The FCC adopted a one-touch, make-ready policy and other pole-attachment changes in a broadband infrastructure order and declaratory ruling approved 3-1 by commissioners at a Thursday meeting. The item also said the agency will pre-empt state and local legal barriers to deployment, including express and de facto moratoriums that prohibit entry or halt buildout. "No moratoriums. No moratoriums. Absolutely no moratoriums," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who also noted some targeted edits to OTMR parts of a draft. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel agreed with OTMR in concept but partially dissented over "deficiencies in our analysis."
Charter Communications probably will feel pressure to talk deal after the New York Public Service Commission took back OK of the Time Warner Cable buy, experts said in interviews. Some said the PSC probably lacks authority to undo the deal. A Public Knowledge attorney said the PSC is within its rights. Charter will defend itself in court, if necessary, CEO Thomas Rutledge said Tuesday (see 1807310062).
CTIA said the FCC is right to move forward on a ban on state and local moratoriums on new wireless facilities, part of a larger infrastructure item set to get a vote at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1807130045 and 1807300040). CTIA said in a Friday filing in docket 17-79 that it spoke with aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel about the moratoriums and other infrastructure issues. “CTIA therefore applauded the Commission for its proposal to adopt a Declaratory Ruling to clarify that moratoria -- whether express or de facto, interim or not -- are barriers to wireless deployment and prohibited under the Communications Act,” the group said. “There is no more absolute prohibition on deployment than refusing to accept or act on applications. A local law that bars acceptance of applications and a local agency’s refusal to act on them have precisely the same impact -- no deployment is permitted -- and they are thus per se unlawful.” NATOA opposed the moratoriums. “We object to this ill-defined attempt to bend federal law to accommodate industry desires while ignoring the impact on communities across the country and doing nothing to address the digital divide,” the group said.
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee will have new life after it finalizes the last of its reports to the commission. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stopped by the meeting Friday to announce a new focus -- how to make communications infrastructure more resilient, with hurricane season looming and after major storms hit the Gulf Coast and U.S. territories last year. Pai asked BDAC to complete the report by February.
The New York Public Service Commission’s extraordinary revoking of approval of Charter Communications’ buy of Time Warner Cable (see 1807270027) surprised observers Friday. Commissioners voted 3-0 to rescind the state's 2016 conditional approval of Charter's purchase, directing the acquirer to cease operations and submit a transition plan within 60 days. At Friday's special session, commissioners also voted 3-0 to direct counsel to initiate a civil enforcement case against Charter in New York Supreme Court seeking civil financial penalties for past failures.
Key Republicans backed and Democrats attacked deregulatory FCC policies under Chairman Ajit Pai at a House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing Wednesday. GOP leaders lauded commission actions to improve emergency communications, update media regulations and promote broadband deployment. Democrats blasted the agency's net neutrality rollback and other deregulatory moves as favoring big industry players and even complicating national security. Pai and other commissioners had provided prepared testimony (see 1807240056).
States joined local government officials sounding the alarm over an FCC plan to ban state and local moratoriums on new wireless and wireline facilities (see 1807240035 and 1807130045). The draft order also includes one-touch, make-ready rules and is set for vote at next Thursday’s commissioners' meeting. States’ interest in pole attachments is increasing as they look to spur broadband, state commissioners said in interviews. Pennsylvania sees a need to take a stronger role in pole attachment disputes as part of that effort, said Public Utility Commission member Norman Kennard.
Commenters offered mixed views on actions and proposals to fight unwanted robocalling, as comments were posted Friday and Monday in docket 17-59 on an FCC public notice soliciting input for an upcoming staff report in consultation with FTC. There is no "silver bullet," so "efforts continue to move forward across multiple fronts," including "increasing deployment of various tools to consumers, advancing efforts with respect to the deployment of SHAKEN [Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs] and STIR [Secure Telephone Identify Revisited], as well as the Commission’s expansion of carriers’ ability to block illegal robocalls," said USTelecom, citing "marked strides" in the areas. "Industry and the FCC are aggressively working to mitigate illegal robocalling," said CTIA: "Efforts are promising, but with so much going on, it is premature to try to measure the effectiveness." Comcast said "significant progress has been made on various fronts," with "further important efforts" ongoing. "Despite ongoing progress by industry in formulating best practices and bringing call blocking technologies to market, illegal robocalls remain a significant concern," said the Professional Association for Customer Engagement. PACE urged the FCC to continue to engage with "industry organizations, such as the Communication Protection Coalition, that seek to implement best practices" and to promote "implementation of the SHAKEN/STIR framework." It called on industry and the FCC to "ensure that the telephone network remains available to legal callers and that legal callers are provided an opportunity to challenge erroneous blocking/labeling." The American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management backed FCC efforts "to protect consumers from illegal robocalls by bad actors. Consumers Union, the National Consumer Law Center and Consumer Federation of America warned "against narrowly focusing on scam robocalls exclusively," saying "the FCC and FTC should solicit data to assess the scope of the entire robocall problem, from phone companies, callers, and call-mitigation services." Others commenting: The American Cable Association, AmeriFactors Financial Group, AT&T, ATIS, First Orion, Neustar, Noble Systems, Sprint, TNS, TransNexus and Verizon.
Pirate radio operators should watch out because the FCC will stop you, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference Thursday. Commissioner Brendan Carr also spoke at the conference on a panel with O'Reilly, taking questions from former Chairman Richard Wiley of Wiley Rein.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Application programming interfaces must be included in the Lifeline national verifier so carriers can help low-income fund recipients with enrollment, said a NARUC resolution passed Wednesday. NARUC cleared that and other resolutions on separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and precision agriculture (see 1807030052). NARUC is following the national verifier closely, with the API resolution setting up a big push planned for Lifeline Awareness Week this September, a spokesperson said.