THE REGULATORY MIX AND BLOG ARTICLES

The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.

In its press release dated 12/11/13, the FCC announced that it has proposed nearly $44 million in fines against three companies that appear to have violated FCC rules protecting its Lifeline program against waste, fraud and abuse. Including the eight Lifeline enforcement actions brought by the FCC in the past 90 days, these most recent three fines bring the total amount proposed to $90 million over that period.

Much is made this time of year for the need to express what we are thankful for. That proposition is a bit like asking people, “Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty person?” My question is why must there be a glass or fullness involved? Why is everything reduced to measurements of a physical equation involving mass and volume? Is it useful or fair to reduce emotions, attitudes, and one’s circumstances to such equations? Perhaps not, but in the days of Smartphones, Twitter, Facebook, and multi media outlets to share the oddest aspects of ourselves with everyone, it is hard to remember if we have ever had an unexpressed thought or digital emotion. So much is spilled through these channels daily that we have become hardened to real expressions of passion and enthusiasm and deem those emotions as false or too impossible to be real.

The Discovery Channel features “Shark Week” each year that allows viewers to witness the migration and eating behaviors of frightening sea creatures via our television screens, smart phones, and other electronic devices. However, that carnage has nothing on the Thanksgiving Potluck Luncheon that we put together every year at Technologies Management, Inc.!

 

The subtle changes in the weather for October through January in Central Florida are lovely. As a non-native of the land of eternal summer, I have come to appreciate the softer, more romantic angle of the sun. The shadows it now casts are quite different from what we see during the very long, hot summer months. While we cannot experience the explosion of color from the changing of Maple, Oak, Dogwood, or even golden Aspen leaves, we can enjoy one thing that all gulf coast states and the peninsula of Florida can truly appreciate . . . THE DROP IN HUMIDITY LEVELS.

 

Why are the humidity levels so important, you ask? Florida is one of those sticky locations where you can actually grow broccoli in the shower if you are not diligent in guarding grout against this extra steamy environment. Other surfaces are under constant attack from mold and mildew during the summer months like concrete patios, driveways, roof tops, siding, leather goods (shoes, belts, hats, and handbags), books, and more. Even wood and stone surfaces feel damp in the most drastically artificially cooled locations.

Okay, I admit it. I am a little bit of a science geek. Growing up in northern California, every kid thought they would be an astronaut or discover more secrets about volcanic activity on the Ring of Fire. I was right there staring at the stars, looking through microscopes at creek water, and magnetizing sewing needles floating on a cork in a bowl of water. Even though I have been working in the telecommunications industry since the late 1980’s and at Technologies Management, Inc. a regulatory consulting firm for last 11 years, I get those school kid goose bumps thinking about Voyager 1 leaving our solar system. Just listen to the sounds of interstellar space from Voyager.

Technologies Management, Inc. is hosting the half-day Workshop at COMPTEL PLUS in Orlando on Thursday, September 26, 2013, Strategies for Striking the Right Balance with VoIP.  The workshop is FREE (registration is not required) and is focused on regulatory requirements, compliance, and related business strategies for providers of VoIP services.  “We are standing at the point where various services are transitioning to IP technology, including cable digital phone, mobile and landline telephony. Questions have arisen about how traditional regulatory models apply to these services,” said Connie Wightman, president of TMI.

Take a look at the terrific line up we have for our FREE 1/2 Day VoIP Workshop at COMPTEL PLUS on Thursday, September 26, 2013, in Orlando.

The summer of 2013 has been another busy one for Technologies Management, Inc. Recent states' activities have made our efforts on behalf of VoIP Service Providers especially hot, like our Florida weather.  Identifying the regulatory obligations that apply (or do not apply) in any state is a daunting task for VoIP companies. Our regulatory monitoring team and our consulting experts carefully watch every jurisdiction as state utility commissions and state legislatures weigh in on whether to regulate VoIP Service Providers.

The Michigan Public Service Commission proposed a funding factor of $0.91 per meter, per month for the new Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund. The Commission also directed electric utilities, municipally-owned electric utilities, and cooperative electric utilities to file information by July 24, 2013, showing either the number of retail billing meters the utility serves that are subject to the Low-Income Energy Assistance Factor, or a notice that the utility intends to opt out of collecting the funding factor. Comments on the proposed funding factor must be received at the Commission no later than July 24, 2013.