Customs Duty

Verizon issued a transparency report for the second half of 2015 on the types of information demands it receives from government and the types of data it discloses in response. "We received almost 140,000 demands for customer information from United States law enforcement," the telco said in a release Monday on the U.S. and international reports. "The number of demands that we have received each year has been fairly stable since we made our first report three years ago. In fact, over this period, the number of demands in each category we report (i.e., warrants, orders, subpoenas) has also been generally consistent. Protecting our customers’ privacy will always be a bedrock commitment at Verizon. While we have a legal obligation to provide customer information to law enforcement in response to lawful demands, we take seriously our duty to provide such information only when authorized by law."

Multichannel video programming distributors may be at a disadvantage in the fight over possible changes to good-faith retransmission consent negotiation rules, former FCC official Adonis Hoffman told us Friday. "Because of their proximity to communities and the high-touch nature of television, I give the edge to broadcasters, who are hyper-local and have a high name-identification quotient. Plus, broadcasters have shown their ability to mobilize members of Congress who understand that all politics is local," Hoffman, who was chief of staff to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said in an email. In multiple filings posted Friday in docket 15-216, broadcasters and MVPDs and allies assailed each other's arguments about possible changes to the "totality of circumstances" test and defended their own turf. Thursday was the deadline for reply comments.

Telco and cable interests opposed a consumer group petition for reconsideration that asked the FCC to put more of the onus and cost for implementing new backup power solutions on fixed-service providers and less on consumers (see 1511170042). Rules in an August tech transition order (see 1508060044) "promote access to 911 service by customers of non-line-powered, fixed voice service providers during commercial power outages in a manner that appropriately reflects consumer expectations regarding access to emergency communications," said the American Cable Association, NCTA and USTelecom in a filing Thursday in docket 14-174. "The Commission’s actions were based upon extensive comments from all interests, including Petitioners, and substantial evidence about the diminishing reliance that consumers have elected to place on line-powered voice service. The Petition counters none of these facts and thus offers no basis for the Commission to make any change to those rules, and therefore it should be rejected." In its opposition posted Friday, CenturyLink said the petition filed by the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) and other groups "is procedurally infirm and otherwise without merit." The ITTA, NTCA and Fiber to the Home Council Americas filed oppositions last week (here, here and here). The NASUCA petition did pick up backing from the International Association of Fire Chiefs earlier last week, which said the order abandoned core public safety and consumer protection principles. "In enabling new technologies for 911, the standard of performance should be reliability that is at least equivalent to the current universal access landline telephone network. The Rule and Order fail to meet this standard," the IAFC said in a letter to the FCC. "The IAFC supports the petitioners’ request and respectfully requests the FCC reconsider its Rule and Order as outlined by the petitioners and place responsibility upon the carriers for ensuring the continuity of 911 communications. The Rule and Order as written will negatively impact the ability of individuals to reach 911."

NCTA urged the FCC to reject Level 3 arguments and adopt a broadband consumer disclosure format recommended in an FCC Consumer Advisory Committee proposal (see 1511040030). Level 3 wrongly assumes that broadband providers are solely responsible for interconnection links, "notwithstanding the indisputable fact that the conduct of both parties affects the performance experienced by the customer," NCTA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-28 responding to a Nov. 25 Level 3 filing (see 1511270035). NCTA said the FCC had recognized that interconnection was "far more complex than suggested by Level 3," and found in its net neutrality order that prescriptive rules would be premature. "Of particular note," the commission considered and rejected additional reporting duties on interconnection link performance, the cable group said, asking the agency to dismiss Level 3's plea for new reporting duties as "untimely and unwarranted." NCTA disputed Level 3 suggestions that, absent further reporting obligations, the FCC's performance measurements in its Measuring Broadband America (MBA) reports are misleading and harmful to consumers: "This allegation is complete nonsense." The charge is "particularly inappropriate given the structure of the program and the significant role Level 3" has played in it in recent years, the group said. "Through the program, broadband providers voluntarily submit to a measurement process that is overseen by a government agency (the Commission), administered by the Commission’s contractor (SamKnows), and run on facilities provided by third-parties whose advocacy is consistently hostile to broadband providers (M-Lab and Level 3)," NCTA said. "Given the rigorous nature of the testing, the Commission appropriately has found that disclosure of MBA results constitutes a safe harbor with respect to the requirement to report the actual performance of broadband service." NCTA also disputed Level 3's proposals for specific reporting requirements. Level 3 called the NCTA filing disappointing. "This isn't, or at least shouldn't be, about Level 3's or NCTA's members' business interests," emailed Joe Cavender, Level 3 vice president-federal affairs. "It should be about consumers. Consumers deserve to know what kind of performance ISPs actually are providing, and any performance disclosure that ignores the importance of interconnection simply fails consumers. Moreover, as we explained in our ex parte, the types of performance disclosures we propose are required by law. NCTA's argument to the contrary is just wrong."

