Today:  FCC Mobility Phase II, FTC Consumer Complaint Report

FCC Mobility Phase II (MF II)

The FCC released a map showing areas presumed eligible to receive support for the deployment of 4G LTE service as part of its Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) auction.  The MF-II auction will make up to $4.53 billion in support available over 10 years to primarily rural areas that lack unsubsidized 4G LTE service. The window for submitting a challenge opens on March 29, 2018, and will remain open until August 27, 2018.  The initial eligible areas map is available here.  The FCC also released a Public Notice establishing the parameters and procedures to implement the MF-II challenge process in which mobile service providers and government entities will have an opportunity to challenge an initial determination that an area is ineligible for MF-II support.

Finally, in a separate Order, the FCC resolved the remaining issues raised by parties in petitions for reconsideration of the  MF-II Report & Order.  It granted requests to amend the rules to apply the collocation requirement for MF-II recipients to “all newly constructed” towers. It also affirmed its decision to require that MF-II recipients obtain a letter of credit (LOC), but modified the LOC requirements to align them with the changes recently adopted for the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF-II) auction.

FTC Consumer Complaint Report

The FTC released its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book for 2017.  The Consumer Sentinel Network (Sentinel) is a secure online database available only to law enforcement that includes consumer problems reported to the FTC.  In addition to taking consumer reports directly from people who call the FTC’s call center or file online, Sentinel also includes complaints filed with other federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies, as well as other organizations, like the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Publishers Clearing House, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office. During 2017, Sentinel received nearly 2.7 million consumer reports, which the FTC has sorted into 30 top categories.  The top three complaint categories were debt collection, identity theft, and imposter scams.  Complaints about Internet service ranked fifth, with 45,093 complaints and $19 million in total reported money lost.

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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.

May 8 & 9, 2018 Inteserra Telecom Regulatory Workshop in Maitland, FL