FCC 'Arbitrarily' Scrapped Wireline Safeguards in 'Abrupt About-Face,' Groups Tell 9th Circuit
Consumer groups said the FCC "arbitrarily eliminated critical safeguards developed over nearly five years" to protect consumers and competition as telcos transition from traditional copper lines to fiber and other systems. "The Commission failed to explain why it reversed its…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
longstanding determination that Congress intended to prioritize protecting consumers from loss of vital services rather than prioritize broadband deployment at all costs," said a brief Wednesday of petitioners challenging parts of a November wireline infrastructure order in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Greenlining Institute v. FCC, No. 17-73283. The order streamlined copper retirement notifications and telecom service discontinuance processes (see 1711160032). The Greenlining Institute, Public Knowledge, The Utility Reform Network and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said the FCC engaged in an "abrupt about-face" and "deliberately obscured its intentions by characterizing a key portion of its public notice as a 'Request for Comment' (a term undefined in the Commission's regulations)" attached to an April 2017 NPRM and notice of inquiry (see 1704200046). The groups said the request "sought comment on a wide range of issues relating to [a] Functional Test, with no mention" it might be reversed absent further proceedings. "Apparently in response to the obscurity of the notice and the impression cultivated by designating the questions relating to the Functional Test as not even a 'Notice of Inquiry' but a mere 'Request for Comment,' the bulk of the comments" focused on NPRM questions, they said. It wasn't until the FCC issued an Oct. 26 draft order "that it became clear" the FCC intended to use the proceeding "as a vehicle for reversing" its Functional Test ruling, the brief said. The Communications Act "unambiguously defines 'service' by function," and "Congress clearly intended to empower the [FCC] to protect consumers from disruption or loss of service, meaning that a functional definition of 'service' is the only permissible interpretation," said the brief. It asked the 9th Circuit to vacate the 2017 order and restore the Functional Test, notification duties and "de facto" copper retirement rules.