Frontier Communications sought rehearing of an Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) decision requiring it to invest in redundancy after a 911 outage. The commission’s July 27 decision responded to a June 11 outage caused by gunfire (see 2206290010). Commissioners issued the order without giving Frontier due process or following administrative rules, said the carrier: The order is “unlawful, unreasonable, and unsupported by substantial evidence.” The ACC should vacate the order and work with Frontier “to develop a remedy plan that will accomplish, rather than undermine, the Commission’s legitimate goal of ensuring safe and reliable 911 access for the people of Arizona,” the carrier said Tuesday in docket T-20680A-21-0198. Requiring the carrier to invest in redundancy and diversity will likely result in a $78 monthly surcharge for customers, which is more than three times the average customers’ monthly bill in the affected area, said the company: “Frontier’s customers would likely drop their services in droves” if that happened.
The health data privacy debate after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade is focusing on social media platforms. Nearly 20 Republican state attorneys general asked Google Friday not to comply with Democrats’ request to “skew” search results and bury information on crisis pregnancy centers (see 2206290058). The Dobbs v. Jackson decision renewed questions about whether police should be able to access health data when prosecuting or blocking access to reproductive health services.
The health data privacy debate after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade is focusing on social media platforms. Nearly 20 Republican state attorneys general asked Google Friday not to comply with Democrats’ request to “skew” search results and bury information on crisis pregnancy centers (see 2206290058). The Dobbs v. Jackson decision renewed questions about whether police should be able to access health data when prosecuting or blocking access to reproductive health services.
The Arizona Corporation Commission directed staff to create a memo and proposed remedy order on Frontier Communications’ June 11 outage. At the West Virginia Public Service Commission, Frontier agreed to a settlement with 911 officials over outages in that state. Arizona commissioners grilled the company at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday about its response to the gunshot-caused outage, and earlier problems (see 2206280065). After discussing legal options in closed executive session, including a possible order to show cause (OSC), commissioners decided they will vote at their July 12-13 meeting on a proposed remedy order. Chairwoman Lea Marquez Peterson (R) said it would require Frontier to (1) quickly interconnect with the state's Comtech 911 system, (2) provide an emergency response plan, (3) actively pursue state and federal funds for network redundancy and diversity, (4) give a biweekly status update on Frontier’s progress getting funds, (5) identify areas that lack redundancy and diversity and provide a hierarchy of priorities for vulnerable areas and (6) have high-level, senior executives attend emergency town hall meetings in St. Johns, which experienced the June 11 problems. ACC Utilities Director Elijah Abinah said staff is considering July 14 for a St. Johns town hall. Peterson added, “We would like this to include enforcement provisions.” Saint Johns Police Chief Lance Spivey and Assistant Fire Chief Jason Kirk said they would have preferred the commission consider stronger enforcement action in the form of an OSC. The West Virginia PSC posted a Frontier 911 pact Tuesday in four dockets including 22-0274-T-C. Frontier agreed to “review and update its change management policy to assure regular, preventative maintenance routines,” improve network card tracking and inventory management, standardize a process for individualized route diversity education for county 911 officials, give PSC staff the West Virginia part of its FCC 911 reliability certification report and give county 911 directors documents on using Frontier’s rerouting tool, upon request. Before it can take effect, West Virginia commissioners “would have to approve, reject or modify the settlement,” a PSC spokesperson emailed Wednesday.
Arizona Corporation Commission members raised questions Tuesday about Frontier Communications’ urgency in responding to a June 11 fiber cut and other network outages. Frontier officials at the livestreamed ACC meeting defended the company’s speed responding to the June 11 outage, which the company blamed on gunshots by a possible saboteur (see 2206270029). Commissioners and local officials want more network redundancy to prevent future problems.
Gunshots damaged Frontier Communications fiber and caused an Arizona outage June 11, the company told the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) in a Friday letter in docket T-02115A-21-0198. “The incident that impacted Frontier's Internet and Verizon's wireless service in Navajo and Apache Counties on June 11 was the direct result of an intentional criminal attack on Frontier's fiber optic facilities executed in a manner to cause an extended disruption to services," the carrier said. “The perpetrator or perpetrators must be brought to justice.” Frontier disagreed with the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, which filed a June 20 letter that referred to the outage as a network failure. “Gunshot blasts damaged Frontier's fiber cable on a route between Holbrook and Snowflake, Arizona, in multiple locations, over a three-mile area. The pattern of damage indicates that this was neither a network ‘failure’ nor a foolish incident of vandalism.” Frontier urged the commission to consider increasing the state 911 surcharge or repurpose state USF for increasing network redundancy in rural areas. The ACC plans to consider the Frontier outage docket and possible state USF changes at its Tuesday meeting, said an agenda.
Some Senate Democratic backers of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn defended the Biden administration’s handling of her stalled confirmation process (see 2205050050) in interviews this week amid renewed criticism from some communications policy stakeholders. Some Sohn supporters found new cause for concern in the White House’s decision to hold a Monday event highlighting 20 ISPs’ commitment to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month (see 2205090060) given the providers’ opposition to the nominee.
President Joe Biden “may be endangering vulnerable Senate Democrats by continuing to push” for the chamber to confirm FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, the Wall Street Journal editorial board said Monday. Sohn’s confirmation process has stalled while three Senate Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remain undecided whether to back the nominee (see 2205050050). The WSJ editorial board, which has repeatedly opposed Sohn, said “her seeming animus to cops” is a primary motivator for the Democrats who are “reluctant to back her” given the Fraternal Order of Police’s criticisms of the nominee (see 2201040071). FOP cited Sohn’s role as a board member for the Electronic Frontier Foundation due to that group’s backing of end-to-end encryption and “user-only access,” plus social media posts seen as critical of the police. “Business groups haven’t come out as strongly against Ms. Sohn as they have some other nominees,” WSJ said. “Perhaps broadcasters and broadband providers are resigned to more aggressive regulation once a third Democrat joins the FCC.” Still, “the White House is putting the three wavering Democratic Senators in a political bind,” the editorial board said. Biden “would do his own party a favor by withdrawing Ms. Sohn’s nomination. But if he doesn’t, Senators can do the country a favor by defeating her.”
The Biden administration’s Monday announcement (see 2205060046) that 20 ISPs committed to offer low-income households broadband plans with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps at no more than $30 per month got a mixed reception among communications policy stakeholders. All of the participating ISPs -- which include Altice, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Mediacom and Verizon -- were already part of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program that subsidizes qualifying households’ broadband up to $30 per month. The White House said the participating ISPs cover more than 80% of the U.S. population.
FCC nominee Gigi Sohn’s Senate confirmation process may remain indefinitely in limbo despite recent heightened pressure from the nominee’s supporters and opponents on three undecided Democratic senators, said political experts and communications policy observers in interviews. The three Democrats -- Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- remained firmly on the fence Thursday.