CLECs and their allies are pressing the FCC not to give ILECs relief from duties to share newly deployed feeder conduits with local competitors at regulated rates. They said the competitors still need regulated access to such conduits to reach the buildings of business customers and USTelecom hadn't justified the relief in a forbearance petition. The commission is to vote Thursday on a draft order on the petition (see 1512100063), and agency officials have indicated the item would give incumbent telcos relief from some rules, including on wholesale access (see 1511240070 and 1511250047).

Trade groups representing tech companies upped pressure on House and Senate leadership Wednesday with a letter opposing inclusion of policy riders in the FY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill that would curb the FCC’s net neutrality order. “We are writing to urge you to refrain from including riders relating to net neutrality and the [FCC]’s Open Internet Order in the upcoming omnibus spending legislation,” said the letter, led by the Internet Freedom Business Alliance and signed by groups including Cogent Communications, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Engine, Incompas, Level 3 and Tumblr. They blasted earlier House riders that would have stopped implementation of the order while litigation pends and forced posting of FCC items upon circulation. They argued for a different venue for consideration of the other rider’s topic. The one bicameral rider from earlier this year would prohibit FCC broadband rate regulation. “To be clear, we agree with the committees that retail rate­setting may be a harmful practice; however, the rate regulation riders that passed the committee process are drafted in a broad manner that could create unintended consequences for telecommunications policy by eliminating FCC safeguards for broadband markets, Internet entrepreneurs, app makers, and Internet users alike. (We note too that the FCC has forborne from rate­setting and tariffing provisions in the current rules),” the letter said. “To that end, we request the issue be addressed through regular order, a more thoughtful and pragmatic approach, rather than in the often chaotic appropriations process.” Government funding runs out Friday, and lawmakers are advancing a continuing resolution that would fund the government through Wednesday while they continue to negotiate the provisions of this omnibus spending bill. The Senate approved the short-term funding bill by voice vote Thursday. Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., wants “a bipartisan, bicameral omnibus deal to keep our government open and off autopilot, without including poison pill riders or leaving any bills behind,” she said Thursday.

Trade groups representing tech companies upped pressure on House and Senate leadership Wednesday with a letter opposing inclusion of policy riders in the FY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill that would curb the FCC’s net neutrality order. “We are writing to urge you to refrain from including riders relating to net neutrality and the [FCC]’s Open Internet Order in the upcoming omnibus spending legislation,” said the letter, led by the Internet Freedom Business Alliance and signed by groups including Cogent Communications, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Engine, Incompas, Level 3 and Tumblr. They blasted earlier House riders that would have stopped implementation of the order while litigation pends and forced posting of FCC items upon circulation. They argued for a different venue for consideration of the other rider’s topic. The one bicameral rider from earlier this year would prohibit FCC broadband rate regulation. “To be clear, we agree with the committees that retail rate­setting may be a harmful practice; however, the rate regulation riders that passed the committee process are drafted in a broad manner that could create unintended consequences for telecommunications policy by eliminating FCC safeguards for broadband markets, Internet entrepreneurs, app makers, and Internet users alike. (We note too that the FCC has forborne from rate­setting and tariffing provisions in the current rules),” the letter said. “To that end, we request the issue be addressed through regular order, a more thoughtful and pragmatic approach, rather than in the often chaotic appropriations process.” Government funding runs out Friday, and lawmakers are advancing a continuing resolution that would fund the government through Wednesday while they continue to negotiate the provisions of this omnibus spending bill. The Senate approved the short-term funding bill by voice vote Thursday. Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., wants “a bipartisan, bicameral omnibus deal to keep our government open and off autopilot, without including poison pill riders or leaving any bills behind,” she said Thursday.

TracFone resisted AT&T Lifeline proposals for the FCC to overhaul the USF support program for low-income consumers. TracFone opposed AT&T suggestions that carriers be removed from all Lifeline enrollment functions and that eligibility be initially tied solely to the federal food stamps program, which TracFone said would have a “devastating impact on Lifeline availability.” The comments came in a response posted Tuesday to a Nov. 23 AT&T filing flowing from an NPRM (see 1506180029). Other parties filing recently in docket 11-42 included the Cherokee Nation, Incompas, Lifeline Connects Coalition and Smith Bagley, with many comments addressing proposed minimum service standards for Lifeline broadband/voice coverage.

