Several electric utilities asked Congress to remove FCC jurisdiction over pole attachments, in a letter sent Friday to the House Commerce Committee. The FCC “lacks any experience or expertise whatsoever in the safe and efficient distribution of electric services to consumers across the country,” said the letter sent on behalf of Consumers Energy, FirstEnergy, National Grid, Northeast Utilities and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. Oversight over “pole attachments” goes to the FCC under the Communications Act, but it really belongs at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the electric utilities said. The companies took issue with the FCC’s April 2011 pole attachment order that expanded its jurisdiction to encompass joint use relationships between pole-owning entities. The decision only drives down ILEC costs and “unfairly” shifts burdens “from the communications industry to the electric utility industry,” the utilities said. They asked Congress to prevent the FCC from regulating the electric utility/ILEC joint use relationship, and to require that attachment rates be increased “so that communications companies pay a more appropriate share” of pole distribution expenses. “What does the FCC know about electric utility safety, reliability, and efficiency?” said Jack Richards, partner at Keller and Heckman, which represents the utilities. “It’s the Federal Communications Commission. It’s not surprising they favor Comcast, Cox, Verizon, AT&T, Frontier and other communications companies over electric utilities.” The Supreme Court in October declined to hear electric utilities’ challenge to the pole attachment order (CD Oct 8 p1).

The results of the six-month experiment giving VoIP providers direct access to numbers are in. In a report Friday, the FCC Wireline Bureau found that “it is technically feasible for interconnected VoIP providers to obtain telephone numbers directly from the numbering administrators” (http://fcc.us/LiPXSU). “The trial did not identify technical problems regarding number porting, VoIP interconnection, or intercarrier compensation,” the report said. There “may be some confusion regarding parties’ rights and obligations with respect to porting and interconnection, but the Bureau believes that these matters could be addressed in pending rulemakings addressing those topics,” it said: Those rulemakings will provide “additional clarity and guidance."

Just a day after the unanimous vote (CD Jan 31 p1), the FCC released its order and further notice approving the IP transition trial framework Friday (http://fcc.us/LiOQmv). “We must act with dispatch,” the order said. “Technology transitions are already underway.” Modernizing communications networks will help dramatically reduce network costs, catalyze further investments in innovation and improve the lives of millions of Americans, it said. The order set out procedures for proposing service-based tests, and submitting “expressions of interest” in conducting rural broadband experiments. “The goal of all of these experiments and initiatives is to learn about the impact of the technology transitions on the customers -- and communities -- that rely on communications networks,” the order said. “Though the task before us is daunting, we take comfort that we are not alone in our efforts to encourage technology transitions while protecting the enduring values established by Congress for our nation’s communication networks.” Organizations from across the telecom industry applauded the FCC for unanimously approving the framework. The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute said the end results of the transition should be consumers being better off. “They should benefit from an increase in competition rather than a decrease, and they should continue to benefit from all of the additional protections that exist where competition fails,” said Sarah Morris, OTI’s senior policy counsel. Public Knowledge said it agreed with the FCC that the new network must be “rigorously tested to ensure that consumers have a system that is even better” than the network Americans rely on today. “If the principles adopted today are the road map to the future, then these trials are a vital first step on that road,” Senior Vice President Harold Feld said. “Chairman [Tom] Wheeler got it right,” said the Broadband Coalition in a statement. “With the principles of competition at the core, the FCC’s statement of values can guide a successful move to IP technology.”

The FCC must find a “coherent approach” to high-cost USF reform in Alaska that recognizes the state’s unique geography, demographics, climate and infrastructure challenges, General Communication told Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and Phil Verveer, senior counselor to Chairman Tom Wheeler, in separate meetings last week, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1bwlTu6). “Given the extremely large need for universal service support to deploy and sustain modern telecommunications and broadband networks in Alaska, it makes little sense to continue to reduce the total high-cost support to Alaska,” GCI said. “Instead, high-cost reform for Alaska should focus on better targeting that support, tied to the Commission’s broadband deployment objectives.” For example, Phase II of the Connect America Fund could target support to stay away from census blocks where GCI will be an unsubsidized competitor at the end of the wireline competitive eligible telecom carrier support phaseout, said the cable operator, which also provides phone service. It said the commission could also increase the “extremely high-cost threshold for Alaska” to reflect the higher costs of serving those areas. That would also reduce the burden on the limited Remote Areas Funds, said the company.

