General Communications Inc. asked the FCC to reconsider its forbearance decision relieving local telcos of equal access and dialing parity duties in rural Alaska as part of a broader order on a USTelecom request (see 1512170052). The commission said the rules were no longer needed to ensure long-distance providers could compete with the long-distance services of local incumbents, though it provided some “grandfathering” protections for existing services. The forbearance, “without regard to the level of competition for local services or the status of equal access deployment, threatens to send or suspend consumers in some of the most remote areas of the country in a 1980s time warp for their long distance services. The relief granted was overbroad,” said GCI in a petition for reconsideration posted Thursday in docket 14-192. GCI said stand-alone long-distance service is common in rural Alaska, unlike in the rest of the nation. “GCI estimates that it is the presubscribed [interexchange carrier] for perhaps one-third of rate-of-return customers in Alaska,” it said. Tim Stelzig, GCI federal regulatory attorney, added: “Equal access continues to be a unique source of competition between long distance providers in Alaska. We don’t believe the Commission intended to send rural Alaskans back to the 1980s when high costs made many families think twice before picking up the phone to make a long distance call.” The Alaska Telephone Association is reviewing the equal access issue but hasn't taken a position on the GCI petition. "Over the years we've seen that applying broad policies in Alaska sometimes has unintended consequences, so at times it's been necessary to tailor rules to fit our unique network," emailed Executive Director Christine O'Connor. "I expect there will be contrasting opinions on the petition," she added, calling ATA a "diverse group" of ILECs and wireline and wireless competitors.
USTelecom said it's starting a campaign to urge the FCC to consider the "enormous growth and investment" in the business marketplace as it conducts its special access review. "Newly released 2013 data collected by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) show a multitude of providers -- cable, fiber and fixed wireless -- compete for business customers in a thriving marketplace," a release said. Competition is working and prices are declining for backhaul and other special access services, USTelecom said. "A major game-changer is entry of the nation’s major cable operators, which are using their large network footprints to serve multiple business locations," the group said. "New competition from cable and other providers isn’t captured in the FCC’s 2013 data, which at best provides a snapshot of a single point in time. In just the last two years -- 2014 and 2015 -- cable business service units have invested an estimated $6 billion in capital, while competitive fiber providers an estimated $9 billion." It urged the FCC to recognize the marketplace changes and modernize its policies. Comments in the FCC's broad special access rulemaking were due Friday but haven't been posted yet because the agency is closed due to Winter Storm Jonas.
Communications service outages and network damage appeared to be minor after Winter Storm Jonas, industry parties and state regulators told us Monday on a day when many offices were closed in the Northeast. Verizon, the largest telecom provider in the storm-affected region, had no service outages to its wireline or wireless networks, a spokesman said. CenturyLink, Frontier and T-Mobile reported minimal problems. Cable companies serving areas hard hit by Jonas said they didn't see widespread service outages or other major problems but did see increased usage by customers. While telcos and cable companies did lose electric power in some cases, it generally didn't disrupt service due to backup systems, spokespersons said.
Large telcos are seeking renewed USF voice support in remote areas where funding was cut off but their obligations to provide phone service continue under a transition to broadband-oriented mechanisms. Representatives of AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Verizon, Windstream and USTelecom jointly discussed the issue with FCC officials in a series of recent meetings, and Frontier sought relief in separate meetings with two commissioners, according to filings in docket 14-192. “It will happen, with some sort of path to broadband,” USTelecom Senior Vice President Jon Banks told us.
Wireline and wireless companies and the FCC were prepared and putting in place strategies to deal with any outages or problems caused by what the Weather Channel calls Winter Storm Jonas, they told us Friday. The federal government, including the FCC and the D.C. Public Service Commission, which deals with local telecommunications issues, sent most employees home early Friday due to the coming storm.
Former FCC Chairmen Richard Wiley and Michael Copps agreed on promoting diversity and allowing more private commissioner meetings, but disagreed on broadband regulation, the Internet's direction and political advertising at a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council conference Thursday. Both said more should be done to promote minority ownership and diversity in general in the communications sector. They also expressed concern the upcoming incentive auction would reduce the number of broadcast TV stations run by minorities and small business owners.
A draft rulemaking notice on proposed improvements to the emergency alert system will seek comment on improving security for alerting systems, creating a standardized, uniform format for state EAS plans, and EAS test codes, said an FCC official.
A group of some 40 public interest groups is sending a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler asking the commission to begin a privacy rulemaking. Industry observers said Tuesday that the letter is likely a prelude to an expected FCC NPRM on privacy (see 1601110065).
Spectrum issues for drones will likely remain "on the sidelines" for the Federal Aviation Administration as it continues to define a safe operating environment for unmanned aircraft, which is the "main event" now, an agency official said Thursday night on an FCBA panel. "I still think that spectrum issues will not be the major focus of the FAA for the next couple of years. That's my guess," said Mark Bury, FAA deputy chief counsel-regulation and enforcement. He said the agency expects to issue a final rule this spring on the operation of small drones in U.S. airspace, but that process hasn't focused on requiring any equipment that should be installed on drones nor has it focused on spectrum.
The latest testing announcement from the federal government on sharing possibilities in 5.9 GHz (see 1601120055) satisfies House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “I am pleased to see the FCC is making progress in its coordinated efforts with the Department of Transportation in the development of vehicle-to-vehicle technologies, and examining ways to make spectrum more available for Wi-Fi,” Latta said in a statement Thursday. “The test plan being implemented by the Commission is a good first step in providing real-world information on the safe operation of DRSC [dedicated short-range communications] and unlicensed devices in the 5.9 GHz band.” Latta is a backer of the Wi-Fi Innovation Act. HR-821 would compel such testing.