Today: FCC Sandwich Isles License Exclusivity, FCC Process Reforms, CRTC Message Relay Services
FCC Sandwich Isles License Exclusivity
The FCC is seeking comment on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ (DHHL) request for guidance on whether terms of the exclusive license it provided “in perpetuity” to Waimana Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Sandwich Isles, and a subsequent, partial assignment of that license directly to Sandwich Isles, to provide telecommunications services to the Hawaiian home lands conflicts with §253(a) of the Communications Act. (§253(a) states that, “[n]o State or local statute or regulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.”) The request was filed as part of DHHLs’ filings in response to the FCC’s actions against Sandwich Isles for violations related to its receipt of Universal Service Fund support. See the Regulatory Mix dated 12/6/16. Comments are due February 10, 2017; reply comments are due February 27, 2017.
FCC Process Reforms
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced additional process reforms. The first reform is to the agency’s enforcement activities. Previously, after the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability, any settlement agreement was simply signed by the Chief of the Enforcement Bureau at the direction of the Chairman; it was not taken to the full Commission for a vote. Effective immediately, any consent decree settling a Notice of Apparent Liability or Forfeiture Order issued by the full Commission must be approved by a vote of the full Commission. This will help promote Commissioners’ involvement in and accountability for important enforcement decisions.
The second reform is to the practice of granting the staff “editorial privileges” to make changes to documents the FCC has just voted on. In the past, Commissioner O’Rielly has suggested that such privileges were too broad insofar as they extended to substantive edits. Accordingly, beginning at the February Open Meeting, editorial privileges granted to Bureaus and Offices will extend only to technical and conforming edits to items. Any substantive changes made to items following a meeting must be proposed by a Commissioner. Moreover, substantive changes to items should only be made in cases in which they are required, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, as a response to new arguments made in a Commissioner’s dissenting statement.
CRTC Reviews Message Relay Services
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is examining the regulatory framework for message relay services (MRS). The CRTC is asking for comments on how MRS could evolve to respond to users’ needs in today’s market, whether the services remain relevant in light of current trends and innovations, which service providers should be required to provide such services, and how such services should be funded, among other things. The present call for comments does not concern the provision of Video Relay Service (VRS), which is not based on text, but on sign language. The deadline for interventions is 4/3/17. Responses to requests for information filed by other parties are due by 5/3/17. Parties may file final submissions by 6/2/17 (not to exceed 15 pages).
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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related 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 Briefing.
