The FCC proposal to bar USF spending on products or services from companies seen as posing a national security risk is meeting with mixed reaction, with disagreements about whether rules should be limited to USF-funded equipment and services or should have broader reach, recent docket 18-89 comments show. Huawei called the rulemaking launched in April (see 1804170038) an "improper and imprudent" blacklist, and some critics questioned the efficacy of the proposed approach. Comments were due Friday, replies July 2.
Sharing the C band now used by satellite operators and by broadcast and other programmers sending content using it could be tricky, many stakeholders agree. Where they differ is on whether it should be repurposed or shared or mainly left as-is. True to predictions and comments posted through Thursday, even newer filings reveal differences between carriers on one hand and current users on the other (see 1805310058), a docket 18-122 review shows. A couple dozen filings were posted Friday, from tech companies, carriers, equipment makers, cable and content interests plus other industries.
AT&T said it won't continue challenging FTC broadband authority, declining to appeal a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals en banc ruling that the commission has authority over the non-common-carrier activities of common carriers, such as telcos (see 1802260031). Broadband is considered a non-common-carrier activity under the FCC's reversal of Communications Act Title II net neutrality regulation. “We have decided not to seek review by the Supreme Court, to focus instead on negotiating a fair resolution of the case with the Federal Trade Commission,” said an AT&T spokesman Thursday. An FTC lawsuit in the Northern District of California (No. 14-cv-04785-EMC) alleged AT&T Mobility promised millions of wireless customers unlimited data, then throttled the speeds they got. The company says it no longer throttles unlimited customers once they hit a monthly data allotment. The FTC didn't comment.
Industry supported a proposed Alaska USF revamp that would sunset the revised AUSF after June 30, 2023, with a comprehensive review to begin by June 30, 2021. At a teleconferenced hearing Wednesday, officials for General Communication, Alaska Communications Systems and other providers largely supported the Regulatory Commission of Alaska proposal based on a plan by the Alaska Telephone Association (see 1805090027). Commissioner Robert Pickett doesn’t like parts of the proposal, including its definition of “remote” and capping the revenue-based USF surcharge at 10 percent rather than 9 percent, but “collectively” finds the plan “somewhat workable.” The Alaska Attorney General Regulatory Affairs and Public Advocacy (RAPA) section recommended clarifying some language in Tuesday comments in docket R-18-001. RAPA doesn’t seek a specific rule addressing an “eroding intrastate contribution base,” but said “the possibility of shifting to a connections-based contribution base needs to be studied through future Commission, industry, and RAPA actions including possible workshops and studies.” Rural providers agree contributions reform is a critical state and federal issue and support looking at connections-based reform in a separate docket, said Moss & Barnett attorney Shannon Heim, representing a coalition of rural carriers. Heim is “unconvinced that there are enough connections in Alaska to make that type of methodology actually work here,” she said. Written comments are due June 15.
The FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee will meet June 8 in the Commission Meeting Room, said a Federal Register notice. The meeting is to start at 9 a.m. The committee will be updated by FCC staff on recent developments and “may discuss topics including, but not limited to, consumer protection and education, consumer participation in the FCC rulemaking process, and the impact of new and emerging communication technologies,” the notice said.
CTIA asked the FCC to act on changes to rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band at the July 12 commissioners' meeting. The Wednesday letter by President Meredith Baker said unless the FCC acts soon, the U.S. will fall behind other countries in the race to 5G. CTIA asked the FCC to approve rules based on its April proposal made with the Competitive Carriers Association (see 1804240067). The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) pushed for small priority access licenses (PALs) in the band, with no major changes from the Obama administration rules.
Preparing poles for broadband lines through the make-ready process can bottleneck state projects and requires great coordination, state broadband officials said. “Make-ready is the real uncertainty,” with the process delaying last-mile projects funded by Massachusetts state grants, said Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) Chair Peter Larkin in an interview. New York set up a formal process to streamline pole attachments for its New NY Broadband Program, while Minnesota avoided pole issues with mostly underground infrastructure, their officials said. FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee Vice Chair Kelleigh Cole said BDAC may help cure such problems in her state of Utah and elsewhere.
President Dan Berger and others from National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions met Chairman Ajit Pai about the future of FCC rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “Credit unions are still struggling to establish communication with their members for fear of violating the TCPA,” NAFCU said in a docket 18-152 filing. The discussion included the definition of "capacity" as it applies to autodialers and of called party "as it applies to reassigned numbers and the Commission's efforts to establish a reassigned numbers database,” the group said. “NAFCU reiterated its previous request for an expanded data security and fraud exception for credit unions trying to contact their members following a data breach.” The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is asking for comment on interpretation and implementation of the TCPA in light of a court decision reversing some rules (see 1805150014).
ST. PAUL -- Federal judges mostly let attorneys make their arguments for and against FCC decisions easing regulation of the business data service rates of major incumbent telcos. The three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked only a handful of questions in oral argument that stuck close to its scheduled 40 minutes in Citizens Telecommunications v. FCC, No. 17-2296. About half the questions were related to whether the FCC gave parties adequate notice. Hotly contested FCC cases often draw scores of judicial questions and comments at oral argument. The commission's 2017 order largely removed price caps from incumbent BDS offerings to business customers and competitors (see 1704200020 and 1705010019).
FCC information collection under revised discontinuance rules was approved by the Office of Management and Budget for three years, said an announcement in Monday's Federal Register. The rule said disclosure requirements in a November wireline infrastructure order aim to help implement parts of Communications Act sections 222(e) and 251, and to eliminate telecom market operational barriers, especially to copper retirements and service upgrades (see 1711160032). The information will be used to implement LECs' duties to give competitors dialing parity and nondiscriminatory access to certain services and functionalities, ILECs' duty to disclose network information, and numbering information, the rule said. Another FCC rule prepared for Tuesday's FR says OMB approved for three years information collection associated with a commission order "updating, clarifying and streamlining its rules on non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed satellite service systems to better reflect current technology and promote additional operational flexibility." It said related rule changes under the September order (see 1709260035) take effect May 31.