Special Access Order Unanimously Approved, FCC Officials Say
The long-awaited order seeking data on the special access market was approved on circulation, FCC officials said Wednesday. Chairman Julius Genachowski said at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing that the order has been voted on by all commissioners, and agency staff is finalizing the order. Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai dissented from part of a further notice of proposed rulemaking, which would be implemented in the middle of 2013, agency officials told us. The text of the order was not released Wednesday.
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"I don’t agree that it took a long time,” Genachowski said of the order after the FCC’s monthly meeting. “This is an incredibly complex proceeding in an area where it has taken years for action."
FCC officials told us the order and further notice that are packaged together are “comprehensive” and represent a “compromise” between the Republican and Democratic commissioners, who have long been divided on the scope of the data request. McDowell and Pai had expressed a desire to collect more data on how best efforts services compete with the dedicated special access lines information (CD Dec 3 p3). The data collection will be “very granular” and “nationwide,” officials said. One official said the order didn’t have everything McDowell wanted, but “it is a compromise."
The special access item has two parts. The order makes the mandatory data request, and a further notice of proposed rulemaking tees up steps for the commission to take once the data has been collected, FCC officials said. They said the order’s mandatory data request builds off lessons learned in past voluntary data requests in seeking data on who has facilities where, how prices for the special access services change depending on who owns the facilities, and what the terms and conditions are.
The order seeks information on best efforts services, FCC officials said. That was a major point of contention during the negotiations in recent weeks. Data collection on best efforts services will be more limited than that of special access services, an FCC official said. Special access data will be collected on a location-by-location basis, whereas best efforts services will be indicated by census block, the official said. It was a compromise from what the Republicans originally wanted, but it should be sufficient to use in the commission’s analysis to see whether the existence of best efforts services affects the special access market, the official said. As expected (CD Dec 6 p1), an appendix to the order will include a model data request for the Wireline Bureau to implement, FCC officials said. They said the bureau will have authority to make changes during the Paperwork Reduction Act review process.
One “condition” of the Republicans was that the bureau’s actions “have to be consistent with the terms of the order,” an FCC official said. A “big concern” of McDowell and Pai was that they might spend time negotiating for a particular term, and then the bureau could override that term, a commission official said: That’s what the original draft order contemplated. The bureau will not be able to do anything “contrary” to what is sought in the order, the agency official said.
McDowell and Pai dissented to one section of the further notice, which sought comment on how pricing flexibility rules should change after the commission conducts its market analysis, agency officials said. They said the Republicans felt that provision was premature.
The Republican commissioners thought a further notice was “premature” given that the commission hasn’t gathered any data, FCC officials said. One official called the further notice “procedurally awkward.”