Educational groups asked the FCC to reject a petition from Texas carriers to initiate a rulemaking on E-rate to favor telecom companies that provided fiber to a school or library over an overbuilder during competitive bidding for the USF program (see 1907020016), in replies posted through Wednesday in docket 13-184. "Texas Carriers paint a very different picture than most rural carriers," said Funds for Learning. "Rather than working to earn business, they ask the FCC to regulate competition away." Texas education associations said the Texas carriers should participate in competitive bidding if they want future E-rate funding, "but the petitioners, instead of proposing bids, would rather propose unnecessary rules that allow them to remain on the sidelines without consequence." E-rate Partners said "the petition limits competitive bidding instead of encouraging it." Incompas said the proposals would significantly distort the competitive bidding process, cause higher prices and delay the application process for schools trying to upgrade their broadband services. Uniti Fiber said the "requested rule changes are unnecessary, do not offer solutions, and would harm the competitive market for E-rate services by installing a thicket of bureaucratic barriers to deploying broadband." Petitioners Central Texas Telephone Cooperative, Peoples Telephone Cooperative and Totelcom Communications said they "seek to eliminate waste, not competition," and characterizations of protectionism "are patently false, unsubstantiated and misunderstand many aspects of the Petitioners' proposal." The carriers encourage a mechanism "to consider and negotiate a reasonable rate to lease existing fiber to avoid duplicative costs and unnecessary overbuilding" in ways that would benefit both USF and schools. NTCA also asked for a rulemaking to reexamine E-rate rules adopted five years ago.

Educational groups asked the FCC to reject a petition from Texas carriers to initiate a rulemaking on E-rate to favor telecom companies that provided fiber to a school or library over an overbuilder during competitive bidding for the USF program (see 1907020016), in replies posted through Wednesday in docket 13-184. "Texas Carriers paint a very different picture than most rural carriers," said Funds for Learning. "Rather than working to earn business, they ask the FCC to regulate competition away." Texas education associations said the Texas carriers should participate in competitive bidding if they want future E-rate funding, "but the petitioners, instead of proposing bids, would rather propose unnecessary rules that allow them to remain on the sidelines without consequence." E-rate Partners said "the petition limits competitive bidding instead of encouraging it." Incompas said the proposals would significantly distort the competitive bidding process, cause higher prices and delay the application process for schools trying to upgrade their broadband services. Uniti Fiber said the "requested rule changes are unnecessary, do not offer solutions, and would harm the competitive market for E-rate services by installing a thicket of bureaucratic barriers to deploying broadband." Petitioners Central Texas Telephone Cooperative, Peoples Telephone Cooperative and Totelcom Communications said they "seek to eliminate waste, not competition," and characterizations of protectionism "are patently false, unsubstantiated and misunderstand many aspects of the Petitioners' proposal." The carriers encourage a mechanism "to consider and negotiate a reasonable rate to lease existing fiber to avoid duplicative costs and unnecessary overbuilding" in ways that would benefit both USF and schools. NTCA also asked for a rulemaking to reexamine E-rate rules adopted five years ago.

The FCC will give relief to incumbent LECs, granting them forbearance from pricing regulation on lower-speed legacy transport and requirements to sell the transport as unbundled network elements (UNE) to competitive carriers that then use them in their business data services, voting unanimously at its meeting Wednesday on a petition from USTelecom (see 1905130050). The agency issued a draft order in late June in docket 18-141 (see 1906190044). The new order allows CLECs to continue to buy the UNE transport from ILECs for the next six months, and gives them three years (concurrently) to transition away from the transport networks or negotiate new business agreements with the ILECs.

The FCC voted along party lines Wednesday for partial pre-emption of San Francisco's Article 52 open-access rule, with dissenting Democratic commissioners complaining of regulatory overreach. Geoffrey Starks called the declaratory ruling “not sound law and not good policy." Jessica Rosenworcel said it's "an affront to our long history" of local control. The Republicans and Starks, meanwhile, backed the related NPRM asking about other ways the FCC could boost broadband deployment in multi-tenant environments (MTE), though Mike O'Rielly said he did so with reservations.

