There are several outstanding questions regarding any potential grant of waivers to VoIP services providers that want to become direct holders of public telephone numbering resources, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bm9yft). In particular, NTCA wants to know what interconnection regime would apply if the VoIP providers intend to seek “trunk-side” interconnection; whether the VoIP providers plan to use “line-side” interconnection instead, such that they would use carrier partners to obtain interconnection; and whether a VoIP provider that obtains direct access to public numbering resources could choose to block calls to any given carrier, “since the VoIP provider itself is not a regulated carrier.”
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association is still concerned about “the many questions still swirling” regarding implementation of the changes made last fall to reimbursable capital costs through the USF, it told an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm9yfi). NTCA urged the commission to take the time to evaluate “through a data-driven process” the impact of those changes on rural customers, “and the fundamental objectives of universal service."
The California Senate approved SB-1161 Wednesday to ban state regulation of VoIP (CD April 30 p10). Sponsored by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D), the bill had drawn criticism from consumer groups which claimed the proposed changes would weaken consumer protections.
AT&T and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) reached a tentative agreement for a one-year extension of a contract covering some 7,000 wireline workers, the company said. Union members will vote on the deal over the next few days. The current contract, which expires June 23, covers IBEW members in Illinois, northwest Indiana, New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California and the Northwest. Under the proposed one-year agreement, union members will get a 1 percent base salary raise. Employees who will make less than $50,000 following the salary increase will get a lump-sum payment of $500, while those who will make more than $50,000 after the salary increase will receive $300. The company’s labor negotiations with the Communications Workers of America continued.
Massachusetts joined Boston in asking the FCC to reject (CD May 25 p16) Comcast’s request that the FCC Media Bureau overturn the bureau’s finding that the company is no longer exempt from video rate regulation in the city. “The methodology used to collect the data Comcast submitted in support of the Petition is inadequate” because the cable operator “failed to make the additional showing that RCN and the DBS providers ... have a sufficiently high level of subscribership in Boston to overcome the presumption against effective competition,” the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable said. “The methodology used to collect the data Comcast submitted in support of the Petition produced artificially inflated competing provider penetration rates in Boston.” The opposition to Comcast’s petition for reconsideration was posted Wednesday in docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bm9x7v).
Comcast wants FCC findings that it’s not subject to local regulation of video rates in seven Pennsylvania franchise areas including Bedminster, Dublin and Whitemarsh where the cable operator cited competition from DBS providers. The petitions for Media Bureau findings of effective competition (http://xrl.us/bm9x35, http://xrl.us/bm9x37) were posted Wednesday to docket 12-1.
The FCC gave itself another 90 days to act on NCTA’s petition, to forbear from barring combinations of cable systems and CLECs in the same area, before the request is deemed automatically granted. The June 21, 2011, petition to not apply Section 652(b) of the Telecom Act would have been OK'd by default a year later, a Wireline Bureau order said Thursday (http://xrl.us/bm9xv9). The bureau took the option to extend the period three months because the petition “raises significant questions regarding whether forbearance from the application of section 652(b) or 652(d)(6)(B) meets the statutory requirements set forth in section 10(a),” said the order signed by Chief Sharon Gillett. NATOA and NASUCA had opposed the petition, which as an alternative sought forbearance from Section 652(d)(6)(B) that local franchising authorities must approve a merging cable system/CLEC’s request for FCC waiver from the cross-ownership ban (CD Sept 22 p17). Deals involving Comcast and Time Warner Cable have gotten FCC waivers.
The FCC got approval of information collection requirements and revisions to its forms giving tribes a priority in getting the agency to allot FM stations (CD Dec 30 p11). The Office of Management and Budget’s April 27 OK lasts for three years, and the rule changes are effective July 2, the commission said in Thursday’s Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bm9xuw).
Field tests demonstrate that requiring interoperability for devices using the lower 700 MHz band doesn’t raise interference concerns, contrary to claims by AT&T, said a report filed at the FCC by a group of competitors. Cavalier Wireless, C Spire, Continuum 700 LLC, King Street Wireless, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular and Vulcan Wireless said the agency asked for such data in a rulemaking notice. “Lower E Block transmitters and Channel 51 stations do not pose an interference threat to Lower B and C Block device reception, and Band Class 17 is not needed for technical reasons,” they said. “The use of Band Class 12 devices by AT&T to serve customers in the Lower B and C Blocks, therefore, contrary to the assertions of AT&T, would not degrade the customer experience or create harmful interference to Lower B and C Block users.” “The filing is little more than a dressed-up version of a study previously filed and refuted,” an AT&T spokesman said in response. “In short, the study proves little more than ‘garbage in’ will produce ‘garbage out.'"
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., asked the FCC to continue to examine specific instances where carriers are unable to pay back existing Rural Utilities Service loans based on the commission’s prior regulatory regime. “While I understand the importance and need to continually update telecommunications policy to foster economic development in a nation that relies on ubiquitous access to high-speed broadband, I think it’s critical that in doing so we preserve the viability of telecommunication infrastructure that has served an important role in expanding access to both voice and broadband in a large number of rural communities,” he wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.