Washington Watch 04/11/2014
| April 11, 2014 | |
Contents
IP Transition
Replies Filed on AT&T IP Transition Trial Proposal
USTelecom Responds to Cable Companies Claims on ILEC Dominance
Cogent Discusses Telecom Network Infrastructure
USF/ICC Transformation Order
NCTA Discusses Transformation Order Issues
NRIC Discusses CAF Phase II Support
Call Completion
AT&T Seeks Waiver of Rural Call Completion Rules
Average Schedules
FCC Approves NECA Average Schedule Formulas
Separations
Comments on Separations Freeze FNPRM Due April 16
Universal Service
Chairman Wheeler Issues Statement on Indictments on Lifeline Fraud Charges
Today’s News Clips
TelePacific, AT&T Sign TDM-to-IP Migration Pact
Three Charged for $32 Million in ‘Obamaphone’ Fraud
Hanging Up on the Old Landline
Despite AARP Opposition, House Passes Telecommunications Bills
IP TransitionReplies Filed on AT&T IP Transition Trial Proposal Reply comments were filed on April 10, 2014, in response to AT&T’s proposed IP transition trials for wire centers in Florida and Alabama. AT&T said while commenters raise many legitimate questions and concerns regarding the trial, these concerns do not provide a basis for rejecting AT&T’s proposed wire center trials. Sprint agreed with those who urged the FCC to ensure that AT&T’s conversion plan clearly describe how wholesale customers can obtain the critical interconnection and last-mile inputs they need to provide uninterrupted service to customers. Sprint said the FCC should also impose specific data gathering and reporting requirements on AT&T’s experiment that can be used to support the FCC’s statutory goals, including the broader goal of ensuring the Technology Transition is “fact-based and data-driven.” NASUCA said AT&T’s proposal raises significant concerns for the treatment of consumers, and said AT&T should be sent back to the drawing board to come back with proposals that better meet the terms the FCC established. AARP claimed AT&T’s plan is incomplete, is not a reasonable technology trial, and fails to address key issues identified in the January 31, 2014 Order. It also said the Commission should not approve AT&T’s plan until all details are known. Public Notice Other replies filed by: XO Communications Granite Telecommunications Charter Communications NARUC Public Knowledge Cbeyond, Integra Telecom, Level 3, tw telecom and COMPTEL EMRadiation Policy Institute USTelecom Responds to Cable Companies Claims on ILEC Dominance USTelecom filed a letter on April 9, 2014, opposing Cablevision and Charter’s March 27, 2014 ex parte letter, which asked the FCC to clarify that IP interconnection with ILECs for managed VoIP service is governed by Section 251(c)(2) and claimed “ILECs remain the dominant providers of fixed voice services.” USTelecom said Cablevision’s assertion on ILEC dominance in the market for voice services is belied by its own statements to Wall Street and the FCC’s own data, noting that an analysis of FCC and CDC data shows that ILECs provide switched voice service to only about one-quarter of the homes passed by their traditional wireline networks nationwide. USTelecom also noted, if completed, the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable will result in a combined company that would be the third largest – and approaching second largest – wireline voice service provider in the country. Cogent Discusses Telecom Network Infrastructure Cogent Communications Group met with Chief Technology Officer Henning Schulzrinne on April 10, 2014, to discuss architectural, operational and technical aspects of Cogent’s network and the economics involved in owning one’s own network. Cogent also discussed the process by which additional wireless frequencies may become available in the future.USF/ICC Transformation OrderNCTA Discusses Transformation Order Issues NCTA met with Legal Advisors to Commissioners Clyburn, Pai, O’Rielly and Rosenworcel on April 8-10, 2014, to discuss issues related to the FNPRM and Orders to be considered at the FCC’s April Open Meeting. NCTA asked the FCC to grant its Application for Review challenging the WCB decision to hold unsubsidized providers to the same service standards as price cap carriers for purposes of identifying areas in which CAF Phase II support will be available, and to grant WISPA’s Petition for Reconsideration seeking changes in the definition of the term “unsubsidized provider.” NCTA also encouraged the FCC to eliminate support in rate-of-return study areas where an unsubsidized provider offers services to 100 percent of customers and to consider reducing support in areas where unsubsidized providers offer service to a significant majority of customers. NCTA also said with respect to the possible elimination of the QRA benchmarking rule, it claimed the vast majority of RoR carriers appear to have received more support, or the same support, than they did prior to reform. NRIC Discusses CAF Phase II Support The Nebraska Rural Independent Companies spoke with Carol Mattey of the WCB on April 8, 2014, to discuss its March 5, 2014 ex parte, which recommended the FCC include business revenues for small businesses in the funding threshold under consideration for price cap carriers. NRIC also said it is concerned that CAF funding will be provided to locations where USF is not required to create a broadband business case, resulting