Parts of an FCC IP transition order take effect Nov. 18, while others must be OK'd by the Office of Management and Budget, the commission said in a notice in Monday's Federal Register. It said the order again said telcos don't need approval to retire legacy facilities as long as the changes don't hurt the services provided, as ILECs transition to all fiber. Commissioners approved, 3-2, an IP transition order in August.
Verizon should end two advertising claims of top ratings for its TV and FiOS services in a pair of customer satisfaction categories, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division (NAD) said Wednesday. NAD said its review was based on complaints from Comcast, and that Verizon has said it will appeal the NAD findings to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB). NAD said the two ad claims are: "In customer satisfaction studies, Verizon is Rated #1 in internet speed and reliability," and "Rated #1 in HD Picture Quality based on customer satisfaction studies." Customer satisfaction surveys demonstrate customer satisfaction with a particular service provider, but shouldn't convey that performance or service was measured and compared, NAD said. The group also said that any future Verizon ad claims based on customer-satisfaction surveys should make it clear that they are claims about customer satisfaction, and not rankings or ratings. In a statement Wednesday, Verizon said that despite the fact the challenge "involved issues that NAD had already addressed twice in the past year in previous cases with Verizon," it took part "in good faith and out of respect for the self-regulatory process." The telco also said it believed NAD "would follow the precedent and guidance it set forth in those previous cases and, in doing so, would make clear to Comcast and other potential challengers that baseless, repeat challenges against already-substantiated customer satisfaction claims will be rejected by the NAD, just as they would be rejected under the rules and precedent of Courts and other adjudicative bodies." However, Verizon said, "NAD failed to follow the unambiguous precedent it established in the previous cases (and on which Verizon relied when creating the current ads), failed to acknowledge the clear language of the ads themselves, and improperly relied on an obviously-deficient consumer perception survey in an attempt to justify its departure from precedent. NAD’s improper analysis and approach leads to an incorrect decision that allows competitors to use the self-regulatory process to repeatedly challenge an advertiser’s claims, regardless of NAD’s prior determinations. For these reasons, among others, Verizon will appeal all aspects of the NAD’s decision to the NARB."
The FCC barred Icon Telecom from participating in the Lifeline program for three years, said a notice dated Tuesday and included in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The commission suspended Icon from the program in May (see 1506080067). Icon participated in the program from 2011 to 2013 and pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Universal Service Administrative Co. when it submitted 58 fabricated customer recertification forms, the notice said.
It's impossible for companies to offer both broadband and voice/text services as a part of the Lifeline program for $9.25/month, said TruConnect in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC Tuesday in docket 11-42. To fix this problem, TruConnect said that the FCC should give customers more subsidies in their initial term of service. The company also asked the FCC to consider its petition to be designated as an eligible telecom carrier.
AT&T opposed calls by rivals for immediate FCC regulation of special-access terms and conditions in contracts, particularly given that industry representatives are just gaining access to confidential market data collected by the agency as part of a broad review. AT&T said arguments made by Sprint and CLECs in filings were "nothing new" and "mischaracterized" the terms and conditions and their impact on competition in the business market. "It is not surprising that some carriers would like the Commission to increase their profit margins by rewriting their special access contracts; it’s a nice benefit if you can get it. But there are substantive and procedural requirements that must be met before any such action could lawfully be taken, and those requirements have not been met," said an AT&T filing posted Wednesday in docket 05-25. "The complaining carriers have a good reason for trying to jump the gun on the Commission’s review of the special access data: the real-world data will show that they have many alternatives to price cap LEC offerings. The shift from legacy TDM services to Ethernet continues to accelerate. Indeed, evidence abounds that special access competition has become even more intense since the carriers last raised these arguments." Competitors say the Bells use their special-access dominance to extract volume and term agreements that "lock up" rival carriers in wholesale contracts and business customers in retail contracts in order to receive discounts, thwarting competitive responses that do emerge (see 1510080051).
