The Federal Communications Commission last week reduced the amount of regulatory fees wireless carriers must pay from 30 cents to 27 cents per subscriber. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has consistently called for the FCC to reduce the regulatory fee amount. This year’s decrease is 10 percent. The FCC acknowledged that as of Dec. 31, there were 109 million domestic subscribers instead of its original estimate of 90 million. The agency, however, rejected CTIA’s call for the FCC to cease allocating regulatory fees based on subscribership. The FCC said it would not change the allocation structure until it implements an improved cost accounting system.
The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies has sent a letter to Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) expressing support for proposed legislation to repeal the sunset provisions of the recently enacted tax cut bill. As currently enacted the tax cut bill sunsets in 2011 eliminating the repeal of the estate tax and returning the estate tax to 2001 levels. Hulshof has introduced legislation in the House of Representatives and Gramm is expected to introduce similar legislation in the Senate in the near future. OPASTCO has long called for the repeal of what it calls the death tax. In December, the OPASTCO Board of Directors wrote the Senate leadership urging repeal of the death tax.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Commerce trade subcommittee, has introduced legislation to protect digital goods and services from state and local regulation. The exemption applies to commercial transactions in digital goods and services wholly initiated, conducted and delivered online. Digital goods and services such as e-books, software and downloadable entertainment information represent only 0.8 percent of total sales online. “Having 50-plus separate and incongruent regulations governing interstate commercial transactions poses a substantial burden to interstate commerce in general and to e-commerce specifically,” said Stearns.
