Washington Watch 12/04/2013
| December 4, 2013 | |
Contents
USF/ICC Transformation Order
FCC Seeks Comment on CAF Phase II Implementation Issues
Adak Eagle, Windy City Respond to GCI on Their Requests for Review/Reconsideration of USF Caps
NASUCA Offers Suggestions on Connect America Cost Model
NNTRC Comments on Navajo Pillars Request for ETC Designation, Waiver of USF, ICC Rules
Charter Responds to Price Cap Carriers Replies to Census Blocks Challenges
Atlantic Telecom Responds to CenturyLink Reply to Census Blocks Challenge
Bluegrass Cellular Responds to AT&T, Windstream Replies to Census Blocks Challenges
FCC Seeks PRA Comments on Revised Transformation Order Information Collection
IP Transition
Sprint, CLECs File Petitions to Reject AT&T Special Access Tariff Revisions
Internet Innovation Alliance Corrects Cover Letter for Competition Study
Call Completion
COMPTEL Expresses Concern Over Small Carrier Exemption in Call Completion Order
Communications Act
House Energy and Commerce Committee to Update Communications Act
Universal Service
Comments Filed on USAC Decision on Private Line Revenues
Frontier, CenturyLink Discuss E-Rate Reform
FCC Seeks PRA Comments on Extension of Program to Monitor Impacts of USF Support Mechanisms
FCC Process
TIA Offers Suggestions on Improving FCC Efficiency
USF/ICC Transformation OrderFCC Seeks Comment on CAF Phase II Implementation Issues The Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice on December 3, 2013, seeking to develop further the record on implementation issues regarding the transition from CAF Phase I to Phase II. The Bureau seeks comment on several alternatives for the timing of Phase II support disbursements in response to price cap carriers’ concerns on how to calculate the five-year funding period in light of the language in paragraph 180 of the USF/ICC Transformation Order. The Bureau also seeks comment on the length of the appropriate multi-year transition, asking if, consistent with the approach for the phase down in support for CETCs, the transition for carriers in states where they will receive less funding under Phase II than frozen support should occur over a five-year period, or two or three years. Comments are due January 7, 2014. Adak Eagle, Windy City Respond to GCI on Their Requests for Review/ Reconsideration of USF Caps Adak Eagle Enterprises and Windy City Cellular filed a letter on December 3, 2013, to respond to the ex parte filed by GCI on November 27, 2013, in connection with their Petition for Reconsideration and Application for Review of the Order denying their Petitions for Waiver of the $250 per-line per-month cap on high-cost USF support. They said the FCC must make clear that an “alternative terrestrial provider” that is “available” means actually available, and not hypothetically available based on an unenforceable and unsubstantiated “pinky promise” by a competitor. They also noted it has been 608 days since WCC filed its initial waiver petition, 559 days since AEE filed its initial waiver petition, and 110 days since the companies filed their Application for Review and Petition for Reconsideration. NASUCA Offers Suggestions on Connect America Cost Model NASUCA filed a letter on October 25, 2013, offering suggestions and requests to the Commission on the Connect America Cost Model. NASUCA said the FCC should open a proceeding to reduce the ARC and the SLC because the model results support the conclusion that the cost of voice service on a network that provides narrowband and broadband services is very small. NASUCA requests the Bureau immediately make all model output values public, and said the FCC should request carriers to submit accounting data so that parties can evaluate the input assumptions of the model. NASUCA also said a single alternative technology cost threshold would discriminate against mid-size and small carriers, and the Bureau should reconsider its decision to use the GeoResults and census data to determine model locations. NNTRC Comments on Navajo Pillars Request for ETC Designation, Waiver of USF, ICC Rules The Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission filed Comments on December 2, 2013, on Navajo Pillars Telephone’s Petition seeking ETC designation in two regions of the Navajo Nation and seeking a waiver of certain USF and ICC rules. NNTRC said it supports the Petition, and the area Pillars seeks to serve is currently unserved by either wireline or wireless carriers, is highly remote, and without USF support. NNTRC said only by waiving certain other rules can Pillars hope to accomplish the build-out in a timely fashion, given