Today: NARUC Telecom Resolutions, NANC, NNP, Lifeline

NARUC Telecom Resolutions

At its Winter Policy Summit, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners is scheduled to consider four proposed resolutions relating to telecom. 

• The first resolution deals with Nationwide Number Portability (NNP).  It acknowledges the FCC’s pending Notice of Inquiry on NNP (Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 11/8/17) and urges the FCC to carefully consider issues raised in the NANC May 16, 2016 “Report on NNP,” and to disclose for public comment: (1) the costs to consumers to implement NNP; (2) the cost recovery options for NNP implementation; and (3) the timeline options for implementing NNP before adopting rules.

• The second resolution deals with the Lifeline program and urges the FCC to ensure that the program continues to provide service to low-income households.  It acknowledges the FCC’s pending proceeding to further revise those rules (Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 12/14/17) and urges the FCC to: (1) continue to cooperate with the states and acknowledge states’ significant role in the Lifeline program; (2) continue to allow non-facilities based carriers to receive Lifeline funds because they have been crucial in ensuring that low-income households are connected to vital telecommunication services; and (3) if a budget is created, ensure that qualified households that are current subscribers do not lose their Lifeline benefit and that there is reasonable and rationale growth in the Lifeline fund and subscribers.

• The third resolution addresses bridging the digital divide for low-income consumers more generally.  It urges  the FCC to: (1) eliminate the stand-alone Lifeline Broadband Provider designation; (2) reverse its preemption of State regulatory authority to designate Eligible Telecommunications Carriers; (3) adjust its plans for the Lifeline broadband service program by including a requirement that Lifeline broadband service providers must also provide voice-services which the NARUC finds are vital for the public to access E911/311 services and other emergency, health, public safety and government assistance services; (4) eliminate the forbearance and require participants in the federal Lifeline service program to use their own facilities to provide service; and (5) evaluate the feasibility, benefits and costs of requesting State commissions to annually verify which census tracts do not have a facilities-based wireline or wireless facilities-based Lifeline service provider and whether using a "Dutch auction" to allocate USF Lifeline service support for such areas would be effective.

• The final resolution deals with the need for advance notice of overlashing and encourages the FCC, in any order issued in its outstanding rulemaking revising its pole attachment rules (Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 12/7/17) to adopt rules that: (1) require attaching entities who wish to overlash to comply with all safety and engineering practices required of and by the pole owner, whether federal, state, local, contractual, or generally accepted in the industry; and (2) require meaningful advance notice of overlashing to the pole owner.

 See the full text of the NARUC Resolutions here.

The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’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 an Inteserra Briefing.