Virginia Cellular and Highland Cellular: The FCC Establishes a Framework for Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation in Rural Study Areas

In 1996, Congress passed the first substantial rework of the Communications Act of 1934. This Act was intended to benefit consumers by encouraging competition and establishing a series of explicit mechanisms for assuring universal service. One of the outcomes is the creation of significant controversy over the federal, and in some cases, state universal service subsidy for the class of telecommunications providers typically known as wireless or cellular and defined by federal statute as commercial mobile radio service ( CMRS ). Incumbent local exchange carriers ( ILECs ) characterize these subsidies as a windfall and as unnecessary to provide wireless phone service. They argue that federal and state universal service funding is intended to subsidize high-cost local telephone service-not wireless service-which is substandard compared to landline service. CMRS providers assert that the federal Act was designed to create competition and that their services provide consumers alternatives as well as quality and convenient service with mobile advantages not offered by landlines. This Article will examine two recent FCC decisions and a Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service Recommended Decision that are impacting the regulatory landscape. These decisions will affect the manner in which the FCC and state public utility commissioners deal with the eligible telecommunications carrier designation affecting the viability of companies, the scope of services to consumers, and the allocation of hundreds of millions of universal service dollars annually

Virginia Cellular and Highland Cellular: The FCC Establishes a Framework for Eligible Telecommunications Carrier Designation in Rural Study Areas

In 1996, Congress passed the first substantial rework of the Communications Act of 1934. This Act was intended to benefit consumers by encouraging competition and establishing a series of explicit mechanisms for assuring universal service. One of the outcomes is the creation of significant controversy over the federal, and in some cases, state universal service subsidy for the class of telecommunications providers typically known as wireless or cellular and defined by federal statute as commercial mobile radio service ( CMRS ). Incumbent local exchange carriers ( ILECs ) characterize these subsidies as a windfall and as unnecessary to provide wireless phone service. They argue that federal and state universal service funding is intended to subsidize high-cost local telephone service-not wireless service-which is substandard compared to landline service. CMRS providers assert that the federal Act was designed to create competition and that their services provide consumers alternatives as well as quality and convenient service with mobile advantages not offered by landlines. This Article will examine two recent FCC decisions and a Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service Recommended Decision that are impacting the regulatory landscape. These decisions will affect the manner in which the FCC and state public utility commissioners deal with the eligible telecommunications carrier designation affecting the viability of companies, the scope of services to consumers, and the allocation of hundreds of millions of universal service dollars annually

Corruption in development - a killing virus

This paper focuses on a real problem that is occurring throughout the developing world and highlights on more specific issues relating to the problem within South Africa

Water and sanitation for all: practical ways to improve accessibility for disabled people. 4: Disability and attitudes in developing countries

Water and sanitation for all: practical ways to improve accessibility for disabled people. 4: Disability and attitudes in developing countrie

IDIP - an effective process that improves service delivery

The IDIP (Infrastructure Delivery Improvement Programme) is a South African National Treasury initiative designed to improve the quality, quantity and delivery time for which infrastructure can be provided by Government Departments, in order to reduce the backlogs created from the past, and in a hope that some of the Millennium Goals can actually be achieved. It is presently being rolled out in 9 South African Provinces, 4 of which are being implemented by ECI Africa. The paper being presented will look at the process followed through the IDIP cycle, which has predominantly focused on Health and Education infrastructure, and can also apply to the Water & Sanitation environment. It is hoped that the audience will understand some of the methodologies, philosophies and ideologies of IDIP in an attempt for similar processes to be adopted within their own Infrastructure delivery structures. The IDIP process is straight forward, easy to implement and enthuses high impacts to infrastructure delivery

Disability and gender in rural sanitation

‘Disability’ and ‘Gender’ are major issues on their own, and can be discussed and debated at great length from various perspectives. However when we consider the specifics of rural sanitation it doesn’t need a PhD or major lengthy debates around the issues in order to make a difference to people’s lives, since the technology to provide support in these areas is relatively straight forward. What is required however is the awareness that these are real and essential issues to be considered, and that the responsibility of action lies with ourselves as individuals, to solve the problems and incorporate them within rural sanitation programmes being implemented. This paper tries to emphasise the problems that can be experienced around gender and disability issues, and offers suggestions as to how some of these related problems can be addressed in a very simple manner, so that sanitation practitioners can aim at providing for ALL people within our communities

Using A Cutting The Cake Peer Assessment Method In A Leadership In Information Networking and Telecommunications Course

To satisfy the increasing demands of various group-based dynamic studies, we have developed a variant classroom assessment technique that synthesizes different grading systems, such as a criterion-referenced system, norm-referenced system, peer grading and their modification. This paper describes the Cut-the-Cake Grading Method through introduction of our implementation and its comparison with other assessment methods

Reanimating the States’ Single Subject Jurisprudence: A New Constitutional Test

Most states’ courts do not rigorously enforce the single subject rule contained in their constitutions. This paper first argues that the courts should immediately dispense with the common law doctrines frustrating the rule’s enforcement. The paper then proposes a framework—a new constitutional test by which single subject challenges should be evaluated. The proposed framework is grounded in the intent of the rule’s framers and ratifiers

Extreme radio-wave scattering associated with hot stars

We use data on extreme radio scintillation to demonstrate that this phenomenon is associated with hot stars in the solar neighbourhood. The ionized gas responsible for the scattering is found at distances up to 1.75pc from the host star, and on average must comprise 1.E5 distinct structures per star. We detect azimuthal velocities of the plasma, relative to the host star, up to 9.7 km/s, consistent with warm gas expanding at the sound speed. The circumstellar plasma structures that we infer are similar in several respects to the cometary knots seen in the Helix, and in other planetary nebulae. There the ionized gas appears as a skin around tiny molecular clumps. Our analysis suggests that molecular clumps are ubiquitous circumstellar features, unrelated to the evolutionary state of the star. The total mass in such clumps is comparable to the stellar mass.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Ap