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structure for interconnections and intercarrier compensation as well as the status of the Universal Service Fund. The panel agreed that the current system is in serious need of reform.

“The USF needs to be fixed,” said Melissa Newman, vice president of federal relations for Qwest Communications. “But first they need to understand the problem in order to fix it.” The USF tends to support older, more maintenance-intensive communication infrastructures rather than the more efficient, more in demand and less expensive newer systems.

Mike Rhoda, senior vice president of government affairs for Windstream Associates, agreed, saying that the current fee structure promotes older systems, which limits rural customers in getting more advanced communications services.

Interconnection rules are complex, so the government will need to spend time understanding all of the nuances before reforming the system, Newman said.

Anna Maria Kovacs, president of Regulatory Source Associates, said that stimulus funds set aside for broadband development will help bring improved communications services to more people, but the set aside is only a very small percentage of the money that will be needed to vastly expand broadband accessibility.

Thomas Maufer, director of technical marketing for Mu Dynamics and vice-chair of the NGN IMS Forum’s BSS/OSS & Security working group said following Plugfest 8 that the success of Diameter, the protocol to deal with authentication, authorization and accounting for each call, depends largely on the adequate testing by carriers.

Carriers need to test networks – not just components - in real environments, where there are multiple interdependent systems communicating via open standards, Maufer said. What the hands on IMS/NGN Forum Plugfests demonstrate is that it's difficult (but not impossible) to make the technology work. The Plugfests prove that for testing an IP Service like IMS, you need to test the network as a service, not as a collection of isolated components.  The components definitely behave differently when they are interacting dynamically with other components, compared to when they are being tested in a standalone mode.

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Consumers opting for wireless broadband will have an additional choice of smart phone beginning Friday as Verizon rolls out the Droid, based on Google Android 2.0 (the Droid is the first to employ this latest version of Android)

But, Kagan said, Apple already had a retail presence through its sales of computers and iPods. People would line up to buy new devices. Google has never been involved in supporting devices.

“Will that change in behavior have any impact? That remains to be seen,” Kagan said.

Verizon hopes to get a boost from sales of the Droid, just like A&T’s fortunes have been buoyed by iPhone sales. Qwest, on the other hand, has no such driver of new business, according to Kagan, who cited the lack of such a driver as part of the reason for the carrier’s 6 percent decline in profits.

Verizon, AT&T and Qwest are all losing landline subscribers, but while AT&T and Verizon get boosts from wireless and television offerings, Qwest resells those services for other companies, so doesn’t get the same benefit, Kagan said.

In announcing its earnings, Qwest said that its fiber to the node (FTTN) was deployed to more than 500,000 additional homes during the quarter. Qwest’s FTTN footprint now reaches more than three million homes. This development will provide 100 Gbps speeds across the network when fully implemented over the next year. These strategic investments provide customers with enhanced functionality and support delivery of future simplified services.

But, Kagan said, while the development will keep Qwest from losing customers as quickly as it might otherwise, it is just enough for the company to keep up with upgrades from cable and other competitors.