Customs Duty

SmartEdgeNet disputed Public Knowledge and Bandwidth.com criticisms of a draft FCC order that would authorize VoIP providers to obtain phone numbers directly from numbering administrators (see 1506080030), an item that's on the agency's agenda for the June 18 meeting. "Neither submission raises any real concerns regarding the assignment of telephone numbers to interconnected VoIP providers," SmartEdgeNet (SEN) said in docket 13-97. "The submissions of both Bandwidth.com and Public Knowledge seem more devoted to inducing fear and uncertainty -- and therefore delay and excessive regulation -- than to identifying any actual problems that might arise from permitting interconnected VoIP providers to directly receive allocations of telephone numbers, or suggesting meaningful solutions to any problems they claim to be worried about."

AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon expressed concerns about a possible FCC requirement that telecom carriers providing Lifeline-supported service retain sensitive consumer documentation that's submitted to demonstrate eligibility for the USF program. The large telcos said the FCC shouldn't move forward with the proposal or should consider it further in a Lifeline NPRM the FCC is planning to vote on along with a Lifeline order at its June 18 meeting. Meanwhile, wireless Lifeline providers and others continue to lobby the FCC, backing the possible expansion of traditional Lifeline voice support to broadband access.

The Communications Workers of America said Verizon neglects legacy telecom networks "in favor of larger profits," as CWA sought access to the company's repair, maintenance and installation records for its landline service in six eastern states and the District of Columbia. Verizon dismissed the union's claims as "absurd" and a typical tactic when the union is about to begin bargaining talks over the next labor contract.

Former chief operating officer of Wireless Zone, the largest independent third-party reseller of Verizon Wireless, James Dunham, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston after he was arrested and charged in February with selling confidential business information about the wireless industry to an analyst at a Boston-based financial services firm, said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts in a news release. It said Thursday that Dunham is to be sentenced Sept. 3. The office said that for more than two years, Dunham provided confidential information, including the status of certain product launches, the number of new subscribers to a specific wireless provider, and information for specific smartphones, in return for $2,000 per month. “Mr. Dunham abused his position and violated his duty to his employer, customers, and shareholders by stealing business secrets for personal gain,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Office Vincent Lisi. The maximum sentence Dunham could receive is up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of either $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, said the bureau.

Netflix continues to slowly increase its domination of North American fixed networks, generating 38.5 percent of downstream traffic in the peak evening hours, said a Sandvine report Thursday on North America and Latin America. In Latin America, Facebook and Google control more than 60 percent of total mobile traffic, said the provider of broadband monitoring services to ISPs. The release of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare -- Ascendance DLC caused a significant spike in bandwidth usage, and generated 12 percent of traffic on one North American fixed network on its release date, said the report, based on data from a selection of Sandvine’s 250-plus communications service provider customers.

The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on Granite Telecommunications' request for FCC clarification of Bell Operating Company (BOC) Section 271 duties to combine unbundled network elements at wholesale discounts and commingle them with other services. Comments/petitions are due June 15 and replies/oppositions are due June 30, said a bureau public notice in docket 15-114. In a May 4 petition for a declaratory ruling, Granite, a CLEC with business customers, asked the FCC to remove uncertainty about BOC duties "(1) not to separate unbundled network elements ('UNEs') provisioned pursuant to Section 271(c)(2)(B)(iv)-(vi) of the [Communications] Act; (2) to combine such UNEs; and (3) to commingle such UNEs with other wholesale services." Granite said a court-driven FCC rollback in ILEC unbundling duties under Section 251, the absence of FCC rules on BOC Section 271 UNE duties, and a recent USTelecom filing -- asserting the BOCs don't have to combine Section 271 UNEs -- "have created uncertainty as to the BOCs' obligations regarding the separation, combination, and commingling of Section 271 UNEs." Citing a Section 202(a) prohibition against unreasonable discrimination and a Section 201(b) prohibition against unjust and unreasonable practices, Granite asked the FCC (1) to prevent BOCs from separating already-combined UNEs unless requested by a CLEC or unless the BOCs have a reasonable basis for doing so; (2) to require BOCs to combine Section 271 UNEs at the request of CLECs unless the BOCs have a reasonable basis for refusing to do so; and (3) to require BOCs to commingle, or allow CLECs to commingle, Section 271 UNEs with wholesale services obtained from ILECs unless the BOCs have a reasonable basis for refusing to do so. Granite said the BOC Section 271 obligations to provide competitors with unbundled access to local loops, transport, and switching are ongoing and independent of ILEC Section 251 unbundling duties. "[I]n the absence of Section 251 unbundling obligations for local switching and shared transport, the Section 271 competitive checklist provides the only regulatory compulsion for BOCs to provide these network elements on an unbundled basis today," Granite said.

Prodded by the FCC, telco groups are making progress but have yet to reach consensus on proposals to overhaul universal service funding for rate-of-return carriers, industry representatives told us Friday. The groups are due to provide FCC officials this week with a status report on their efforts to coalesce around a common approach for reforming USF mechanisms that provide up to $2 billion in annual subsidies for generally smaller, rural rate-of-return carriers, the representatives said.

AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association jointly sought a partial stay of the FCC’s net neutrality rules, approved by a divided commission Feb. 26 (see 1502260043). The Friday request targets the parts of the order reclassifying broadband as a common carrier service, but not the meat of the rules. But industry officials acknowledge it's unlikely the FCC will stay the highly contested order, which dominated debate at the FCC for the better part of a year. Verizon, which successfully challenged the FCC's 2010 net neutrality order, didn't sign onto the petition.

Net neutrality rules that could block zero-rated services like Wikipedia Zero should be of concern to the public, said Mike Godwin, general counsel at The R Street Institute, Wednesday in comments posted by reason.com. Godwin, former general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation, said in general he's a supporter of net neutrality. But, he argued, concern about zero-rated services themselves is misplaced.

The FCC should postpone authorizing the start of contract talks with Telcordia to become the next local number portability administrator, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute said in a Neustar-funded report Monday that expressed concerns over the Telcordia’s ability to be neutral. Neustar is the current LNPA. The report raised fears that changing the LNPA would give large carriers an advantage over smaller carriers and miss the opportunity to promote competition by making it easier for customers to switch providers. OTI called for the agency to examine the role the LNPA plays in promoting competition, highlighting that the numbers administrator doesn't port numbers for regional and local carriers, but does so for national carriers. That gives the larger carries an advantage, OTI said.