An Iowa Utilities Board member wrestled with VoIP classification questions during oral argument live-streamed Tuesday from IUB headquarters in Des Moines. As the board mulled a proposed rule in docket RMU-2015-0002 to add VoIP to its list of deregulated services, member Nick Wagner asked what jurisdiction IUB has over VoIP. The board has jurisdiction over voice, but not broadband, and yet VoIP is a voice service that relies on broadband, he said. “How do we go in and pick one specific component?” Industry officials from AT&T, CenturyLink and other telcos said the regulator should see interconnected VoIP as an information service and therefore refrain from regulating it. "Regulations today treat the industry like we're still dealing with that old black rotary phone,” said CenturyLink State Regulatory Affairs Director Wayne Johnson. But AARP Iowa State Director of Advocacy Anthony Carroll said advocates for seniors and other consumers aren’t trying to fight the future by seeking regulation of interconnected VoIP, but want to keep protections consumers have today with traditional landlines. Iowa Consumer Advocate Mark Schuling said the problem with the industry’s classification argument is that the FCC has never definitively resolved whether interconnected VoIP is a telecom or information service. Acknowledging the lack of clarity from the federal regulator, Wagner said, “It would be very helpful if they would.” At the end of the meeting, IUB Chairwoman Geri Huser directed parties to file additional comments on the board’s questions by Sept. 1. The VoIP classification question is also central to a court case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, where Charter Communications challenged the state Public Utilities Commission assertion of jurisdiction over interconnected VoIP (see 1605060027).
Google delayed fiber builds in multiple California cities while it explores alternative technologies, said a staff report by the city of Palo Alto. It could be six months or more before Google resumes its fiber network build in the Bay Area, the report said: “Google indicated that they are exploring more innovative ways of deployment that overcome some of the challenges they are facing in their current builds. It is the City’s understanding that the cities of Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale are also being delayed.” A Google representative notified the Palo Alto staff about the delay July 18, the report said. “The fiber ball is entirely in Google’s court,” emailed a San Jose spokesman. “We’ve taken care of all the environmental, permitting, and land use procedural issues needed for them to move ahead whenever they’re ready to.” He said the city and Google Fiber have had “a strong, productive working relationship” over the past two years, and the city remains optimistic Google will move forward with its plans to extend fiber into San Jose, “even if their original schedule gets modified so they can take advantage of technology advances that might be potentially less disruptive.” The delay follows Google Fiber’s acquisition of Webpass, a California CLEC specializing in point-to-point wireless broadband that could be combined with fiber to spread high-speed Internet to more homes (see 1606230046). Google Fiber last month opened shop in Charlotte (see 1607120030), and in June said it’s eyeing Dallas for further expansion (see 1606140047). Google continues "to work with city leaders to explore the possibility of bringing Google Fiber to the South Bay area," a company spokeswoman said. "This means deploying the latest technologies in alignment with our product roadmap, while understanding local considerations and challenges, which takes time."
FirstNet is working to build bridges with states as it develops state plans for the national public safety network, said state and FirstNet officials. Some states complained about communications with FirstNet, but this seems to be changing, said officials from the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in interviews. Some states may craft alternative plans to the ones developed by FirstNet, but the reality is that many states are in no position to opt out, they said.
