Heavy regulation of business data services would discourage investment by incumbent telcos and upstarts in an increasingly competitive market, said speakers at a USTelecom panel Thursday. Cable and ILEC representatives called potential BDS constraints dangerous, and a union representative voiced concern about proposals for rate cuts, starting with a "flash cut" of 20 percent. "Not good for investment. Not good for jobs," said Debbie Goldman, Communications Workers of America telecom policy director.

Heavy regulation of business data services would discourage investment by incumbent telcos and upstarts in an increasingly competitive market, said speakers at a USTelecom panel Thursday. Cable and ILEC representatives called potential BDS constraints dangerous, and a union representative voiced concern about proposals for rate cuts, starting with a "flash cut" of 20 percent. "Not good for investment. Not good for jobs," said Debbie Goldman, Communications Workers of America telecom policy director.

Though there may be “an evolution” in the FCC's set-top plan, NCTA and its attorney, Helgi Walker of Gibson Dunn, met with new FCC General Counsel Howard Symons Monday to brief him on NCTA objections to the original set-top NPRM, said an ex parte filing posted online in docket 16-42 Tuesday. The briefing was a response to “statements made by proponents of the NPRM that they hoped to 'bolt on' aspects of the NPRM to the apps-based approach,” NCTA said. Incompas has suggested a combination of the FCC and pay-TV plans it called the “bolt-on” approach. “Any proposal -- even if termed 'apps-based' -- that includes unbundling and disaggregation of content and/or interactive services” would lead to legal challenges, NCTA said.

Though there may be “an evolution” in the FCC's set-top plan, NCTA and its attorney, Helgi Walker of Gibson Dunn, met with new FCC General Counsel Howard Symons Monday to brief him on NCTA objections to the original set-top NPRM, said an ex parte filing posted online in docket 16-42 Tuesday. The briefing was a response to “statements made by proponents of the NPRM that they hoped to 'bolt on' aspects of the NPRM to the apps-based approach,” NCTA said. Incompas has suggested a combination of the FCC and pay-TV plans it called the “bolt-on” approach. “Any proposal -- even if termed 'apps-based' -- that includes unbundling and disaggregation of content and/or interactive services” would lead to legal challenges, NCTA said.

Though there may be “an evolution” in the FCC's set-top plan, NCTA and its attorney, Helgi Walker of Gibson Dunn, met with new FCC General Counsel Howard Symons Monday to brief him on NCTA objections to the original set-top NPRM, said an ex parte filing posted online in docket 16-42 Tuesday. The briefing was a response to “statements made by proponents of the NPRM that they hoped to 'bolt on' aspects of the NPRM to the apps-based approach,” NCTA said. Incompas has suggested a combination of the FCC and pay-TV plans it called the “bolt-on” approach. “Any proposal -- even if termed 'apps-based' -- that includes unbundling and disaggregation of content and/or interactive services” would lead to legal challenges, NCTA said.

CenturyLink knocked an Incompas/Verizon proposal to reduce ILEC rates for DS1 and DS3 special access services in areas deemed noncompetitive "to account for supposed growth" in ILEC productivity since 2005. CenturyLink said the proposal would cut ILEC DS1 and DS3 rates by 10 percent in year one and another 5 percent in year two, on top of productivity-driven "X-factor" cuts of 4.4 percent for both years, producing a total reduction of more than 20 percent in the first two years. The cuts could potentially affect Ethernet rates as well, if a "benchmarking" plan is adopted, the telco said.

CenturyLink knocked an Incompas/Verizon proposal to reduce ILEC rates for DS1 and DS3 special access services in areas deemed noncompetitive "to account for supposed growth" in ILEC productivity since 2005. CenturyLink said the proposal would cut ILEC DS1 and DS3 rates by 10 percent in year one and another 5 percent in year two, on top of productivity-driven "X-factor" cuts of 4.4 percent for both years, producing a total reduction of more than 20 percent in the first two years. The cuts could potentially affect Ethernet rates as well, if a "benchmarking" plan is adopted, the telco said.

The FCC and supporters defended a 2015 pole-attachment order putting new downward pressure on rates that is being challenged in court by electric power companies, which own poles. In a joint reply brief to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals posted Tuesday, the FCC/DOJ said the commission has "broad authority" to regulate pole-attachment rates under Section 224(b) of the Communications Act (Ameren Corp., et al., v. FCC, No. 16-1683). They said that mandate was affirmed when the D.C. Circuit in 2013 upheld a 2011 FCC order that aimed to drive telecom rates down to lower cable rate levels in American Electric Power, which said the commission used its discretion reasonably to eliminate market distortions. After finding the rules weren't working as intended, the FCC in November adjusted cost allocators to bring the telecom and cable rates into closer parity at the lower levels (see 1511240071). "The rules, as amended, share the same structure and the same purpose as the 2011 rules. Accordingly, they are no less lawful than the rules at issue in American Electric Power, and this Court should follow the D.C. Circuit’s reasoning in that case to avoid a circuit split," said the FCC/DOJ, requesting an oral argument. Intervenors USTelecom plus NCTA, Incompas and Level 3 filed briefs backing the FCC actions (here and here in Pacer). The order "encourages broadband deployment, narrows the unjustified discrepancy that existed between the 'just and reasonable' rates that may be charged" competitors, and continues to fully compensate pole owners, USTelecom said. Both intervenor briefs said oral argument isn't necessary. "This challenge merely repackages the prior challenge rejected by the D.C. Circuit," USTelecom said. In their May brief (in Pacer), the power companies also said oral argument isn't necessary, "because the issues and relevant authority are clear." The commission's "conflation of the two cost formulas violates congressional intent and the canon against surplusage," said Ameren, American Electric Power Service, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric and Dominion Virginia Power. "The FCC's definition of 'cost' is also arbitrary and capricious because it gives an infinite number of meanings to the same term in the same subsection of the same statute." If the 8th Circuit orders oral argument, they said, 15 minutes will be sufficient for each side, the same as the FCC/DOJ requested.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., lauded the joint filing by Verizon and Incompas in the FCC business data services proceeding. Replies were due Tuesday (see 1608090053). The filing “demonstrates that there is a practical path forward to bring competition to the business data services market,” she said in a statement. “This proceeding has languished at the FCC for far too long, and now that key industry stakeholders have come together, it’s time for the FCC to take advantage of the opportunity it has to finally bring business data services reform across the finish line.” She and other House Democrats sent the agency a letter on the topic earlier this month (see 1608050050).

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., lauded the joint filing by Verizon and Incompas in the FCC business data services proceeding. Replies were due Tuesday (see 1608090053). The filing “demonstrates that there is a practical path forward to bring competition to the business data services market,” she said in a statement. “This proceeding has languished at the FCC for far too long, and now that key industry stakeholders have come together, it’s time for the FCC to take advantage of the opportunity it has to finally bring business data services reform across the finish line.” She and other House Democrats sent the agency a letter on the topic earlier this month (see 1608050050).