Fred Goldstein, principal of Ionary Consulting (and a featured TMC columnist) has an excellent explanation of the Universal Service Fund (USF), with an insightful history of the fund as well as a good recounting of the many challenges associated with this "FCC boondoggle" as he calls it.
Recently in Legal Category
Looks like Kevin Martin is ready to drop the hammer on Comcast.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that he will recommend that Comcast -- the nation's largest cable company -- be penalized for violating the FCC's principles that are designed to guarantee access to the Internet. This would be the first such penalty levied in defense of the agency's open access rules.
It's expected that the two democratic appointees to the Commission will side with Martin.
The Washington Post is reporting the following corrective measures will be recommended:
- Comcast will have to stop its practice of blocking
- Comcast will need to provide details to the Commission on the extent and manner in which the practice was been used; and
- Comcast will have to disclose to consumers details on future plans for managing its network going forward.
According to published reports, Intel Corp. has been subpoenaed by the Federal Trade Commission.
This is regarded as the first step in escalating an informal inquiry to a formal antitrust investigation into its business practices.
Intel has apparently been working with the FTC on an informal inquiry since 2006.
Intel said so far it has provided "thousands of documents" to the FTC, and added that the subpoena will provide for documents from other sources.
Intel’s formal statement regarding the subpoena can be read here.
In the statement, Intel points out that, "The evidence that this industry is fiercely competitive and working is compelling," and indicated a 42 percent drop in microprocessor prices from 2000 to the end 2007.
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