The California Public Utilities Commission didn’t do enough research before proposing that it regulate VoIP services, the New York Law School’s Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute (ACLP) said Tuesday. The telecom industry last week condemned the proposed decision that would say interconnected VoIP providers are telephone corporations subject to the same laws and rules as other wireline and wireless telcos (see 2410110040). In reply comments, companies, including Comcast and Frontier Communications, continued calling for workshops and further review. The CPUC “failed to offer a strong factual basis to justify its expansive proposal for extending common carrier regulation to VOIP services because it did not endeavor to collect data, information, and input via evidentiary hearings and other mechanisms typically deployed by the Commission in similar circumstances,” ACLP said. “Had the Commission gathered more data and information about the downsides of regulating advanced communications services like VOIP as common carriers, it would have been able to identify the negative consumer outcomes that tend to stem from fragmented state-by-state public utility regulation of these offerings, including higher costs and fewer choices for consumers.” The CPUC was scheduled to vote on the item Thursday, but staff postponed it until Nov. 7 (see 2410150033).
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Make children and teenagers eligible for California's deaf and disabled telecommunications program, Center for Accessible Technology and The Utility Reform Network said in comments posted Monday at the California Public Utilities Commission. Similar programs in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington state are open to kids as young as 4 or 5 years old, said the consumer groups in docket R.23-11-001. Also, the consumer advocates said the commission should do more targeted outreach to gather input on topics including emergency preparedness, program certification requirements and ways to spur technological innovation. In addition, the CPUC should address barriers to access, they said. “A very common driver of a lack of access is a failure to recognize that there is a wide spectrum of communications needs, and that individual communications needs can be very complex.”
The California Public Utilities Commission won’t vote on possible VoIP rules at Thursday’s meeting. The telecom industry last week warned the CPUC not to vote for a proposed decision that would say that interconnected VoIP providers are telephone corporations subject to the same laws and rules as other wireline and wireless telcos (see 2410110040). CPUC staff held the item until the Nov. 7 meeting, said a hold list released Monday. In addition -- and for the fourth time -- staff postponed voting on a plan to allow people without social security numbers to apply for state LifeLine support (see 2409250016). The CPUC gave no reasons for the delays.
Meta, Google, TikTok and Snapchat must defend themselves against claims that their platforms are designed to “foster compulsive use by minors,” the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Tuesday (docket 4:22-md-03047-YGR). Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled on hundreds of consolidated legal claims filed on behalf of children, school districts, local governments and state attorneys general. The ruling covered lawsuits from 35 different states, including California, New York, Georgia and Florida. Rogers “generally denied” the companies’ motions to dismiss but limited many claims' scope. “Much of the States’ consumer protection claims are cognizable,” she said. “Meta’s alleged yearslong public campaign of deception as to the risks of addiction and mental harms to minors from platform use fits readily within these states’ deceptive acts and practices framework.” However, she noted Communications Decency Act Section 230 provides a “fairly significant limitation on these claims.” Section 230 also protects against “personal injury plaintiffs’ consumer-protection, concealment, and misrepresentation theories,” she said. Rogers declined to dismiss “theories of liability predicated on a failure-to-warn of known risks of addiction attendant to any platform features or as to platform construction in general,” including claims against YouTube, Snap and TikTok. The companies didn’t comment.
NTIA supports the FCC’s proposal for expansion of nonfederal use of the 13 GHz band, provided there are protections for in-band and adjacent federal operations, said a filing last week in docket 22-352. NTIA responded on behalf of NASA and the National Science Foundation. To ensure “in-band compatibility” with NASA’s Deep Space Network receiving ground station at Goldstone, California, and NSF-operated radioastronomy (RA) observatories, “NTIA and the Commission should develop a coordination process that would protect these important scientific endeavors while still permitting more intensive use of the band,” NTIA said. “Because the RA observatories are located in remote areas, successful coordination should be possible,” NTIA said. The FCC launched a notice of inquiry on the future of the 13 GHz band two years ago (see 2210270046).
With the California Public Utilities Commission planning a vote within days about regulating VoIP, AT&T and the cable industry urged that commissioners at least delay -- if not outright reject -- the controversial item. Industry groups representing voice technologies stressed in comments last week in docket R.22-08-008 that the CPUC lacks legal authority to regulate VoIP.
States trying to beef up their broadband network-related workforce see a potentially worrisome gap between people graduating from broadband trades training programs and the future delivery of broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) money. Also Friday, during the Broadband Nation Expo, Jonathan Adelstein, TWN Communications chief strategy and external affairs officer and former Wireless Infrastructure Association head, said the investor community is cautiously warming to BEAD-related investments. The Telecommunications Industry Association and Fierce Network staged the event at National Harbor, Maryland.
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ISPs in 24 states could face business challenges in the next decade from the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program’s low-cost offering requirement if the FCC further moves the needle on what it defines as broadband, NCTA state affairs lead Rick Cimerman said Wednesday. In addition, Jennifer Fritzsche, Greenhill analyst, said she expects consolidation among rural wireline companies akin to what happened with numerous regional wireless operators. They spoke at the Broadband Nation Expo that the Telecommunications Industry Association and Fierce Network organized.