The FCC leased access rate formula order adopted last week (see 2007160045) is slightly more forceful in its language critical of the leased access rules regime, according to our side-by-side comparison of the draft and the approved order released Friday. The draft indicated in passive tense that "an argument exists" that video market changes have eroded the need for the leased access rules. The adopted order is more direct: "We agree ... that marketplace changes ... appear to have eroded the original justification for the leased access rules."
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
The FCC's 988 suicide prevention hotline order approved 5-0 last week (see 2007160030) gives more attention to the idea of waivers, though it makes no promises that any will be given, according to our side-by-side comparison of the draft and the approved order released Friday. The draft mentioned in one sentence that parties could seek waiver for good cause. The approved order spends multiple sentences discussing waivers, plus a separate reference in a footnote. The adopted order acknowledges some parties argued exemptions might be needed (see 2007100016) and says nothing in the order impedes their right to seek one, though cautioning leeway isn't routinely granted. Anyone seeking waiver of the 10-digit dialing mandate will need to show how its circumstances warrant a deviation from the commission's policy of nationwide implementation, the FCC said, saying a requested waiver of the two-year implementation deadline must show the applicant "put forward best efforts to comply ... and detail the specific circumstances that have prevented such compliance." The order also said the Wireline Bureau might use information from its ongoing monitoring in coordination with the North American numbering plan administrator to evaluate the merits of the waiver request. The adopted order gives the NANPA a 30-day deadline for promulgating a 10-digit dialing transition plan and directs the Wireline Bureau to monitor progress in the 87 area codes transitioning to 10-digit dialing.
The FCC didn't budge on an implementation deadline that telecom interests said couldn't be met. The commission's 988 suicide prevention hotline order approved unanimously Thursday tried to mitigate some problems they face, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said. No change to the two-year deadline was expected (see 2007150058) Telecoms argued universal implementation by that deadline is impossible (see 2006230022). Some commissioners disagreed.
Approval of a different cable leased access rate structure went awry Thursday with a brief administrative law crisis. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel questioned whether the item -- with two approvals and three concurring votes -- had actually been adopted. Administrative law experts told us it's a novel issue. Chairman Ajit Pai and acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle said it counts as adopted.
The 988 suicide hotline draft order to be voted on at Thursday's commissioners' meeting doesn't change the two-year implementation deadline or make notable changes to the waiver process for wireline operators that struggle to meet it, an FCC official told us. The FCC didn't comment. Telecom interests argued two years isn't possible (see 2006230022). Verizon said the draft order's expected approval "will enhance mental health care in our country by helping people easily access potentially life-saving resources."
Citing bigger risks of collisions in orbit and stymied use of the 12 GHz band for 5G services, satellite and wireless interests filed petitions Monday with the FCC International Bureau asking it to reject SpaceX plans to relocate 2,824 planned non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) broadband satellites to a lower orbit (see 2004200003). SpaceX didn't comment Tuesday.
Seeing it could get a bigger incentive payment for C-band accelerated clearing than SES, Intelsat ditched its obligations as a C-Band Alliance member, leaving fellow CBAer SES with $1.8 billion in potential damages, SES said in a claim Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond. That's according to a summary of the document that wasn't public.
SES filed a $1.8 billion claim Tuesday in Intelsat's bankruptcy, claiming the rival C-band operator committed breach of contract and of fiduciary duties plus unjust enrichment stemming from Intelsat's alleged violation of the C-Band Alliance agreement terms. Intelsat didn't comment. The claim, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, said the CBA agreement set up SES and Intelsat as the lead members, splitting both control and the vast majority of the alliance's proceeds. SES said even after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency would pursue a public auction, the two still continued to partner until the draft C-band order, which laid out incentive payment terms for the satellite operators, with Intelsat getting a bigger share.
The FCC is considering expanded exemptions to ex parte rules to cover some discussions with tribal nations and with the toll-free numbering and reassigned numbers database administrators, said a draft NPRM in Friday's Daily Digest. It also seeks comment on a proposed requirement that all written ex parte presentations be submitted before the sunshine period begins and that replies to them be filed by the first day of the sunshine period. The commission said it still encourages tribal nations to file comments and replies into the record, but it understands their interest in consulting on a government-to-government basis without concern about documenting such consultations on the rulemaking record in every case. The proposed exemption would be limited to consultations with tribal leaders or their representatives, and not individual tribal members or tribally owned businesses. The agency asked for input on whether any information a tribal government presents during an exempt consultation would need to be disclosed on the record for the FCC to rely on it when making a decision. The proposed program administrators exemption would extend to them the same exemption covering consultations between FCC staff and the interstate telecom services fund administrator, Universal Service Administrative Co. and administrators for the North American numbering plan, local number portability, telephone relay services numbering and pooling involving their administrative functions. The role between the FCC and the toll-free numbering administrator or reassigned numbers database administrator "is substantially the same" as it is between the agency and those other administrators, thus the exemption extension would harmonize the rules, it said. The FCC said the current sunshine period rules have meant staff difficulty at times evaluating all relevant filings in the limited time before an agency meeting. Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood tweeted he's "not too alarmed" by the proposal because the intergovernmental and administrative privileges the FCC has are expanding but also harmonizing. "Sure, I'd like to know what USAC says to the FCC [but] I worry more about what this FCC says to USAC, not the other way round," he said. He said speeding up filings for meetings on the day before sunshine starts is "pro transparency." Smaller filers and nongovernmental organizations might find it harder to comply than big companies, but the latter meet more often with the FCC and the staff review time rational "is pretty compelling," he said.
The telecom industry has put forward "a reasonable transition path" for rolling out the 988 suicide hotline given the 10-digit dialing transition and translations work needed to make it universal, and a phased-in approach is the only route that works, CenturyLink representatives told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, per a docket 18-336 posting Friday. The draft order and its two-year deadline "grossly underestimates" the complexity of numerous simultaneous 10-digit dialing transitions, it said. CenturyLink -- which services all but one of the 87 numbering plan areas (NPA) that will have to transition to 10-digit dialing -- said more than 1,100 of its rate centers will need 10-digit dialing conversions, each taking up to 80 hours of work. It said the draft order is wrong to suggest the ongoing IP transition will speed up or coincide with 988 implementation. "Nothing in the record suggests a two-year timeline is possible, and to the contrary, much in the record plainly states a two-year timeline is not possible," it said. If commissioners go ahead with a two-year timeline at Thursday's meeting, that clock should start ticking only once the North American numbering plan administrator has developed a transition schedule for the 87 NPAs, or require the administrator develop an implementation schedule with the two-year deadline starting after a final FCC order explaining the criteria for wireline providers to get waivers, CenturyLink said. In calls with aides to Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, USTelecom said waivers might be necessary. The National Institute of Mental Health backs the FCC efforts, NIMH Director Joshua Gordon tweeted Friday. "A 9-8-8 three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will help callers quickly and simply access help in times of crisis."