New Jersey should thoroughly probe Verizon and the caliber of its copper network, the state’s Division of Rate Counsel urged. The Board of Public Utilities held a public hearing Thursday on problems reported by municipalities in Atlantic, Burlington, Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties. In prepared testimony emailed to us, Rate Counsel Director Stefanie Brand said problems experienced by New Jersey consumers require board action. The telco said it’s investing millions of dollars in “proactive” maintenance.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission could face a lawsuit if it revamps state USF contribution methodology before the FCC overhauls federal USF contribution formula, CTIA warned in comments Wednesday in PSC docket NUSF-100. The state commission is mulling a move to a connections-based mechanism from the current system based on intrastate revenue. Echoing a call from last month (see 1607190033), CTIA urged the state commission to wait for the FCC: "In addition to avoiding needless legal and practical problems, this approach also will allow the [PSC] to better guard against exacerbating the already high tax, fee, and surcharge burden on Nebraska wireless consumers." Carriers shouldn’t have to make major changes to their billing and accounting systems twice, once for Nebraska contribution overhaul and again after the FCC makes its own changes, CTIA said. “Such a costly and wasteful move could result in litigation.” AT&T is litigating with the Kansas Corporation Commission on these grounds, CTIA said. Federal law says state USF mechanisms mustn't be inconsistent with federal USF's, it said. Wireless contributors allocate intrastate revenue from connections that carry both interstate and intrastate traffic based on the inverse of the factor used for federal USF contributions, based either on a traffic study or the wireless safe harbor, it said. "If Nebraska uses a different approach to assessing interstate-intrastate connections, there is a significant risk that the Nebraska approach could impose NUSF contributions on revenue that is treated as interstate by the FCC.” CenturyLink disagreed. Its comments said "there are no unsurmountable intrastate versus interstate jurisdictional issues raised by moving to a connections-based mechanism for assessing an NUSF surcharge.” Workshops are needed to work out details, but "a connections-based methodology is fundamentally legally sound," the telco said. "An NUSF contribution which is connections-based does not burden the interstate uses any more than a surcharge which is revenues based, since both are determined without regard to jurisdictional separations" and "both recover the same total amount for the fund." Rural independent telcos said the PSC can’t afford to wait for the FCC. The FCC will revamp contribution "at some future point in time, but waiting for the FCC to act at a time when the current NUSF contribution methodology may not be sustainable is not a viable alternative,” rural independents commented. Nebraska is one of several states with decreased revenue to the state USF from contributions (see 1607010010).
A CTIA petition to ease wireless industry access to New York utility poles met resistance from utilities, a wireline telco and New York City. The wireless association wants the New York Public Service Commission to apply existing pole attachment requirements to wireless providers so it can quickly deploy small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS) that are critical to 5G services. In comments Monday in PSC docket 16-M-0330, other companies on the poles disagreed with CTIA’s claim that New York poles are largely inaccessible to wireless providers. The wireless industry is urging states to update siting and pole attachment rules.
Verizon spends hundreds of millions more than it makes on its New York network annually, it said Monday, defending itself in a state probe. The Public Service Commission is investigating the quality of Verizon’s legacy copper services and the telco’s willingness to make upgrades to copper in areas where it hasn’t rolled out fiber. In written testimony in docket 16-C-0122, the telco urged the PSC not to impose new regulations, claiming competition remains strong in the state and continues to provide incentive for the company to provide good service to customers.
A court injunction sought by top ISPs to ban disclosure of subscriber data in California could disrupt the authority of state commissions across the country, NARUC warned Friday. In an amicus brief (in Pacer) at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, NARUC joined the California Public Utilities Commission and The Utility Reform Network in opposing the ISP lawsuit. NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay said to expect an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if the district court rules against the CPUC.
The lack of telecom resolutions at the 2016 NARUC Summer Meetings is an anomaly, state commissioners told us this week in Nashville. At its Tuesday business meeting, the Committee on Telecommunications considered only two honorary resolutions for retiring staff subcommittee members Gene Hand of the Nebraska Public Service Commission and Lenora Best of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. There were no substantive resolutions about policy issues. "Let me assure you, that is rare,” said NARUC President Travis Kavulla of the Montana PSC. The Committee on Telecommunications is usually the most active NARUC group and where states tend to find the most common ground, he said. Committee Chair Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission agreed it’s "highly unusual." Telecom usually has the most, he said. "I don't try to put my thumb on the scale on any of those, nor do I try to go out and stir up any resolutions. If the membership wants to organically bring them up, great." There will likely be substantive resolutions at the annual meeting Nov. 13-16 in La Quinta, California, predicted Nelson: "Not that I know of anything bubbling out there, but just based on our history, I would think so."
NASHVILLE -- States should get involved in the special access debate over the competitiveness of business data services, a Level 3 official said in a session Tuesday at the 2016 NARUC Summer Committee meetings. The California state commissioner moderating the panel said her state cares about the historically federal issue and is following the FCC proceeding. Taking their expected positions on the panel, industry officials for ILECs and cable said the BDS market is competitive, while CLECs and Sprint backed regulation to spur competition.