Arizona Corporation Commission members criticized Frontier Communications' 911 reliability, at a hybrid livestream and in-person meeting Tuesday. Commissioners voted 5-0 to investigate the carrier on recent 911 service outages (see 2106020063). “This is an urgent situation,” said ACC Chairwoman Lea Marquez Peterson (R). Commissioner Sandra Kennedy (D) said she isn’t surprised by Frontier's problems. When the probe is done, the commission should act “very strongly and not just do something to be doing it,” she said. Frontier must acknowledge this is a “public relations problem of enormous proportion,” said Commissioner Jim O’Connor (R). “Your house is burning down.” Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Allison Ellis apologized for the company’s recent service issues and said the company is reviewing its network and systems to better support 911, with one strategy to find ways to increase redundancy. Public safety officials calling in later appeared unsatisfied. “To hear that they're going to do something is, I guess, OK,” but the problems are a “severe public safety concern,” said Saint Johns Police Department Chief Lance Spivey. He cited eight 911 failures there since 2017. Rural Arizonans “shouldn't have to worry about [if] 911 is going to work,” he said. In the past three years, the Navajo County Sheriffs Office submitted about 150 service tickets to Frontier about problems, said Lt. Alden Whipple. Outages affecting all of northeastern Arizona lasted hours, he said: “It’s just unacceptable.”
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
A federal judge peppered New York with questions on how the state’s law requiring $15 monthly low-income plans squares with the FCC 2018 net neutrality order. Judge Denis Hurley asked no questions of the ISPs challenging the policy at a teleconferenced oral argument Thursday in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York. Meanwhile, large telcos are seeking DSL exemptions from the law at the Public Service Commission.
ISPs protested a NARUC task force’s focus on electric utilities expanding into broadband. Utility officials at the group’s virtual meeting Wednesday applauded a proposed recommendation to reduce barriers to nontraditional providers. Don’t forget wireless or anchor institutions, said other commenters.
ISPs’ lawsuit against New York’s broadband affordability law raises similar preemption issues to cases industry lost in other venues, but law experts disagreed in interviews which side would win. Plaintiffs at U.S. District Court for Eastern New York (case 21-cv-2389) make the same arguments that failed in Maine ISP privacy and California net neutrality cases, which are “structurally almost identical” to the New York case, argued Stanford Law School professor Barbara van Schewick. Former FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson countered that 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case law gives ISP plaintiffs an “additional arrow in their quiver.”
Texas legislators passed state USF, commission revamp and multiple broadband bills before Democrats walked out in protest Sunday of an elections bill. Lawmakers didn’t vote before the session’s dramatic finish on a bill (SB-12) opposed by internet companies to regulate social media, though it could be revived in a special session the governor sought for the election bill. The House voted 129-18 Friday to concur with Senate changes to the USF bill (HB-2667), which was passed unanimously last week by the other chamber (see 2105250042). Both chambers cleared a conference report Sunday on a bill (SB-2154) to add two commissioners to the Public Utility Commission, which would make it a five-member body (see 2105240014). Lawmakers also sent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) bills on telehealth (HB-4), broadband expansion (HB-5), pole replacements (HB-1505), highway right of way (SB-507) and electric utility middle mile (HB-3853). HB-2667's expanding the Texas USF contribution base to include VoIP is “a great tool to help stabilize the TUSF,” emailed Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative CEO Weldon Gray. “Throughout the legislative process … there was clear intent established that should the PUC wish to move away from a revenue assessment to a more modern connections based methodology, they do have that authority under law.” TSTCI awaits a court decision on its suit against the PUC for letting the fund dwindle (see 2103290060), Gray said. “While HB 2667 does help give additional tools to the PUC as they fund the TUSF, there has been no action by the PUC as of this date to address funding current obligations, or to address the shortfall which has existed since January.”
Internet industry groups sued Florida over its social media law that makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites be transparent about policing. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. “The Act is so rife with fundamental infirmities that it appears to have been enacted without any regard for the Constitution,” they wrote. Our earlier news bulletin is here.
Internet industry groups sued Florida over its social media law that makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites to be transparent about policing.
The FCC might be close to resolving an enrollment issue affecting emergency broadband benefit (EBB) participation by some Lifeline eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) in California and two other states. TruConnect CEO Nathan Johnson told us Monday the California Public Utilities Commission delay responding to the FCC about a proposed alternative verification process (AVP) “has made trying to get people enrolled in California incredibly cumbersome to the point where a lot of carriers aren’t even bothering.” The FCC said it's working with the CPUC.
A state bill to authorize broadband and VoIP oversight by the New York Public Service Commission cleared the Assembly Corporations Commission at a livestreamed Tuesday hearing. The PSC would gain authority on broadband infrastructure resiliency, public safety and data collection under the bill (AB-7412), which goes next to Ways and Means Committee. The Republican side voted no and raised concerns about possible federal preemption and state-by-state regulation discouraging investment. Lawmakers learned in a recent storm that there's “very little regulation and ... we could use some,” said Chair Amy Paulin (D). The proposed law might end up in court like New York’s recent affordable broadband requirement (see 2105180044), said Paulin: she hopes the court will side with consumers. AARP, Consumer Reports and Communications Workers of America support AB-7412. The committee also split by party to clear AB-2396 to direct the PSC to set reasonable rates for cable and broadband pole attachments. It goes next to the Rules Committee.
Internet industry groups called illegal a Florida social media law signed Monday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association declined comment whether they will sue. SB-7072 makes it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and requires sites be transparent about policing, unless the site owns a Florida theme park (see 2104300059). That protects “real Floridians” from “Silicon Valley elites,” DeSantis said Monday. “If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable.” The law violates the First Amendment, said NetChoice General Counsel Carl Szabo. “By carving out companies like Disney and Universal, Florida’s legislature revealed its anti-tech fervor and true intent to punish social media for allegations of anti-conservative bias.” CCIA President Matt Schruers said the “unconstitutional bill threatens to create more opportunities for foreign extremists peddling anti-American propaganda and fewer opportunities for internet-using Floridians.” Calling Florida’s law a “First Amendment train wreck,” TechFreedom Internet Policy Counsel Corbin Barthold predicted a court case in which Florida throws “everything at the wall, hoping something sticks.” A similar Texas bill is nearing passage. That state’s Senate passed SB-12 April 1. The House included it on a Monday calendar for second reading, a procedural step before the final vote. A committee cleared the bill earlier this month that would allow private lawsuits against social media companies that moderate content (see 2105140069).