FCC Posts July Meeting Drafts Aimed at Cutting Regulation

Allowing carriers to more easily retire legacy copper lines has long been a goal of Carr, who has promised repeatedly to push through steps to make that possible (see 2504030011). The draft NPRM proposes to eliminate all filing requirements under the FCC’s network change disclosure rules and seeks comment on the alternative of forbearing from all the commission’s network change disclosure requirements. The draft also proposes that a carrier seeking to grandfather a legacy service or interconnected VoIP service over copper lines would no longer have to file a discontinuance application.

AT&T has been particularly aggressive in seeking to turn off copper lines (see 2501270047). CEO John Stankey said in January that the company would file petitions at the FCC in the early months of 2025 to retire copper lines across about a fourth of its footprint. USTelecom has also made copper retirement a regulatory priority (see 2504100040).

“Today’s actions propose to reduce regulatory barriers that prevent much-needed investment in and deployment of broadband and thus hinder the transition to all-IP networks offering a plethora of advanced communications services, and seek comment on ways to further fast-track the delivery of services to consumers through modernized networks while protecting public safety,” the copper retirement draft asserts.

Skipping Notice and Comment

The FCC will also vote on a “Direct Final Rule” order that would implement White House guidance that notice and comment isn’t necessary to repeal some rules and would authorize FCC offices and bureaus to delete rules on delegated authority without seeking comment.

The White House said agencies could repeal rules without notice and comment using a “good cause” exemption in the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows them to skip the normal process when it's unnecessary or wouldn't be in the public interest. In April, academics told us that it was legally uncertain, contrary to the historical use of the exemption, and likely to draw challenges (see 2504100067).

The draft order would repeal 18 rules that the agency says are outdated, find notice and comment “unnecessary” for repealing those rules, and allow bureaus to use the Direct Final Rule procedure for rules that are routine determinations, “insignificant in nature and impact, and inconsequential to the industry and to the public.”

Historically, courts have ruled that bureau-level actions aren’t final agency orders and therefore must be appealed to the full commission before seeking legal relief. The FCC has historically avoided legal challenges to some actions by not considering such appeals of bureau-level decisions for years, or sometimes never.

The order would provide an abbreviated process to gather feedback on the deletion of the 18 provisions it targets through the Federal Register, “with the identified rules automatically being repealed absent any significant adverse comments,” according to the fact sheet accompanying the draft item. “We will publish this item adopting direct final rules in the Federal Register, and allow for comment from interested parties within 10 days of Federal Register publication.”

The items targeted for repeal include rules for closed captioning on analog TVs, rules for telegraphs, restrictions on the closing of telephone booths and post-auction cost-sharing obligations that sunset decades ago.The order is intended to be used on rules that are “outdated and obsolete,” the fact sheet said.

The Direct Final Rule order “is an important step in following President [Donald] Trump’s leadership and the Trump Administration’s decision to usher in prosperity through deregulation,” it added. “The Direct Final Rule, if adopted, would advance the process of repealing rules identified as outdated and obsolete, and set the stage for further use of similar procedural tools for further deregulation in the future.”

Pole Attachments

The pole attachment draft order would set a timeline for large pole attachment requests of 3,000 or more poles. It proposes requiring utilities to provide notification within 15 days if they can’t meet survey and make-ready deadlines. The draft would give them 30 days to respond to a request from contractors to be added to a utility-approved list. It would also bar utilities from limiting application sizes and frequencies if those limits restrict the number of pole attachments that attachers can seek in a particular time frame.

The pole attachment item includes an NPRM asking about ways of further facilitating pole attachment application processing and whether light poles fall under Communications Act language regarding pole attachments. In addition, the item denies in part and grants in part Edison Electric Institute’s petition regarding the FCC’s December 2023 wireline infrastructure declaratory ruling (see 2401290074) and denies the Coalition of Concerned Utilities’ recon petition about that declaratory ruling (see 2403260077).

AWS-3 Auction Rules

The AWS-3 order provides rules for the auction of licenses returned to the FCC by affiliates of Dish Network in 2023 and unsold licenses from the initial AWS-3 auction 10 years ago (see 2501230041). The most hotly contested issue was whether to adopt a window ahead of the auction for tribal areas to get the first shot at licenses (see 2504010055), as the FCC did before the 2.5 GHz auction.

“We find that it would not be in the public interest to implement a Tribal licensing window in the context of Auction 113, given Congress’s specific directives in the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act regarding the inventory to be licensed and the timetable for doing so,” the AWS-3 draft asserts. “We agree with CTIA that conducting a Tribal licensing window, which would remove spectrum prior to the auction from the congressionally specified inventory and could potentially reduce the auction proceeds available for the Supply Chain Reimbursement Program, would not further the public interest goals” of Congress.

Among other policy calls, the draft would define a small business for the purposes of the auction as one that “together with its affiliates, its controlling interests and the affiliates of its controlling interests, has average gross revenues that are not more than $55 million for the preceding five years.” A very small business is defined as one with less than $20 million in revenue during the same period. The FCC would also offer a 15% bidding credit to qualifying rural service providers.

Texting 988

Under the 988 draft order, providers must have the capability to transmit georouting data based on the general geographic area where the handset is located when the call is initiated. At the same time, the location data would have to be aggregated to a point where it wouldn't identify the precise location of the handset, protecting the user’s privacy, the order says.

While there has been some wireless industry advocacy that the FCC hold off on instituting a text-to-988 georouting requirement, it doesn’t raise the same concerns about extensively retrofitting legacy SMS networks for 911 location-based routing, the draft argues. It says industry stakeholders have already developed standards for implementing text-to-988 georouting solutions.

The draft says the proposed compliance deadlines -- 18 months from the effective date for nationwide providers, 36 months for non-nationwide ones -- “provide ample time” for providers to develop and implement 988 text georouting solutions.

Slamming Rules

The commissioners will also vote on a draft NPRM that would seek comment on whether rules against slamming -- changing customer long-distance plans without permission -- and requirements that phone bills be easy to understand remain relevant. The FCC “has not taken recent enforcement action on either slamming or Truth-in-Billing,” said a fact sheet with the draft item. The current rules “may no longer protect consumers in light of marketplace evolution and other changes. And they may stifle innovation while imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

The NPRM would seek comment on whether slamming and unclear bills are still significant consumer problems. It also proposes replacing the slamming rules with “a single, streamlined rule that ensures consumer protection against unauthorized switches of their chosen providers” while “eliminating the current prescriptive requirements that may inhibit consumer choice.” The item would also seek comment on streamlining the truth-in-billing rules to rem