Q4 2008
The ATS Network & Billing Update is published by Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc. (www.atso.com), a revenue and service assurance solutions provider. This free newsletter is a guide to telecommunications OSS, billing, and revenue assurance news and other telecom industry analysis. To unsubscribe, contribute an article, or for offbeat news, please scroll to the end. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and co-workers!
In this issue:
OBF Quarterly Update
By: Ken Babcock,
VP of Regulatory Services, ATS
In an effort to stay abreast of the FCC rulings and other ongoing industry affecting issues, ATS participates in the ATIS sponsored Ordering and Billing Forum (OBF). Ken Babcock our Vice President of Regulatory Services, has been a charter member of the OBF and we are happy to announce that effective with this newsletter, Ken will be sharing his insights on the various issues being introduced to the industry forums that ATS participates in.
In his first column, Ken offers a high level summary of FCC 08-262A1 - Order on Remand and Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
Future Newsletters will contain the same information we have been providing to our subscribers for the past several years with the addition of Ken’s column. We hope you find this new addition to our Newsletter informative and helpful. As always, we welcome your suggestions and feedback.
Ken Babcock Biographical Data:
Ken Babcock has forty-two years of experience in the telecommunications industry. During this time he has worked in various retail and wholesale industry customer billing and revenue/service assurance assignments with a large Regional Bell Operating Company, (twenty-three years) Telcordia (five years) and a telecommunications software and services company (fourteen years). Over the last twenty-two (22) years, Ken has been directly involved in developing and operating both call generation and call simulation systems that are designed primarily to promote revenue and service assurance in the Local Exchange Carrier industry. In addition, he has been very active in the development of traffic analysis tools used to support reciprocal compensation and interexchange carrier usage-sensitive billing and revenue assurance platforms. Currently, Ken is a member of national Ordering and Billing Forum’s Billing and Internet Protocol Network to Network Interface Committees.
FCC 08-262A1 – Order on Remand and Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
On Tuesday November 4, 2008, the FCC issued a long-awaited position on the telecommunications Universal Service Fund (USF) and Inter-Carrier Compensation (ICC).
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had been adamant that the FCC would make itself clear on how it would resolve ongoing heated debate on how it would promote universal service, the expansion of broadband service advantages to all areas of the United States and reform the structure for recovering costs of carrier interconnection.
In fact, the basic document has the following headings which are addressed in considerable depth:
- High-Cost Universal Service Support (WC Docket NO. 05-337)
- Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service CC Docket No. 96-45)
- Life-Line and Link Up (WC Docket No. 03-109)
- Universal Service Contribution Methodology (WC Docket No. 06-122)
- Numbering Resource Optimization (CC Docket No. 99-200)
- Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (CC Docket 96-98)
- Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime (CC Docket No. 01-92)
- Intercarrier Compensation for ISP-Bound Traffic (CC Docket No. 96-98)
- IP-Enabled Services (WC Docket No. 04-36)
Although, the FCC took strong positions on its authority to establish rates and regulations for all telecommunication services throughout the United States, the public reaction to and filed comments on the FCC pronouncements has been mixed at best as is evidenced by the FCC’s decision on December 2, 2008 to extend the Reply Comments deadline on its work in this area from December 3, 2008 to December 22, 2008.
Much of the debate that is raging centers on whether the FCC has the authority to establish unified intrastate and interstate access rates, to define whether interconnected VoIP calls are or are not subject to the same compensation as is true for all other types of voice traffic; and to impose a total restructuring of how universal service including broadband services is to be promoted over time in high cost areas.
As one would imagine based on the breadth and depth of the FCC Dockets being addressed as well as the time that has dragged on since their inception, there are many strong statements that are being voiced and documented in comment form both pro and con among the various impacted telecommunications stakeholders.
The one thing that everyone seems to agree upon is that there must be change in the existing universal service funding and intercarrier compensation regimes in order that the all residents of the United States enjoy the fruits of broadband technological advances but when that change will happen, how far will the change extend in terms of jurisdiction and which telecommunication service providers will prevail as a result of the final decisions on the various issues under debate, remains to be seen.
Bottom-line, it is unlikely that we will see anything definitive from the FCC in this matter until after the first of the year.
In upcoming issues of the ATS newsletter, we will delve further into the issues being addressed by the FCC and attempt to supply insight into what is likely to happen and when.
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Telecom Stocks: Back on the Rise
Courtesy of
BusinessWeek
The trailing 12-month relative strength ranking for the S&P 1500 integrated telecommunications services subindustry index improved in the past week and now lies in the middle 40% of all sub industries in the S&P Composite 1500 Index (consisting of the S&P 500, Midcap 400, and Small Cap 600 indices). According to Todd Rosenblatt, S&P Equity Research's telecom services group head, the improvement in relative performance was likely due to the reporting of strong third-quarter cash flows last week that would likely continue to support the group's hefty dividend payments. For the year through Nov. 7, the subindustry, which yields 6.3%, fell 34.4% vs. a 36.5% decline for the S&P 1500 index.
Click Here for the full story.
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Worldwide Telecom Still Expanding
Courtesy of
Change
Yesterday, UBS revised downward its forecast for Telco spending in 2009, but today, Insight Research Corp. offered some good news for our industry. According to Insight, the worldwide telecommunications industry is expected to continue expanding over the next five years. That’s due in no small part by continuing growth of wireless services in emerging markets, which Insight said will offset the spending slowdown in the advanced economies.
Insight expects overall telecommunications services revenue to grow at a compounded rate of nearly 10.3 percent over the next few years, reaching $2.7 trillion by 2013.
Click Here for the full story.
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Offbeat News:
New Car Ignition Key Can Jam Mobile Phones
Courtesy of
Cellular News
University of Utah researchers have developed an automobile ignition key that prevents teenagers (or anyone frankly) from talking on cell phones or sending text messages while driving.
The university has obtained provisional patents and licensed the invention – Key2SafeDriving – to a private company that hopes to see it on the market within six months at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee.
Click Here for the full story.
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