Incumbent rural broadband carriers and competitors disagreed on a petition from Texas carriers asking the FCC to prohibit E-rate funding overbuilding fiber networks for schools and libraries (see 1905230005). In comments posted to docket 13-184 through Tuesday, incumbents said competitive bidding rules can favor large, regional providers over local rural carriers and lead to inefficient government spending. Opponents said the proposals could stifle broadband competition, raise prices for rural schools and libraries, and drive up USF costs. NTCA wants the FCC to initiate a rulemaking as requested by the Texas telcos to develop safeguards in its competitive bidding process to ensure USF E-rate and high-cost programs don't cannibalize each other and waste resources. It asked that existing providers be given an opportunity to respond when a school or library files an application for self-construction so the incumbent could match the price. Incompas urged the FCC to deny the petition, saying "the proposal would significantly distort the competitive process, result in higher prices, add significant delay for applicants trying to upgrade their broadband services, and likely compel schools and libraries to select the incumbent provider to receive E-rate funding in a timely fashion." Significant competition in the E-rate program resulted in lower prices and increased bandwidth, Incompas said. USTelecom seeks NPRM issuance "expeditiously" to ensure rules are clear going into the 2020 E-rate funding year. It said the petition "does not go far enough in its requested relief" and ignores the plight of providers that are consistently overbuilt with E-rate funding. The Consortium for School Networking and the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition opposed the petition. They said the changes "would serve as a barrier to competition" and could make it appear the FCC is "picking winners and losers" by insulating existing providers from competitive market forces. Uniti Fiber opposes the petition because the revamp would delay E-rate funding to eligible schools and libraries. "The requested changes add an additional 180 days when existing incumbents providers could review, challenge, and negotiate following the competitive bidding process," the company said, on top of the full year the competitive bidding and approval process can take.

Partial pre-emption of San Francisco Police Code Article 52 may not be necessary, with Incompas unaware of any provider that shares in-use wiring, it told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Geoffrey Starks, said a docket 17-142 ex parte posting Tuesday. It said the partial pre-emption declaratory ruling on July 10's agenda (see 1906190067) could deter other cities and local governments from mandatory access laws, and the FCC shouldn't expand the scope of the draft declaratory ruling to pre-empt other aspects of Article 52 such as mandatory access provisions. It said incumbent service providers and landlords have used revenue sharing and wiring and rooftop exclusivity arrangements as end runs around access rules and to keep competitive providers out of multiple tenant environments.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order Tuesday to grant ILECs forbearance from requirements to provide competitive LECs access to analog voice-grade copper loops on an unbundled basis at regulated rates and to offer for resale at regulated rates services that ILECs sell at retail (see 1805040016). Word came shortly after staff OK'd USTelecom's request to narrow its petition, itself approved shortly after the association's filing was posted. Pai's proposal would provide a three-year transition period to give CLECs and customers time to get alternative voice services. The draft doesn't grant forbearance from regulatory obligations governing broadband networks. USTelecom withdrew its remaining request for forbearance related to broadband, posted Tuesday, when the agency granted that request for withdrawal with an order in docket 18-141 Tuesday. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering called the withdrawal "a victory for small, local builders who deploy the fiber future." Given "robust competition in the voice market, these two mandates from the 1990s, which were intended to open monopoly local phone companies to competition in voice services, are no longer necessary," an FCC spokesperson emailed Tuesday. "These regulations are now harmful because they perpetuate reliance on legacy technologies and services and hinder the transition to next-generation networks." Commissioners plan to vote at their July 10 meeting on elements of the 2018 USTelecom petition for forbearance from requirements to make unbundled network elements such as transport loops available to CLECs at nonmarket rates (see 1906190044). USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter praised that coming vote, blogging favorably on other actions aimed at eliminating "outdated regulations and reporting requirements." Unresolved pieces to the USTelecom petition face a statutory deadline of Aug. 2.

Incumbent rural broadband carriers and competitors disagreed in response to a petition from Texas carriers asking the FCC to prohibit the use of E-rate dollars from the USF to overbuild fiber networks for schools and libraries (see 1905230005). In comments posted to docket 13-184 through Tuesday, incumbents said current competitive bidding rules for E-rate funding can favor large, regional providers over local rural carriers and lead to inefficient use of government dollars when they support the builds of redundant broadband networks at the expense of unserved institutions. Those opposing the petition wrote that the proposals could stifle broadband competition, raise prices for rural schools and libraries, and drive up costs to the USF.

The FCC Wireline Bureau should make clear that any fiber deemed competitive within a half mile of an incumbent LEC's wire center should exclude fiber now owned by an ILEC's own competitive LEC affiliate within the ILEC's region, in its draft forbearance order, Incompas said, posted Monday in docket 18-141. The fiber network data referenced in the draft was from 2013, but some competitive LECs have since consolidated with incumbent LECs in the same regions, the group said. Incompas representatives spoke with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Mike O'Rielly, Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, plus Terri Natoli, associate chief of the Wireline Bureau. Commissioners are to consider the draft order on forbearance at their July 10 open meeting (see 1906190044).

The FCC plans to undo "unnecessary regulation" of transport services and facilities for ILECs, according to two draft orders released Wednesday that will come up for a vote at the commissioners' July 10 meeting, as the agency promised a day earlier (see 1906180053). An opinion and order from docket 18-141 would partially grant USTelecom's request for forbearance from DS1 and DS3 transport unbundling obligations for price-cap carriers, where endpoints for competitive fiber is located within a half mile. An order on remand from docket 16-143 would grant price-cap carriers nationwide relief from ex ante price regulation of their lower speed TDM transport business data services.