THE REGULATORY MIX AND BLOG ARTICLES

Posted by Amy Gross on 8/30/17 1:18 PM

The_Mix_logo3.pngToday:  Alaska Lifeline Rules, CRTC Enables Greater Competition in Broadband Internet, FCC Waives Number Portability Rules for TX and LA, NTIA Final Rules on FirstNet Fees, FCC Third Report on Tropical Storm Harvey  

 

Alaska Lifeline Rule Changes

The Alaska Regulatory Commission seeks comment on changes to its Lifeline rules that are intended to conform state Lifeline program eligibility and certification requirements to those adopted at the federal level.  The proposed changes would: (1) align the income based programs listed in the Alaska rules with those in the FCC’s rules; (2) repeal the Commission's discretion to designate additional income based programs; and (3) revise the state Lifeline customer certification and verification procedures to reflect revised federal procedures.  Comments may be filed until September 25, 2017.

 

CRTC Enables Greater Competition In The Broadband Internet Market

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it wants Canadians to have more choice for innovative Internet services at competitive prices by making new wholesale services, including over fiber facilities, available to competitors.  In 2015, the CRTC announced measures to foster competition between companies that offer broadband Internet services.  As of today, providers in Ontario and Quebec will have access to services based on a new architecture that will enable greater competition.  An in-depth review to establish final rates for these wholesale services is ongoing, but the CRTC decided to make these services available now with interim rates in the meantime to foster competition in the broadband Internet market in Canada.

 

FCC Waives Number Portability Rules For Texas and Louisiana

The FCC has granted a temporary waiver of its numbering rules to allow carriers in the states of Texas and Louisiana, and the numbering administrators that support them, to port telephone numbers geographically outside of rate centers during the period of service disruption caused by Hurricane Harvey.  The waiver applies to carriers to the extent that they provide service in the states of Texas and Louisiana, or to carriers assisting affected carriers in their efforts to continue or restore service.  The waiver is in effect retroactively beginning August 28, 2017, for ninety days, until November 26, 2017.  If carriers are unable to resume service on a normal basis in areas affected by Hurricane Harvey after this time period has elapsed, they should request additional relief from the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau.

 

NTIA Final Rules On FirstNet Fees

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a final rule regarding its review of fees that the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) may assess to help fund operations.  NTIA will ensure that the fees FirstNet assesses are sufficient to cover its expenses but do not exceed what is needed to carry out its duties.  The specific fees that NTIA will review are: (1) Network user fees, including user fees associated with state use of elements of the core network; (2) lease fees related to network capacity, pursuant to a covered leasing agreement; and (3) fees from entities seeking to access or use any equipment or infrastructure constructed or otherwise owned by FirstNet.  The first set of fees submitted for review under this process will likely be the partnership fees FirstNet would seek to collect from AT&T, its commercial partner.  "NTIA's fee-review program will ensure that FirstNet achieves self-sustainability through a reasonable fee structure," said Leonard Bechtel, NTIA's Director of Administration and Chief Financial Officer.

 


tropical storm symbol.jpg

FCC Third Report On Tropical Storm Harvey

The FCC released a third report on the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Tropical Storm Harvey as of August 29, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. EDT.  As before, the report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).  DIRS still covers 55 counties in Texas and Louisiana.  The report indicates that: (1) there were a total of 15 PSAPs affected by the storm (down from 16) but there are no PSAPs down without a re-route; (2) 4.7% of the cell sites in the affected area were down with Aransas and Refugio counties in TX continuing to report more than 50% of their cells sites down and Calcasieu, St. John the Baptist, and Terrebonne the only LA counties reporting cell site outages (each with one cell site out); (3) there are at least 283,593 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in the affected area (up from 189,487), 21 non-mobile switching centers out of service (up from 19) and 33 switching centers on back-up power (up from 22); (4) there are 7 radio stations out of service (down from 9and (5) there is now one TV station in Corpus Christi out of service.

 

__________________________________

 

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.

 

 

 

TMI Fall 2017 Seminar & Workshop

 

 

 

 

Telecom Regulatory Compliance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics: First Responder Network Authority, NTIA fee-review program, Alaska Lifeline Rules, CRTC on Broadband Internet Competition, Number Portability Rules for Texas and Louisiana, NTIA on FirstNet Fees, FCC report on TS Harvey

Subscribe to our FREE Regulatory Mix and Blogs with Email Alerts.

