FCC Puts USTelecom Relief, Part 25 Streamlining on Dec. 17 Tentative Agenda
The FCC plans to vote Dec. 17 on a draft order on USTelecom's forbearance petition, as expected (see 1511240070). The meeting's tentative agenda released Wednesday also included a draft order to streamline Part 25 rules for satellite space stations and earth stations. The two items are part of an ongoing effort to reduce "regulatory delay and burdensome red tape," Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post.
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"While the Commission is committed to eliminating outdated, unnecessary rules to let the marketplace work, we must also preserve rules needed to protect consumers and competition," Wheeler said, saying the draft order on the USTelecom petition "strikes that balance" by partially granting it. "These rules were adopted to protect or expand competition, but technological and market conditions have changed dramatically, making many of these rules outdated. Removing them will promote the ability of local phone companies to build out broadband and invest in modern and efficient networks. At the same time, our action preserves rules that remain necessary to protect consumers and competition."
The draft order would give ILECs relief from some wholesale and equal-access duties but deny relief in other areas, including on certain eligible telecom carrier voice obligations, said a senior FCC official who previewed it Tuesday.
USTelecom welcomed the draft as "an important step forward." President Walter McCormick said: "Although we do not yet have all the details on what relief would be granted, by eliminating some of the obsolete regulations that siphon investment away from broadband and impede robust competition, the commission is using its forbearance authority to accelerate competition and the availability of advanced telecommunications services in precisely the way Congress intended."
Wheeler said the other draft order would focus on "modernizing Part 25 of the Commission's rules, which governs licensing and operation of space stations and earth stations for the provision of satellite communications services." The commission, led by its International Bureau, already has revised or eliminated numerous Part 25 rule provisions, he said, and the draft order would make further changes. "This proposal would make the regulatory approval process for satellite licenses easier and more efficient, significantly reducing regulatory burdens and costs," he said. "The Second Report and Order streamlines, clarifies, eliminates, or amends rules to allow for more operational flexibility and better accommodate evolving technology while easing administrative burdens on licensees and Commission staff."
Not on the tentative agenda is a rural, rate-of-return USF item. Commissioners committed to a key senator to act on the issue by year-end, and Wheeler last week said he intends to circulate a draft in December, but he said he wouldn't be "held hostage by the calendar."
NTCA continues "to believe that it’s important to get reform done both quickly and right," said Senior Vice President Mike Romano. " Although certain specific aspects of reform could be decided in the very near future, there are other, more complex aspects of reform -- such as bifurcation -- that require further testing, development and refinement before they can be adopted. As we’ve recently communicated to the FCC and to policymakers, we are willing to continue discussions over the more complex aspects of reform to see if they can get done right, but we are also eager to see a fix for standalone broadband and other specific changes put into place as soon as possible.”