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

          Commissioner Pai Requests Information Regarding State Lifeline Programs

FCC Commissioner Pai has sent a letter request for information to the Public Utility Commissions in California, Oregon, Texas, and Vermont.  He is seeking their help in combating fraud and abuse in administering the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline program since they each run their own Lifeline accountability databases and do not participate in the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD).  In particular he notes that since wireless resellers began participating in the program the instances of duplicate subscribership has increased dramatically.  The FCC established the NLAD in order to enforce the “one-per-household” rule.  However, the NLAD allows Lifeline wireless resellers to override the duplicate enrollment safeguards.  The FCC’s investigation shows that wireless resellers routinely override those safeguards at an annual cost to American taxpayers of $650 million.  Commissioner Pai asks the Commissions to provide information on how they combat abuse of the Lifeline program; what checks/audits they have in place to ensure that applicants for the Lifeline program are not duplicates; and does the Commission let wireless resellers override any of its safeguards?  Click here for more details.

          Enforcement Bureau Reaches Settlement in 911 Service Outage Investigation

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has reached a $2.4 million settlement with General Communication, Inc. (GCI), resolving an investigation into five 911 service outages that occurred on the company’s wireless network in various parts of Alaska between August 2008 and April 2016.  The Bureau’s investigation determined that all five outages would likely have been either minimized, or entirely avoided, if GCI had implemented appropriate safeguards in its 911 network architecture and operational procedures. The investigation also found that GCI did not provide timely notification of three of the five outages to the affected 911 call centers. Further, GCI did not submit timely Network Outage Reporting System reports to the Commission in four of the five outages.  As part of the settlement, GCI has agreed to strengthen its procedures for providing 911 service and to adopt robust compliance measures to ensure that it adheres to the FCC’s 911 service reliability and outage notification rules in the future.  Click here for full Order.

California

The Agenda for the PUC’s meeting on 7/14/16 includes a vote on conditional approval of funding for the grant application of Inyo Networks, Inc. from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) in the amount of $1,491,078 for the Nicasio Broadband Project located in the Nicasio community of western Marin County, a CASF “priority area.”  This project is expected to provide broadband services to three anchor institutions and provide safety benefits in the Nicasio community with a robust broadband service in the event of severe weather, natural disasters as well as improved access to e-health services.

Colorado

The PUC amended the procedural schedule in its rules proceeding (implementing 2014 telecom reform legislation).  TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefings dated 6/14/16 and 6/9/16.  Initial pre-filed comments are due no later than August 12, 2016, and responsive comments are due no later than September 13, 2016.  Hearings are scheduled for September 26-27, 2016.  In addition, Staff will work with participants on scheduling a second informal workshop to discuss initial comments and redline rules. 

Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced that it will begin taking applications on July 22nd for funding to expand broadband infrastructure in Minnesota.  The $35 million in funding, which was approved during the 2016 legislative session, goes into effect with the beginning of the 2017 fiscal year (July 1).  DEED will award grants through its Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program to pay for up to 50% of project development costs in unserved and underserved areas of the state.  A maximum of $5 million per grant will be available.

Save the date. TMI's Fall 2016 Telecom Regululatory Seminar & Workshop October 18 - 19, 2016, in Maitland, FL.