The California Public Utilities Commission approved an emergency resolution ordering utility companies to take actions to help consumers impacted by the October 2017 wildfires. Communications companies in the affected areas must implement Emergency Consumer Protections and must file a Tier 2 Advice Letter no later than November 24, 2017.
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FCC Approves Liberty-GCI Deal
The FCC approved the various applications filed by General Communication, Inc. for approval to transfer control of its licenses to GCI Liberty, a company that will be owned by GCI and Liberty Ventures Group of Liberty Interactive shareholders, including John Malone. In approving the transaction, the FCC rejected requests to condition or deny the applications due to competitive concerns. The FCC found no competitive harms as a result of this transaction or that it will result in a reduction of available facilities. Among other things, it denied a request that all infrastructure deployments by GCI Liberty funded in whole or in part by federal high cost support, rural health care support, schools and libraries support, or other federal support be subject to a requirement that GCI Liberty offer access to publicly funded infrastructure at the same cost and on the same terms that it makes it available to its own related companies. It also declined to require GCI to enter into service restoration agreements on reasonable commercial terms.
Pennsylvania PUC Welcomes New Commissioner
The PUC welcomed Norman Kennard of Dauphin County to the Commission and thanked the Pennsylvania Senate for its support of his nomination. The PUC also thanked Gov. Tom Wolf, who nominated Kennard to serve as a Commissioner.
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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.