As the FCC faces scrutiny for delays in the publication of rulemaking items in the federal government's central repository for regulatory bodies, another long-standing commission practice has faced even more criticism. Part I of this series found some experts criticized the lengthy delays, numbering more than 40 instances in 2015 when items were published a month and sometimes a year after they were released by the agency (see 1509070003). Part II discusses portions of the FCC administrative process, differing opinions on the timeliness of the repository's publication of submitted items, and transparency concerns raised by certain agency practices that are drawing heat from individuals in the public and private sectors, including Commissioner Michael O'Rielly in a Tuesday interview and in other comments.
The FCC Disability Advisory Committee will meet Oct. 8, starting at 9 a.m., in the Commission Meeting Room, said a notice in the Federal Register. The DAC is expected to take up a recommendation from its Communications Subcommittee on ways to address the needs of people with disabilities in new and emerging technologies and a report on the activities of its Emergency Communications Subcommittee, among other business, the FCC said Wednesday.
If the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules for the FCC in municipal broadband pre-emption cases Tennessee v. FCC and North Carolina v. FCC (Nos. 15-3291/15-3555), it will send a signal to other federal agencies that the courts will support them if they choose to pre-empt state law, said officials in interviews Wednesday after filing in support of the states. By rewriting North Carolina and Tennessee laws to expand municipal powers, the FCC infringes upon an inviolable aspect of state sovereignty, exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and contradicts controlling Supreme Court precedent, said Tennessee Friday. The issue at hand isn’t municipal broadband networks in general, it’s more broadly about a federal agency overstepping its authority and preempting the state, said supporting organizations.
Advocates of special access regulation praised FCC plans to release industry data and commission a study of the business market for telecom services, the competitiveness of which is highly disputed. Some suggested the data analysis would support their calls for regulators to constrain the rates and practices of Bell/ILEC special access offerings to wholesale and retail business customers over dedicated circuits. Sprint said it was encouraged the FCC is moving forward with its “long-awaited, data-driven analysis” of the business market. “We are confident the data will incent the Commission to update 1990’s policies, which have undercut competition, innovation and productivity,” said a spokesman in an emailed statement.
FTC members of both parties had concerns about the FCC net neutrality order, unless the FTC's common-carrier exemption is removed by Congress. Terrell McSweeny and Maureen Ohlhausen's interview to be televised this weekend on C-SPAN indicated they have different concerns over the order. But they share a fear that the FTC will lose some authority because it's barred from acting against common carriers. The FCC net neutrality order deems broadband service a Communications Act Title II common-carrier service.
The FCC this year repeatedly delayed releasing information on proceedings to the public in the federal government's central repository, a Communications Daily review of Federal Register publications found. Net neutrality rules, processes ensuring that consumers can keep their phone numbers when they change service providers, USF provisions, rules on telemarketing calls and other proceedings affecting a wide array of consumers and industries were among those rulemakings subject to publication delays of more than a month and sometimes approaching a year.
One more roadblock was removed Friday as the Texas Public Utility Commission approved during its meeting Frontier Communications’ and Verizon's joint application to amend the certificate of operating authority transferring Verizon wireline holdings to Frontier. It's the only Texas regulatory approval needed for Frontier’s proposed acquisition of Verizon's wireline networks in California, Florida and Texas and follows a recent FCC OK (see 1509030063). While there weren’t any intervening parties in docket No. 44630, one association hoped the deal would be approved with a few more conditions. The two companies are now waiting only on approval from California authorities (see 1509090062).
The FCC should streamline the process for deploying broadband infrastructure on federal land, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said during a “Fireside Chat” at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit Monday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Streamlining deployment approval on federal lands could speed up the process of spreading broadband throughout the country’s rural areas, Pai said. “Ubiquitous broadband” is a key to helping rural areas compete in the global economy, Pai said. The commissioners also discussed disruptive innovation, net neutrality and the TV incentive auction. The event also featured a panel on spectrum and the wireless economy that included policy officials from Charter Communications and NAB.
The heads of the Consortium for School Networking and the State Educational Technology Directors Association want leaders of the Senate and House Education committees to ensure that any conferencing for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) harmonizes with the FCC’s E-rate actions. “Federal policy plays a unique role in ensuring that all students have access to the digital learning opportunities that are driving improvements in public education nationally,” they said in a letter to the leaders. “Last year, the Federal Communications Commission wisely acted through the E-rate program to improve schools’ high capacity broadband access, including expanding wireless broadband connections to learning spaces throughout schools. The next ESEA should complement this infrastructure investment by reaffirming the overarching federal commitment to educational equity and by taking specific steps to ensure all students, teachers, and other stakeholders benefit from technology’s capacity to enhance teaching and learning.” The letter is dated Aug. 26 and was released last week.
AT&T accused BT of hypocrisy in pushing special access regulation in the U.S. that it opposes in the U.K., where it’s the incumbent. And the rate regulation that BT is advocating in the U.S. hasn’t worked in the U.K., said AT&T Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn, in a blog post Thursday. “BT wants the US to adopt a regulatory regime like it has back home in the UK even though, based on the facts, that would mean significantly less broadband investment, higher prices, and really bad customer service,” he said. “And all so BT can get lower prices for services that are already cheaper in the US than the same services [in] the UK. Why on earth is that a remotely tenable policy argument? Or even a good idea?”