The FCC Wireline Bureau established procedures for arbitrating an interconnection agreement between Time Warner Cable Information Services and Star Telephone, in a public notice released Monday (http://bit.ly/1f7ooFF). The bureau in November preempted the jurisdiction of the North Carolina Rural Electrification Authority with respect to arbitration.

The FCC proposed a $5.2 million fine against U.S. Telecom Long Distance for engaging in deceptive marketing practices, changing consumers’ preferred long distance carriers without proper authorization, billing consumers for unauthorized charges, and failing to explain charges clearly. USTLD is a non-facilities based interexchange carrier authorized to provide service in 47 states, with offices in Las Vegas. “In many cases, USTLD apparently took advantage of consumers by masking the true purpose of the call and then profiting from their obvious confusion about the questions they were asked,” said the FCC in a news release. “Many of the deceived consumers were elderly, hearing impaired, or infirm. Several consumers also claimed that USTLD representatives pretended to be calling from the FCC itself.” The Enforcement Bureau had reviewed more than 60 complaints filed with the FCC, state regulatory agencies, the FTC and the Better Business Bureau, it said in the notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/1hsMQDg). The bureau called USTLD’s practices willful and repeated violations of Sections 201(b) and 258 of the Communications Act.

Due to the support E-rate has provided, more than 95 percent of schools are connected to the Internet -- but the work is not done, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel told the Sesame Workshop in New York Friday, according to her prepared remarks (http://fcc.us/1hsR3GT). “The challenge today is not connection, it’s capacity,” she said. Many schools access the Internet at only 3 Mbps, she said. Rosenworcel pushed for connecting every school to 100 Mbps per 1,000 students in the near term, and 1 Gbps per 1,000 students by the end of the decade. The interests of E-rate overhaul and the interests of “quality educational content” are linked, she said: “By bringing really high-speed broadband to every school in every community across the country we will create new opportunities for educational content at new scale. This scale has the potential to stimulate a new market for digital educational media.”

The FCC will use existing money to immediately begin to expand E-rate funding, specifically targeting high-speed connectivity to students in schools and libraries, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Friday (http://fcc.us/1mS7W1B). The money will be spent this year, and won’t affect the program’s existing structures or the 2014 program application process now underway, he said. As the commission revamps the program, any improvements must include strong oversight and enforcement, Wheeler said. That’s to “ensure every dollar that is intended to reach schools and libraries gets there and gets the job done,” he said. Improvements will be structural and administrative, and will be designed to focus support on broadband services while making the program more efficient, he said. Wheeler said he agreed with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel that “without adequate capacity our students are going to fall short” and will be “unable to realize the full potential of digital learning.” Wheeler said he looks forward to making sure “American students get the 21st Century education they deserve.”

If the FCC doesn’t revisit its last-mile access policies as the industry transitions to IP technologies, there will be a negative impact on business customers, Comptel told the FCC general counsel’s office Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1dSFACi). “The vast majority of competition in the business market comes from traditional CLECs that rely, to a substantial extent, on the competitive provision of the [Communications] Act in providing consumers the competitive services they need,” the association of CLECs said. “Robust competition is needed to encourage carriers to address the unique needs, circumstances and problems faced by small to medium size businesses.” Comptel urged the commission to “confirm that the interconnection provisions of the Act apply to IP interconnection for voice services,” as managed VoIP services meet the statutory definition of a telecom service, it said.

Rate-of-return regulated ILECs face “different challenges” than those faced by price cap regulated carriers serving rural areas, NTCA Thursday told aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and aides to Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1dSGxdJ). Any IP transition experiments must be the subject of “thoughtful review in advance” and then “tailored” to account for critical differences between the different regulatory and statutory frameworks governing universal service distribution in those areas, NTCA said. “It should also be made expressly clear that any experiment would not be intended to disrupt current universal service mechanisms or to prejudge potential updates or modifications to those mechanisms,” NTCA said. The commission should avoid using USF funding to support an experiment that would “overbuild networks already supported by USF resources,” it said: The agency should “preclude any opportunity whatsoever for gamesmanship through creating pairing of purportedly ‘unserved’ and served areas."