FCC Eyes Putting IP/Tech Transition Item on July Agenda
The FCC is considering placing an IP technology transition item on the preliminary agenda due out Thursday for the commission's July 16 open meeting, those following the proceeding told us Monday. The item, which grew out of a November rulemaking notice, is intended to provide a regulatory framework as telecom carriers migrate from traditional circuit-switched, copper-based phone networks and services to packet-switched IP-based services using fiber, coaxial cable, copper and wireless networks.
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The NPRM aimed to ensure reliable back-up power for consumers, proper customer notification of network and service changes and the preservation of competition through wholesale access to ILEC networks. ILECs and CLECs have waged a spirited battle over the former's wholesale duties and the latter's rights, while both telcos and cable companies have voiced concerns about the stringency of possible back-up power obligations.
The commission is gearing up to address issues of copper retirement, proposed "equivalent access" for CLECs, industry back-up power duties, and discontinuance applications under Section 214 of the Communications Act, a source familiar with the proceeding told us. No decision had been made Monday on whether the item will be placed on the preliminary agenda, but FCC staffers were preparing a draft item for commission consideration if they get a green light, the source said.
Harold Feld, Public Knowledge senior vice president, said his group's sense was that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and staff "are definitely looking at" circulating an item with other commissioners on Thursday. "But it is unclear whether it will include a Further NPRM on certain issues or go for a full Report & Order," he said in an email to us. "Our sense is that back-up power and certain aspects of the competition concerns, such as equivalent access, are much further along and have a much more developed record." A telecom executive also said the item could be broken up into pieces, with back-up power among the parts that was most likely to be placed on the preliminary July agenda.
A CLEC official said Wheeler seemed to be eyeing a July vote but hadn't made a decision and could still delay the item until the Aug. 6 meeting. But the official and other CLEC representatives voiced hope the FCC would stick to its proposal to provide competitive providers with wholesale equivalent access to ILEC networks on equivalent rates, terms and conditions, among other proposals. Comptel recently offered a revised version of principles Windstream had proposed for implementing equivalent access. The CLECs said the IP transition shouldn't be an excuse for reducing their wholesale access and want the FCC to hold their rights harmless.
But major telcos have pushed back hard against the wholesale proposals. In a recent ex parte filing, AT&T said both the equivalent access proposal and a proposed rebuttable presumption to maintain CLECs wholesale access through Section 214 requirements would be inconsistent with the statute, contrary to FCC and court precedent, bad policy and contrary to the public interest. CenturyLink, ITTA and Verizon have also voiced objections.