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.

FCC

          Verizon/XO Merger

The FCC announced that it had restarted the informal 180-day clock for review of Verizon Communications, Inc.’s planned acquisition of XO Communications LLC as of August 24, 2016, which will be Day 86 of FCC review.  The FCC had paused the shot clock in July 2016, pending the receipt of responses to certain FCC document requests.  See the Regulatory Mix dated 7/22/16.  Those responses have now been received.

          Backup Power Requirement

The FCC has denied petitions for reconsideration of its decision to let consumers decide whether or not they need to purchase backup power rather than requiring that providers supply the backup power at no additional cost to consumers.  The FCC said that “while it is important to ensure that all (including low-income) consumers have the ability to communicate during a power outage, requiring backup power for all customers (including those who do not want or need it) is an expensive and inefficient way to achieve our objective.”  It noted that since many backup power and related options that already exist, and are expected to continue to grow, “consumers will be able to find a solution for maintaining communication capabilities that is right for them.”  The FCC also rejected calls to adopt standardized backup power solutions, stating: “we seek to promote providers’ flexibility to deploy innovative solutions as technology evolves.  We find that forcing consumers to pay for a service they do not – after full disclosure – need or want is too high a price to pay for standardization and uniformity.”  The FCC also rejected claims that requiring providers to furnish backup power to all consumers would result in economies of scale.  It said that “Although the per-unit cost of backup power could be less – due to economies of scale – if providers were required to furnish units to all users, the overall cost to providers of furnishing units to all users, including those who neither want nor need them, would be greater, thus undercutting the NASUCA et al. argument that its recommended course would benefit from economies of scale.  We therefore continue to believe that the inefficiencies attendant on providing backup power to consumers who do not need it or elect not to have it, far outweigh the asserted, but unquantified, benefits of economies of scale that would be achieved by forcing backup power on all consumers.”

TMI Regulatory Training | Technologies Management Inc. TMI Fall 2016 Telecom Regulatory Semianr & Workshop - October 18 - 19 in Maitland, FL

Happy 30th Anniversay to Technologies Management, Inc.!