FCC Seeks Comment On Wireless Spectrum Rulemaking Petitions

Two of the petitions were filed by the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA).  In a Petition for Rulemaking, it asks the FCC to amend its rules to reflect that collocations requiring an expansion of the current site—within 30 feet of a tower site—qualify for relief under Section 6409(a) and to require that fees associated with eligible facilities requests under Section 6409 be cost-based.  In a separate Petition for Declaratory Ruling, it asks the FCC to clarify: (1) that Section 6409(a) and its related rules apply to all state and local authorizations; (2) when the time to decide an application begins to run; (3) what constitutes a substantial change under Section 6409(a); (4) that “conditional” approvals by localities violate Section 6409(a); and (5) that localities may not establish processes or impose conditions that effectively defeat or reduce the protections afforded under Section 6409(a). 

The third petition is a Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed by CTIA, that asks the FCCC to clarify the terms “concealment element,” “equipment cabinet,” and “base station” in its rules, and to clarify that when an application is “deemed granted” under Section 6409, applicants may lawfully construct even if the siting authority has not issued construction permits.   CTIA also asks the FCC to: (1) determine that the definition of the term “pole” in Section 224 of the Communications Act includes light poles; (2) conclude that utilities may not impose blanket prohibitions on access to certain parts of the pole; and (3) clarify that utilities may not ask attachers to accept terms and conditions that are inconsistent with the FCC’s rules.

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The Regulatory Mix Today: FCC Seeks Comment on Wireless Spectrum Rulemaking Petitions, California PUC to Hold Workshop on Lifeline Pilot Programs and Partnerships, FCC Announces Request for 499-A Data

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California PUC to Hold Workshop on Lifeline Pilot Programs and Partnerships

The California PUC will be holding a workshop on October 16 and 17, 2019 for purposes of considering three pilot programs.  The PUC is also requesting formal comments to certain questions regarding the pilot proposals.  Comments are due by October 4, 2019.  The PUC’s staff will prepare a summary of key takeaways from the workshop.  Parties will have an opportunity to file and serve comments on that workshop summary.  The PUC will also require each party that submitted a pilot proposal to file and serve an amended application or withdraw its application after the issuance of the workshop summary.

FCC Announces Request for 499-A Data

The FCC announced it had received a request from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to access to certain carrier revenue information for 2017 that the FCC collected from wired carriers on FCC Form 499-A (Form 499-A).  Specifically, BLS requests all data for 2017 that wired carriers reported in blocks 3 (Carrier’s Carrier Revenue Information) and 4 (End-User and Non-Telecommunications Revenue Information, and Total Revenue and Uncollectible Revenue Information) of that form.  BLS told the FCC that it is revising the Producer Price Index (PPI) for wired telecommunications carriers, which measures the monthly changes in prices received for the provision of residential and business wired telecommunications services.  That price index is an aggregate that represents industry-wide data and is available on its website.  BLS said it will use the Form 499-A data in addition to publicly available survey data to revise the PPI and that the revenue data for individual companies will allow BLS to sample proportionate to economic size. 

Significantly, BLS said it would maintain the confidentiality of the data under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act’s protection from release pursuant to FOIA requests.  It also said that not disclose company-specific or region-specific data and also will not disclose its sample sizes, which will prevent Form 499-A filers from being identified based on their relative sizes.  Affected parties have until September 27, 2019 to oppose the disclosure of Form 499-A data to BLS.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s 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.