available under the new federal program
by providing matching funds enabling the state to receive the full $5.25
monthly federal low-income subsidy per line. The subsidy will bring the cost
of local dial tone to as little as $1 a month, the commission said.
Title: N.C. Rules It Lacks Jurisdiction to Authorize Co-ops
For Universal Service
Source: Telecom AM---Dec. 23, 1997
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The North Carolina Utilities Commission has refused to
declare the state's rural telephone cooperatives as eligible
telecommunications carriers qualified to receive funding under the new FCC
universal service support structure, saying it lacks and jurisdiction over
the co-ops. The commission said that the N.C. Rural Electrification
Authority has jurisdiction over the nine co-ops and should be the state
agency that designates them as "ETCs" -- or the companies should petition the
FCC for the ETC designation.
** Telephone **
Title: Holy Toll Calls: Telecom Companies Now Turn to Heaven
Source: Wall Street Journal (A1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Jon. G. Auerbach
Issue: Wireless Goes to Church
Description: Churches all over Massachusetts, and to a lesser extent
elsewhere, are hammering out deals with wireless carriers to stud their
spires with transmitting equipment. For the companies, arrangements like
these are a great way to get around local zoning bans on constructing
antenna towers. In just the next few years, the carriers need to install
about 70,000 antennae nationwide for their new digital networks. But Rev.
William O'Donnell of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkley says that for
churches to help corporations make money is "the greatest scandal" because
Christianity "teaches something very different than making people profit."
Not so, replied the Rev. Lee Woofenden, who recently signed a deal with
Sprint PCS. He says that "Jesus talked a lot about money" and adds, "Doing
business in this world is part of religion."
Title: Ameritech to Sell Stake in Overseas Carrier
Source: Wall Street Journal (B12)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Anti-mergers
Description: Ameritech said it plans to sell its stake in Telecom Corp.
of New Zealand, valued at $2.2 billion, while its partner in the venture,
Bell Atlantic, indicated it also may shed its holdings in the carrier.
Ameritech says it plans to use the proceeds from the sale to finance
activities such as a foray into the security-monitoring business and a push
into Europe. The company said it plans to sell its stake through a public
offering that would probably occur early next year.
Title: MCI Communications Corp.
Source: Wall Street Journal (B12)
http://wsj.com/
Issue: Telephone Rates
Description: In a filing with federal regulators, MCI said that Bell
Atlantic is charging too much to link up the long-distance carrier to the
Bell's local phone networks. In a formal complaint to the FCC, MCI said Bell
Atlantic had violated one of the conditions of its merger with Nynex Corp,
calling for the local carrier to connect rival carriers to its networks at
"forward-looking" economic costs. Bell dismissed MCI's complaint, saying
that the long-distance carrier had agreed to the rates in many cases and
that some of the prices had been arbitrated by state regulators.
** Internet **
Title: Lawsuit Challenges Internet Restrictions At Loudoun Libraries
Source: Washington Post (B1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/23/075l-122397-idx.html
Author: Jennifer Lenhart
Issue: Libraries/First Amendment
Description: Hoping to help resolve an issue facing libraries around the
country, a group of Loudoun County (VA) residents is suing the county
library board's decision to restrict access to sexual explicit Internet
sites through filter software. The suit contends that the decision is a
violation of the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights. "The library board in
Loudoun County is deciding what everyone can see, and that's where you cross
the line into censorship, and it's illegal," said an attorney for People for
the American Way, a national civil liberties watchdog group that is
providing legal assistance to the plaintiffs.
Title: Slow Start for a High Speed Connection
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/23/087l-122397-idx.html
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Cable/Internet
Description: Cable television lines now pass by 90+ percent of American
homes. Although cable modems can provide Internet access at 10 million bits
per second (compared to 28,800 bits per second on a standard telephone line
modem), fewer than 750,000 households now connect to the Net via cable
compared to ~23 million via phone lines. Setting up cable connections to the
Internet are costly ($100) are hard (more than an hour and more than one
cable guy visiting your home). And, for now, there may be little need for
such high-speed connections for any one other than the heavy user.
