The FCC cable effective competition order took effect Wednesday, the date of an announcement in the Federal Register. The agency in June ruled that the cable market is effectively competitive (see 1506020060). It faces a legal challenge from NAB, NATOA and Minnesota's Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1508280033).
Comments on wireless Lifeline reconsideration petitions are due Sept. 17, replies Sept. 28, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday in docket 11-42. The bureau said a notice published in the Federal Register had incorrectly stated the deadline for replies. The FCC approved an order in June making targeted Lifeline USF revisions while seeking comment on proposals for broader changes. CTIA's petition asked the commission to reconsider declarations about the scope of its authority under Section 222(a) and Section 201(b) of the Communications Act (see 1508130048).
The FCC proposed that railroad police be given access to various channels, including in TV spectrum, so they can communicate with other public safety officials. In a May 2014 petition, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) asked the FCC to make railroad police eligible to use the interoperability channels.
Commenters voiced substantial support for FCC proposals to extend Lifeline USF subsidies to broadband and restructure oversight, with differences over some priorities and many implementation details, including among the Bells. Expanding Lifeline support would boost broadband adoption and shifting administrative responsibility away from telecom providers would increase efficiency, many said in comments in docket 11-42 responding to a Further NPRM (see 1506180029). Some said the FCC should proceed carefully and focus on enforcing budget discipline and streamlining program administration. Monday was the filing deadline for initial comments, but some comments hadn't been posted on the commission’s website Tuesday, while some parties filed comments early (see 1508180069).
The FCC and NTIA, though its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, are taking a deep dive into bidirectional sharing in which commercial licensees would be asked to share their underutilized spectrum with the federal government (see 1508260066). The Department of Defense has sought more focus on two-way sharing. It's expected to face at least some resistance from licensees, concerned about protecting the spectrum they control, industry observers told us.
The FCC plans a Sept. 17 vote on launching an undersea cable outage reporting rulemaking, said the commission’s tentative agenda for next month’s open meeting. The draft rulemaking notice “proposes to require submarine cable licensees to report significant outages in appropriate detail” through the FCC Network Outage Reporting System (NORS), Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Thursday. “Modern communications networks are increasingly interconnected. The failure of a single cable can have a ripple effect on multiple networks. Better reporting about the status of undersea cables will help us better anticipate and prevent disruptions to service.”
A petition seeking a review of the FCC cable TV effective competition decision faces hurdles to success, said two sometime-critics of the industry. Much like the opposition to the agency's open Internet rule, the order faces a big legal hurdle in trying to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the way the agency came to that decision was flawed, a communications attorney said. The plaintiffs said they have a strong case.
Price-cap telcos accepted up to $1.5 billion of the $1.675 billion in annual USF support the FCC offered under its new Connect America Fund program that subsidizes broadband (and voice) service in high-cost rural areas, the FCC said Thursday in an emailed statement. The money is expected to help the carriers deliver and improve broadband to up to 3.6 million rural homes and businesses and 7.3 million customers, the commission said.
Telcos support changes to the pricing formula for pole attachments that will bring down rates (see 1508190052), in their replies on Arkansas Public Service Commission proposed changes to attachment rules in docket 15-019-R. Electric companies said they want to make sure the PSC can balance the need for an affordable price for the telcos and not sacrifice pole reliability and safety. The FCC also has a proceeding open to address pole attachment issues on a federal level.
Securus Technologies says it continues to serve small and medium-sized correctional facilities, despite recent Pay-Tel Communications assertions that large inmate calling service (ICS) providers are abandoning them. Pay-Tel had said the number of facilities with average daily populations (ADPs) of 0-99 inmates served by Securus dropped from 751 in 2013 to 640 in 2014. But Securus said in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 12-375 that Pay-Tel's information was out of date, because it was still serving 722 facilities with ADPs of 1-99 inmates in 2014. Securus also said the number of facilities with ADPs of 100-300 inmates that it served went up from 437 in 2013 to 444 in 2014, while Pay-Tel had asserted that the number of Securus-served facilities with ADPs of 100-349 dropped from 473 in 2013 to 430 in 2014. "Securus is not 'abandoning' any correctional facilities," Securus said. "Should the Commission nonetheless have any apprehension that small facilities will not be served under the new rules, Securus voluntarily commits to serving any facility of any size if the rate caps offered in the ICS Industry Proposal -- $0.20 per minute for debit calls and $0.24 per minute for collect calls -- are adopted." Securus also disputed a recent analysis from the Martha Wright et. al. petitioners that criticized its ICS cost data. Securus recently said FCC staff had told it that an ICS order would be released "in the near future" (see 1508210032). Meanwhile, the FCC received a letter Monday that said it was signed by 13 former and active federal and state correctional officials urging the commission "to use its clear authority to reduce the burden on people incarcerated and their families to remain in touch through phones by lowering rates as much as possible."