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 Briefing.
TELECOM
FCC
ECFS Improvements
In a blog posting, the Chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and its Chief Information Officer discussed plans to upgrade the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). They expect to transition to the new system in late June 2016. The FCC will formally announce the final switch-over date two weeks before the transition.
Over the last several months, the FCC has been testing a “beta” prototype of a modernized ECFS, as well as engaging with external and internal stakeholders to get input on how to improve the legacy ECFS system to meet today’s needs. This “modernized” version of ECFS will reside on a commercial cloud platform so it can automatically adjust to handle periods of heavy usage. It will also have a public Application Programming Interface (API), so that outside groups have an easy way to submit and pull comments in bulk, and the ability to read out loud the text contained in ECFS filings, making filings more easily accessible. Additionally, the new system is not designed to convert filings to PDF before they can be publicly viewed. Thus, filings will be made available to the public in their native formats.
In the coming weeks, FCC staff will be conducting web-based tutorials of the new ECFS. The next tutorials are scheduled for June 7th and June 9th from 2:00-2:45 PM EST. To participate in a tutorial of the new ECFS, interested parties can email ECFSfeedback@fcc.gov. The FCC encourages everyone who uses ECFS to participate in one of these demos to become familiar the new system and its features.
Schedule S
The FCC’s International Bureau announced that on June 14, 2016, it will demonstrate the new Schedule S software which incorporates the latest changes to the Part 25 rules. (Schedule S is used to collect technical data associated with satellite space stations.) The presentation will cover all aspects of the new software, including creating and managing Schedule S forms, reviewing available instructions, and submitting forms. There will also be a limited opportunity for attendees to try out the new software. The hands-on portion of the demonstration will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Due to space limitations, the hands-on portion of the demonstration is limited to 20 minutes per potential applicant. Therefore, registration is required. Interested parties should call the IBFS Help Line on 202-418-2222 or send an e-mail to IBFSINFO@fcc.gov by June 9, 2016 to register.
California
The Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) filed a joint application for rehearing of the PUC’s Decision granting the Bright House transfer of control to Charter. The ORA/CforAT purpose is to correct what they believe to be inadvertent, but significant, errors in the omission of specified conditions associated with the approval of the transfer of control. ORA/CforAT believe the Decision fails to adopt conditions in its Ordering Paragraphs that address Charter’s service quality commitments, commitments to improve its relationship with customers with disabilities, and the FCC’s condition in its approval of the merger that prohibits Charter from imposing data caps or charging usage-based pricing for residential broadband service for a period of seven years. (The PUC adopted a three year prohibition.)
Minnesota
The PUC approved a decrease in the Telecommunications Access Minnesota (TAM) Fund surcharge. The PUC directs all carriers to make the TAM surcharge change effective on August 1, 2016. This decrease will impact the TAM surcharge on all wired (including Cable/Fixed/Static VoIP) lines, post-paid wireless customer access lines, and prepaid wireless retail transactions. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 5/25/16 for more details.