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all

Posted by Amy Gross on 8/30/17 1:18 PM

The_Mix_logo3.pngToday:  Alaska Lifeline Rules, CRTC Enables Greater Competition in Broadband Internet, FCC Waives Number Portability Rules for TX and LA, NTIA Final Rules on FirstNet Fees, FCC Third Report on Tropical Storm Harvey  

 

Alaska Lifeline Rule Changes

The Alaska Regulatory Commission seeks comment on changes to its Lifeline rules that are intended to conform state Lifeline program eligibility and certification requirements to those adopted at the federal level.  The proposed changes would: (1) align the income based programs listed in the Alaska rules with those in the FCC’s rules; (2) repeal the Commission's discretion to designate additional income based programs; and (3) revise the state Lifeline customer certification and verification procedures to reflect revised federal procedures.  Comments may be filed until September 25, 2017.

 

CRTC Enables Greater Competition In The Broadband Internet Market

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it wants Canadians to have more choice for innovative Internet services at competitive prices by making new wholesale services, including over fiber facilities, available to competitors.  In 2015, the CRTC announced measures to foster competition between companies that offer broadband Internet services.  As of today, providers in Ontario and Quebec will have access to services based on a new architecture that will enable greater competition.  An in-depth review to establish final rates for these wholesale services is ongoing, but the CRTC decided to make these services available now with interim rates in the meantime to foster competition in the broadband Internet market in Canada.

 

FCC Waives Number Portability Rules For Texas and Louisiana

The FCC has granted a temporary waiver of its numbering rules to allow carriers in the states of Texas and Louisiana, and the numbering administrators that support them, to port telephone numbers geographically outside of rate centers during the period of service disruption caused by Hurricane Harvey.  The waiver applies to carriers to the extent that they provide service in the states of Texas and Louisiana, or to carriers assisting affected carriers in their efforts to continue or restore service.  The waiver is in effect retroactively beginning August 28, 2017, for ninety days, until November 26, 2017.  If carriers are unable to resume service on a normal basis in areas affected by Hurricane Harvey after this time period has elapsed, they should request additional relief from the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau.

 

NTIA Final Rules On FirstNet Fees

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a final rule regarding its review of fees that the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) may assess to help fund operations.  NTIA will ensure that the fees FirstNet assesses are sufficient to cover its expenses but do not exceed what is needed to carry out its duties.  The specific fees that NTIA will review are: (1) Network user fees, including user fees associated with state use of elements of the core network; (2) lease fees related to network capacity, pursuant to a covered leasing agreement; and (3) fees from entities seeking to access or use any equipment or infrastructure constructed or otherwise owned by FirstNet.  The first set of fees submitted for review under this process will likely be the partnership fees FirstNet would seek to collect from AT&T, its commercial partner.  "NTIA's fee-review program will ensure that FirstNet achieves self-sustainability through a reasonable fee structure," said Leonard Bechtel, NTIA's Director of Administration and Chief Financial Officer.

 


tropical storm symbol.jpg

FCC Third Report On Tropical Storm Harvey

The FCC released a third report on the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Tropical Storm Harvey as of August 29, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. EDT.  As before, the report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).  DIRS still covers 55 counties in Texas and Louisiana.  The report indicates that: (1) there were a total of 15 PSAPs affected by the storm (down from 16) but there are no PSAPs down without a re-route; (2) 4.7% of the cell sites in the affected area were down with Aransas and Refugio counties in TX continuing to report more than 50% of their cells sites down and Calcasieu, St. John the Baptist, and Terrebonne the only LA counties reporting cell site outages (each with one cell site out); (3) there are at least 283,593 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in the affected area (up from 189,487), 21 non-mobile switching centers out of service (up from 19) and 33 switching centers on back-up power (up from 22); (4) there are 7 radio stations out of service (down from 9and (5) there is now one TV station in Corpus Christi out of service.

 

__________________________________

 

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.

 

 

 

TMI Fall 2017 Seminar & Workshop

 

 

 

 

Telecom Regulatory Compliance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics: First Responder Network Authority, NTIA fee-review program, Alaska Lifeline Rules, CRTC on Broadband Internet Competition, Number Portability Rules for Texas and Louisiana, NTIA on FirstNet Fees, FCC report on TS Harvey

Subscribe to Email Updates

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

see all