Commissioners supported an emergency resolution to implement a federal court’s order rejecting a 2014 California law requiring prepaid wireless fees and three CPUC resolutions implementing that law (see 1811200050 and 1811060005). As part of the consent agenda at Thursday’s meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to rescind Resolution T-17632 that set the 2019 CPUC rate for the prepaid mobile telephony services surcharge. The agency held a hearing Wednesday on California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) allegations Frontier Communications breached a memorandum of understanding that was a condition buying Verizon wireline assets (see 1811080033). The hearing was "productive," emailed CETF President Sunne McPeak. The administrative law judge "urged settlement discussions between Frontier and CETF, which we welcome and are hopeful that we can reach resolution in the near future to move forward together in partnership," she said. The carrier “is committed to and supports greater broadband adoption by low-income individuals,” a spokesperson emailed Thursday. “Frontier has complied with its agreement with CETF; at all times it has offered the low-income broadband service and provided the funds and devices previously agreed upon.”
AT&T left the American Legislative Exchange Council, after Verizon's departure about two months earlier (see 1809180036). Right-wing activist David Horowitz drew controversy when he spoke in August at an ALEC event in New Orleans. “We have ended our membership with ALEC and their convention speaker was a key factor in the decision,” said an AT&T spokesperson Thursday. ALEC "values partnerships with Communications companies and stakeholders across the business community," a spokesperson emailed. "Decisions made by businesses are unfortunately not always issue based, and are a product of highly charged political times. ALEC has and continues to work with the telecommunication and technology industries on deregulation, innovation, privacy and intellectual property policy." Charter Communications isn't an ALEC member, a spokesperson said. Other ALEC telecom members CenturyLink, Comcast and NCTA didn’t say if they will also leave.
FCC commissioners seem open to giving states and territories access to national outage data in the network outage reporting system (NORS) and disaster information reporting system (DIRS), said Puerto Rico Telecommunications Bureau Chairwoman Sandra Torres Lopez in a Thursday interview before scheduled meetings with Chairman Ajit Pai and an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Torres met Wednesday with FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr, she said. The federal body has had a flurry of meetings recently on NORS access (see 1811210018). Torres is optimistic the FCC will open access. Her agency responded to requests for information including about confidentiality, a concern raised by industry. The territorial government needs the information “to keep the people ... informed” about the status of recovery, she said. In FCC meetings, the she argued for additional funding to help the island further recover from 2017 hurricanes and reach unserved areas, Torres said. Pai last week suggested Puerto Rico may need even more USF support for recovery (see 1811230018). The territory needs more than the $117 million in short-term support from USF, Torres agreed. It needed the money “yesterday” but is working through the process, she said. One year after Hurricane Maria, infrastructure restoration remains a challenge, Torres said. Puerto Rico faces at least weekly brownouts, with brief telecom outages, she said.
Michigan small-cells legislation is heading to the governor’s desk after the House voted 74-35 Wednesday for SB-637 and 77-32 for SB-894. Like bills passed in 20 other states, industry-supported SB-637 aims to speed deployment of 5G wireless facilities by pre-empting local government authority in the right of way. SB-894 was needed to ensure zoning code reflects SB-637’s provisions because one can’t amend the zoning code by reference there. It's the first state to pass such a bill since the FCC’s September order setting review shot clocks and national rate ceilings.
Electric companies unfairly seek “a second bite at the apple” by supporting Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission deviations from FCC pole attachment rules, Verizon said Wednesday. In replies in docket L-2018-3002672 about Pennsylvania’s proposal to join 20 other states and the District of Columbia in reverse pre-empting the FCC (see 1810300023), Verizon urged the PUC to fully adopt FCC rules and automatically adopt future updates to federal rules. Electric utilities and some others may not like the FCC’s August order that modified the federal rules, but it thoroughly considered issues and made changes to address their concerns, Verizon said. “Speeding broadband deployment does not seem to be the primary motivation for these parties.” Duquesne Light gets the need for rural broadband, replied the Pittsburgh utility. “By assuming jurisdiction of pole attachment, the Commission will be in a position to positively impact many customers and yet balance that need against the equally important requirements for safety and reliability of the electric distribution grid.” A boom in wireless attachments “is causing increasing safety concerns for electric utilities,” Duquesne said. "Carefully consider the implications of the FCC regulations being proposed that will make it harder for pole owners, especially [electric distribution companies], to manage the many attachments on poles as wireless technology advances.” Allowing the PUC to deviate is appropriate given the state body has greater expertise in electric utility issues than the FCC, said Exelon's PECO of Philadelphia. CTIA urged automatic adoption of a federal rule change that skips a state rulemaking process, saying there’s Pennsylvania PUC precedent, such as its system for pipeline safety standards. “Under this precedent, future changes to the regulations would require notice only if the federal change was not being adopted,” CTIA said.