the high cost imposed by the remoteness of the area and extremely low population density. Replies are due December 16. Public Notice Charter Responds to Price Cap Carriers Replies to Census Blocks Challenges Charter Communications filed a letter on December 3, 2013, to respond to replies filed by AT&T, CenturyLink, and Windstream on its challenges to CAF Phase I census block lists. Charter said the certification accompanying Charter’s challenge was signed by an officer, despite claims by AT&T and Windstream, and it properly redacted confidential and proprietary information consistent with the Bureau’s direction and industry standards. Charter also said there is no merit to price cap LECs’ argument that an area is served only when a broadband network has been deployed to the area and the broadband provider has an active customer in the area, arguing the FCC has found that “a provider may have no customers in a particular census block, even though it offers service there.” Atlantic Telecom Responds to CenturyLink Reply to Census Blocks Challenge Atlantic Telecom Multimedia filed a letter on December 3, 2013, to respond to CenturyLink’s reply on its challenge to the CAF Phase I census block list. Atlantic Telecom said its certification is in fact signed by an officer of the company. Atlantic also provided three copies of customer bills, one for each of the challenged census blocks, which it says show the speed of the Internet service offered. Bluegrass Cellular Responds to AT&T, Windstream Replies to Census Blocks Challenges Bluegrass Cellular filed a letter on December 3, 2013, to respond to replies filed by AT&T and Windstream on its challenges to CAF Phase I census block lists. Bluegrass said because it already offers a service that is comparable and substitutable to other fixed wireless and wireline broadband offerings, the challenged census blocks it identified should be deleted from eligibility for CAF Phase I Round 2. FCC Seeks PRA Comments on Revised Transformation Order Information Collection The FCC issued a Notice in the Federal Register on December 4, 2013, seeking comments on a revision to a currently approved information collection associated with the 2011 Transformation Order and subsequent related orders. The FCC noted it has received OMB approval for most of the information collections required by the Transformation Order, but plans to submit additional revisions for OMB review to address other reforms adopted in the Order (e.g., section 54.313(a)(11)). For this revision, the FCC proposes to merge the existing universal service information collection requirements, and add Forms 507, 508 and 509. There are no changes to the currently approved Forms 481, 525, 507, 508 and 509. PRA Comments are due February 3, 2014.IP TransitionSprint, CLECs File Petitions to Reject AT&T Special Access Tariff Revisions Sprint filed a redacted version of a Petition on December 2, 2013, to reject and to suspend and investigate AT&T’s pricing flexibility tariff revision, filed November 25, 2013, wherein AT&T proposes to eliminate all term plans longer than 36 months for tariffed TDM-based special access services in the legacy Ameritech, BellSouth, Nevada Bell, Pacific Bell, SNET and Southwestern Bell ILEC territories. Sprint asserts AT&T is requiring its customers either to select shorter term plans with smaller discounts or to buy service at month-to-month rates as their existing agreements expire. Sprint claims AT&T effectively seeks to raise its customers’ costs. Cbeyond, Integra Telecom, Level 3 and tw telecom also filed a redacted version of a Petition to suspend and investigate AT&T’s tariff revision, saying AT&T is proposing to eliminate term discount plans that, in many cases, offer the only means of obtaining DS1 and DS3 special access services at prices low enough to support competition in downstream retail markets for business broadband services in the AT&T ILEC territory. Internet Innovation Alliance Corrects Cover Letter for Competition Study The Internet Innovation Alliance filed a letter on December 2, 2013, attaching a revised cover letter for its November 29 ex parte filing that submitted Dr. Anna Maria Kovacs’ study titled Telecommunications Competition: The Infrastructure Investment Race. IIA said the November 29 cover letter contained a typographical error, and is corrected to read: "Yet, more than one-half of that amount was devoted to maintaining legacy networks that only 5% of consumers use exclusively and only 29% of consumers use in conjunction with a wireless service."Call CompletionCOMPTEL Expresses Concern Over Small Carrier Exemption