Civil rights groups and others asked the FCC to do more to protect consumers as telecom carriers migrate from traditional phone services to IP-based, broadband technologies. The advocates said "high quality, affordable and reliable voice and high-speed broadband services" should be provided to all Americans and consumer protection maintained during the technology transitions. Separately, incumbent telcos pressed for streamlined regulatory treatment in tariffing and discontinuing legacy voice services. They were among the parties lobbying the commission last week as it plans, at its Thursday meeting, to consider a tech transitions item taking various actions (see 1606240069).

Telco and cable interests continued to slam FCC procedures in releasing peer reviews critiquing a consultant's study of the business broadband market, which the agency estimates generates $45 billion in annual revenue. The release of the peer reviews came on June 28 just as comments were due in the agency's business data service (BDS) rulemaking and two months after they were submitted. AT&T suggested the commission violated the Administrative Procedure Act and NCTA suggested the agency didn't care about stakeholder input.

June's net neutrality decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit doesn't support the FCC argument that providing common-carrier services turns a cable system into a Communications Act Title II facility exempt from local Title VI regulation, said Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties, Maryland, and Dubuque, Iowa, in a filing (in Pacer) Tuesday before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They and the FCC disagree about the significance of that decision in their appeal of a 2007 FCC order that extended to incumbent cable operators many limits put on new entrants and a 2015 order clarifying that franchising regulations don't apply to state laws on cable TV or to state-level franchising authorities (see 1605020030). The USTelecom v. FCC ruling "concerns the classification of a service, not the facilities transited by the service," the municipal interests said. Since entities providing common carrier services via cable systems are often different parties than cable system operators themselves, the FCC is on shaky ground because USTelecom suggests the FCC may be constitutionally barred from imposed common carrier obligations on a provider "not simply holding itself out as a 'neutral indiscriminate conduit,'" the municipal interests said in reply to an FCC brief (in Pacer) filed in June after the USTelecom decision. In it, the FCC argued the D.C. Circuit in its USTelecom decision rejected the municipal interests' argument that the NARUC test for determining common carriage is dispositive and instead sided with the FCC that broadband providers, including those that also offer cable services, are common carriers when they provide telco services. That lines up with the FCC stance that a cable operator's facility is a common-carrier facility when it provides common-carrier services, the agency said: "The D.C. Circuit's analysis, while not binding on this Court, is thorough and persuasive."

USTelecom hires Amy Schatz, ex-Politico, as vice president-media affairs, succeeding Karn Dhingra, hired by the Victoria Advocate in Texas ... Charter Communications hires David Ellen, ex-Cablevision, which Altice bought last month, as senior executive vice president ... Kelley Drye promotes: to partner Kristi Wolff, Advertising and Marketing practice, whose work includes wearables and privacy; and to special counsel: Sarah Cronin, Litigation and who works on entertainment and intellectual property issues; Jeffrey Hunter, Government Relations and Public Policy and who works on FCC political broadcasting; Christopher Loeffler, Advertising and Marketing and who works on privacy, data security and other consumer protection issues; and Marisa Lorenzo, Litigation and representing communications service providers.

An FCC consultant and agency staff stood by their business data service analysis despite additional 2013 cable deployment data that ILECs say show much more competition than believed when the commission proposed a new BDS regulatory framework (see 1604280057). Documents released by the Wireline Bureau Tuesday and posted Wednesday in docket 16-143 -- including a modified BDS white paper by consultant Marc Rysman, a Boston University econometrician -- factored in the recent supplemental cable data and feedback from peer reviews.

Parties skirmished over the business data service market and regulation, as comments were due Tuesday in the FCC BDS proceeding in docket 16-143. ILECs and their allies urged the commission to recognize the BDS market is competitive and reduce regulation, while rivals and other critics said the agency should fix what they see as a broken marketplace. AT&T also panned what it said was the supposed "compromise" between Incompas and Verizon, which it called a "sometimes ILEC."

