Today: FCC Guidance on CMRS Provider E911 Location, FCC Charter Broadband Build-Out Requirements, FCC Inflation Adjustments for Cable Operators
FCC Guidance on CMRS Provider E911 Location Accuracy
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has issued a Public Notice providing guidance to Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers on filing their certifications of compliance with E911 location accuracy benchmarks as required by Section 20.18(i)(2)(iii) of the FCC’s rules. The initial benchmark requires facilities-based CMRS providers to provide, as of April 3, 2017, dispatchable location or x/y location (latitude and longitude) within 50 meters for 40% of all wireless 911 calls. CMRS providers must certify compliance with this benchmark no later than June 2, 2017. Since the rules do not specify the form or language to be used in the certification, the Public Notice provides guidance on content and filing procedures for the certification.
FCC Charter Broadband Build-Out Requirement Changes
The FCC released an Order that modifies the residential build-out condition that was imposed in the Order approving Charter Communications merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The original order contained a condition that required the combined companies to commit to building out Broadband Internet Access Services to two million additional customer locations, one million of which had to be overbuilds, i.e., in areas already served by another provider. The revised condition requires that these same one million customer locations be in previously unserved areas instead of already served areas (overbuilds). Chairman Pai issued a statement, saying in part:
“Following our decision today, Charter Communications is still obligated to build out to two million new locations. The difference now is that the beneficiaries will be consumers currently on the wrong side of the digital divide. That’s a major difference, and one that will go a long way toward helping deliver online opportunity to all Americans.”
FCC Inflation Adjustments for Cable Operators
The FCC announced the most recent inflation adjustment factors for cable operators. For operators filing quarterly using FCC Form 1240, the fourth quarter 2016 inflation factor is 2.07%. Operators calculating the Inflation Factor for a True-Up Period which includes some portion of the fourth quarter of 2016 should enter the inflation factor on the appropriate lines of Worksheet 1 of FCC Form 1240 as “0.0207.” Operators using this factor for calculating the Projected Period Inflation Segment of FCC Form 1240 should enter this number on Line C3 (January 1996 version), or Line C5 (July 1996 version) as 1.0207.”
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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.
ILEC Access Step 6 rates become effective July 1, 2017.
