What will the FCC be tackling next?
Chairman Pai’s theme for the March 31, 2020 Open Meeting is “Robocall Relief Springs Forward.” He explains saying: “This past weekend, Americans across the country lost time that they're never getting back, had their sleep disrupted, and complained about this injustice. No, I'm not talking about springing our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time. I'm talking about one of the few constants of American life that are even worse: unwanted robocalls. Unfortunately, I can't give back that hour that we lost in the wee hours on Sunday morning, but I can announce that meaningful relief is on the way against robocalls.” Also on the agenda is an item sure to be of interest to competitive carriers that use line items to bill consumers for the Subscriber Line Charge, the Access Recovery Charge, the Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge, the Line Port Charge, and the Special Access Surcharge. The Chairman’s proposal would not only deregulate and detariff these so-called "Telephone Access Charges," but also prohibit carriers from separately listing them on customers' bills. Let’s take a closer look, starting with the Robocalling item.
Mandating STIR/SHAKEN and Proposing Additional Measures to Combat Illegal Spoofing
The proposed Report and Order portion of this item would require originating and terminating voice service providers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their networks by June 30, 2021, a deadline that is consistent with the TRACED Act. Specifically, it would require providers to fully implement STIR/SHAKEN on “the portions of their voice networks that support the transmission of SIP calls and exchange calls with authenticated caller ID information with the providers with which they interconnect.” As part of the mandate, the following three requirements would be adopted:
A voice service provider that originates a call that exclusively transits its own network must authenticate and verify the caller ID information in accordance with the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework;- A voice service provider originating a call that it will exchange with another voice service provider or intermediate provider must authenticate the caller ID information in accordance with the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework and, to the extent technically feasible, transmit that caller ID information with authentication to the next provider in the call path; and
- A voice service provider terminating a call with authenticated caller ID information it receives from another provider must verify that caller ID information in accordance with the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework.
The rules would apply to a wide range of voice service providers (wireline, wireless, and VoIP providers, including those that only allow outbound calling) but would not apply to providers that lack control of the network infrastructure necessary to implement STIR/SHAKEN.
The Further Notice portion of the item proposes:
- That the STIR/SHAKEN implementation mandate be extended to intermediate providers with the same June 30, 2021 implementation date.
- That small providers be granted an extension for compliance with the STIR/SHAKEN implementation mandate until June 30, 2022 so long as they implement a robocall mitigation program. A small provider would be defined as one with 100,000 or fewer voice service subscriber lines (counting the total of all business and residential fixed subscriber lines and mobile phones and aggregated over all of the provider’s affiliates).
- That voice service providers using non-IP technology be required to either (i) upgrade their networks to IP to enable STIR/SHAKEN implementation, or (ii) work to develop non-IP caller ID authentication technology and implement a robocall mitigation program in the interim.
- To establish a process by which a voice service provider may be exempt from the STIR/SHAKEN implementation mandate if the provider has achieved certain implementation benchmarks.
- That voice service providers be prohibited from imposing additional line item charges on consumers and small businesses for caller ID authentication.
Deregulation and Detariffing of Telephone Access Charges
The FCC recognizes that many states have begun to deregulate the intrastate portion of local telephone service provided by incumbent local exchange carriers. However, it continues to regulate and require tariffing of the various end-user charges associated with interstate access service offered by incumbent local exchange carriers, what it calls “Telephone Access Charges.” Accordingly, it proposes to deregulate and detariff these charges. Specifically, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would:
- Eliminate ex ante pricing regulation of Telephone Access Charges (specifically, the Subscriber Line Charge, Access Recovery Charge, Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge, Line Port Charge, and Special Access Surcharge).
- Require mandatory detariffing of Telephone Access Charges by both ILECs and CLECs on a nationwide basis.
- Explicitly prohibit all carriers from assessing any separate Telephone Access Charges on customers’ bills once those charges are deregulated and detariffed.
- Seek comment on how, once the charges are deregulated and detariffed, local carriers should allocate revenues between the interstate and intrastate jurisdictions for federal USF contribution purposes. Two alternatives are proposed for comment:
- Adopting an interstate safe harbor of 25% for local voice services provided by local exchange carriers, with the option for such carriers to file individualized traffic studies to establish a different allocation.
- Adopting bright-line rules for the allocation of interstate and intrastate revenues that would apply to all voice services—those offered by local exchange carriers as well as those offered interconnected VoIP providers and mobile operators. The FCC seeks comment on what this allocator should be.
The FCC also proposes a transition period that would allow carriers to detariff Telephone Access Charges with a July 1 effective date, consistent with the effective date of the annual access charge tariff filing following the effective date of the Order adopting the new rules. Carriers would be required to detariff these charges no later than the second annual tariff filing date following the effective date of such order. Carriers would also be required to remove Telephone Access Charges from relevant portions of their interstate tariffs on one of these two annual access tariff filing dates, at the option of the carrier.
The meeting will also consider a trio of items from the Media Bureau. One would seek comment on updating the process for determining whether a television broadcast station is significantly viewed in a community for purposes of determining whether a cable operators or satellite carriers is required to delete the duplicating network or syndicated programming of an otherwise distant station. Another seeks comment on making technical changes to the FCC’s distributed transmission system (DTS) rules to permit, within certain limits, DTS signals to spill over beyond a station’s authorized service area. The final item seeks comment on revisioning the program carriage complaint rules.
An important agenda for telecom carriers!