Reconsideration petitions on the FCC much-debated Lifeline order rained into the commission Friday. The agency received petitions from CTIA, NASUCA, NTCA, USTelecom and others in docket 11-42. “There are aspects of the Order where the Commission ignored requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), unnecessarily increased administrative burdens, as well as areas where the Commission should have been clearer,” USTelecom said. The FCC didn’t provide enough notice for changes to the carrier recertification process or port freeze requirements in the order, it said. The wireline association said the FCC should reconsider the effective date of the streamlined federal eligibility criteria and obligation to offer Lifeline broadband internet access service (BIAS) requirements. USTelecom said the date should be delayed until Dec. 31, 2017, or 12 months after Office of Management and Budget approval of the order, whichever is later: “A December 1st obligation to offer Lifeline broadband does not allow adequate time to modify systems to identify those locations where Lifeline broadband must be made available.” Among other requested changes, USTelecom urged reconsideration of the FCC decision that voice should continue to be supported in census blocks with a single Lifeline provider. And it should reconsider the exception to its minimum standard requirements for fixed providers that haven’t deployed broadband networks in specific geographic areas, it said. Also, the commission should reverse its decision that high-cost carriers with state eligible telecom carrier designations are subject to BIAS Lifeline obligations, it said. In a joint petition, NTCA and WTA also urged the FCC to reconsider the exception to the fixed broadband minimum speed standard, saying “it represents a failure to properly leverage the High cost universal service program and will inadvertently punish certain low-income rural consumers.” The FCC should reconsider phasing out support for voice-only service, and exempt rural Lifeline providers using satellite backhaul from the 150 GB minimum usage allowance standard, they said. CTIA asked the FCC to reconsider its decision to set long-term minimum capacity standards for mobile broadband at 70 percent of the average mobile data usage per household. “The record raises serious questions about whether the 70 percent average of mobile data usage per-household standard adequately accounts for the affordability of Lifeline broadband service for the lowest-income consumers who otherwise would stand to benefit the most from the Commission’s recent modifications to the Lifeline program,” CTIA said. NASUCA urged reconsideration of the decision to remove Lifeline support for stand-alone voice services and said the agency failed to adopt regulations so that customers who can’t afford bundled services can maintain basic voice service, failed to require payment arrangements for backup power for Lifeline customers, and failed to require USF contribution from broadband services. NARUC has challenged the Lifeline order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1606030053).

Details emerged Friday on a draft FCC order to move along telcos' IP transition, in interviews and comments from GOP commissioners, including some concerns. The FCC plans to take a series of further actions to facilitate next-generation networks, Chairman Tom Wheeler had said, outlining the IP transition item he put on the tentative agenda for the July 14 meeting (see 1606230074). Wheeler said the FCC would continue to uphold "enduring values" of "competition, consumer protection, universal service, and public safety" as telcos and Internet providers replace legacy copper lines with next-generation networks to provide greater speeds, efficiency, capacity and innovation.

Telecom heavyweights urged the FCC to promptly approve the Telcordia contract to be local number portability administrator that was negotiated by North American Portability Management (NAPM). Officials from AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, NCTA, T-Mobile, USTelecom and Verizon met with commissioner aides about the planned LNPA transition from Neustar to Telcordia (iconectiv). "The parties stated that the approval of the [master services agreement or MSA] is a prerequisite to the continued progress of the transition and that there are mounting costs to consumers for every day the transition is delayed," said a USTelecom filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-109. "The parties noted that all segments of the industry support the MSA and that those opposed to approval of the MSA and moving forward with the transition have had ample opportunity to be a part of the process." Neustar recently asked the FCC to force Ericsson-owned Telcordia to explain why it shouldn't be disqualified as LNPA due to possible misrepresentations about the citizenship of employees doing initial system coding work (see 1606020050). Telcordia and NAPM opposed the motion (see 1606130040 and 1606170027). The telecom officials told the commissioner aides "security issues have been exhaustively addressed and resolved and with the Commission staff and with the approval of relevant federal government stakeholders," said the filing. "In addition ... the cost savings in selecting Telcordia are exponential and would provide significant savings not only to companies of all sizes, but more importantly to consumers." In a separate filing, Neustar summarized a meeting with FCC officials about law enforcement authorities' transition to an "Enhanced Law Enforcement Platform." Neustar said it won't provide its Local Number Portability Enhanced Analytical Platform service in regions where it's no longer the Number Portability Administration Center administrator. Neustar said the MSA "sets the expectation that the ELEP service will not be available until after all NPAC regions are transitioned, thereby potentially creating a gap in the provision of the law enforcement service." Neustar also raised concerns about increased transition risk from the "compressed timeline and substantial reduction in testing" announced by PwC, NAPM's transition oversight manager.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals likely will reject an FCC order that pre-empted state restrictions on municipal broadband expansion efforts, despite the commission's recent net neutrality and broadband victory in the D.C. Circuit, said Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum, a community broadband consultant, in a Tuesday blog post. Meanwhile, echoing a debate between Tennessee and the FCC, Free State Foundation President Randolph May suggested the 6th Circuit should overturn or curb the FCC's Telecom Act Section 706 broadband authority. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld disagreed, saying that outcome is unlikely. At oral argument in March, one of the 6th Circuit judges seemed to be skeptical of the FCC's muni-broadband order, and afterward, TechFreedom President Berin Szoka predicted the agency would lose (see 1603170031).