Title: Cisco Systems to Buy Sterling Tech Firm
Source: Washington Post (C1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-12/23/094l-122397-idx.html
Author: Mark Leibovich
Issue: Mergers
Description: Cisco Systems, Inc announced yesterday that it has agreed to
buy LightSpeed International Inc for $160 million in stock. The acquisition
will give the computer networking company a cutting-edge technology that
connects phone systems over computer networks. [Want to create some demand
for those big pipe cable modems? Can you say Internet telephony?] Cisco is
the largest maker of "the guts of the Internet" -- hubs, routers, and
switches. LightSpeed developed technology that allows voice and data
communications systems to work together in harmony, sharply reducing costs
for both businesses and consumers. Cisco is expected the use LightSpeed
technology to build local area networks that could handle voice traffic in
addition to standard data transmissions.
Title: Tel-Save Gains 27,000 customers in AOL Sales Blitz
Source: Telecom AM---Dec, 23, 1997
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Advertising/Online Service
Description: Tel-Save gained 27,000 long-distance customers during its
24-hour sales blitz on America OnLine. The company called the day "a huge
success."
The AOL long-distance site received 500,000 hits, which "clearly
demonstrates the strength and marketing power of the AOL advertising
medium," the company said.
** Microsoft **
Title: Dole Is Helping Efforts to Curb Microsoft Plans
Source: Wall Street Journal (A16)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Michael Schroeder & Bryan Gruley
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Bob Dole has been sending letters and calling companies
seeking their support in an expanding campaign by Microsoft's rivals to curb
its entrance into new Internet businesses. Mr. Dole is part of a growing
lobbying effort that goes far beyond issues raised by the Justice Dept.'s
antitrust case. Mr. Dole is representing several companies, including
Netscape and Sun Microsystems. So far, he has recruited more than six firms
to join the campaign, according someone close to Mr. Dole. [Reportedly, Bill
gates has been asking, "Have you ever seen Bob Dole and the Grinch in the
same room together?"]
** Holiday-related Headlines **
Title: Hanukkah Celebrated With Web-Cast Menorah Lighting
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/122397hanukkah.html
Author: Elizabeth Cohen
Issue: Religion
Description: Much of the Jewish world will be able to share the lighting of
the first candle of their menorah with anyone, anywhere on the planet this
year. At 3:30 EST on Dec 23, a globally synchronized lighting will be
available for all to see with a few clicks of a computer mouse. The
"Virtual Chanukah" presentation, choreographed by the Chabad Lubavitch
movement, will feature video footage of menorah lightings from around the
world. It is expected that more than 100,000 people will participate in the
event. The "Virtual Chanukah" site can be found at http://chanukah.chabad.org/
Title: PC Gift Idea: Software With a Smile
Source: New York Times (C2)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/compcol/122397compcol-manes.html
Author: Stephen Manes
Issue: Computer Technology
Description: Computers do not have to make you dull, humdrum and
bah-humbuggy this season. With a little software help you too can become
involved in less work and more play. There are several software programs
available for the holidays that should bring a smile to your face and assist
in the release of any seasonal tension . They range from "I Spy," a program
full of different types of puzzles, to "The Axe," which provides the
want-to-be musician with a variety of backgrounds that they can create their
own artistry to [kind of like Kerioki (sp?) without the stage, out-of-tune
voice, aging frat boys or cheap beer]. But I think my favorite would have
to be "The Simpsons Virtual Springfield." This program has compressed Homer
and Marge's hometown onto one "seedy ROM." It lets you wander through
low-life American environments that include "everything from specialty
magazines like Tub Lover and Pillow Hog to cable's Messiah Watch Channel
('no sign here yet, but we're expecting him anytime'). A stroll along the
deserted pavements of Virtual Springfield might be useful for architects and
city planners with a sense of humor." [How many shopping days left?]
*********
We are outta here! See you in '98!