The N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) suspended hearings on a long-standing complaint by AT&T (formerly BellSouth) alleging that NuVox Communications broke the companies’ interconnection agreement by certifying falsely that its enhanced extended loops (EEL) were used mainly for local exchange traffic. The action amended an April decision denying NuVox’s petition to dismiss the case. NuVox sought reconsideration of the denial because a federal court in Raleigh last year reinstated an injunction that prohibited the NCUC from auditing NuVox’s EELs. The audit would be needed to determine the kind of traffic on NuVox’s EELs. The reinstatement of the EEL audit ban named each NCUC member individually and the agency. The NCUC said each member was an individual defendant, so the agency’s ability to decide this dispute could be compromised by the possibility that members might be held personally responsible of they violated the reinstated injunction. The case had its roots in a 2003 BellSouth petition for an audit of NuVox’s EELs, which the NCUC granted in 2004 (Case P-772, Sub 7). NuVox appealed to the federal courts, where the matter bounced between trial and appeals courts before ending back at the U.S. Dist. Court, Raleigh, where it sits. Meanwhile, the state attorney general’s office asked whether the case has become moot because of the AT&T-BellSouth merger and because the companies in May 2006 signed a new interconnection agreement superseding earlier ones.
Disputes about violations under existing interconnection agreements must be decided by state regulators before they can go to federal court, the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, ruled Wed. The court noted that the Telecom Act goes into great detail about handling disputes about writing interconnection agreements but gives less guidance on enforcement of agreements already in force. Acting on a Core Communications complaint against Verizon, the court agreed with a lower court about interconnection agreement violations: “Interpretation and enforcement actions that arise after a state commission has approved an interconnection agreement must be litigated in the first instance by the relevant state commission. A party may then proceed to federal court to seek review of the commission’s decision or move to the appropriate trial court to seek damages for a breach, if the commission finds one.” But the court sent back to the U.S. Dist. Court, Philadelphia, other Core claims, saying the lower court shouldn’t have dismissed them across the board since Core faced statute of limitations deadlines for refiling the additional claims, which alleged Verizon violated the Telecom Act and state law.
The FCC should avoid asking carriers for overly granular data in studying sector competition, CTIA said. The group was responding to an agency request for comments on wireless industry competition to go into the agency’s 12th Annual CMRS Competition Report. CTIA said USF money will be key to greater wireless expansion in rural America.
Corporate telecom consultants are irate at telecom carrier billing, not quite calling the methods illegal but saying they confuse Fortune 500 companies and other customers. Communications Daily interviewed about 20 consultants specializing in telecom solutions and billing and found near-unanimity regardless of political or corporate ties. Company phone bills’ line items for taxes and fees are confusing and often misleading, they said. Telecom carriers claim to stress clear billing, saying the market demands that they keep bills as understandable as possible. The FCC said little other than that customers have the burden of complaining if they think billing violates Commission rules.
The Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) gave a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) license to Inquam Broadband, it said. ComCom put 2 national BWA licenses out to tender Dec. 5; Inquam submitted the only application. The company satisfied license conditions and was awarded the larger of the 2 BWA licenses -- 2 x 21 MHz -- for $4.8 million. Inquam must start commercial operation by Sept. 30, 2008, and be operating at least 120 transmission/reception units before Oct. 2010, ComCom said. A license for a 2 x 17.5 MHz system hasn’t been awarded. Clarification of conditions on that license is expected in Aug.
Communications companies put more money into Democratic campaigns than GOP coffers Q1. But AT&T bucked the trend by giving more money to Republicans -- $322,000 compared with $185,650 to Democrat candidates and causes, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Political Moneyline named AT&T the top corporate PAC, with $661,773 in receipts.
Along with a cap on universal service subsidies (CD May 2 p1), the recommendations from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service late Tues. could hit wireless carriers with a 2nd reduction in their payments. The Joint Board urged the FCC to “consider abandoning or modifying the so- called identical support… rule.” The rule bases competitive carrier funding on the same per-line support given to the rural ILEC operating in the same area.
Expect marginal changes in IEEE standards-setting policy, rendering the process more transparent but having no profound impact on how patents are assessed in creating standards, the body’s Standards Assn. Patent Committee Chmn. David Law told Communications Daily. Law hopes the new policies boost telecom/IT industry confidence in its investment decisions, he said. The DoJ won’t oppose the proposed changes, which IEEE is legally bound as a standards- setting body to submit before implementing, Justice said Mon., adding that the changes “may enable IEEE to make better informed decisions… that will benefit consumers.”
The cable and CE industries succeeded in softening Cal.’s energy efficiency bill (SB-332) directing the Cal. Energy Commission (CEC) to set limits on power use for a wide range of home entertainment products and home networking systems (CED April 12 p3). The bill voted out of the Senate Energy Utilities & Communications Committee was amended to make the CEC first review all home electronic products and then set priorities for possible energy standards.
A bipartisan bill to use Universal Service Fund (USF) money for broadband while curbing USF growth won high marks from the phone industry at a Thurs. press conference by bill authors Reps. Boucher (D-Va.) and Terry (R-Neb.). The 2 House Commerce Committee members offered similar legislation last Congress, but committee leadership never advanced the bill. Boucher said “conversations have not begun yet” with Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.) on the bill.