NEW ORLEANS -- State regulators’ telecom priority in the year ahead will be “trying to deploy where broadband isn’t,” said new NARUC President Michael Caron in an interview at the association’s conference here. Caron hopes new FCC broadband maps coming Friday will be more accurate and include more people who lack service, he said. On a Monday panel about the maps, state commissioners asked an FCC official if the agency is up to the task and what states can do to help.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
NEW ORLEANS -- The NARUC Telecom Committee won’t vote yet on a proposed resolution to clarify state utility regulators’ authority to oversee networks that come from federal broadband spending. Members decided to wait after members raised concerns at the association’s conference Monday. "I don't think any additional clarity is needed,” said Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Crystal Rhoades (D). “We have the authority we need. We just fail to use it.”
Broadband ballot initiatives passed in Alabama, New Mexico and Colorado elections Tuesday. Alabama residents supported a constitutional amendment to allow the state or its counties and municipalities “to grant federal award funds or any other source of funding designated for broadband infrastructure by state law to public or private entities for providing or expanding broadband infrastructure.” It passed with nearly 79% voting yes, showed unofficial results Thursday from the Alabama state secretary. And 65% of New Mexico voters supported amending the state constitution to allow state funds to be used for “essential” services including broadband internet, showed that state’s unofficial results. In Colorado, one county and four municipalities voted to opt out of the state’s municipal broadband ban. About 71% of voters supported the ballot initiative in Douglas County, said Colorado Counties, Inc., Policy Director Eric Bergman Thursday. Douglas joins 44 of 64 other counties to opt out. With the addition of Castle Pines, Lone Tree, Pueblo and Trinidad, 123 out of 217 Colorado municipalities may now provide and fund high-speed internet in the state, the Colorado Municipal League said Wednesday. About eight in 10 Montana voters supported amending the state constitution to include electronic data and communications in search and seizure protections, showed Montana unofficial results. The change means law enforcement would be required to get a warrant before accessing a person’s digital information.
The much-scrutinized 911 center in Washington, D.C., has completed about two-thirds of the recommendations from a D.C. audit report since a follow-up audit said little progress was made, Office of Unified Communications (OUC) acting Director Karima Holmes told D.C. council members Thursday. At a three-hour Judiciary and Public Safety Committee virtual meeting, members picked up on concerns raised at a September hearing (see 2209280058), pressing Holmes on recent audits and specific incidents where incorrect addresses and miscommunication led to dispatching delays.
T-Mobile must pay a nearly $3.59 million penalty for misleading the California Public Utilities Commission about its CDMA transition, commissioners decided unanimously Thursday. The CPUC mostly rejected T-Mobile’s May appeal of two administrative law judges’ initial April decision, though it reduced the fine by about 33% from $5.33 million (see 2205260008 and 2204260061). The CPUC denied as moot the carrier’s June motion for alternative dispute resolution (see 2206090017).
New York legislators could double down on a court-blocked state law that sought to require $15 monthly plans for low-income households. Assemblymember Brian Cunningham (D) plans to reintroduce his 2022 bill AB-10690 this January to require $5 monthly internet for low-income consumers, the Democrat said in an interview this week. Three ISP associations that sued New York over its previous affordability bill condemned the fresh attempt to lower broadband prices.
Maryland said a federal court is “free to proceed” with Nov. 29 oral argument on the state’s ban on passing its digital ad tax’s costs to customers. U.S. District Court for Northern Maryland Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby asked Maryland last week to weigh in on whether the hearing should still happen given a state court decision to strike down the tax (see 2210240064). “The ruling issued by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County … does not affect the ability of this Court to adjudicate this case, because the circuit court’s ruling is subject to appeal, and the outcome of that case will not be known at least until the conclusion of the appeal,” Maryland wrote Monday. Since Comcast, plaintiff in the state case, didn’t “exhaust administrative remedies before filing suit, Maryland statutes and precedent pose a considerable obstacle to affirmance of the circuit court’s ruling,” the state added. Federal plaintiff U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier said the state ruling doesn't moot the federal case.
The California Public Utilities Commission should weigh legal and jurisdictional issues in a VoIP rulemaking before considering rules, said AT&T, Frontier Communications and small rural telcos in separate replies filed Monday. AT&T saw "broad agreement" in opening comments (see 2210180049) that the proposal exceeds the CPUC's authority "and could invite legal challenge if adopted,” the carrier said in docket R.22-08-008. The California Cable and Telecommunications Association agreed with opposition to the CPUC staff proposal and suggested an alternative approach. The CPUC could make a “streamlined licensing framework specific to” digital voice services like VoIP, it said. The agency would apply only CPUC rules that currently apply to VoIP service, though it could later consider "targeted" regulations, CCTA said. Noting 501 VoIP providers are informally registered with the commission, Sangoma condemned the CPUC proposal "a blueprint to stifle competition in the presently vibrant VoIP market in California.” The business VoIP provider is especially concerned with proposed tariff requirements, it said. “Tariffs are relics of a bygone era when telephone services were offered by regulated monopoly providers. That era ended long ago, and tariff requirements have rightly gone by the wayside except for a few large incumbent providers and in rural areas that lack competition.” The CPUC should reject industry’s jurisdictional arguments, The Utility Reform Network and Center for Accessible Technology replied jointly. "The Commission has jurisdiction over VoIP providers, who are telephone corporations under California law," the consumer groups said. "The Commission is not barred from regulating VoIP service by federal law, including classification as an information service and preemption principles.”
Whether Oklahoma should cap its state USF surcharge divided Corporation Commission members at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. Commissioners weighed a draft bill, distributed last week, to update Oklahoma USF (OUSF) policy in the 1997 Oklahoma Telecommunications Act. A commission rulemaking might be a better option than legislation to strengthen OUSF accountability, said Commissioner Todd Hiett (R).
New York challenged the FCC broadband fabric, becoming the first state to announce a challenge of the FCC data about unserved or underserved addresses. The New York ConnectALL office submitted about 31,798 locations through the FCC’s broadband data collection challenge process, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Monday. New York’s address-level state map (see 2206160059) is helping the state better advocate for federal support, she said. The state map identified 138,598 total addresses as unserved or underserved. “By aligning the FCC maps with ours, we will ensure New York gets its fair share of federal dollars so every New Yorker has access to the internet when and where they need it,” said Empire State Development CEO Hope Knight. New York’s “efforts will help close the accessibility and affordability gaps that [make] broadband unavailable to many of the state’s low- and fixed-income consumers,” emailed Ian Donaldson, New York Public Utility Law Project policy associate. The FCC "is committed to building maps that reflect the most accurate information available, and we expect this New York submission will help us to accomplish that goal," said an agency spokesperson.