States and rural wireless carriers remained concerned with the FCC’s Mobility Fund Phase II broadband-service subsidy process after the challenge window shut Monday. The commission didn’t act on NARUC’s request to extend the deadline to March 15, an FCC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The challenge process opened March 29 and the agency previously extended the deadline by 90 days.
State utility commissioners must hone skills to respond to a rapidly changing industry, said new NARUC President Nick Wagner in an interview. NARUC elected the Iowa Utilities Board member at the association’s annual meeting this month in Orlando. State commissioners’ relationships with the FCC and other federal agencies are “absolutely critical,” and there’s “always room for improvement,” said Wagner, referring to calls by some NARUC members to work on states’ rapport with the FCC (see 1811190010).
A surge in FCC ex parte meetings about access to national outage data in the network outage reporting system (NORS) and disaster information reporting system (DIRS) may foreshadow commission action in the near future, said parties to docket 15-80. States and others seek access, but the telecom industry is raising confidentiality concerns (see 1811060036). Multiple stakeholders that have talked with the FCC said the bureau is asking for input and meetings, but it's not clear what, if anything, Chairman Ajit Pai wants to do on the issue or when. The impetus for those meetings isn't clear, we were told.
The New York Public Service Commission should require Sprint and T-Mobile to provide unredacted information about their deal and withdraw any document relying on redactions, said the Communications Workers of America and the Public Utility Law Project in a motion posted Tuesday in docket 18-C-0396. The union Monday said the applicants abused PSC process for public comment when they commented on their July 6 application, which CWA and PULP said was legally deficient to begin with (see 1811190026). Now, CWA and PULP ask the PSC to convene evidentiary and public hearings, remove applicants’ Friday filings from the record and extend the comment deadline to Dec. 15. Sprint and T-Mobile's “heavily redacted” comments Friday were “a substantial supplement or amendments to the July 6 Petition, making new assertions of fact and policy, and should not be accepted into the record,” said the groups. “Use of the public comment process to recast the Petition, to attempt to repair the fatal defects in the Petition, and to insulate this new information from public comment is fundamentally unfair." Under agency rules, applicants "may submit comments in response to a notice seeking comments on their petitions,” a spokesperson emailed. “It’s not typical, but there’s also nothing irregular or improper.” The carriers didn’t comment. At the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Sprint filed responses Monday to staff questions. The carrier reported the deal was cleared in Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Sprint expects Virginia to decide by Dec. 11 and said reviews are pending in California, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York.
The FCC’s August infrastructure order “correctly and lawfully concluded that state and local moratoria on the deployment of telecommunications facilities violate Section 253(a) of the Communications Act,” the Wireless Infrastructure Association said, posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. Those seeking reconsideration failed to provide grounds, WIA said. The FCC has broad authority to interpret Section 253 and did so correctly, it said. The ruling isn’t a taking violation of the Constitution because it didn’t require localities to grant wireless siting applications or diminish property value, WIA said. A local group seeking recon, the Smart Communities and Special Districts Coalition, says wireless carriers didn’t respond substantively to its petition (see 1811190044). Energy companies responded to telecom industry opposition to a Coalition for Concerned Utilities petition to reconsider pole-attachment rate and process changes in the order (see 1811130048). “Pole attachments issues are complex, with many interested parties, issues and moving parts,” CCU replied. “To achieve our common goals, one set of attachers should not benefit at the expense of another," CCU said, and "newly-imposed regulations must be reconciled with conflicting regulations and the Pole Attachment Act, efficiencies should be added to speed deployment, and unnecessary roadblocks to future broadband deployment should be eliminated.” The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association agreed with utilities it’s dangerous to allow a self-help remedy or overlashing without sufficient oversight. Utility pole owners should be able to recover costs including for overlashing reviews and preparing make-ready estimates, NRECA said. Don’t “adopt a presumption in favor of providing ILECs with regulated rates for newly renewed joint use agreements and the Commission should not cap the rate at the pre-2011 Telecom rate in the event that a utility rebuts the presumption,” replied the Edison Electric Institute and Utilities Technology Council.