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.

FCC Broadband Deployment

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced the weighted average broadband deployment for all rate-of-return carriers and the relevant deployment figure for each individual carrier based on the December 2015 Form 477 data.  These deployment percentages will be used to calculate the capital investment allowance for 2017 and the broadband deployment obligations for rate-of-return carriers that receive support based on legacy mechanisms.  The Bureau said that  the weighted average broadband deployment for all rate-of-return carriers is 74%. The deployment figure for each individual carrier can be found here.

FCC Form 508

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced that rate-of-return carriers will be required to file with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) forecasted cost and revenue data for the first six months of 2017 (January 1 to June 30) on October 1, 2016.  The data will be filed on a revised FCC Form 508, which will collect forecasted cost and revenue data associated with consumer broadband-only loops, in addition to the previously collected common line data.  The form was revised in light of the FCC’s March 2016 Order which, among other actions, created the Connect America Fund-Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) high-cost support mechanism to succeed Interstate Common Line Support (ICLS).

California Payphone Committee

Effective January 1, 2017, a new law in California will eliminate the PU Code sections creating the Payphone Service Providers (PSP) Committee Fund.  The elimination of the PSP Committee will have no practical or economic impact on payphone service providers since both the fund and its associated committee have been defunct for nearly ten years.  The PUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division continues to perform the payphone enforcement activities previously undertaken by the PSP Committee.  It conducts targeted inspections of payphones checking for certain calling feature as well as physical safety issues. 

The Regulatory Mix - Tuesday, September 20, 2016