Today: FCC Inmate Calling Service Appeal, FCC Elimination of Public Inspection File Requirements, NARUC Response to FCC's ICS Filing, California Lifeline Workshop, Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act
FCC Elimination of Public Inspection File Requirements
At its first meeting under Chairman Pai, the FCC eliminated two public inspection file rules. This includes a rule that required cable operators to maintain and allow public inspection of the location of a cable system’s principal headend. As a result of the rule change, operators will be able to make their entire public inspection file available online and cease maintaining local public files. Because the designation and location of cable systems’ principal headend must be accessible to certain entities, the order requires that this information be made available to the FCC, television stations, and franchisors upon request. Alternatively, cable operators may elect voluntarily to provide this information for inclusion in the FCC’s online public inspection file database (OPIF), and may elect to make the information publicly available there. Systems that make this choice can avoid the necessity of responding to individual requests for principal headend location information. The other eliminated rule applied to commercial broadcasters.
FCC Inmate Calling Service (ICS) Appeal
In advance oral argument scheduled for February 6, 2017, the FCC’s Deputy General Counsel informed the Court that the FCC is “abandoning, and I am not authorized to defend at argument, the contention- contained in Section I of our brief- that the Commission has the authority to cap intrastate rates for inmate calling services.” He also told the Court that he was not authorized to defend the argument contained in section III.B of the brief that “the Commission lawfully considered industry-wide averages in setting the rate caps contained in the Order.” He also told the Court that the FCC had ceded ten minutes of its allotted argument time to counsel for the Wright Petitioners intervenors who will be prepared to defend those aspects of the Order.
NARUC Response to FCC’s ICS Filing
In response to the FCC’s letter, NARUC President Robert F. Powelson of Pennsylvania issued a statement saying “NARUC appealed this order because agencies should be required to adhere to the rule of law. Whatever the merits of the FCC’s decision, the fact is, Congress simply did not give the agency authority to cap intrastate rates for these services. We appreciated the current FCC majority’s original dissents earlier before the agency and we appreciate their actions here.”
California Lifeline Workshop
The PUC recently modified the California LifeLine Program in accordance with California Assembly Bill 2570 and the FCC’s recent Lifeline Modernization order. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 1/26/17. A workshop has been scheduled for February 8, 2017, at the PUC Headquarters in San Francisco. The purpose of the workshop is to consider consumer education and of implementation of the failure of service and violations of rules exceptions to the California LifeLine Program’s 60-day benefit portability freeze. The agenda includes discussion of: Failure of Service Exception to the Benefit Portability Freeze; Violations of Rules Exceptions to the Benefit Portability Freeze; and Consumer Education about Both the Benefit Portability Freeze and the Enrollment Request Freeze.
Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act
Gov. Bill Haslam announced legislation to increase broadband access to Tennessee’s unserved citizens. The Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act will provide $45 million over three years in grants and tax credits for service providers to assist in making broadband available to unserved homes and businesses.
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.
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