Price-cap telcos accepted up to $1.5 billion of the $1.675 billion in annual USF support the FCC offered under its new Connect America Fund program that subsidizes broadband (and voice) service in high-cost rural areas, the FCC said Thursday in an emailed statement. The money is expected to help the carriers deliver and improve broadband to up to 3.6 million rural homes and businesses and 7.3 million customers, the commission said.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Retiring is Brooke Johnson, president of Scripps Networks Interactive’s food lifestyle brands; will consult for the company through next year ... Univision adds to Leonardo Ruiz's duties, named vice president-general manager, KUTH Provo, Utah, and he remains general manager of Univision stations in Bakersfield, California ... American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, starting a Global Customer Service team, promotes DeDe Burns to vice president-global customer services, new position ... TA Associates, private equity firm, hires as vice presidents working on areas including technology, and some returning to the firm after graduate school, Amara Suebsaeng, Alex Melamud, John DiCola, ex-Hellman & Friedman, and Max Cancre ... Westell Technologies hires Brian Brouillette, formerly of Ixia, as senior vice president-intelligent site management and worldwide services ... LifeLock hires Marco Wirasinghe, ex-Yahoo, as vice president-consumer applications.
ASPEN, Colorado -- FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly sparred over the FCC’s privacy role Tuesday but also foresee points of possible harmony with overhaul of the Lifeline program, speaking during the Technology Policy Institute conference.
The FCC’s push to extend Lifeline USF support to broadband is receiving support in early comments, but some state and local officials are concerned it could come at the expense of traditional phone services. Some Native American groups also have urged the commission to reach out more directly to tribal authorities to address their needs. Responding to several requests for more time, the FCC extended its Aug. 17 deadline to Aug. 31 for commenting on its NPRM to revamp its Lifeline USF support for low-income consumers (see 1508050032), but some parties filed comments in docket 11-42 by the original deadline.
Midsized telco wireline system acquisitions have produced broadband deployment and sharpened the landline consumer focus in affected states, telcos and interested parties said. Frontier Communications' takeover of Verizon (and AT&T) systems and CenturyLink’s takeover of Qwest generally receive good marks from state regulators, consumer advocates and others for completing difficult transitions and fulfilling most service obligations. But it’s not clear if FairPoint has recovered after choking on Verizon New England systems that increased its size sixfold; there is concern about Frontier’s pending acquisition of Verizon systems in California, Florida and Texas; and the sustainability of wireline telco business plans is in question.
CTIA asked the FCC to reconsider two “discrete” aspects of updated Lifeline program rules approved in June (see 1506180029). CTIA asked the FCC to reconsider declarations that Section 222(a) of the Communications Act “imposes a duty of confidentiality upon carriers, other than with respect to Customer Proprietary Network Information” and that Section 201(b) “imposes a duty upon carriers to implement data security measures.” The petition for partial reconsideration “seeks reconsideration solely with respect to the scope of the Commission’s authority under those two subsections of the Communications Act,” CTIA said Thursday. “CTIA’s member companies protect the privacy and security of wireless consumer information because consumers deserve and expect it,” General Counsel Tom Power said in a statement. “Members also abide by a wide array of state and federal privacy regulations. But in attempting to craft new data security rules specific to the Lifeline program, the FCC relied on the wrong laws to create additional regulation not authorized by Congress. The FCC’s fractured approach to data security is why CTIA supports even-handed regulation focused on the nature of the information, not the identity of the company holding it.”
AT&T asked the FCC to clarify broadband ISP duties to collect and disclose information under the 2015 net neutrality order's transparency rules. In a filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-28, AT&T said the commission should clarify that it didn't intend a rule change when its order said broadband providers must disclose actual "relevant information" to consumers at the point of sale, and not simply provide a Web link to such disclosures, as the agency had said they could do under 2011 guidance. If the FCC changed its rule, "it would impose a new collection requirement and enormous new burdens on the industry that could not be justified under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and which plainly was not part of the Commission’s May 20, 2015 Public Notice," AT&T said, adding that if the FCC intended a change, it must publish a new public notice seeking comment. AT&T also said the commission should clarify that a requirement for collecting new information on mobile broadband performance wouldn't apply "until the planned Measuring Broadband America program for mobile services is in place and available as a safe harbor, to avoid forcing mobile providers to incur substantial costs implementing measures that may become moot or unnecessary." AT&T said mobile providers measure performance in different ways, so their current data wouldn't provide customers useful information. Finally, AT&T said the FCC should clarify that broadband providers will have at least a year, after the Office of Management and Budget approves any new FCC information-collection rules, "to implement the many system changes, and new methods and procedures, necessary to comply." In recent comments, AT&T and others said the FCC was dramatically underestimating the cost of industry compliance with its new rules (see 1507220048).
The FCC released an order to help ensure the continuity of 911 communications as telcos move from traditional line-powered copper networks to fiber-based systems without independent power -- an item that was unanimously adopted by commissioners Thursday (see 1508060044). The 62-page text requires facilities-based providers of wireline phone service to notify consumers of the electrical power limitations of any new systems they install and offer them backup power options. Providers must give new customers options to buy and have installed at least eight hours of standby backup power capability, with the mandate taking effect for large companies 120 days after the order appears in the Federal Register. Providers with fewer than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines will have an additional 180 days to comply. Within three years of the effective date, all the providers will have to offer customers at least 24 hours of backup power, the order said. The FCC said its focus was to help ensure 911 calls can still be made during power outages, but it provided a general voice backup power mandate because there was no practical way to provide power just for 911 calls. There's no obligation for providers to retrofit existing systems with backup power, but they must annually notify consumers of their power limitations and options for installing backup power. The order released Friday clarified that the eight-hour (and eventually, 24-hour) duty covered the amount of time a backup solution had to be “in standby mode, i.e., able to provide a dial tone and to initiate and receive voice calls, but not necessarily continuously.” The FCC recognized the actual backup power duration would vary with calling uses, but it said it wasn’t practical to have a variable-usage rule. The requirements will sunset on Sept. 1, 2025.
The FCC issued its IP technology transition order and Further NPRM Friday, fleshing out specifics of what commissioners adopted 3-2 Thursday (see 1508060044). The 179-page text sets “rules of the road” for telecom carriers retiring copper-based networks and services. The commission often agreed with competitive LECs and their allies and disagreed with incumbent LECs on basic policies, though it declined to accept various proposals of both CLECs and ILECs.
The FCC order approving AT&T’s takeover of DirecTV was released Tuesday, laying out the conditions it imposed. The 241-page order includes 59 pages of "merger simulation model" analysis and 17 pages of conditions that appear to track commission descriptions over the last week (see 1507210078, 1507220076, 1507230059, 1507240055 and 1507270074) but with more specifics. For instance, while the conditions generally last four years, if AT&T doesn’t complete a required fiber buildout within that time frame, all the conditions will remain in effect until it does. In addition, if the FCC finds AT&T has violated any conditions, it can extend the terms of such conditions for two years.