NASUCA, Verizon Exchange Shots on Form 477 Data Disclosure Rules

“The release of full and complete data obtained from individual Form 477 reports does not alter the protections in place to protect sensitive and confidential data,” NASUCA said. “In fact, this is the very reason that State Advocates asked that the FCC clearly identify those portions of the data provided to eligible entities that are sensitive and confidential. Limitations such as those proposed by Verizon and others are facially inconsistent with the express Congressional directive to make information available to eligible entities. The information sought to be restricted is the type of information necessary to carry out the objectives for which the data is collected.”

NASUCA also disputed arguments by competitive carriers that the FCC should prohibit states from imposing mandatory broadband reporting requirements during any year in which the FCC is providing data under the Broadband Data Act. “State Advocates concur with the [Nebraska Public Service Commission] recommendation that the Commission confirm that it ‘has not preempted states from collecting broadband data as long as states’ confidentiality provisions governing protection of the data are consistent with federal law,'” NASUCA said.

“They are in this area, even more than with the rest of their data, really hypersensitive for some reason,” said David Bergmann, with the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, chairman of the NASUCA Telecommunications Committee, in an interview on Wednesday. Carriers as a group are concerned about their competitors gaining access to this data, he said: “It’s not like a consumer can’t call and find out where AT&T serves or Time-Warner serves … I don’t understand that concern, but that really seems to be something common to all broadband providers.”

Free Press also urged the FCC to release data that carriers submit in raw form. “In their initial comments, providers were once again near unanimous in requesting the Commission not disclose -- to the state-designated entities or the public -- any granular Form 477 data,” the group said. “Yet no detailed explanation was offered that could be considered a demonstration of the ’substantial competitive harm’ that would result from the public disclosure of data, nor from the sharing of that data with state-designated entities operating pursuant to the terms of the BDIA.”

Free Press said data filed at the commission would be at least eight months old at the time it’s released. “This rarely mentioned but basic reality defies the carrier’s doom and fear mongering surrounding the issue of public disclosure,” Free Press said. “Further, as many commenters pointed out, tract-level data is already itself, by definition, aggregated data. Given the geographically large nature of tracts, and that the typical tract contains about 1,600 households, it is almost impossible to conceive of how public release of this already outdated Form 477 data could cause any competitive harm.”

But Verizon and Verizon Wireless, filing jointly, said any data released should not include such details as specific boundaries of service territories, exact location and details of network infrastructure, the particular technology being used, pricing information, or granular detail regarding speed tiers. Many commenters agree with Verizon on this point, the company said.

Those who call for release of more detailed information choose to ignore the language of the broadband data law, Verizon said. “Where the BDIA requires the Commission to ‘provide eligible entities access, in electronic form, to aggregate data,’ requests for access to ‘raw’ and ‘disaggregated’ data exceed the bounds of statutory authority,” the carrier argued. “Second, the Commission must ensure that eligible entities have confidentiality safeguards in place to protect the aggregated data.” Any interpretations of the law that see it as providing for release of raw data submitted by carriers “fail to give effect to all of the language of the statute in contravention of established norms of statutory construction,” Verizon said.

USTelecom and CTIA also stressed the need to protect the confidentiality of carriers. “Mapping efforts should use a level of aggregation sufficient to protect carriers’ competitively sensitive data,” USTelecom said. “With respect to the level of aggregation required, it must be sufficient to protect carriers’ competitively sensitive data. This has been the approach of the Commission itself in its 477 Reports. It has also been the approach of mapping efforts that have garnered a high level of carrier cooperation such as those of Connected Nation, where data has been provided under non-disclosure agreements.” CTIA said the term “aggregate in the BDIA refers to well-established precedent of protecting provider-specific, competitively sensitive information submitted on FCC form 477.”

“Congress mandated that proprietary data provided by carriers for form 477 must remain confidential and the only way to ensure that is by data aggregation and non-disclosure agreements,” said USTelecom spokesman Tom Amontree. “We believe this is essential and has proven success in past broadband mapping efforts and will further rather than hinder the process.”

Sprint Nextel expressed concerns about keeping data confidential. “Providers of broadband services vigorously compete with each other in this rapidly expanding and evolving market in which new products and services are being introduced at substantial cost to the providers,” the carrier said. “Clearly, information related to their networks, number of subscribers and revenue per subscriber is highly proprietary.”