The California Public Utilities Commission supported a petition by consumer groups challenging a 2017 FCC wireline infrastructure order streamlining copper loop retirements and telecom service discontinuances (see 1809270036). "The CPUC agrees with much -- though not all -- of what the Petitioners write," said its amicus brief (in Pacer) Thursday in Greenlining Institute v. FCC, No. 17-73283, in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Although the CPUC agrees with the Petitioners that the FCC prejudged the outcome of the proceeding ... there is more damning evidence of prejudgment than the Petitioners have cited. Second: In striking down the so-called 'functional test' standard for [Communications Act] Section 214(a) discontinuances, the FCC set forth a new, narrow definition of the word 'service.' ... While it is literally true that the Act does not define 'service,' it does define 'telecommunications service.' ... And since the Wireline Deployment Order deals exclusively with telecommunications carriers, it would seem sensible to examine how the Act defines the service that they provide -- yet the FCC did not."
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The FCC invited input on Connect America Fund Phase II auction winner requests to become eligible for high-cost support to fixed broadband and voice services Comments are due Oct. 17, replies Oct. 24 on the eligible telecom carrier petitions of Commnet Wireless, Fond du Lac Communications, Hankins Information Technology, Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries, Red Spectrum Communications and Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium (for five parties), said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 09-197 in Thursday's Daily Digest.
The FCC invited input on requests it revisit the broadband testing duties of Connect America Fund Phase II support recipients established in a July staff order. Oppositions will be due 15 days, replies 25 days, after Federal Register publication, said a public notice in docket 10-90 and Wednesday's Daily Digest. Petitions for reconsideration were filed jointly by USTelecom, ITTA and the Wireless ISP Association, and individually by Hughes Network Systems, Micronesian Telecommunications and ViaSat. NTCA and WTA filed applications for review appealing to the full commission (see 1809200035).
The FCC Wireline Bureau will further review South Dakota Network's proposed revisions to a centralized equal access tariff that had been scheduled to take effect Tuesday. "Because we conclude that substantial questions of lawfulness exist regarding how SDN revised the centralized equal access service rate contained in its proposed tariff, we suspend the revisions for one day and set for investigation the question of whether SDN properly revised its [CEA] service rate," said an order in docket 18-100 and Tuesday's Daily Digest.
Telco groups urged the FCC to approve their plan to raise the rural carrier USF budget to at least $2.4 billion for 2018, plus $200 million already committed to the current Alternative Connect America Model Program, said a letter Monday in docket 10-90 from ITTA, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA. "A portion of the budget should be provided to current A-CAM plan participants to enable them to receive support at the level initially offered to them in 2016 (i.e. $200/month per location)." They also proposed an "inflation factor," "baseline funding" that eliminates the need for a support "floor," and no new model-based offers until the existing mechanisms are "sufficiently funded." It's a "collaborative approach to building consensus around a set of shared proposals that, if adopted, will establish predictable USF funding," said Lynn Follansbee, USTelecom vice president-law and policy. "We hope the Commission moves quickly toward finalizing reforms.” Pai said Monday he plans a draft order on model-based RLEC business data services for the Oct. 23 commissioners' meeting (see 1810010027).
The FCC said it will probe Iowa Network Access Division (Aureon's) revisions to an interstate access tariff that has been the subject of a protracted dispute. "Because we conclude that substantial questions of lawfulness exist regarding how Aureon revised the switched transport rate contained in its proposed tariff revisions, we suspend the revisions for one day and set for investigation the question of whether Aureon complied with the Aureon Tariff Order," said a Wireline Bureau order Friday in docket 18-60. AT&T and Sprint challenged the tariff in petitions Thursday (here, here).
The FCC resolved challenges to 4,762 locations Alaska Communications Systems proposed for high-cost Connect America Fund support to meet ACS duties to extend service to unserved areas. The Wireline Bureau "finds that 1,713 of these locations will be eligible for high-cost support," said an order Friday in docket 10-90. "The Bureau also grants ACS’s request for a short extension of the deadline for submitting its deployment plan
for meeting its CAF Phase II deployment obligations."
The FCC suspended its 180-day review clock of Securus Technologies' planned buy of Inmate Calling Solutions from TKC Holdings. Despite responses, applicants haven't yet "satisfied" Wireline Bureau "requests for information, documents, and data," said a letter from bureau Chief Kris Monteith in docket 18-193, posted in Thursday's Daily Digest. The informal clock "will remain stopped until the Applicants have provided us with a full response to our requests, and Commission staff has had a reasonable time to review the documents." The clock is on Day 86, an FCC spokesperson emailed us Thursday. Securus and ICS/TKS didn't comment Thursday.
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 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.
A CenturyLink/Level 3 complaint against Birch Communications was dismissed after they settled their access-charge dispute, said an FCC Enforcement Bureau order Wednesday granting a joint motion in proceeding 18-73.