As it facilitates the transition to IP networks, the FCC should take steps to preserve competition in the business market, Granite Telecommunications told an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday (http://bit.ly/10IPK1I). If ILECs remove copper without being required to give CLECs access to its replacement, “the type of competition provided by Granite would not be possible,” the CLEC said in a Friday filing recounting the meeting. Wireless and other forms of communications are “not an adequate substitute” for businesses, Granite said. Granite also expressed concern about AT&T’s proposed wire center trials, which “may interfere with the services Granite currently provides its customers in those locations.” Granite suggested that the FCC’s Technology Transitions Policy Task Force focus on preserving competition in the business market. Granite has expressed concern that the trials would impact its existing business contracts (CD April 18 p3).
The FCC Technology Transitions Policy Task Force released its much anticipated public notice on Internet Protocol transition trials Friday, but stopped short of approving AT&T’s proposal for wire center trials. Instead, if trials as proposed by AT&T come at all, they would only follow completion of a comment cycle set up by the task force Friday. Commissioner Ajit Pai called the notice a “missed opportunity.”
The FCC launched a rulemaking seeking comment on a Qualcomm proposal for a terrestrial-based air-ground mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, on a secondary basis, for use by passengers on aircraft. The service uses time-division duplex technology and is expected to mean faster broadband connections on commercial flights. The proposal has faced continuing opposition from the Satellite Industry Association since the spectrum is set aside as a satellite uplink band. Commissioners approved the NPRM on a 4-0 vote Thursday, but said they want hard evidence that the new service won’t pose interference problems for satellite operators.
The FCC launched a rulemaking seeking comment on a Qualcomm proposal for a terrestrial-based air-ground mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, on a secondary basis, for use by passengers on aircraft. The service uses time-division duplex technology and is expected to mean faster broadband connections on commercial flights. The proposal has faced continuing opposition from the Satellite Industry Association since the spectrum is set aside as a satellite uplink band (CD April 30 p4). Commissioners approved the NPRM on a 4-0 vote Thursday, but said they want hard evidence that the new service won’t pose interference problems for satellite operators.
The FCC launched a rulemaking seeking comment on a Qualcomm proposal for a terrestrial-based air-ground mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, on a secondary basis, for use by passengers on aircraft. The service uses time-division duplex technology and is expected to mean faster broadband connections on commercial flights. The proposal has faced continuing opposition from the Satellite Industry Association since the spectrum is set aside as a satellite uplink band. Commissioners approved the NPRM on a 4-0 vote Thursday, but said they want hard evidence that the new service won’t pose interference problems for satellite operators.
Allband pressed its case for a 15-year waiver of USF support caps, in meetings Wednesday with FCC officials. Allband already has a 3-year waiver, granted in July by the Wireline Bureau (CD July 27 p6). The bureau had asked Allband to take “all reasonable steps” to meet the $250 per-line per-month cap on USF support, but that’s simply not possible, Allband told aides to commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai. “Even unrealistic steps to reduce costs and increase revenues will not allow Allband to meet the $250 cap” by the time its waiver expires on July 1, 2015, the rural Michigan telco said (http://bit.ly/15Y97pw). That’s why Allband asked for a 12-year extension in August (CD Aug 27 p1), which would let it repay its Rural Utilities Service loan, the telco said. If the application isn’t granted, Allband will require a new waiver in 2014, which will cost at least $50,000 to put together, it said. That kind of expenditure is “inefficient and unnecessary when it is clear that no action Allband can take will allow it to meet the $250 cap,” it said. Allband also took issue with the Wireline Bureau’s dismissal of its request for a waiver of the regression caps on high-cost loop support. The bureau had said the request was moot because Allband would not be affected by the caps, but “the current regression caps do impact Allband,” the telco said. The company “may be able to absorb the 2013 impacts,” but not the 2014 impacts, it said. “As a consequence, Allband will, by 2014 be unable to pay the full amount of its RUS loan obligation, and voice service along with all services provided by Allband will be in jeopardy.”
The FCC should provide support for loops used to provide standalone broadband services, NTCA, the South Dakota Telecommunications Association, Venture and Golden West told aides to commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel Tuesday (http://bit.ly/ZTnnI1). The commission “clearly grasped” the need to update its rules in the USF/intercarrier compensation order, and took steps to implement the policy for larger carriers via the Connect America Fund, the groups’ ex parte filing said. But “this unmistakably clear, forward-looking vision in the text” of the order “did not carry through as a mechanical matter to the specific rules that govern distribution of universal service support for smaller carriers,” it said. The groups also warned of the “cumulative effect” of reporting requirements on small service providers, which takes up significant employee time toward administrative reporting rather than service delivery, they said. Accountability is important, but small carriers often can’t bear the burden, they said. The groups also said rural call completion issues still persist. The Enforcement Bureau should “take prompt action to sanction publicly and forcefully” parties that don’t route calls properly, they said. In a related meeting Monday with Commissioner Ajit Pai, NTCA urged the commission to act on a long-pending reconsideration petition regarding the “flash-cut elimination” of Safety Net Additive support for those that had previously qualified (http://bit.ly/1204VPo).
The numbering system is “becoming an anachronism,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai. “It assumes the dominance of old-school carriers interconnecting over time division multiplexed -- or TDM -- circuits, using copper lines and the out-of-band Signaling System No. 7. But that’s not how modern, IP-based networks work.” The notice will take a “fresh look” at the commission’s numbering rules, including those regarding number portability and numbering cost allocation, he said.
The numbering system is “becoming an anachronism,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai. “It assumes the dominance of old-school carriers interconnecting over time division multiplexed -- or TDM -- circuits, using copper lines and the out-of-band Signaling System No. 7. But that’s not how modern, IP-based networks work.” The notice will take a “fresh look” at the commission’s numbering rules, including those regarding number portability and numbering cost allocation, he said.
The FCC is starting an investigation of wireless calling problems following Monday’s bombings in Boston, a step urged by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials Tuesday (CD April 17 p1). Similar to other recent crises, there were widespread reports after the attack about network overload. “There was a temporary surge in wireless phone use after the Boston attack, which caused network congestion,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky. He said Chairman Julius Genachowski instructed the bureau “to examine the events in Boston as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen network resiliency and reliability in the wake of a disaster. This includes steps that carriers and other stakeholders can take, as well as ways to improve public outreach and education.” Genachowski also released a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims of the tragedy in Boston,” he said. “It’s vital that communications service is available during crises, when the need to reach 911, family and friends is the most urgent. For the FCC, this is an institutional imperative.”