The Regulatory Mix - Friday, July 21, 2017

Today: FCC CAF Deadlines, California Pole/Conduit Database, New York 10-Digit Dialing in 518 Area Code 

FCC Reminder On Pending CAF Deadlines

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a reminder to price cap carriers that accepted Connect America Phase II model-based support (CAF Phase II funding) of their upcoming deployment and reporting obligations and of the consequences for failing to meet those deadlines.

• By December 31, 2017, affected carriers must complete deployment to at least 40% of supported locations in each state (the interim build-out milestone)
• No later than March 1, 2018, affected carriers must report the geolocation information for each of the supported locations to which it deployed in order to meet its interim build out milestone and must certify that, as of December 31, 2017, it was offering voice and broadband services meeting the requisite public interest obligations to 40% of supported locations in each state.

USAC will be verifying this compliance and carriers were directed to be prepared to provide supporting documentation on request.  Any carrier that fails to satisfy its interim build out obligations will be subject to increased reporting obligations and support reductions and may also be subject to FCC enforcement action.  Frontier recently announced it had already met its milestone.   See the Regulatory Mix dated 7/20/17.

California Pole/Conduit Database

The California PUC will examine creating a database that will allow stakeholders to share key information about utility poles and conduit with each other and the PUC.  The Commission will consider strategies for increased and non-discriminatory access to poles and conduit by competitive communications providers, the impact of such increased access on safety, and how best to ensure the integrity of the affected communications and electric supply infrastructure going forward. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see briefing dated 7/12/17.

New York Mandatory 10-Digit Dialing in 518 Area Code; New Area Code Created

The New York Public Service Commission announced that beginning August 19, 2017, customers within the existing 518 area code in eastern upstate New York will have to dial 10 digits when making a telephone call. The additional dialing is required as a result of the introduction of the new 838 area code which becomes effective on September 19, 2017. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see briefing dated 10/19/16.

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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.