The FCC proposed an 18-month extension of a freeze on jurisdictional separations of rural telco cost calculations while the commission works with a federal-state joint board on proposals to overhaul the current system. The joint board is expected to make recommendations for "comprehensive separations reform" by April 2018, said the FCC in a Further NPRM adopted and released without dissent Monday in docket 80-286.
Wireless industry officials plan to laud draft bills on siting and dig once policies that lawmakers circulated last week (see 1703170065), during a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Congress must do even more, they will say, citing inaccurate broadband mapping data and deployment challenges. Witnesses will point to the need for addressing broadband as part of a bigger infrastructure package. The two draft bills involve the many siting provisions the subcommittee put together in 2015, collected in one text, and the dig once policies of the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act offered by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. These ideas typically enjoyed bipartisan support.
Aspiring Lifeline broadband providers and others urged the FCC to reinstate nine companies whose LBP designations were revoked by a Wireline Bureau order that Chairman Ajit Pai defends. State regulators opposed reinstatement and urged the commission to repeal its LBP process, which they say illegally bypasses state authority to designate carriers eligible for the USF Lifeline subsidies. LBP aspirants urged the FCC to at least make providers eligible for the program's low-income support in states where the federal commission has jurisdiction. Parties filed comments posted Thursday and Friday in docket 11-42 on requests to reconsider the Feb. 3 revocation order (see 1702030070 and 1703020059).
Industry commenters made closing arguments on petitions for reconsideration of the FCC's October ISP privacy rules with replies due Thursday. Congress is considering a Congressional Review Act resolution opposing the rules (see 1703150032). Observers expect the FCC to move forward, absent quick action on Capitol Hill.
Sorenson Communications pressed the FCC to explore "less regulatory" rate proposals in its draft notices and order on video relay services tentatively scheduled for a March 23 commissioners' vote (see 1703020070). The commission should seek comment on additional frameworks for determining VRS compensation rates -- beyond those in a draft Further NPRM -- "that would be more deregulatory in approach," and "minimize line drawing between allowable and categorically disallowed costs that can distort innovations and investment," said Sorenson in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-51 on a meeting with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai. The largest VRS provider cited three alternatives: "a market-based auction patterned after capacity auctions conducted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a long-term price cap based on a reasonable efficient provider, and a deregulatory approach founded in private contracts." Sorenson noted it had outlined the first two on March 7 (see 1703080060) and described all three options more fully. In a filing Wednesday on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, ZVRS, a small provider, said the current schedule of compensation rate cuts harmed "all non-dominant providers," which "desperately need rate relief before July 1, 2017 as outlined" in their joint proposal and the draft FNPRM.
Federal websites run by the FCC, FTC, Patent and Trademark Office and the White House performed well overall in meeting basic standards of accessibility, mobile friendliness, speed and security, reported the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. ITIF, which assessed 297 of the most popular government websites on those four criteria, said 92 percent weren't up to snuff and recommended the White House largely take the helm in helping fix them.
The FCC appears ready to move quickly on rules providing more certainty for companies trying to build out small cells but is running into delays at the hands of local governments, industry officials said Thursday. The FCC has in hand initial comments on a Mobilitie petition asking the agency to pre-empt state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703080011), with replies due April 7. Former officials said a June item on streamlining siting rules seems most likely, though the agency could wait until July, traditionally the biggest meeting of the summer. Numerous local government commenters urged caution in the Mobilitie proceeding, but industry commenters said companies need more certainty on timelines on siting small cells.
Sorenson Communications said an FCC draft Further NPRM "missed an opportunity" to explore "less regulatory" proposals for new video relay service compensation rates, though it praised agency transparency in releasing text and its effort to provide "certainty and stability." The largest VRS provider urged the FCC to seek comment on a "market-based" auction proposal for setting price caps that the company outlined this week. GlobalVRS, a smaller provider, rejected Sorenson's plan. Commissioners tentatively plan to vote March 23 on a draft VRS order, FNPRM and notice of inquiry that prominently sought comment on the proposals of smaller providers to increase rates except for the highest traffic tier covering Sorenson, which would be cut further (see 1703020070 and 1703030053).
In early filings on a Mobilitie petition asking the agency to pre-empt state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703070013) the FCC is getting lots of pushback from local governments concerned about losing control over siting. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Tuesday he’s hopeful the FCC will act soon to accelerate the siting process for wireless facilities, citing the Mobilitie petition (see 1703070018). Comments were due Wednesday on a December FCC Wireless Bureau notice in docket 16-421, after the FCC extended the filing deadline by a month.
A group of 21 Senate Republicans will join Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., in his introduction Tuesday of his Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to kill the FCC’s ISP privacy rules, said his aides, who had predicted the resolution may be coming this soon (see 1703060041). The text of the resolution -- which would kill the regulations and prevent the FCC from developing substantially similar ones -- is barely more than one page. The backers include GOP Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, along with the others expected, but also Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other senior Republicans such as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Co-sponsors include Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Industry groups including the Chamber of Commerce, NCTA, USTelecom and CTA wrote Senate Commerce leaders backing the CRA. “If Congress employs the CRA to disapprove the rule, customers will still enjoy reasonable privacy protections under Section 222 of the Communications Act,” they said. The resolution “will reverse the FCC's broad regulatory overreach and restore certainty and consistency with privacy guidelines established by the Federal Trade Commission,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a statement. The heads of the 21st Century Privacy Coalition, which consists of communications companies, lauded the introduction. The FCC's "rules deviate substantially from the FTC's successful privacy model and are fatally flawed" and the "resolution will give the Administration the opportunity to hit the reset button and develop a holistic approach to privacy for the entire internet ecosystem that benefits consumers," said co-chairs Jon Leibowitz, a former FTC chairman, and Mary Bono, a former House GOP lawmaker. Capitol Hill Democrats and public interest groups called the CRA destructive (see 1702270035). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is leading efforts in the lower chamber on the CRA resolution. “We continue to discuss the issue with our colleagues in the Senate and are exploring all options moving forward,” a GOP House aide said.