The FCC was asked to dismiss Comcast’s request for deregulation in Buena and other New Jersey municipalities by the state agency representing consumers in telecom matters. The operator’s Media Bureau effective competition petition (http://xrl.us/bniepw) cites confidential data on the number of Verizon’s pay-TV customers in the area that can’t be accessed by other parties to the matter, the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel said in a filing posted Thursday to docket 12-165. “The failure of Comcast to secure an FCC sanctioned protective order ... renders the filing defective,” the division said (http://xrl.us/bniep2). “Rate Counsel and all other interested parties including the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the local municipalities lack access to the data, which precludes filing of appropriate comments.” A Comcast spokeswoman had no comment. Time Warner Cable separately said the bureau should deny a request by Kenosha, Wis., to not revoke the city’s ability to regulate that operator’s video rates there. The company clarified it’s now only seeking deregulation on the basis it faces pay-TV competition from a LEC, and the city’s objections on other grounds “can be disregarded,” said a Thursday reply in docket 12-172 (http://xrl.us/bnieqe). “Each of the elements of the LEC Test have been demonstrated and confirmed.” Local franchise authorities and others rarely oppose effective competition petitions (CD June 5 p4).
The FCC should not impose cramming rules on wireless carriers, CTIA officials said in a meeting with Nicholas Degani, aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai. “There is no persuasive evidence that cramming is a widespread problem in the wireless industry, and the industry already works voluntarily to address any potential third party billing issues, including through the adoption and implementation of the Mobile Marketing Association Consumer Best Practices,” CTIA officials said, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bniehv). “CTIA also explained that voluntary industry action will continue to prevent wireless cramming from becoming a significant consumer issue."
The holding company buying Suddenlink sought FCC approval for the deal. Nespresso Acquisition Corp., formed to buy the cable operator that’s formally named Cequel and does business as Suddenlink, and the operator jointly filed an application. The deal would “promote the public interest by ensuring that Cequel will have the resources necessary to continue competing effectively,” the filing posted Thursday in docket 12-207 said. “The Transaction, which entails only a change in ownership at the parent company level, also will be entirely seamless for customers, as it will not result in any change of management” or stopping services, it said (http://xrl.us/bnieiq). Suddenlink agreed earlier this month to a $6.6 billion takeover by Nespresso affiliates BC Partners and CCP Investment Board (CD July 20 p8).
The FCC should mandate wireless carriers meet E-911 location accuracy requirements for calls made inside buildings, TruePosition executives said in a meeting with Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky, according to an ex parte filing. “We urged the Commission to apply its wireless location accuracy rules to indoor environments as there is a critical need to improve E 911 location accuracy in several common environments,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bnieeu).
The New York State Public Service Commission posted annual reports Thursday from Verizon New York (http://xrl.us/bniekf ), Verizon Telephone of Rochester (http://xrl.us/bniekm), Charter Communications (http://xrl.us/bnienu), Champlain Telephone Company (http://xrl.us/bnien6), Ogden Telephone Company (http://xrl.us/bnieoc), Windstream (http://xrl.us/bnieok), Fishers Island Telephone Corporation (http://xrl.us/bnieko) and Citizens Telecommunications Co. of New York, Inc. (http://xrl.us/bniekb). The reports cover 2011, were due March 31, 2012, and include financial and accounting data as well as operating data.
Virgin Islands Telephone Corp. wants a waiver of the FCC deadline for carriers eligible to receive interstate common line support to file an annual certification with the Universal Service Administrative Co. and the commission. Comments are due Aug. 10 in docket 08-71, replies Aug. 17, said a Wireline Bureau public notice (http://xrl.us/bnied9).
Interim CEO Jim Alling and other T-Mobile USA executives met with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman and other top agency officials over two days last week, to discuss in part the carrier’s proposed spectrum swap with Verizon Wireless. “Mr. Alling explained that the spectrum T-Mobile seeks to acquire in the T-Mobile Transaction is critical to facilitating its ongoing network modernization project and deployment of Long Term Evolution service,” said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bniedn). “Mr. Alling discussed how this infusion of spectrum will enable T-Mobile to deploy LTE services in a number of markets where such deployment would otherwise have been impossible, and to enhance its LTE service in a number of additional markets where T-Mobile would have otherwise been limited to a 5x5 MHz LTE deployment.” Alling urged the commission to approve Verizon’s proposed buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap Wireless, the filing said.
A spring 2012 uptick in the percentage of hearing-to-deaf Video Relay Service calls that terminate on toll-free numbers appears to track the nationwide upsurge in calls related to the 2012 election campaigns, Sorenson execs told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnid7c). However, the “overall trajectory” of such calls is “decidedly downward” and Sorenson’s numbering team has begun to deactivate subscribers’ toll-free numbers and remove them from the Telecommunications Relay Service directory.
NPR teamed with the University of New Orleans’ WWNO(FM) in that city to create a nonprofit multimedia newsroom. The newsroom will offer in-depth local reporting to be featured online through the station’s website, mobile platform, NewOrleansReporter.org and on WWNO, NPR said. Built on a public radio funding model, “the new service will be made possible through the support of the community, including voluntary donations from radio listeners and website users, corporate sponsors and foundation funders and major donors,” it said.
Connecticut will devote new attention to how first responders, including utilities and telcos, react in emergencies, according to a new law Gov. Dan Malloy (D) signed Thursday. Public Act 12-148 requires “establishing standards for the utility, telecommunication and cable companies during emergency events and establishing penalties in the event the companies do not meet these standards,” the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said. It mandates “studying the feasibility of requiring backup power for telecommunications towers and antennas” and “requiring utility companies, telecommunication companies and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Service Providers to submit emergency plans for restoring service,” the authority said. The state was scheduled to hold drills on the topic over the weekend, and more Monday and Tuesday, the authority said.