Telecom Deregulation Bills Advance in 4 States

The Miss. legislature passed a major telecom deregulation measure that would deregulate rates for all retail telecom services except single-line flat-rate basic exchange service. It also would deregulate all telecom service bundles. On the wholesale side, the PSC’s jurisdiction under HB-1252 would be limited to switched access. The act sent to Gov. Haley Barbour (R) would retain the PSC’s authority to interpret and enforce the terms of retail service contracts and wholesale interconnection agreements. The PSC also would retain complaint jurisdiction over single-line basic exchange service and over public safety matters such as 911. The act would require incumbent telcos to extend service to any new customer so long as the cost of reaching the customer doesn’t exceed $5,000.

The Ind. Senate made major changes to a House-passed telecom deregulation bill before passing it. The version of HB-1279 that the Senate returned to the House was double the length of the House-passed version. The bill that left the Senate retained its essential feature that would phase out state regulation of retail telephone rates by mid-2009. But the Senate changed the broadband tie by providing telecom providers to offer broadband service to 50% of their customers within 18 months of their first deregulated rate increase. The Senate also added a provision to make the Utility Regulatory Commission the sole video franchising authority, but would prohibit any state franchise fees in lieu of local fees. It also would prohibit any build-out requirements on state franchise holders. The House bill originally had included a state video franchising provision but the House deleted that section before passing the bill. The Senate retained the House bill’s total deregulation of broadband services and its broadband investment tax credits. Other original provisions the Senate left in include limiting the URC’s nonrate jurisdiction to slamming and cramming enforcement, entry control, intercarrier disputes, interconnection agreement approval, payphone access line provisioning and universal service.

The Kan. Senate passed a bill that would immediately deregulate rates for all bundled retail telecom services -- except for a requirement that the bundled price can’t exceed the sum of the stand-alone rates for the services in the bundle. SB-350 would also deregulate rates for all retail services other than basic exchange and Lifeline to customers with less than 5 lines in markets over 75,000 customers. It would allow this deregulation in markets with fewer than 75,000 customers if there is one CLEC and one wireless carrier competing against the incumbent.

A Wash. House committee advanced a deregulation bill that would repeal statutory requirements that CLECs file price lists with state regulators. Under SB-6573, which unanimously cleared the House Technology, Energy & Communications Committee, CLEC price lists currently filed with the Utilities & Transportation Commission would have to be withdrawn by the CLECs by July 2007. The bill would require CLECs to file periodic financial reports with the UTC, obey UTC accounting rules, and cooperate with UTC consumer complaint investigations.

In other legislation, a Mo. Senate committee advanced an amended version of a bill to establish state video franchising in place of municipal franchising. The version of SB-816 that left the Senate Commerce, Energy & Environment Committee would make the PSC the franchising authority, instead of the state Dept. of Economic Development. The PSC also would be responsible for ensuring video service quality. The bill would fix franchise fees at 5% of gross revenue and prohibit municipalities from imposing any additional fees or franchise taxes on state-franchised video entrants. Franchise fees could be passed along to subscribers as a line item on bills. The bill wouldn’t impose build-out requirements but would prohibit video service providers from discriminating against neighborhoods based on residents’ income.

The Kan. Senate passed an amended version of a House bill to establish E-911 requirements for VoIP providers and allow them to assess a 25 monthly surcharge to pay for VoIP E-911 implementation. The Senate added an amendment to HB- 2590 that would provide for a 25 state VoIP E-911 fee for a grant program for E-911 equipment upgrades required by local 911 authorities to handle VoIP E-911 service. The bill also would set up the administrative structure for reviewing grant applications and awarding grants. The grant program would expire in 2010. The bill was returned to the House for concurrence.