Today: Pai Responds to FirstNet Contract, FCC Business Data Services Proposal, Virginia Safe Digging Month
FCC Chairman Pai Responds To FirstNet Contract
In comments made during the FirstNet signing ceremony FCC Chairman Ajit Pai congratulated AT&T for being selected as the entity that will build out FirstNet’s nationwide public-safety network and thanked all those involved in this project. He said, “The FCC remains committed to supporting FirstNet and the public safety community. We’ve given FirstNet a license for 20 MHz of broadband spectrum in the 700 MHz band. We transmitted basic technical requirements to FirstNet for the network. And our spectrum auctions have produced billions of dollars that will be used to fund construction of the public safety network. Going forward, we look forward to working with FirstNet and doing what we can to help ensure the success of this project.” See the Regulatory Mix dated 3/30/17.
FCC Business Data Services Proposal on Agenda
Chairman Pai has circulated a 170+-page draft Business Data Service (BDS) order that recognizes the presence of strong competition in the BDS market and eases the regulatory burdens on providers of these services. The Chairman said that by modernizing the FCC’s rules, “the draft order will allow market forces to continue working to spur entry, innovation, and competition in the vibrant business data services market.”
What the Report and Order Would Do:
- Find that competition is robust and vigorous in the markets for packet-based BDS, certain other high-capacity BDS, and transport services so that continued legacy regulation is more likely to impede the introduction of new services and raise prices than to benefit consumers.
- Confirm that certain competitive offerings constitute private carriage.
- Find that competition for lower-speed services (DS1s and DS3s) is robust in some, but not all, counties and apply a competitive market test to determine where actual and potential competition is likely to constrain prices and lead additional investment.
- In areas with sufficient competition, modernize rules to facilitate additional infrastructure investment and next-generation services by ending tariffing and other legacy pricing regulations.
- In areas without sufficient competition, maintain price caps with a prospective productivity-based X factor of 2% to ensure small businesses and other customers are not subject to price increases and share in productivity gains. Grant carriers additional flexibility to offer discounts in such areas to schools, libraries, rural healthcare clinics, and other special access customers. Ensure continued Commission oversight by prohibiting the use of agreements that would bar disclosure of contract terms to the FCC going forward.
Virginia Announces Safe Digging Month
The State Corporation Commission announced April is National Safe Digging Month. Since 1995, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) has enforced the Virginia Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act (Act). When the requirements of the Act are properly followed, it will help prevent damage to underground utility lines. Virginia has a nationally recognized damage prevention program summed up in the message, "Dig With C.A.R.E. Keep Virginia Safe!"
C.A.R.E. means:
Call 811 before you dig.- Allow the required time for marking.
- Respect and protect the marks.
- Excavate carefully.
To learn more about Virginia’s damage prevention program visit the Division’s website at www.scc.virginia.gov/urs/mutility/index.aspx.
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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.
Spring 2017 May 9 - 10 in Maitland, FL - General Information
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