CenturyLink Welcomes Possible FCC Accounting Move; Incompas Backs NCTA Opposition

CenturyLink is hopeful the FCC will allow price-cap telcos to shift from Part 32 rules to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), said Jeff Lanning, vice president federal regulatory affairs. The Part 32 uniform system of accounts "is another part of the regulatory edifice created to deal with a monopoly, and we’re way past that. All of that framework needs to go away," he told us Tuesday. Commissioners are scheduled to vote at Thursday's meeting on a draft item to simplify price-cap carrier accounting. "We need to be treated like other providers," he said, calling potential FCC streamlining "a very positive step." Incompas backed NCTA opposition to the telco plan for ending mandatory Part 32 use in calculating pole-attachment rates as part of the proposed FCC optional shift to GAAP for price-cap carriers. "Ensuring the rates are reduced to the appropriate level -- let alone not allow for an increase -- is critical to the Chairman’s broadband build-out agenda," said an Incompas filing Friday in docket 14-130. "NCTA has demonstrated that the ILECs’ proposal risks raising these rates substantially. The Commission should not take action that results in any rate increases for pole attachments, even if temporary or transitioned over time." NCTA more recently sought to attach conditions to an ILEC-proposed transition for pole-attachment rates from Part 32 to GAAP treatment (see 1702170038). Lanning said Part 32 and GAAP accounting produce the same pole-attachment rates on average in the long run, but he said Incompas and cable advocates are trying to use "regulatory arbitrage to lock in rates" at artificially low levels.