IP Transition Already Upon Industry; States Need To Keep Residents Informed
As the IP transition continues, state regulators are concerned about network capacity reliability, service quality, device and service interoperability, services for individuals with disabilities, service functionality, communications security, coverage area and public safety answering point and 911 services, said Robin Ancona, Michigan Public Service Commission Telecom Division director. Education and outreach are also concerns, and state regulators want to know what their role is versus the FCC's role, she said Saturday at the NARUC meeting in Washington. Ancona said one of the most important parts of the transition is advance notice to consumers to let them voice concerns. Michigan has also encountered some rights of way problems, she said.
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The Ohio Public Utilities Commission is active in the transition to ensure no customer gets left behind per legislation in the state, said Telecom Division Chief Marianne Townsend. The PUC is looking at the characteristics of basic LEC customers and where they're located, she said. The collaborative state effort is looking at closely at areas in the state where some customers don’t have broadband or cell service, Townsend said. When consumers hear about the IP transition, all they hear is they will be losing their landlines, she said, so it’s important for the PUC to educate the public. “The transition is happening,” Townsend said. “How can we focus this so that a consumer is not alarmed. Let’s not alarm the consumer -- but let’s educate them. Let’s look at ways to let them understand.”
Cost, notice and comparability of the services are the major IP transition concerns, said Chris Lewis, Public Knowledge vice president-government affairs. While the percentage of those resisting the switch is decreasing, he said nationwide it’s a significant portion of the population. “These are folks who really trust their hard-line wire,” he said. “We need to look to set expectations and when those expectations change, be very clear about them. … We also need to eventually have not only a full educational effort, preferably quarterbacked by the FCC and state commissions, but we need to have an effort to tell folks when they need to move by.”
No matter how much planning companies do for the transition, there are going to be product and service gaps, said Frank Simone, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory affairs. Companies need to be on the ground, looking at whether they have a product to serve customers and how it compares with the service they're replacing, he said. There are concerns about moving to wireless service and battery backup capabilities as companies switch from legacy to newer technologies, he said. While the FCC has addressed some of those concerns, Simone said the right amount of public outreach will help calm consumers and show them the technology is a hurdle they can manage: “The benefits of the IP technology outweigh the drawbacks of the battery backup capability of the legacy service.”
Continued access to last-mile facilities is needed, as is keeping interconnection in place, as the industry transitions from legacy to IP-based services, said Pam Hollick, Level 3 associate general counsel-state public policy, regulatory and legislative affairs. Competitive carriers shouldn't be forced to incur an increase in cost just because the incumbent is replacing copper with fiber or changes transmission protocols, she said. "I want to remind state commissions, you all have a critical role here," she said. "I encourage you to continue to exercise your rights, duties and obligations under the [Telecom Act] as it pertains to last-mile access."