The FCC raised to 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload the standard for determining whether broadband is being sufficiently deployed around the country Thursday, over objections of Republican commissioners and ISPs. The 3-2 vote had been expected (see 1501280056). The commission accepted the conclusion in the agency’s broadband progress report that, under the new standard, broadband is not being deployed in a reasonable or timely fashion. That finding requires the agency to take “immediate” steps to improve deployment under the Telecommunications Act's Section 706. A separate party-line 3-2 vote approved a notice of inquiry seeking ideas on how to improve broadband deployment.

Behind the opposition to an FCC declaratory ruling (see 1411210037) regarding when providers need to file Communications Act Section 214 applications to discontinue service are worries that ruling and other proposals could become a “slippery slope” making the IP transition more difficult, a telecom official told us. An NPRM on the IP transition issued by the commission along with the ruling in November asks about other changes in the Section 214 approval process. In addition to the ruling on when applications have to be filed, Public Knowledge in responding to the NPRM is seeking clarity on what factors should be considered. The group believes the impact on the quality of phone service and the ability to use such other services as home health monitoring should be considered when deciding whether to grant applications (see 1411060031).

Cable operators lobbied Congress to overhaul various parts of the Communications Act that they say have restricted their companies, urging lawmakers to revisit key parts of the law in a broader overhaul of the act. House Commerce Committee Republicans asked several video policy questions in a December white paper, with responses due Friday and expected to be posted online in the coming days. CenturyLink, Free State Foundation, NTCA and USTelecom shared their recommendations last week (see 1501230062), and the American Cable Association, Dish Network and NCTA shared theirs with us Monday.

USTelecom’s petition asking the FCC to reconsider a Nov. 25 declaratory ruling (see 1411210037) widening requirements for getting agency permission before discontinuing services should be denied, Comptel said in a filing submitted at Friday’s deadline for oppositions. Communications Act Section 214 bars carriers from discontinuing, reducing or impairing service to a community without obtaining a certificate from the commission that there will not be adverse impacts, Comptel said. The declaratory ruling clarified that the services requiring approval when they are being discontinued are not limited to whether they're included in tariff filings, and that a community's views are relevant.USTelecom argued an NPRM should have been issued because the law already was clear that “service” is defined by the terms of a tariff or contracts. Comptel disagreed, saying the definition was clear and argued the commission was allowed to clarify the law through the ruling. For instance, Comptel said, Verizon has said that shifting from copper to fixed wireless IP voice service may not support fax machines, credit card machines, some medical alert devices and some alarm systems. Verizon has said the change “does not constitute a discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of a service if those services/functionalities are not specifically listed as a supported service/functionality in its tariff," Comptel said. Verizon did not comment Friday. USTelecom's petition for recon called the declaratory ruling’s new definition of service “impermissibly vague," and said that "instead of terminating a controversy or removing uncertainty, it creates unnecessary confusion.” As a result, “providers are unable to gauge what services or aspects of their products or services might require a section 214 filing to discontinue or grandfather,” USTelcom said. “We don’t think providers should be required to preserve unknown features and unintended functionalities of their legacy services when transitioning to IP networks," said USTelecom Senior Vice President-Law and Policy Jonathan Banks in a statement to us Friday. Consumers should be informed about service changes, but the commission should "focus more on educating consumer about the advantages that new service offerings will provide," he said. "With adequate information to inform their choices, we believe the vast majority of consumers will welcome the transition to IP networks." If consumers still have concerns, Banks said, the commission should "work with providers to resolve issues as they arise, rather than add unnecessary hurdles that will delay or impede transition.”

USTelecom wants Congress to revamp the Communications Act to give the FCC a bigger enforcement role, in which it’s “adjudicating disputes in the video arena” based on standards it has laid out. The association gave the House Communications Subcommittee the recommendations in response to a December white paper the subcommittee issued as part of its Communications Act update process. Responses were due Friday, and stakeholders were just beginning to file. Concerns over retransmission consent fees dominated early submissions from pay-TV industry stakeholders.

Telecom giants often cut lobbying spending in Q4 despite myriad priorities ahead, currently ranging from net neutrality to a broader telecom law rewrite. Forms for last quarter were due this week. Observers told us not to let any dips in spending create the impression that industry is not deeply engaged in lobbying at a high level and likely to spend more this coming year. High-technology lobbying spending has been on the rise (see 1501220060).

A Capitol Hill telecom rewrite could and should include many priorities that could gain bipartisan support, said panelists at a Wednesday Hill event hosted by NetCompetition, whose members include major ISPs and associations like CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom. “We’re all competing in this same space,” Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Vice President Nicol Turner-Lee said, adding that the old Communications Act titles don’t necessarily make sense anymore. “When you have an obsolete law, it causes problems,” NetCompetition Chairman Scott Cleland said. He said he sees several problems with current telecom law, citing an anti-innovation bias, uncertain and eroding FCC regulatory authority and a decay of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), with the “fiscal insanity” of a fifth of consumers paying to back the network. Spectrum management -- or lack thereof -- is in a “scandalous” state, Cleland said. “Who’s hoarding most of it? It’s the federal government,” he said, lamenting lack of “coherent policy” and “no formal spectrum budget process.” Internet Innovation Alliance honorary co-chair Rick Boucher, a former Democratic chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee, repeated his backing for a rewrite, citing the unsustainable PSTN and a need to eliminate barriers. “Let’s find a creative way to get [spectrum] on the auction block a lot faster,” Boucher said, expressing pleasant shock at the AWS-3 spectrum auction having surpassed $40 billion in bids. Several panelists, including ex-FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and Free State Foundation President Randolph May, cited the trouble with the Communications Act silos, regulating different types of industries that offer similar services with different rules.

Republican leaders of the Commerce committees want what they call a public discussion on a new net neutrality proposal. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., is partnering with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Some observers see bipartisan congressional resolution of net neutrality debates as the only way to allow an overhaul of the Communications Act later this Congress.

President Barack Obama declared his support Wednesday for ending state laws that restrict or prohibit municipal broadband deployments and said he would file a letter with the FCC urging the commission to use its authority to remove barriers to local broadband deployments, as expected (see 1501130067). “I believe a community has the right to make its own choice” on deploying broadband free from state restrictions, Obama said in a speech in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which has a municipal broadband network. He said “all of us,” including the FCC, “should do everything we can to push back on those old laws.”

Comments on the FCC’s IP transition NPRM are due Feb. 5, replies March 9, said a proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register Tuesday. The wide-ranging NPRM deals with a variety of issues, from requirements for discontinuing service to battery backup requirements (see 1411210037). Opposition to USTelecom’s petition for reconsideration of a declaratory ruling, approved with the NPRM, toughening approval requirements for discontinuing service is due Jan. 23, with replies due Jan. 30 (see 1412300038).