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 Open Meeting - November 17, 2016

In an apparent response to letter from Congressional leaders, See the Regulatory Mix dated 11/16/16, FCC Chairman Wheeler deleted all four substantive items and an enforcement item from the FCC’s November 17, 2016 Open Meeting.  The deleted items include a Report and Order in the Business Data Services rulemaking, a Report and Order to adopt rules for the second phase of the Mobility Fund, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement a unified roaming standard and to classify Voice over LTE; and a Report and Order addressing the amount of video described programming required to be made available to consumers.

Pennsylvania Lifeline ETCs

The PUC sent a letter to Lifeline Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) asking for their help in educating Pennsylvania consumers about changes in the federal Lifeline telephone assistance program.  The PUC asks that carriers develop an outreach plan and also arm call center representatives with information on the changes so they can address any consumer questions and resolve any consumer issues in a timely manner.  The PUC asks carriers to inform them by November 18, 2016, of their outreach plan to educate consumers about the Lifeline Program and its changes.  Comments may be sent to Sandra Johnson-Gumby in the Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Services at sjohnson-g@pa.gov.