NARUC will seek more respect for states and cooperative federalism as the utility regulator association communicates next year with a new FCC and incoming administration, NARUC President Robert Powelson told Communications Daily. NARUC named Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Powelson its new president this month at the association’s annual meeting. The new NARUC leader announced “Infrastructure, Innovation, and Investment” as the association’s focus for 2016, a theme that could align with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed $1 trillion infrastructure package. “As we talk about infrastructure, I firmly believe that the telecom sector will continue to be the epicenter for growth and innovation,” Powelson said.
Telecom companies sounded alarm bells over industry rule changes proposed by the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), including how the regulator views state authority over VoIP services. In comments that were due Wednesday in docket RMU-2015-0002, competitive providers Sprint, T-Mobile and Cox Communications sought to maintain a distinction between retail and wholesale VoIP regulation, and small Iowa LECs said the board shouldn’t deregulate voice services based on the underlying technology. Meanwhile, CTIA balked at a proposal requiring local exchange carriers to provide wireless service during service interruptions exceeding 72 hours.
Jeff Eisenach has become a lightning rod for criticism of Donald Trump's willingness to tap people with corporate and Washington ties despite the president-elect's vow to "drain the swamp" of insider politics in the nation's capital. The Trump transition team Monday named Eisenach -- managing director of NERA Economics Consulting and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute -- and fellow AEI scholar Mark Jamison to its FCC landing team (see 1611210045).
An FCC order setting broadband USF duties for Alaska Communications takes effect Dec. 22, after a summary was published in Tuesday's Federal Register. A certification mandate won't take effect until approved by the Office of Management and Budget because it involves a new information collection requirement, the summary said. The commission issued the order Oct. 31 establishing "tailored service obligations" to accompany almost $20 million in annual Connect America Phase II price-cap "frozen" USF subsidy support that Alaska Communications elected to receive instead of model-based support (see 1610310056).
The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity and its forthcoming recommendations to the White House are likely to have at least some policy currency in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, said industry executives and lawyers in interviews. President Barack Obama directed the formation of CENC in February as part of the White House's Cybersecurity National Action Plan. The commission has until Dec. 1 to deliver a set of recommendations to the White House aimed at actions the private and public sectors can take over the next decade to improve cyber defenses and raise cyber awareness (see 1602090068).
Robocalling and unwanted texts are a global problem requiring international coordination, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in a Monday blog post. In the U.S., more than 200,000 consumers complain to the commission each year about unwanted calls, including robocalls and telemarketing, and about 2.4 billion robocalls are made monthly according to the Robocall Index, he wrote, saying such calls "are used to perpetrate criminal fraud, phishing attacks, and identity theft" all over the world. "Those responsible for sending unwanted calls and texts often operate from outside of the United States, too often allowing them to evade our enforcement," said LeBlanc. He said the FCC works with international law enforcement partners and other regulatory agencies to combat illegal calls and texts and hold perpetrators accountable. Earlier this year, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding with members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network, a global network of "robo-cops" that share intelligence and best practices (see 1606140041). LeBlanc noted the commission last week signed a robocalling MOU with Canadian regulators (see 1611170054), and will continue to work with other federal and state agencies domestically.
Pointing to what it considers extensive confusion in the weather community, Ligado is trying to make clear its case that its broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plans aren't a threat to the plethora of sensors the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses to track weather conditions. "We don't know why there is such confusion, but there is," said Ligado outside counsel Gerard Waldron of Covington and Burling Monday, as the company filed at the FCC a 10-page presentation on NOAA's data collection system in RM-11681. Ligado repeatedly sought an NPRM, and Waldron said that would be the best way to clear any confusion.
The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump confirmed Monday that American Enterprise Institute scholars Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison, conservative voices advocating telecom deregulation, will be members of its FCC landing team. Both were previously believed to play a role, though the state of their involvement was uncertain last week amid turnover in the transition team and new lobbying restrictions at play (see 1611170041).
Maine requested FCC help on issues related to texting to 911 via IP. The state, calling itself an early adopter of texting to 911 via teletypewriter, deployed what it described as an "end-to-end" next-generation 911 system, and began working with carriers and their text control centers (TCC) on moving from 911 via TTY to 911 to text by message session relay protocol. A center responded to the state's request with multiprotocol label switching pricing including "a one-time project charge, monthly recurring charges for a three-year contract period, and recurring monthly costs for dedicated MPLS circuits (price to be determined), all to be paid for by the State of Maine," Emergency Services Communication Bureau Director Maria Jacques wrote the federal commission on Maine Public Utilities Commission letterhead. When Maine sought an alternative to the MPLS plan, asking to use a virtual private network, the TCC proposed monthly "recurring monitoring charges to help compensate for what the company views as a less than reliable service because it traverses the Internet," Jacques said in a filing posted Thursday to docket 10-255. "A different TCC, responding on the behalf of other wireless carriers, expressed a preference for connecting via VPN as opposed to MPLS circuits and thus far has not requested any compensation for the use of VPN. Clearly, there is disagreement." The state official asked in the letter to FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson for clarification on "where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and Maine's NG911 network in order to appropriately assess costs." A CTIA spokeswoman declined to comment Friday.
The conventional wisdom used to be that spectrum items are mostly nonpartisan, but industry watchers expect some major difference in the approach of the incoming Donald Trump administration compared with that of Barack Obama. Republican FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly have supported many of the spectrum initiatives, though with some significant objections to some of the policy calls. While much of the focus since the election has been on the likely overturn of net neutrality, ISP privacy and a few other politically charged orders, the Republican FCC also is expected to undo parts of the wireless policy pushed by Democratic chairmen Tom Wheeler and Julius Genachowski.