Small ISPs want Congress to protect them from the net neutrality order’s enhanced transparency reporting requirements, which they will soon face. The American Cable Association, Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association sent a letter to the bicameral backers of the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, which stalled last Congress but would have exempted ISPs with 250,000 subscribers or fewer. The bill cleared the House without substantial Democratic objection. A temporary exemption from the FCC for ISPs with 100,000 or fewer subscribers expired last month, and the requirements take effect Jan. 17 (see 1612160059). “Unfortunately, because of unexpected inaction by the Federal Communications Commission, small broadband providers, who make up the majority of our associations, now face the prospect of imminent and irreparable harm from the rules going into effect in less than three weeks,” they told the lawmakers in a letter Tuesday. “To prevent this unjust outcome, we ask that you act again, and advance legislation relieving small businesses of these burdens as the 115th Congress convenes.”
President Barack Obama sent the renomination of Jessica Rosenworcel to the Senate, for its new session that began Tuesday. Her last day as an FCC member was also Tuesday. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., whose committee would need to OK Rosenworcel before the full Senate could vote on her reappointment, had signaled her imminent return to the agency was unlikely.
Undoing some of the more controversial orders approved on 3-2 votes under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler could take a year or more and requires lots of work, said industry and government officials. Some of the more controversial aspects of Wheeler’s legacy are likely to be around for a while, even if Republicans appear bent on change, they said. One wild card is changes pushed through by the Republican-controlled Congress without the need for FCC action.
President Barack Obama’s signing into law of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 (S-2943) Friday sets up next steps for the administration on both the Broadcasting Board of Governors and cybersecurity policy. The White House announced opposition to what’s widely known as dual-hat leadership of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. The new law also includes language on spectrum, initially negotiated in the House version earlier this year and re-emerging in the conference report several weeks ago (see 1612050042).
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had to “postpone some of the next steps in this combined approach” on cybersecurity -- addressing “a combination of market-based incentives and appropriate regulatory oversight where the market does not, or cannot, do the job effectively” -- due to the “impending change in Administrations,” he told Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in a Dec. 2 letter released Wednesday. Warner will be ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee starting next year. “Addressing loT threats remains a National imperative and should not be stalled by the normal transition of a new president,” Wheeler told Warner. “I've attached an outline of a program that I believe would reduce the risk of cyber threats to America's citizens and businesses. This program includes collaborative efforts with key Internet stakeholder groups; increased interagency cooperation; and consideration of regulatory solutions by the Commission to address residual risk that cannot be addressed by market forces alone due to market failure.” That attached plan, a page and a half in length, is titled the 5G/IoT Cybersecurity Risk Reduction Program Plan and has three sections: one on Federal Advisory Committee/voluntary stakeholder engagement; one on leveraging interagency relationships; and final one on regulatory and rulemaking activities. The FCC should issue a notice of inquiry “to develop a record and identify residual risk in the IoT commons, with the goal of determining where market failure may exist in the ISP, network element manufacturer, and device manufacturer community” and nail down best practices, the plan recommended. Then the agency should issue an NPRM “to examine regulatory measures the FCC could take to help address cyber risks that cannot be addressed through market-based measures,” it said. “The NPRM could examine changes to the FCC's equipment certification process to protect networks from loT device security risks. … Explore the potential of a cybersecurity certification (possibly self-certification) to create a floor and identifiable risk relevant levels above the floor for device cybersecurity and a consumer labeling requirement to address any asymmetry in the availability of information and help consumers understand and make better decisions regarding the potential cyber risks of a product or service.” This month, an NOI sought comment on cybersecurity for 5G devices (see 1612160063), and the agency's Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council met (see 1612210060). Wheeler had been seen as backing off of pursuing a vote on a draft that would set up framework for the commission to hold confidential meetings with communications sector executives aimed at providing assurances on the firms’ cybersecurity practices (see 1611300063). Wheeler also told Warner the FCC’s authority over broadband empowers its cybersecurity initiatives, and staffers are “actively examining cyber challenges presented by today's end-to-end Internet environment.” A senior Republican staffer for the Senate Commerce Committee recently questioned the FCC’s approach to cybersecurity under Wheeler (see 1612060074).
