The Universal Service Fund (USF) – it’s not just for telephone service anymore. For more than a decade, the Universal Service Fund (USF) has subsidized (1) telephone lines in places where there isn’t enough of a business case for phone companies to build and operate them, and (2) monthly telephone service for people who couldn’t afford it.  That’s not good enough anymore, according to the FCC.  As the Commission sees it, high-speed Internet – broadband – is a necessity, not a luxury. Accordingly, the FCC is looking to re-direct some USF funds to support broadband. Most likely, this will take the form of a monthly...

[Blogmeister’s Note: This is the second in a series of posts by Bob Butler on the Fine Art of Telecom Transactions. In the first installment, he cautioned about the needs to plan early and to understand the structure ad interrelationships of the deal documents. In this and upcoming installments, he moves on to factors to watch out for in the drafting process.] Tip No. 3 – Understand and Accommodate the Impact of Regulation Telecommunications services are still regulated in various ways at the federal, state and local level in the U.S., and to even greater extents in many foreign jurisdictions. The good news is that...

Last month we reported on an FCC action that may mark the end of the decade-long “white space” proceeding authorizing the operation of some unlicensed devices in the broadcast television bands. The Commission’s Third Memorandum Opinion and Order (3rd MO&O), released in early April, disposed of a handful of petitions for reconsideration of the agency’s 2010 decision which had in turn tweaked technical “white space” specs adopted back in 2008. The 3rd MO&O has now been published in the Federal Register, which means that, barring any extraordinary intervening event (like the issuance of a stay – the approximate likelihood of which is...