Draft FCC Order Grants AT&T Forbearance from ARMIS Reporting Requirements
AT&T and other price-cap carriers will escape Automated Reporting Management Information System (ARMIS) requirements if commissioners vote to approve a draft order now circulating on the eighth floor, an FCC official said Monday. The draft grants AT&T’s forbearance petition, due for a vote Sept. 6, and extends that relief to Verizon, Qwest, Embarq, Frontier, Citizens and Windstream, we're told. An FCC spokeswoman declined comment because the proceeding is ongoing.
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The draft gives AT&T much but not all of what it sought, the FCC official said, not elaborating. The other price-cap carriers, which asked for varying levels of ARMIS relief, explicitly would get the ARMIS relief AT&T asked for, the official said. The draft does not give the other carriers forbearance relief from cost-assignment rules, sought by several since the FCC gave it to AT&T in April. AT&T, Verizon and Qwest declined to comment. Other price-cap carriers didn’t respond by our deadline.
In recent weeks, the AT&T ARMIS petition drew little opposition from competitive local exchange carriers and others historically favoring stronger ARMIS requirements (CD Aug 22 p3). CompTel, which condemned the forbearance petition in a meeting at the FCC late last month, declined to comment.