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.
FTC And DOJ International Antitrust Guidelines
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division are asking for comment on proposed Antitrust Guidelines for International Enforcement and Cooperation, which will update guidelines issued by the two agencies in 1995. The guidelines provide information to businesses concerning the agencies’ antitrust enforcement policy with respect to international activities as well as their related investigative tools and cooperation with foreign authorities. The proposed revisions restructure the previous guidelines in order to make them more useful and accessible by focusing on the questions of greatest significance to users. The proposed revisions also describe the current practices and methods of analysis the agencies employ when determining whether to initiate and how to conduct investigations of, or enforcement actions against, conduct with an international dimension. Among other things, the revisions add a chapter on international cooperation, update the discussion of the application of U.S. antitrust law to conduct involving foreign commerce, and revise the illustrative examples. Comments may be filed until December 1, 2016.
FCC CAF Support For Alaska
The FCC released an Order adopting tailored service obligations for Alaska Communications Systems (ACS), a carrier serving a non-contiguous Alaska area that elected to receive nearly $20 million annually in Connect America Phase II frozen support amounts in lieu of model-based support. ACS will receive Phase II frozen support for a 10-year term and be required to offer voice service and broadband service at the same speed, latency, usage and pricing metrics as established for Phase II model-based carriers to at least 31,571 locations, primarily in census blocks identified as high cost that are unserved by unsubsidized competitors at 10/1 Mbps or better, with limited exceptions.
California Broadband Deployment
The PUC approved funding for the Rural and Regional Consortia grant applications of the Inyo Mono Broadband Consortium, the Redwood Coast Connect Broadband Consortium, and the San Joaquin Valley Regional Broadband Consortium in the amount of $493,216. These three projects will further broadband deployment, access, and/or adoption in their regions and are expected to enhance public safety in the Eastern Sierra, the Redwood Coast, and the San Joaquin Valley in the event of fire, flooding, and earthquakes.
