The FTC won't challenge Extreme Networks' buy of Avaya's networking business, said the commission in a new notice. Avaya, which announced chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, disclosed the $100 million sale of its networking business March 7. Extreme Networks spelled out the agreement in an SEC filing then.
AT&T takes its "responsibility to protect our customers’ information and privacy very seriously," emailed a spokesman in response to the Ranking Digital Rights' 2017 Corporate Accountability Index, which ranked the company low. RDR's report Thursday (see 1703210015) assessed 22 internet, mobile and telecom companies and found most poorly disclosed policies and practices for online free expression and privacy. AT&T, the only U.S. telco ranked, scored 48, topping other telecom companies but below Google and Microsoft. Yahoo said it was generally pleased with its score, and the other U.S. companies assessed in the report -- Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter -- didn't comment.
Telco interests are applauding FCC commissioners' unanimous approval Thursday of an NPRM to reduce reporting requirements of international telecom service providers. The new rule -- which would eliminate the annual traffic and revenue report and streamline the circuit capacity report (see 1703020069) -- is "not just good policy, it is good for consumers," USTelecom said. It said ending "these arcane reporting requirements will enable providers to focus less on filling out unnecessary paperwork, and more on building, maintaining and upgrading America’s broadband networks." AT&T said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai "continues to deliver on his promise to eliminate unnecessary and burdensome regulatory requirements that provide little corresponding public interest benefits." The company said its own estimates have it spending more than 300 hours on information gathering and reporting for the reports. "On the infrequent occasion that this data is needed, it can be obtained far more efficiently through specific and targeted inquiries as opposed to mandatory annual reports," AT&T said. Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly cited the NPRM as a return to the agency meeting its obligations under Section 11 of the Communications Act, which requires a biennial review of regulations, with O'Rielly adding he hoped to see the agency take further steps in cutting regulatory paperwork burdens. Comments on the NPRM will be due 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register, with replies due 15 days after that.
Lifeline providers pressed the FCC to act on their petition to reconsider looming minimum service standard changes for eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) receiving subsidies in the USF low-income support program. Upcoming increases in FCC-prescribed "family-sized portions of voice and broadband services" threaten ETC ability "to make critical Lifeline services affordable for consumers, regardless of the size of their household," said the Lifeline Connects Coalition in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 09-197 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The LCC suggested consumers "would be best served by leaving the December 2016 quantitative minimum service standards in place and letting consumers -- rather than regulators -- choose from competing ETCs for the services that best suit their needs." The LCC asked for streamlined FCC review of all Lifeline matters, given "a perpetual logjam of undecided applications for review and ETC designations, compliance plans and other transaction-related approvals" that created a "morose" climate of regulatory uncertainty threatening provider health. The coalition -- American Broadband & Telecommunications, Blue Jay Wireless, iWireless and Telrite -- said implementing "rolling recertification" should be delayed so recon issues can be considered and a national verifier implemented.
The FCC has now posted final reports approved by its Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council at a meeting last week (see 1703150058). The reports cover cybersecurity, priority services, Wi-Fi security and reducing risks to legacy communications systems. They can be viewed on the CSRIC homepage.
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance slammed FCC ISP privacy rules in a filing Monday in docket 16-106. “The Privacy Order was another example of how intrusive the FCC had become under the leadership of former Chairman [Tom] Wheeler,” the group said. “Partisan votes, a tilt toward regulation, and agency overreach were all components of the Privacy Order. … [It] represents the exact opposite of what should be a primary concern for the FCC, preserving and promoting a free and open Internet.”
The FCC E-rate funding cap was raised to $3.99 billion for the 2017 funding year beginning July 1 to account for inflation, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 02-6. It was a 1.3 percent increase from the current $3.94 cap, the PN said. It noted the commission in 2010 began to index the E-rate USF budget for inflation to ensure the USF subsidy program keeps pace with school and library broadband/telecom needs.
The North American Numbering Council will meet at the FCC March 28 at 10 a.m., said a commission public notice Thursday in docket 92-237. A proposed agenda includes remarks by Chairman Ajit Pai and numerous reports from numbering administrators, working groups and others.
PwC plans a local number portability administrator transition webinar March 15, 3-4 p.m. (EDT), said a Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday. PwC, the transition oversight manager as inconectiv takes over Neustar's LNPA duties, also will be at the Incompas show in New Orleans April 4-5, the PN said.
"So-called public interest advocates" often promote self-interested regulation, including Communications Act Title II broadband oversight, suggested American Enterprise Institute scholar Roslyn Layton in a Wednesday blog post. A 1983 AEI book, The Political Economy of Deregulation, by Roger Noll and Bruce Owen, described how "the public interest becomes co-opted by special interest," and remains relevant today, wrote Layton, a Trump transition FCC landing team member who some see as a possible commissioner. She said it's "typical that entrenched interests oppose reforms that can legitimately help consumers." Noll and Owen found "many law firms and consumer groups claim to operate in the public interest, but regulatory process gives them a source of power they don’t have otherwise. As such, they are biased in favor of regulation over market solutions," wrote Layton. The "groups that demonize Chairman [Ajit] Pai are also the same ones calling for regulatory solutions over market-oriented ones, specifically the regulation of broadband under common carriage rules from the 1930s," she wrote. The groups want a "nationalized broadband network," not private provision, and see Title II as key to tapping broadband revenues to subsidize municipal networks; they also "oppose free data or zero rating from private providers, which lowers cost and increases consumer choice," she wrote, backing congressional oversight and "necessary FCC reauthorization" to help ensure the agency "focuses on the public interest."