Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., spoke to telecom officials in his state Monday, citing the precedent that FCC chairs step down at the end of a given administration, an aide told us. Thune’s exchange came at the South Dakota Telecom Association during its annual meeting in Brookings. Thune has pressed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to step down at the end of the Obama administration and said Wheeler's reluctance to make that commitment contributed to the GOP holds on the reconfirmation of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Thune also spoke about net neutrality and how that issue is affecting the landscape and on USF and the status of stand-alone broadband support, the aide said. Thune called such stand-alone support an achieved matter following years of pressure but pledged to monitor the more comprehensive rate of return overhaul the FCC adopted this year.
The Competitive Carriers Association stressed the need for the FCC to get the definitions right for served and underserved as it takes up USF “reform” and potentially a second mobility fund, said a filing about a CCA meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. O’Rielly recently suggested the FCC use “population” as a metric for identifying areas in need of support, CCA said. “CCA encouraged the Commission to include road miles, farm land, and Federal lands as mobility is essential for next generation technology including 5G and the Internet of Things to flourish throughout the country,” said the filing in docket 10-208. “It is imperative that any methodology portray an accurate picture of the rural landscape, measuring which areas are served and which are not.”
ITTA said it backs aspects of an NTCA petition for FCC reconsideration of a USF order in March updating subsidy mechanisms for rate-of-return telcos (see 1605250068). ITTA lauded the commission for working with industry groups on the USF broadband overhaul and said it's "especially gratified" rural carriers were given the option of receiving support based on a broadband cost model. In "this spirit of ongoing partnership and collaboration," the midsize telco group backed "three discrete issues" raised by NTCA. "ITTA agrees with NTCA that the Commission should clarify its order to ensure a better understanding of where an unsubsidized competitor actually purports to serve before eliminating support in a census block," said its comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. ITTA also echoed NTCA's request that the FCC confirm that, where there is competitive overlap, rural incumbents can choose freely from among the agency's defined formulas for recovering disaggregated costs. And ITTA supported NTCA's call for commission reconsideration of a requirement to impute access recovery charges where carriers can show they "had a certain number of standalone broadband connections when the Connect America Fund -- Intercarrier Compensation (CAF ICC) support baseline was set."
AT&T alleged Great Lakes Communication violated Communications Act provisions by denying AT&T's long-distance business the benefits of direct connection and lower rates. GLC's refusal to give AT&T a direct connection arrangement "was an unjust and unreasonable practice in violation of section 201(b) of the Act," said an AT&T complaint, part of a 1,407-page FCC filing posted Wednesday in File No. EB-16-MD-001. AT&T said GLC is required under the rules to "benchmark" its rates and offer services that are functionally equivalent to those of another carrier, CenturyLink, which offers direct connection. GLC offered a comparable service but withdrew it in an amended tariff after the 2011 USF and intercarrier compensation overhaul order, said AT&T. It said direct connection "would dramatically reduce the charges assessed to AT&T" and other long-distance carriers and their customers for GLC's "access stimulation traffic." GLC violated Sections 203(c) and 201(b) of the Act "by billing for services that were contrary to the terms set forth" in GLC's revised tariff and the agency's rules, AT&T said. It said GLC may not recover expenses from long-distance carriers for its regulated interstate call termination services except via a valid tariff or an "express, negotiated contract." A U.S. District Court ruled in AT&T's favor, dismissing GLC's state law recovery claims, AT&T said. The company said it was filing the complaint pursuant to FCC staff instructions after the carrier and GLC disputed the significance of two District Court referrals to the agency. GLC outside counsel David Carter of Innovista Law called the complaint "an effort to relitigate some of the FCC policy decisions" from the 2011 order, "where AT&T lost some of these same arguments." He said the company will have more to say when it responds at the FCC.
FCC staff cleared Global Connection and Phone Club Lifeline wireline compliance plans that are one condition for them to continue receiving USF low-income support. Global Connection and Phone Club provide resold Lifeline service, but the commission in 2015 amended its rules to eliminate Lifeline reimbursement for wholesale service provided to resellers, leaving only eligible telecom carriers providing service directly to consumers able to seek support, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 09-197 listed in Thursday's Daily Digest. Effective Monday, non-ETC resellers no longer will be eligible for reimbursement and must obtain approval of a compliance plan to obtain ETC designations from state commissions or the FCC, the PN said. The compliance plan approval clears the way for Global Connection and Phone Club to seek state ETC designations, it said.
Representatives of the Rural Wireless Association urged the FCC to approve a second phase of the USF Mobility Fund at $500 million per year. RWA met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. “RWA discussed its continued support for the creation of a Mobility Fund Phase II mechanism that will provide specific, predictable, and sufficient support to sustain and advance the availability of mobile services in high-cost areas,” said a filing by the group in docket 05-265. A proposal to reduce the program to a $400 million annual amount “was predicated on estimated disbursement figures that were frozen and ratcheted down to 60 percent of the 2011 baseline,” RWA said, adding that “$400 million was not reflective of carriers’ costs then, and certainly isn’t reflective of carriers’ costs now.” Clyburn told an RWA meeting last year that the FCC should wrap up an order creating a dedicated USF mobility fund (see 1509100059).
Parties that want the FCC to revisit its Lifeline USF overhaul answered critics of their petitions for reconsideration or clarification, which were the subject of recent oppositions and other initial comments (see 1608010028). Every petitioner filed a reply -- CTIA, General Communication Inc. (GCI), Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), NTCA/WTA, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, TracFone and USTelecom. CenturyLink and New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) also replied. Replies were posted in docket 11-42 Monday and Tuesday, with CTIA's filing the first to post (see 1608080042).
Parties not only disagree about how the FCC should weight performance tiers for its planned Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction of broadband-oriented subsidies, but also about what the record demonstrated. Replies were posted Friday and Monday in docket 10-90, after initial comments last month (see 1607220057).
The FCC could act in late September to revise its special access framework for business data services, said Incompas CEO Chip Pickering Monday. On a Competify call highlighting BDS arguments ahead of reply comments due Tuesday, Pickering and others argued for more FCC regulation of the BDS market, which they said is still dominated by incumbent telcos overcharging competitors and business customers. Meanwhile, CenturyLink and Frontier Communications urged the FCC not to impose regulation they said would harm BDS competition and investment. NCTA said it would file a reply showing there's no market failure "justifying massive regulatory intervention."
CTIA, Incompas, NCTA and USTelecom backed a March 2015 petition for reconsideration asking the FCC to vacate a policy statement on the forfeiture methodology for violations of rules governing payment to certain payment programs. "Because the Policy Statement is written in terms that bind the agency in applicable monetary forfeiture proceedings, the Administrative Procedure Act required notice and comment prior to issuance of the Policy Statement," said a filing Friday by a CTIA counsel on a meeting with Enforcement Bureau staffers. It noted there was no docket because the commission didn't put the petition out for comment. The groups had said in 2015 the policy statement created “draconian” treble damages for amounts owed to USF and other funds (see 1503310052).