Incumbent telcos are objecting to FCC draft reregulation of their legacy DS1 and DS3 business data services that would be more extensive than they originally believed. A draft order would subject all TDM-based telco BDS with data speeds below 50 Mbps to price caps and cuts, including dedicated inter-office "transport" services between network hubs, industry and FCC officials told us. "We never thought transport was at issue. ... We're all aghast at this," USTelecom Senior Vice President Jonathan Banks told us Tuesday. A commission official told us the proposed BDS legacy rate re-regulation would cover transport and not just loop-like "channel terminations" to end users in office buildings (and to cell towers). Commissioners plan to vote on a BDS order and Further NPRM Nov. 17 (see 1610270054).

Incumbent telcos are objecting to FCC draft reregulation of their legacy DS1 and DS3 business data services that would be more extensive than they originally believed. A draft order would subject all TDM-based telco BDS with data speeds below 50 Mbps to price caps and cuts, including dedicated inter-office "transport" services between network hubs, industry and FCC officials told us. "We never thought transport was at issue. ... We're all aghast at this," USTelecom Senior Vice President Jonathan Banks told us Tuesday. A commission official told us the proposed BDS legacy rate re-regulation would cover transport and not just loop-like "channel terminations" to end users in office buildings (and to cell towers). Commissioners plan to vote on a BDS order and Further NPRM Nov. 17 (see 1610270054).

Industry officials see the set-top box draft order as stalled, even as FCC officials told us work on the item is still occurring. Ex parte filings show a small surge in recent conversations on the document between stakeholders and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's office. Rosenworcel has been viewed as the deciding vote on the item since it was pulled from the September commissioner meeting agenda (see 1609290076). Since Monday, Incompas, Microsoft and a group of content company officials spoke with Rosenworcel's office, according to industry officials and ex parte filings. “Productive conversations are ongoing,” an FCC spokesman told us.

Industry officials see the set-top box draft order as stalled, even as FCC officials told us work on the item is still occurring. Ex parte filings show a small surge in recent conversations on the document between stakeholders and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's office. Rosenworcel has been viewed as the deciding vote on the item since it was pulled from the September commissioner meeting agenda (see 1609290076). Since Monday, Incompas, Microsoft and a group of content company officials spoke with Rosenworcel's office, according to industry officials and ex parte filings. “Productive conversations are ongoing,” an FCC spokesman told us.

The FCC plans to vote on a business data service order and Further NPRM Nov. 17 at its next monthly meeting, according to a tentative agenda issued Thursday, as was expected (see 1610190046). The tentative agenda also includes an order on a mobility fund phase II order to promote broadband, an NPRM seeking comment on proposal to set a unified roaming standard and classify Voice Over LTE, and an order to increase the amount of video description required of video providers.

The FCC plans to vote on a business data service order and Further NPRM Nov. 17 at its next monthly meeting, according to a tentative agenda issued Thursday, as was expected (see 1610190046). The tentative agenda also includes an order on a mobility fund phase II order to promote broadband, an NPRM seeking comment on proposal to set a unified roaming standard and classify Voice Over LTE, and an order to increase the amount of video description required of video providers.

Comments are due Nov. 9, replies Nov. 16 on a telecom industry petition for FCC reconsideration of a policy statement instituting treble damages for violations of rules for payments to USF and other funding programs. The pleading cycle was triggered Wednesday by Federal Register publication of an FCC notice, which created docket 16-330. "The policy statement adopts a new treble damages formula for calculating forfeitures for telecommunications service providers' failure: (1) to timely pay their assessments for the federal Universal Service Fund (USF), Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, local number portability (LNP), North American Numbering Plan (NANP) and regulatory fee programs; and (2) to file data required to assess payment obligations for these programs," said a petition filed March 6, 2015, by CTIA, NCTA, Comptel (now Incompas) and USTelecom (see 1503310052). The FCC's goals are laudable, the groups said, but the policy statement must be vacated because it wasn't promulgated with notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act. On substance, the treble damages policy is arbitrary and capricious, reflecting "a results-oriented effort by the Commission to drive the relevant forfeiture amounts as high as possible," said the groups, which pressed the agency in August to open a docket and seek comment on their petition (see 1608050061).

Comments are due Nov. 9, replies Nov. 16 on a telecom industry petition for FCC reconsideration of a policy statement instituting treble damages for violations of rules for payments to USF and other funding programs. The pleading cycle was triggered Wednesday by Federal Register publication of an FCC notice, which created docket 16-330. "The policy statement adopts a new treble damages formula for calculating forfeitures for telecommunications service providers' failure: (1) to timely pay their assessments for the federal Universal Service Fund (USF), Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, local number portability (LNP), North American Numbering Plan (NANP) and regulatory fee programs; and (2) to file data required to assess payment obligations for these programs," said a petition filed March 6, 2015, by CTIA, NCTA, Comptel (now Incompas) and USTelecom (see 1503310052). The FCC's goals are laudable, the groups said, but the policy statement must be vacated because it wasn't promulgated with notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act. On substance, the treble damages policy is arbitrary and capricious, reflecting "a results-oriented effort by the Commission to drive the relevant forfeiture amounts as high as possible," said the groups, which pressed the agency in August to open a docket and seek comment on their petition (see 1608050061).

Incompas urged the FCC to curb business data service "market power abuse" at the commissioners' Nov. 17 meeting, the preliminary agenda for which is due Thursday. "Setting a vote on BDS would advance a proceeding that has dragged on for over a decade," said CEO Chip Pickering in a blog post Tuesday. "We currently live in the EpiPen world of broadband, where companies like AT&T and CenturyLink use their market power to overcharge customers. ... Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to adopt a remedy to address market abuse on legacy BDS services is an important first step toward more competition that we support." The FCC "should establish a mechanism or clear guidelines for Ethernet BDS pricing that fosters competition, not monopoly rates," Pickering wrote. He said the FCC should ensure wholesale rates always are less than retail rates, and further address "lock-up agreements." Representatives of Public Knowledge, Common Cause, New America's Open Technology Institute and the Computer & Communications Industry Association pressed the agency to "promote competition and address unjust and unreasonable prices that enterprise, wholesale, and mobile wireless backhaul customers pay for TDM and packet-based BDS services." The commission should phase in proposed TDM rate adjustments in two years, rather than three years, and rates should be cut by 17 to 20 percent instead of a proposed 11 percent, said a PK filing in docket 16-143 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, which also urged the commission "to address the high cost of Ethernet services." Charter Communications said the FCC "cannot lawfully regulate the large universe of BDS provided on a private-carriage basis." In a filing on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn, Charter opposed any Ethernet regulation, even of incumbent ILECs at lower speeds, which it said "could have a devastating impact on BDS investment for cable and other competitive providers." Alaska Communications asked the FCC to defer any consideration of BDS regulatory changes in Alaska, given the "state's unusual market dynamics," said a filing on meetings with every commissioner except Wheeler, aides (including to Wheeler) and other FCC officials. Sprint, Frontier Communications, Level 3, AT&T and others made further BDS filings in the docket in recent days.

The multichannel video programming distributor universe is either a well-functioning competitive market or rife with thumb-on-the-scale practices that favor some, say competing portraits in replies due Monday night on the FCC 18th video competition report. Multiple commenters in initial filings last month urged more market deregulation (see 1609220005).