AT&T pressed the FCC to give low-income “consumers greater autonomy” and to relieve Lifeline service providers of administrative duties in overhauling the program. In doing so, AT&T disputed TracFone Wireless arguments for keeping Lifeline providers involved in some administrative activities (see 1512090041). Separately, Comcast supported establishing a national third-party verifier of consumer Lifeline eligibility, and Public Knowledge said broadband access providers that aren't eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) should be able to participate in the program. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently said he hopes the FCC can approve a Lifeline modernization order early next year (see 1512170066).

The FCC gave incumbent telcos relief from “obsolete” phone regulations while preserving others it said are needed to protect consumers and competition. The commission approved an order at Thursday’s meeting granting several USTelecom requests that the agency forbear from requiring ILECs to meet certain requirements on wholesale network access (including to some conduits), stand-alone residential long-distance service, and “enhanced services.” But it denied ILECs relief from duties to provide voice service in certain rural areas, safeguards for “enterprise” stand-alone long-distance service, and a prohibition against “contract tariffs” for business data services in some areas.

The FCC extended for another year, until Dec. 15, 2016, a temporary small-business exemption from the net neutrality order’s enhanced transparency reporting requirements. The exemption provides relief for ISPs with 100,000 or fewer broadband subscribers. Without further action, it was to end Tuesday. The FCC released the order Tuesday, as expected (see 1512140048). Chairman Tom Wheeler promised to seek a commission vote on the exemption next December.

An FCC draft order to grant USTelecom's forbearance petition in various areas is expected to be adopted Thursday without major changes despite CLEC pushback, agency officials told us Wednesday. XO and others pressed the FCC not to give ILECs relief from duties to share newly deployed feeder conduits with competitors at regulated rates (see 1512110062). They said USTelecom hadn't justified the forbearance and the competitors still need regulated access to such "entrance conduits" to reach the buildings of business customers. But the commission appears unlikely to back off the draft's proposal to give ILECs relief from regulated sharing of entrance conduits for “greenfield" developments, the officials said. A CLEC representative suggested Wednesday the agency could be setting a bad precedent. "If they let it go through as is, you have to ask: are they creating a low bar for future forbearance petitions?" the CLEC representative said. "A lot of this stuff is market specific. Are they going to allow them to skate by without the evidence." The commission is to vote at its Thursday meeting on a draft order on the USTelecom petition (see 1512100063), and agency officials indicated the item would give incumbent telcos relief from several requirements, including to offer wholesale access (see 1511240070 and 1511250047).

The International Chamber of Commerce is urging World Trade Organization members meeting this week at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi to conclude an information technology tariff elimination agreement, which ICC said in a news release Tuesday could inject up to $190 billion into the global economy. The tariff elimination deal would be the first completed in nearly 20 years. ICC wants expanded product coverage under the WTO Information Technology Agreement 2, and continued absence of customs duties on e-commerce. "Despite standstills in negotiations technology and high-tech, products have continued to develop at a rapid pace, along with the business and organizational models that rely on them to thrive,” said ICC Secretary General John Danilovich. “The WTO ministerial is a real opportunity to make progress on this element of the global trade agenda that would reap the benefits of the digital economy and create significant boosts to international trade."

CLECs and their allies are pressing the FCC not to give ILECs relief from duties to share newly deployed feeder conduits with local competitors at regulated rates. They said the competitors still need regulated access to such conduits to reach the buildings of business customers and USTelecom hadn't justified the relief in a forbearance petition. The commission is to vote Thursday on a draft order on the petition (see 1512100063), and agency officials have indicated the item would give incumbent telcos relief from some rules, including on wholesale access (see 1511240070 and 1511250047).