USTelecom proposed two additional safeguards that “could be...
USTelecom proposed two additional safeguards that “could be conditions for obtaining Part 32 forbearance,” in a letter to the FCC sent Friday (http://bit.ly/ZLMlgY). On pole attachment agreements under Section 224 of the Communications Act, “any company wishing to avail itself…
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of Part 32 forbearance would commit not to increase overall cost inputs to the FCC pole attachment rate formulae by more than the rate of inflation” for the following three years, the association said. Companies would further “retain the ability to provide financial data depicting existing Part 32 account structures by mapping or deriving such account structures from their GAAP (or successor) financial records,” for the next five years, USTelecom said. More than a year ago, it asked for forbearance from several legacy rules (CD Feb 17/11 p14). Some of the “recent attention” in the proceeding has focused on Part 32, USTelecom said. That’s the commission’s “arcane uniform system of accounting that still applies to price cap carriers even though none remain subject to cost-based regulation,” it said. USTelecom members have committed to file the “same pole attachment cost report” that they do now, and “continue to record or track transactions” in a “reasonable, auditable way,” it said. USTelecom “strongly” disagrees that additional protections are necessary to “ensure a smooth transition” if forbearance relief were granted, it said. USTelecom’s petition gives the FCC an “opportunity to respond to President [Barack] Obama’s directive to eliminate regulations that are ‘outmoded’ and ‘excessively burdensome,'” the association said.