CLECs, Public Knowledge, Pennsylvania PUC Defend FCC Tech Transition Order
Parties backed the FCC 2015 tech transition order on the discontinuance process for replacing legacy telecom services provided over copper networks with IP services over fiber and other broadband networks. CLECs, their trade group Incompas, and Public Knowledge said the…
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FCC correctly interpreted Communications Act Section 214 "to require approval for wholesale changes" to ILEC offerings that would limit consumer functionality. "Petitioner's contrary argument reduces to the assertion that service is not 'impaired' or 'reduced' when fax machines stop working, customers can no longer reach 911, medical monitoring devices stop working, and retailer credit-card readers do not function -- or even call clarity and reliability decline -- absent inconsistency with some representation in a tariff," they said in an intervenor brief (in Pacer) Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1414). But Section 214 "is a licensing provision requiring a certificate of public convenience and necessity for any change" that degrades service, not just changes that create inconsistencies with tariffs, they wrote. The FCC properly decided Section 214 approval is needed for changes that degrade service to any customer, including CLEC customers, not just ILEC customers, and that ILECs should be required to provide reasonably comparable replacement services before discontinuing wholesale service, they said. The CLECs were: Access Point, BullsEye Telecom, Granite Telecommunications, Level 3, Manhattan Telecommunications, Matrix Telecom, New Horizon Communications, Windstream, Xchange Telecom and XO Communications. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's brief (in Pacer) said the FCC adopted "forward looking" regulations to maintain "public safety, pro-consumer, pro-competition policies and protections." Citing the FCC determination that tech transitions shouldn't be a "pretext to limit" competition or "compromise" wholesale access, the PUC agreed the federal agency took reasonable action to ensure new IP services meet consumer and provider needs.