TracFone resisted AT&T Lifeline proposals for the FCC to overhaul the USF support program for low-income consumers. TracFone opposed AT&T suggestions that carriers be removed from all Lifeline enrollment functions and that eligibility be initially tied solely to the federal food stamps program, which TracFone said would have a “devastating impact on Lifeline availability.” The comments came in a response posted Tuesday to a Nov. 23 AT&T filing flowing from an NPRM (see 1506180029). Other parties filing recently in docket 11-42 included the Cherokee Nation, Incompas, Lifeline Connects Coalition and Smith Bagley, with many comments addressing proposed minimum service standards for Lifeline broadband/voice coverage.

Pointing to entry into the mobile services market and better services for small and mid-sized businesses, Charter Communications is trying to shore up its public interest argument for its proposed purchases of Bright House Network and Time Warner Cable. But critics of the $89.1 billion pair of transactions continue to issue broadsides.

Pointing to entry into the mobile services market and better services for small and mid-sized businesses, Charter Communications is trying to shore up its public interest argument for its proposed purchases of Bright House Network and Time Warner Cable. But critics of the $89.1 billion pair of transactions continue to issue broadsides.

Incompas disputed AT&T arguments that the FCC must overcome high hurdles before revising policies on packet-based services, such as switched ethernet, in the special-access business market (see 1509290036). “There is no basis for AT&T’s arguments” because commission policies “have not engendered ‘serious reliance interests’” for ILECs “even for those services encompassed by the Commission’s grants of forbearance,” Incompas said in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 05-25. “Reversing forbearance from applying dominant carrier and other regulations to these services would not require that the Commission overcome unusually difficult administrative or legal obstacles.” The FCC’s forbearance grant doesn’t even apply to all incumbent telco packet-based special-access services, the group said. When the FCC in 2007 gave AT&T forbearance relief from various duties, it limited the deregulation to its "existing non-TDM-based, packet switched services capable of transmitting 200 kbps or greater in each direction," and "existing non-TDM-based, optical transmission services," said Incompas, which said other agency relief orders were also limited to existing services. At the time, AT&T offered "OPTical Ethernet Metropolitan Area Network" switched ethernet service in special-access tariffs, but in 2010 it introduced an upgraded service called "AT&T Switched Ethernet Service" (ASE) that was functionally different, Incompas said. The FCC forbearance relief thus didn't apply to ASE, said Incompas, which called for reviewing the regulatory treatment of other newer ILEC packet-based services. "Perhaps even more importantly, forbearance would not apply to any packet-based special access services that the incumbent LECs introduce in the future," the group said. "This fact puts the lie to any incumbent LEC claim that they are relying on the absence of regulation as a basis for making investment decisions for packet-based special access services to be introduced in the future." A "comprehensive reassessment" is in order, it said.

Broadband competition pushed by the FCC is spurring consumer online shopping, including over Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, said Incompas President Chip Pickering in a Medium post. More than 300 businesses have written the FCC “calling for more choice in broadband service by preserving and protecting common sense competition policy  -- both in the tech transitions and the special access proceeding,” he said. “Industry associations representing 150,000 gas stations and convenience stores and 70% of all the electricity providers powering homes and businesses also wrote to the FCC to ask that competition be enshrined for future networks.” Pickering said the FCC tech transitions order would “unleash investment and new ideas” from nonincumbent providers, "but challenges remain as lobbyists and lawyers from the largest incumbent providers threaten to pick that deal apart.” He also credited the FCC for moving ahead with the special-access rulemaking and an investigation “into egregious terms and conditions that lock up customers and lock out competition.”

Broadband competition pushed by the FCC is spurring consumer online shopping, including over Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, said Incompas President Chip Pickering in a Medium post. More than 300 businesses have written the FCC “calling for more choice in broadband service by preserving and protecting common sense competition policy  -- both in the tech transitions and the special access proceeding,” he said. “Industry associations representing 150,000 gas stations and convenience stores and 70% of all the electricity providers powering homes and businesses also wrote to the FCC to ask that competition be enshrined for future networks.” Pickering said the FCC tech transitions order would “unleash investment and new ideas” from nonincumbent providers, "but challenges remain as lobbyists and lawyers from the largest incumbent providers threaten to pick that deal apart.” He also credited the FCC for moving ahead with the special-access rulemaking and an investigation “into egregious terms and conditions that lock up customers and lock out competition.”