Incumbent interests pressed the FCC to revise aspects of a draft order on one-touch, make-ready and other pole-attachment changes aimed at facilitating broadband deployment. Filings posted Monday and late last week in docket 17-84 on final lobbying (see 1807260036) show electric utilities objected to the draft's proposed communications "self-help" remedies in the power space at the top of poles; cable sought to bolster the rights of existing attachers in the lower-down communications space; ILECs sought expanded application of a draft presumption to lower the attachment rates they pay pole owners; and the Communications Workers of America pushed for changes to uphold the safety and jobs of union members. New entrants remained supportive of the FCC direction as it prepares for a planned vote on the draft at commissioners' Thursday meeting.
Parties bombarded the FCC with conflicting advice on one-touch, make-ready plans and other pole-attachment proposals in a draft order aimed at facilitating broadband deployment. Electric utilities pushed for changes to proposed communications provider self-help in the power spaces on poles, and cable continued voicing concern about OTMR treatment of existing attachments. Incumbent telcos sought stronger action to lower the attachment rates they pay pole owners, though Verizon backed OTMR and others supported agency proposals. Filings were posted in docket 17-84 Thursday as lobbying restrictions took effect and the draft was included in the agenda for the Aug. 2 commissioners' meeting.
Parties bombarded the FCC with conflicting advice on one-touch, make-ready plans and other pole-attachment proposals in a draft order aimed at facilitating broadband deployment. Electric utilities pushed for changes to proposed communications provider self-help in the power spaces on poles, and cable continued voicing concern about OTMR treatment of existing attachments. Incumbent telcos sought stronger action to lower the attachment rates they pay pole owners, though Verizon backed OTMR and others supported agency proposals. Filings were posted in docket 17-84 Thursday as lobbying restrictions took effect and the draft was included in the agenda for the Aug. 2 commissioners' meeting.
New entrants backed and telco, cable and electric utility incumbents voiced mixed views about an FCC draft order eying a one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) pole-attachment process and other changes to speed broadband deployment. Google Fiber, Incompas and the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) were supportive; the American Cable Association, AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, NCTA, FirstEnergy and American Electric Power Service (AEPS) and Georgia Energy voiced different levels of concern and offered proposed modifications. The stakeholder lobbying was reported in filings posted Tuesday and recently on the draft eyed for a vote at commissioners' Aug. 2 meeting (see 1807120053).
New entrants backed and telco, cable and electric utility incumbents voiced mixed views about an FCC draft order eying a one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) pole-attachment process and other changes to speed broadband deployment. Google Fiber, Incompas and the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) were supportive; the American Cable Association, AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, NCTA, FirstEnergy and American Electric Power Service (AEPS) and Georgia Energy voiced different levels of concern and offered proposed modifications. The stakeholder lobbying was reported in filings posted Tuesday and recently on the draft eyed for a vote at commissioners' Aug. 2 meeting (see 1807120053).
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., delivered a double dose of hope Tuesday to supporters of rescinded FCC 2015 net neutrality rules, supporting a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at restoring the rules (House Joint Resolution-129) and filing his 21st Century Internet Act. Coffman was the first House Republican to support the CRA resolution, with a discharge petition aimed at forcing a floor vote with signatures of 176 Democrats by Tuesday. Coffman told us in May he was wavering from his earlier opposition to the CRA (see 1805290002).
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., delivered a double dose of hope Tuesday to supporters of rescinded FCC 2015 net neutrality rules, supporting a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at restoring the rules (House Joint Resolution-129) and filing his 21st Century Internet Act. Coffman was the first House Republican to support the CRA resolution, with a discharge petition aimed at forcing a floor vote with signatures of 176 Democrats by Tuesday. Coffman told us in May he was wavering from his earlier opposition to the CRA (see 1805290002).
Telco competitors made their case for the FCC to retain regulated wholesale access to incumbent local loop and interoffice-transport lines despite a USTelecom forbearance petition seeking ILEC relief from requirements to lease out the connections as discounted unbundled network elements and related resale services. The UNEs and resale services "are critical" to competitor ability "to serve consumers and facilitate fiber deployment," said an Incompas filing on a meeting it and 13 upstart providers had with Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Monday in docket 18-141. "Many of the providers utilize unbundled bare copper DS0 loops to provide residential and business customers with voice and data services. ... Access to UNEs such as DS0, DS1, and enhanced extended loops ('EELs') also allows [CLECs] to serve underserved rural and urban areas, including areas where the CLEC is the only available broadband provider." The filing said there are "no economically viable alternatives" to UNE interoffice dark fiber transport to serve rural markets, and cited a "lack of special access or commercial alternatives for certain UNEs." The competitors said existing rules allow "a natural elimination of unbundling obligations" as ILECs retire copper. They said USTelecom's proposed delay in eliminating UNE access until February 2021 "falls woefully short" of giving competitors sufficient time to transition to alternatives: "Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all timeframe ... the Commission should adhere to the 'natural forbearance' under its current rules. In markets where ILECs have completed copper retirement, they gain full relief from DS0 unbundling obligations. In markets where ILECs have yet to discontinue copper, CLECs should be able to retain access to UNEs." That would ensure CLECs can continue providing consumers in underserved areas competitive alternatives to ILEC copper services, they said.
Possible FCC steps to ease nationwide number portability (NNP) got some support from WTA and full support from Incompas, with a draft order on the agenda for commissioners' July 12 meeting. WTA backs giving CLEC forbearance relief "from all remaining equal access and dialing parity requirements, but opposes elimination or modification of the current N-1 query requirement," which it said was working well, the RLEC group said in filings posted on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr (here, here, here), posted Thursday in docket 17-244. "The contemplated revision of the current N-1 query requirement to allow alternative voluntary arrangements is vastly preferable to outright elimination of it, but is still likely to disrupt the current established system by increasing the possibility of confusion, disputes, and dropped calls." The group's main interest remains that the FCC hold off on wireline NNP until it addresses wireless NNP and a transition to VoIP technology is further along. Incompas backed the draft, saying both actions "represent a necessary modernization of the regulatory regime and lay important groundwork for [NNP]." It "believes that the Commission’s 'middle course' for the N-1 requirement will give competitive providers the flexibility to eliminate routing inefficiencies inherent in this practice while preserving the standardization and uniformity that has contributed to successful number portability at the local level and with nationwide carriers."
Incompas and fiber providers pressed FCC commissioners to reject a USTelecom petition to forbear from requiring large ILECs to provide competitors unbundled wholesale access discounts. The providers "leverage unbundled network elements (UNEs) in key places while they are entering a market and building out their fiber networks," said a filing on a meeting with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly attended by executives of IdeaTek, Sonic Telecommunications, Socket Telecom, Mammoth Networks, First Communications and Access One, posted Tuesday in docket 18-141: If some "experience significant price increases, similar to those they faced" after business data service deregulation, "it could eliminate their ability to provide critical services." Some met Commissioner Brendan Carr (here), an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (here) and Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1807020046). USTelecom and Windstream proposed to delay UNE elimination until February 2021 (see 1806260028).