Incompas CEO Chip Pickering defended T-Mobile’s zero-rated Binge On program as within the spirit of net neutrality rules, in a letter Friday to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. T-Mobile is an Incompas member, and the letter said not all the group's members backed the filing. “INCOMPAS believes that Binge On supports and promotes your overriding policy objective -- the promotion of competition -- in the mobile broadband marketplace and the video marketplace as it allows consumers to explore more over-the-top video options on the go,” Pickering wrote. “Overwhelming consumer enthusiasm for Binge On shows just how much users benefit from the program.”

Incompas CEO Chip Pickering defended T-Mobile’s zero-rated Binge On program as within the spirit of net neutrality rules, in a letter Friday to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. T-Mobile is an Incompas member, and the letter said not all the group's members backed the filing. “INCOMPAS believes that Binge On supports and promotes your overriding policy objective -- the promotion of competition -- in the mobile broadband marketplace and the video marketplace as it allows consumers to explore more over-the-top video options on the go,” Pickering wrote. “Overwhelming consumer enthusiasm for Binge On shows just how much users benefit from the program.”

Some Capitol Hill Democrats may not resist a GOP House appropriations rider that would slow the FCC’s set-top box proceeding. House Republicans hitched the rider to the FY 2017 FCC funding bill unveiled last week. Some Democrats in both chambers oppose the language, but many also question the NPRM. Bipartisan and bicameral backing is widely seen as crucial for ensuring riders’ inclusion in any broader FY 2017 government funding package later this year.

Some Capitol Hill Democrats may not resist a GOP House appropriations rider that would slow the FCC’s set-top box proceeding. House Republicans hitched the rider to the FY 2017 FCC funding bill unveiled last week. Some Democrats in both chambers oppose the language, but many also question the NPRM. Bipartisan and bicameral backing is widely seen as crucial for ensuring riders’ inclusion in any broader FY 2017 government funding package later this year.

Opponents of extending comment dates in the business data service (BDS) proceeding "completely miss the mark," said an NCTA filing Friday in docket 05-25 urging an FCC extension. Suggestions there's a "high bar" to extensions are wrong, the cable group said, noting its finding that the commission granted 85 percent of recent extension requests. Sprint opposed NCTA's extension request Tuesday (see 1605180028) and joint opposition was filed Thursday by the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Free Press, Incompas, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. NCTA disputed arguments that potential BDS regulation of cable has been within the scope of the proceeding since a 2012 Further NPRM. "The Commission captioned this proceeding 'Special Access for Price Cap Local Exchange Carriers' because it was considering changes to the rules that governed the rates for special access services provided by price cap local exchange carriers," NCTA said. It said the telco regulatory focus was consistent with FCC precedent under which new BDS entrants like cable are considered nondominant and generally aren't subject to rate regulation. FCC data collection from cable didn't mean cable was being targeted for regulation, but that the data could assist telco regulation, the group said. NCTA also disputed opposition to an extension based on industry having access to the data for months, which it called irrelevant to resolving many of the issues raised in the recent FNPRM (see Ref:1604280057]. It also said it was "disingenuous" for Sprint to argue that no other party was concerned about the proceeding's complexity, when even supportive FCC commissioners voiced such concerns. "It seems the only parties unwilling to acknowledge the complex nature of this proceeding are the CLECs, who apparently will continue pushing for as much rate regulation as possible, as quickly as possible, regardless of whether such regulation is warranted by the facts (like the fact that Sprint already has negotiated commercial Ethernet arrangements with cable operators and telephone companies that enable the company to cover 95 percent of the country)," NCTA said. Separately, CCA said that wireless industry ability to deploy 5G and IoT services depended on "fixing the broken BDS market" because of all the backhaul needed to connect tens of thousands of new cell sites.