in more consumers being subject to the Alternative Technology Threshold than necessary. NRIC also recommended a no backsliding policy because of concerns that CAF funding would not be available under the cost model for those locations above the ATT, thereby jeopardizing broadband infrastructure that had already been deployed.Call CompletionAT&T Seeks Waiver of Rural Call Completion Rules AT&T filed a Petition on April 10, 2014, seeking a limited waiver of the call attempt recording, retention and reporting requirements in sections 64.2103-64.2105, promulgated in the Rural Call Completion Order. AT&T said coming into full compliance with the new rules would require it to invest millions of dollars in developing and executing costly and resource-intensive workarounds and retrofits, and said granting this waiver would not result in the rural call completion problems the rules were designed to prevent. AT&T said it will continue to employ its well-tested management of intermediate providers and use of industry best practices to ensure quality call completion, and will retain and report data based on a statistically valid sample of calls to rural and non-rural areas that will allow AT&T to monitor call completion on an ILEC-by-ILEC basis.Average SchedulesFCC Approves NECA Average Schedule Formulas The Wireline Competition Bureau issued an Order on April 10, 2014, approving NECA’s December 23, 2013 proposed modification of average schedule formulas for interstate settlements, for the period beginning July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015.SeparationsComments on Separations Freeze FNPRM Due April 16 The Wireline Competition Bureau released a Public Notice on April 10, 2014, announcing comment and reply dates on the Separations Freeze FNPRM have been published in the Federal Register. Comments are due April 16; replies due April 23.Universal ServiceChairman Wheeler Issues Statement on Indictments on Lifeline Fraud Charges Chairman Wheeler issued a statement on April 10, 2014, applauding the Department of Justice indictments against three individuals for allegedly defrauding the Lifeline program of approximately $32 million. The DOJ said the defendants engaged in a scheme to submit false claims with the federal Lifeline Program. Chairman Wheeler said the Commission is working hard to combat fraud in the Lifeline program and he is “gratified to see results of their hard work to battle fraud.”Today’s News ClipsTelePacific, AT&T sign TDM-to-IP migration pact By Sean Buckley Fierce Telecom TelePacific Communications has carved out wholesale service terms with its wholesale supplier AT&T (NYSE: T) designed to help smooth its migration to all IP-based services such as Ethernet and VoIP, while ensuring that legacy TDM services remain available. Terms of the agreement were not revealed. "We value our long-standing relationship with AT&T Wholesale," said Dick Jalkut, president and CEO of TelePacific, in a release. "We're committed to supporting our customers' requirements today at the same time that we rapidly bring them new capabilities that will help them grow their businesses." http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/telepacific-att-sign-tdm-ip-migration-pact/2014-04-11 AT&T and TelePacific issued Press Releases. Three charged for $32 million in ‘Obamaphone’ fraud By Julian Hattem The Hill The Justice Department is charging three men with defrauding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) out of about $32 million. According to the charges unsealed on Thursday, the men took part in a scheme to file false claims with the FCC’s Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone service for poor people and has sometimes been called the “Obamaphone” program http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/203260-three-charged-for-32-million-in-obamaphone-fraud Hanging up on the old landline By Clarence Fanto The Berkshire Eagle It’s been 42 years since Jim Croce’s "Operator" hit the pop charts. I listened to it the other day out of nostalgia for a time when the only way to call long-distance, especially in rural areas and from public phone booths, was through a live operator running a switchboard. Croce died in a chartered-plane crash in 1973, but if he were around today, he might be writing an elegy for the old, reliable landline phone that may soon be a relic of the past if Verizon and AT&T have their way. http://www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/ci_25543069/clarence-fanto-hanging-up-old-landline Despite AARP opposition, House passes telecommunications bills By Anthony Cotton The Denver Post When members of the House of Representatives arrived at work Wednesday they were greeted by lobbyists from the Colorado chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), who were making a final push against a series of bills designed to improve telecommunications in the state. As was the case on Tuesday when the bill was debated on the House floor, the main argument was that the package, sponsored by Rep. Angela Williams, D-Denver, would deprive citizens of their landline phones. http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2014/04/09/aarp-telecommunications-angela-williams/107917/Editor: Teresa Evert | Assistant Editor: Shawn O'Brien |
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