The American Cable Association called on the FCC to approve an NCTA petition to revise a pole-attachment formula despite power company opposition. "ACA is heartened that the Commission is considering granting the NCTA Petition and urges it to do so," said an ACA letter posted Friday in docket 07-245. A draft FCC order would approve the petition, agency and industry officials have told us (see 1510020043). NCTA and telecom providers say the current formula is being used by electric power companies to keep the telecom rates well above those paid by cable companies despite a 2011 FCC order to harmonize the rates at the lower cable level. There are also concerns the agency's reclassification of broadband access as a telecom service could give power companies a justification to raise cable broadband pole-attachment rates. ACA noted a group of electric utilities met recently with agency staffers to oppose the petition (see 1510080045). The utilities argued that the 2011 order had already reduced telecom pole-attachment rates by one-third "in every instance" and that the current formula doesn't discourage broadband deployment because the only group whose rates could be affected by the FCC's recent reclassification of broadband as a telecom service would be cable companies, which have already deployed their networks, according to the utilities. ACA said the 2011 order wasn't intended simply to lower the telecom rates, but to bring them into parity with the lower cable rates, which the group said hasn't always happened and warrants further FCC action. ACA also said cable companies continue to deploy transmission lines, particularly as they enter new areas and install more fiber "to meet exploding broadband demand." ACA disputed power company arguments that FCC action would render statutory cost allocators "meaningless," and it said the commission should use its discretion to interpret the Communications Act to spur rapid broadband deployment.
The FCC Wireline Bureau approved a Frontier Communications plan for complying with the agency's decision to give price-cap telcos conditional forbearance relief from cost-assignment requirements, a public notice said in docket 12-61. Frontier filed a compliance plan for three of the four cost-assignment conditions subject to the deregulation detailing how it would continue to fulfill its statutory and regulatory duties in the absence of the rules, the bureau said in a PN dated Friday and included in Tuesday's Daily Digest. It noted the plan was similar to those it had approved for AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon and Windstream. Frontier's plan didn't contain commitments regarding a fourth condition because it's not seeking to take advantage of the forbearance relief from a rule that requires independent ILECs providing in-region, long-distance services to do so through a separate affiliate. No opposition was filed to the Frontier plan (see 1506010024).
The Communications Workers of America continues to belittle Verizon's expenditures of "more than $200 million" on its copper network since 2008 despite a Verizon clarification. After CWA criticized the amount as "paltry" (see 1508040061) and asked state regulators to investigate (see 1509020035), Verizon responded in a filing that said the figure didn't cover all of its copper network expenditures, just "one category of capital investments, dedicated to copper infrastructure improvement and focused on proactive rehabilitation of copper facilities and related network support elements -- i.e., cable, air pressure, batteries, etc." CWA was not impressed. "Verizon's attempt at clarification remains vague, inconsistent, and inadequate," CWA said in a filing posted Friday in FCC docket 13-5. "Even taking Verizon's statement at face value, $200 million is a paltry amount to spend on proactive rehabilitation of copper facilities over a seven-year period on a network that covers the vast majority of the population in eight states -- New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, plus Washington, D.C., and parts of California, Texas, and Florida. (Prior to 2010, the Verizon footprint included an additional 4.8 millions lines in 14 additional states.)" CWA also attached a letter from 14 mayors to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam that expressed concern the company is "abandoning the copper network" and delivering poor service without making good on FiOS fiber deployment commitments -- a letter Verizon had called "nonsense" (see 1510050047). A Verizon spokesman Tuesday referred us to the company's previous filing and said, "Verizon has made clear that the figure the CWA put forward neither represents all of the capital Verizon is investing in the copper network, nor the significant expenses incurred, including maintenance and repair costs.”
Competify began an ad campaign in Washington to encourage public support for FCC actions to "cure" the "chronic disease" of higher broadband rates caused by "gatekeeper control" of key lines, the coalition said Friday. The group said it placed ads at Ronald Reagan National Airport, in downtown bus stops, and on several tour buses. Sprint, CLECs and other Competify members Thursday urged the FCC to constrain "anti-competitive" Bell special-access rates and practices, including "lock-up" agreements (see 1510080051). Competify says the Bells overcharge rivals and business customers for wholesale and retail access to dedicated circuits that are a broadband network component. The Bells dispute the group's arguments and say new special-access regulation would be legally unsound and bad policy that discourages fiber deployment.
The FCC Wireline Bureau further revised its broadband cost model for rural telcos that could choose to rely on model-based USF support under possible revamping of rate-of-return carrier subsidy mechanisms (see 1510050062). The latest Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM v2.0) incorporates various changes, including to rural carrier "study area" (service territory) boundary lines and node locations, based on updated data collection, said a public notice released Thursday. The bureau said because of the boundary line changes, "it will be difficult to draw meaningful comparisons" between results from ACAM v2.0 and prior versions, the most recent of which was released on Aug. 31 (see 1508310060). The model-based approach is one part of an overhaul envisioned by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who recently said the reform effort was close to bearing fruit but could also still fall apart (see 1509210029).