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.
Capitol Hill Reacts to Pai as FCC Chairman
Reaction from Capitol Hill to the appointment of Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman was positive. The House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) welcome a “new era of leadership and decision making at the FCC” and saying they are “looking forward to working with him to advance conservative, thoughtful solutions at the FCC.” Similarly, U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said he enjoyed Chairman Pai’s “can-do attitude, admire his principled transparency, and share his commitment to rural communities. I look forward to working with him as he steps into his new role as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.”
FCC First Meeting Under New Chairman
The FCC announced the agenda for its first Open Meeting under the gavel of Chairman Pai. The only item to be considered is a Report and Order eliminating the requirement that commercial broadcast stations retain copies of letters and emails from the public in their public inspection file and the requirement that cable operators retain the location of the cable system’s principal headend in their public inspection file. (This is the same item that was on the tentative agenda issued by then-Chairman Wheeler earlier this month.) The agenda also includes several consent items.
FCC Authorizes $454 Million To Expand Rural Broadband
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau authorized 182 rate-of-return companies that elected 217 revised offers of Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support to receive model-based support to extend broadband service in rural areas. Nationwide, a total of 207 rate-of-return carriers in 43 states have now been authorized to receive A-CAM support. The accompanying report shows the state-level amounts of model-based support and associated deployment obligations for all carriers that have been authorized to receive model-based support.
Texas Announces New Area Code
The Public Utility Commission of Texas announced that the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) assigned 726 as the overlay area code in the 210 area code. This action includes almost all of Bexar County and small portions of Atascosa, Comal, Guadalupe, Medina, and Wilson Counties. In July 2016, the PUC approved the overlay and adopted a six-month permissive period of either seven or 10-digit local dialing beginning March 2017. When the permissive period ends in September 2017 mandatory 10-digit dialing will be required. Activation of the new area code is scheduled to begin in October 2017. TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 7/22/16.
