Localities hope the FCC cable signal performance quality draft order on commissioners' Sept. 26 agenda could resolve issues that have plagued some public, educational and government access channels, communications lawyers said. A 5-0 vote is likely since there doesn't seem to be any particular political opposition or issues, cable industry officials told us.
Wireless small-cells policy debates at the state and federal levels created tension between industry and local governments that had collaborated well on the ground, said local and industry officials during and after the NATOA conference last week in Seattle (see 1709130024 and 1709120001). Some local officials said they worked well with industry until state legislation surprised them. Industry officials said cooperative local governments shouldn’t fear state or federal rules. “We’re not getting anything built without them saying OK,” Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein said in an interview.
Industry urged the FCC to tread lightly in bolstering slamming and cramming rules targeting providers making unauthorized changes to consumers' preferred telecom providers or inserting unauthorized charges on phone bills. Major telco, cable and billing interests expressed concerns about potential new regulations teed up in a July NPRM (see 1707130054), while consumer groups were more supportive. Comments were posted in docket 17-169 Wednesday and Thursday. Replies those days in docket 17-97 on a July notice of inquiry (see 1707130054) also saw the telco industry and consumer groups at odds on whether the FCC should mandate a call authentication standards framework.
SEATTLE -- Localities urged industry to partner with them rather than fight for pre-emption of local authority on wireless siting of small cells for 5G networks. At NATOA's annual conference Monday and Tuesday, local and industry officials predicted more small-cells bills in states’ 2018 legislative sessions that would seek to pre-empt localities. An FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) member said he doesn’t believe federal pre-emption is likely.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's office has been signaling that the most likely date for a vote on revised net neutrality rules is the Dec. 14 commissioners' meeting, though it could come as early as Nov. 16, industry and government officials said Thursday. One big advantage for Pai of a later vote is that his confirmation could face an easier time on the Senate floor if the order is still pending, the officials said. The number of comments in docket 17-108 stood at almost 21.9 million at our deadline Thursday.
Disagreements grew over potential FCC broadband regulation in apartment buildings and other multiple tenant environments (MTEs) as more parties weighed in on all sides of a commission inquiry in replies posted Tuesday and Wednesday. Property owners are opposed to rules regulating them; localities are concerned about federal pre-emption of their competitive efforts; and industry parties are split over whether the FCC should move ahead with a rulemaking on MTE broadband or take certain actions. They were reacting to a notice of inquiry and initial comments in docket 17-142 (see 1706220036, 1707250050 and 1707260034).
Charter’s $13 million settlement with New York state about broadband buildout requirements needs work, the Public Utility Law Project (PULP) said in comments posted Tuesday in docket 15-M-0388 at the New York Public Service Commission. The PSC last month sought feedback on the settlement over the company’s failure to meet a cable network buildout condition in the order approving Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable (see 1707070063). “Given that the Settlement Agreement, essentially, retains the buildout timelines of the Merger Approval Order, with the addition of some minor performance enhancement fees, there is no reason to believe that Charter would be more successful in meeting its buildout requirements absent substantive additions to the buildout milestones and oversight process,” PULP said. “The settlement agreement as proposed does not add such enhanced oversight, or more granular buildout milestones.” The PSC should open a rulemaking to make changes, including to strengthen oversight requirements and to require the company to increase frequency of status reports and prioritize underserved areas and low-income households, PULP said.
Industry clashed with consumer groups on classification of text messaging, in comments at the California Public Utilities Commission released Monday. Text messaging is an information service that doesn’t pay into state USF and other programs, said CTIA and the California Cable and Telecommunications Association in separate comments on a CPUC rulemaking that responded to a CTIA petition (see 1706290049). Like email, another information service, text messaging is a store-and-forward service, meaning carriers' servers store messages before delivery, CTIA commented in docket R17-06-023. Text messaging requires “extensive information processing, including protocol conversion” and allows users to retrieve data by querying electronic databases, for example when a user sends a text to a short code and receives movie listings, it said. Also, it would be unfair to assess charges to carrier-based messaging but not internet messaging services like WhatsApp and iMessage, CTIA said. Determining that text messaging isn't subject to the charges won't affect funding of the programs because the top four carriers always have treated SMS as an information service not subject to the fees, CTIA said. CCTA supported CTIA in comments, saying the CPUC also should rule that voicemail and directory listing services are information services. But the Greenlining Institute, The Utility Reform Network and the Center for Accessibility Technology said text messaging is a telecom service that should pay into the USF and other public programs. "Even though the FCC has not directly ruled on the service classification of text messaging, FCC precedent and federal law properly classify text messaging as a telecommunications service,” said the consumer groups’ joint comments. The FCC ruled in 2004 that services involving net protocol conversion aren't necessarily information services, they said. “Applying the FCC’s test in the IP-in-the-Middle proceeding, text messages are properly telecommunications services. Text messaging uses ordinary customer equipment with no enhanced functionality and texts originate and terminate on the public switched telephone network. To end users, text messaging does not undergo net protocol conversion and provides no enhanced functionality. Additionally, customers generally do not subscribe to a service separate from, or pay rates that differ from, telephone services.”
ASPEN, Colorado -- More data on what works and what doesn't and on costs, stepping up consumer education, coordination among many stakeholders, and ISPs increasingly working with community groups were among suggestions from experts of different political and corporate stripes on ways to further narrow the digital divide. Responding to our questions at a Technology Policy Institute panel Tuesday, the group generally agreed there are no simple solutions, and more data plus maps of current efforts are needed. Getting the roughly one quarter of Americans without residential broadband online at home -- many in rural areas and many poor, elderly or not English-speaking -- isn't as simple as providing cheap or government-subsidized service with high speeds, they said.
Last week’s federal court ruling upholding a Kentucky city’s right to make one-touch, make-ready policy may strengthen the legal case for more local OTMR policies across the U.S., said attorneys and others who support the practice. But a state industry association head said the U.S. District Court in Louisville opinion has no impact for similar litigation in Tennessee and West Virginia, states that -- unlike Kentucky -- are subject to FCC pole-attachment authority. Meanwhile, one-touch advocates said the court ruling supports making state and national policies.