The Texas Public Utility Commission may soon decide a right-of-way fee dispute between Houston and ExteNet that has rallied cities and the wireless infrastructure industry. Localities and industry say the PUC’s ruling could have broader implications for cities and backhaul providers across the state, and the tension between the groups could spill over into a federal fight if the FCC takes up a Mobilitie petition filed last month. In closing briefs in the Texas case Monday, cities alleged ExteNet and other backhaul providers avoid city right-of-way fees by claiming protection under a local code for telecom franchise fees.
The California Public Utilities Commission revised its conditional OK of Charter Communications' $90 billion buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. Commissioners unanimously gave the deal the green light last May (see 1605120040), but afterward received applications for rehearing from the Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) and Center for Accessible Technology (CAT), plus Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African American Owned Media. In a Monday order, the commission approved part of the ORA/CAT petition asking CPUC to add conditions that Charter agreed to in a reply brief but that didn’t appear in the May order. The conditions involved service quality, semiannual reports to ORA, a customer service survey and communications with customers with disabilities, it said. But CPUC refused to add another requested condition, which was adopted in the FCC approval, banning Charter from imposing data caps or charging usage-based pricing for residential broadband service for seven years. California wasn't required to adopt the same conditions as the FCC on data caps and usage-based billing, and in any case, the issue is moot because Charter must comply with the federal conditions, the state commission said Monday. It disagreed with the Entertainment Studios application’s claim the company’s due process rights were violated because the CPUC OK didn’t mention its opening comments. "That the Commission did not adopt Entertainment Studios' proposals, which were never presented until they filed comments on the [proposed decision], does not demonstrate that they were denied due process,” the CPUC said. But the agency added a statement acknowledging Entertainment Studios filed opening comments and that Media Alliance and Stop the Cap filed replies, it said.
Vermont may conclude interconnected VoIP is a telecom service and not information under federal law. Public Service Board Hearing Officer George Young recommended the finding in a proposed decision in docket 7316 we obtained Tuesday. Comments are due Dec. 23 on the proposed decision, which isn’t final and may be modified by the board, Young wrote in a cover letter. The board has been examining whether fixed VoIP is an information or telecom service since 2013, when the Vermont Supreme Court remanded the board’s past VoIP decision, and PSB Member Sarah Hofmann last month hinted a decision was imminent (see 1611150014). The proceeding focuses on how Comcast’s fixed VoIP service meets that definition under federal law. The board previously ruled interconnected VoIP is a telecom service rather than information, arguing federal law doesn't pre-empt state regulation due to the ability to divide interstate and intrastate traffic. The company appealed the regulators’ decision. The court agreed with its appeal, but remanded to the board on the classification question. "Notwithstanding the differences in the manner in which calls are transmitted, from the consumer's perspective, there is no perceived difference between the VoIP service and traditional landline service,” said the proposed decision dated Friday. The customer uses the same phone, plugs into the same outlets and has the same voice communication experience, it said. Comcast markets its VoIP service as a substitute for the switched landline service, it said. The proposed decision cites in part the FCC net neutrality order, including an FCC finding that a provider is a common carrier “by virtue of its functions.” It also cited a 1998 FCC report to Congress in which the commission reached the tentative conclusion that "phone-to-phone" IP telephony is telecom service. And it referred to the Supreme Court Brand X decision saying an entity may not avoid Title II regulation of a telecom service by bundling it with an information service. Despite the precedent, some uncertainty remains, it said: "The FCC still has not definitively classified VoIP services as telecommunications services or information services." The proposed decision didn’t resolve how the board should regulate providers of VoIP services pursuant to state law authority. That question will be answered in a second phase of the investigation, it said. A PSB spokeswoman declined comment. Comcast didn't comment.
The Department of Transportation released its long-awaited NPRM on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications Tuesday. DOT’s work has been closely watched in the communications industry as Wi-Fi advocates seek unlicensed use of 5.9 GHz spectrum earlier set aside by the FCC for anti-crash, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems. The proposed rules would require automakers to install V2V technologies in all cars and other light-duty vehicles. Comments will be due 90 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register.
Senate Democrats are signaling that Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s time at the FCC may not be up despite her upcoming forced exit. “I hope she'll be renominated and the Senate lives up to its word,” Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told us in a statement Monday. Members of the upper chamber left town early Saturday without reconfirming her, which means she will have to leave the agency by Jan. 3, as expected (see 1612080056). That would create a 2-2 partisan split among remaining members.