in Call Completion Order COMPTEL spoke with Commissioner Pai’s and Commissioner Rosenworcel’s staff on November 26, 2013, to discuss the Rural Call Completion Order. It expressed concern that the Commission had changed the small carrier exemption from the data retention and reporting requirements from carriers with 100,000 subscribers to carriers with 100,000 subscriber lines without notice to the industry or an opportunity to comment. COMPTEL said if the Commission had sought comment, COMPTEL and its members would have had the opportunity to explain that the number of lines served by a provider to be considered for the small provider exemption should be adjusted upward. COMPTEL said the burden for small providers to comply with the Report and Order is significant.Communications ActHouse Energy and Commerce Committee to Update Communications Act House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced on December 3, 2013, plans for the committee to examine and update the Communications Act. Walden said “[w]ritten during the Great Depression and last updated when 56 kilobits per second via dial-up modem was state of the art, the Communications Act is now painfully out of date.” Commissioner Pai issued a statement on the announcement.Universal ServiceComments Filed on USAC Decision on Private Line Revenues In addition to the comments listed in a previous edition of Washington Watch, comments were filed on December 2, 2013, on Deltacom’s request for review and reversal of a USAC private line revenue audit finding. USTelecom said USAC’s decision to reclassify the jurisdiction of Deltacom’s private line service revenues from intrastate to interstate raises serious concerns, and said the Bureau should review Deltacom’s submission and reverse incorrect applications of the ten percent rule. TDS Metrocom said USAC’s application of the ten percent rule rests on the erroneous assumptions that circuits are interstate until proven otherwise and that carriers have an obligation to verify the traffic carried over physically intrastate private line circuits. XO agreed USAC applied an incorrect standard in the Deltacom audit, and has misapplied this standard for years. Replies are due December 17. Public Notice | List of all comments filed Frontier, CenturyLink Discuss E-Rate Reform Frontier and CenturyLink met with Commissioner Rosenworcel on November 18, 2013, to discuss their support of the Commission’s goals for modernizing the E-rate program and shared their views on potential improvements to the program. They described the extensive reach of their fiber, which enables high-capacity broadband services to schools and libraries and other customers across the nation. They also explained that the quickest and the most cost effective way to expand connectivity to America’s schools and libraries is by leveraging the extensive networks of commercial service providers like CenturyLink and Frontier. FCC Seeks PRA Comments on Extension of Program to Monitor Impacts of USF Support Mechanisms The FCC issued a Notice in the Federal Register on December 4, 2013, seeking Paperwork Reduction Act comments on an extension of the information collection related to the program to monitor the impacts of USF support mechanisms. The Commission said the monitoring program is necessary for the Commission, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Congress and the general public to assess the impact of the universal service support mechanisms. The FCC said this information collection should be continued because network usage and growth data have proven to be a valuable source of information about the advancement of universal service. Comments are due February 3, 2014.FCC ProcessTIA Offers Suggestions on Improving FCC Efficiency TIA filed a letter on December 2, 2013, in response to the FCC blog posting seeking public input on improving the efficiency of FCC processes. TIA said, among other things, the FCC should ensure timely notice and availability of FCC releases and filings to stakeholders. TIA urged the FCC to ensure that future calls for input, such as the blog post it is responding to, be made more visible on the FCC’s website to ensure stakeholders are aware of policy statements and requests for input released in this way. In addition, it urged the FCC to ensure that electronic submissions, particularly those submitted via its ECFS, publicly appear within 24-48 hours of submission to ensure adequate time to consider necessary responses in reply comments.Editor: Teresa Evert | Assistant Editor: Shawn O'Brien |
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