Opponents of extending comment dates in the business data service (BDS) proceeding "completely miss the mark," said an NCTA filing Friday in docket 05-25 urging an FCC extension. Suggestions there's a "high bar" to extensions are wrong, the cable group said, noting its finding that the commission granted 85 percent of recent extension requests. Sprint opposed NCTA's extension request Tuesday (see 1605180028) and joint opposition was filed Thursday by the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Free Press, Incompas, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. NCTA disputed arguments that potential BDS regulation of cable has been within the scope of the proceeding since a 2012 Further NPRM. "The Commission captioned this proceeding 'Special Access for Price Cap Local Exchange Carriers' because it was considering changes to the rules that governed the rates for special access services provided by price cap local exchange carriers," NCTA said. It said the telco regulatory focus was consistent with FCC precedent under which new BDS entrants like cable are considered nondominant and generally aren't subject to rate regulation. FCC data collection from cable didn't mean cable was being targeted for regulation, but that the data could assist telco regulation, the group said. NCTA also disputed opposition to an extension based on industry having access to the data for months, which it called irrelevant to resolving many of the issues raised in the recent FNPRM (see Ref:1604280057]. It also said it was "disingenuous" for Sprint to argue that no other party was concerned about the proceeding's complexity, when even supportive FCC commissioners voiced such concerns. "It seems the only parties unwilling to acknowledge the complex nature of this proceeding are the CLECs, who apparently will continue pushing for as much rate regulation as possible, as quickly as possible, regardless of whether such regulation is warranted by the facts (like the fact that Sprint already has negotiated commercial Ethernet arrangements with cable operators and telephone companies that enable the company to cover 95 percent of the country)," NCTA said. Separately, CCA said that wireless industry ability to deploy 5G and IoT services depended on "fixing the broken BDS market" because of all the backhaul needed to connect tens of thousands of new cell sites.

The FCC should approve a Windstream petition to ensure ILEC DS1 and DS3 loops are available to competitors as discounted unbundled network elements (UNEs) even if fiber replaces copper (see 1603150065), CCMI consultant Andrew Regitsky said in a blog post Friday. Clearer DS1 and DS3 UNE rights would not only give Windstream and other CLECs lower wholesale prices in some cases but also more leverage in broader special access negotiations, Regitsky told us by phone (DS1s and DS3s provide traditional special access service). The FCC so far "has chosen to sit on" the Windstream petition," Regitsky's blog post said, despite a recent Further NPRM to revamp the special access framework for business data service, or BDS (see 1604280057 and 1605030001). "The agency is currently in the process of developing new regulations for the [BDS] market, including the classification of markets into competitive or non-competitive to create new rules for special access and Ethernet services," he wrote. "But how can it determine if a market is competitive if the market participants have no idea what service alternatives are available? It is high time for the Commission to act on this issue and end the continued uncertainty for both ILECs and CLECs." CLECs generally supported the FCC's regulatory course in the FNPRM while most large ILECs were critical. Although Regitsky previously worked for CLEC trade group Comptel (now Incompas), he recently slammed FCC BDS proposals as "Bizarro world" regulation (see 1605060057).

Public Knowledge asked the FCC to block Verizon's proposed buy of XO Communications and address issues in a related spectrum leasing deal involving XO subsidiary Nextlink Wireless. "Because of the potential harm to competition from Verizon’s proposed acquisition of XO, and because of the important issues raised by Verizon’s associated lease of the Nextlink spectrum, the applicants have failed to meet the threshold requirement to demonstrate that the proposed transactions will serve the public interest," PK said in a petition to deny posted in docket 16-70. "The Commission cannot approve these transactions unless the concerns raised by these combined transactions are properly addressed." The Competitive Carriers Association, New America's Open Technology Institute and Windstream also filed comments in the docket citing various concerns with the deals. Dish Network and Incompas previously filed petitions to deny (see 1605040021). Transbeam, a provider of Ethernet over copper, supported the Incompas petition. The new filings were posted Thursday and Friday.

Public Knowledge asked the FCC to block Verizon's proposed buy of XO Communications and address issues in a related spectrum leasing deal involving XO subsidiary Nextlink Wireless. "Because of the potential harm to competition from Verizon’s proposed acquisition of XO, and because of the important issues raised by Verizon’s associated lease of the Nextlink spectrum, the applicants have failed to meet the threshold requirement to demonstrate that the proposed transactions will serve the public interest," PK said in a petition to deny posted in docket 16-70. "The Commission cannot approve these transactions unless the concerns raised by these combined transactions are properly addressed." The Competitive Carriers Association, New America's Open Technology Institute and Windstream also filed comments in the docket citing various concerns with the deals. Dish Network and Incompas previously filed petitions to deny (see 1605040021). Transbeam, a provider of Ethernet over copper, supported the Incompas petition. The new filings were posted Thursday and Friday.

NCTA asked the FCC to extend deadlines in the business data service (BDS) rulemaking by at least 45 days for initial comments and 30 days for replies. "Faced with an opportunity to resolve a complex proceeding regarding rates charged by [ILECs] that is finally ripe for resolution after more than a decade of regulatory activity, the Commission instead issued a complicated, voluminous Further Notice that significantly expands the scope of the proceeding to cover new services, new providers, and new issues," NCTA said in a motion filed Friday in docket 16-143. "The pleading cycle adopted by the Commission fails to reflect the radically expanded scope of the proceeding, severely constrains the ability of NCTA’s member companies to meaningfully participate in this proceeding, and lends credence to concerns raised by one commissioner that ‘the outcome is predetermined.’”