Competify, seeking new special-access regulation, released three "educational videos" that attempt to help consumers understand the impact of high-capacity broadband on their lives, a spokeswoman emailed Monday. The videos, which are available on a YouTube Web page, explain the impact of broadband access on social media, online shopping and online gaming.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted in modified form an ILEC motion to allow parties in its investigation of incumbent telco special-access tariff terms and conditions to use sensitive market data collected in the broader special-access rulemaking. The bureau said it was granting the motion "to the extent described” in an order from Monday’s Daily Digest. In the order in dockets 15-247 and 05-25, the bureau included two protective orders to permit tariff investigation parties “appropriate access” to confidential and highly confidential information submitted by companies in the special-access rulemaking. “In addition, the Bureau on its own motion permits the confidential and highly confidential information to be submitted in the tariff investigation to be used by participants in the rulemaking proceeding,” it said. “That information will be protected by the protective orders previously issued in the rulemaking proceeding.” AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon had filed the motion to use the rulemaking data in the tariff probe (see 1510260061). Level 3 opposed the motion (see 1511050053).
Securus Technologies "mischaracterized" the FCC inmate calling order in a letter apparently sent to correctional authorities that are customers of its ICS services, Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero said. “Contrary to the suggestion of the Securus Letter, the Commission has not sanctioned any proposal for correctional facilities to continue collecting site commissions ‘over and above the rate cap’ by ‘get[ting] a Mandatory Fee authorized and assessed ... that can be passed on to consumers,’” DelNero wrote to Securus President Robert Pickens in a letter Thursday. Pickens wrote a letter Nov. 13 addressed to correctional customers, which was placed into docket 12-375 by the Martha Wright Petitioner group in a recent filing. Also contrary to the Securus letter, the commission's decision to allow providers to pass universal service fees and similar government taxes and fees on to users "did not invite the creation of an alternative means for correctional facilities to 'generate some level of funding through inmate calling services,'" DelNero said. “I note that, as the Commission stated in the 2015 ICS Order, ‘We will be vigilant in monitoring the [ICS] industry. ... If we observe or are made aware of evidence of price gouging or other harmful behavior through, but not limited to, increased rates, ancillary service charges, and/or site commissions, we will not hesitate to take appropriate remedial action up to and including enforcement action pursuant to our legal authority under sections 201 and 276 or referral to another appropriate agency.’” DelNero said he hoped his letter cleared up any misunderstandings that led to the Securus letter. A company representative didn't comment Friday.
Incompas disputed AT&T arguments that the FCC must overcome high hurdles before revising policies on packet-based services, such as switched ethernet, in the special-access business market (see 1509290036). “There is no basis for AT&T’s arguments” because commission policies “have not engendered ‘serious reliance interests’” for ILECs “even for those services encompassed by the Commission’s grants of forbearance,” Incompas said in a letter posted Wednesday in docket 05-25. “Reversing forbearance from applying dominant carrier and other regulations to these services would not require that the Commission overcome unusually difficult administrative or legal obstacles.” The FCC’s forbearance grant doesn’t even apply to all incumbent telco packet-based special-access services, the group said. When the FCC in 2007 gave AT&T forbearance relief from various duties, it limited the deregulation to its "existing non-TDM-based, packet switched services capable of transmitting 200 kbps or greater in each direction," and "existing non-TDM-based, optical transmission services," said Incompas, which said other agency relief orders were also limited to existing services. At the time, AT&T offered "OPTical Ethernet Metropolitan Area Network" switched ethernet service in special-access tariffs, but in 2010 it introduced an upgraded service called "AT&T Switched Ethernet Service" (ASE) that was functionally different, Incompas said. The FCC forbearance relief thus didn't apply to ASE, said Incompas, which called for reviewing the regulatory treatment of other newer ILEC packet-based services. "Perhaps even more importantly, forbearance would not apply to any packet-based special access services that the incumbent LECs introduce in the future," the group said. "This fact puts the lie to any incumbent LEC claim that they are relying on the absence of regulation as a basis for making investment decisions for packet-based special access services to be introduced in the future." A "comprehensive reassessment" is in order, it said.
The FCC should expand a proposed video relay service (VRS) rate freeze to cover other "small providers," Purple Communications said in a filing summarizing a meeting with agency officials. Purple noted a recent Further NPRM proposed to temporarily freeze VRS compensation rates for providers with 500,000 calling minutes or fewer per month, while other providers will continue to have their rates cut under a previous order (see 1511030064). Purple said the commission should raise the threshold for a rate freeze to 2.75 million minutes/month, to cover all small providers. “The VRS market does not, as the Commission characterizes it in the FNPRM, consist of three large and three small providers,” the company said. “The market includes three very small providers, two small providers (including Purple), and one near-monopoly provider. … Continuing the current rate decrease for any small provider would only serve to further concentrate the market in the dominant provider.” Purple submitted VRS “market distribution and cost structure analysis” -- much of which was blacked out as confidential -- in the filing posted Monday in docket 10-51. The three smallest VRS providers are seeking immediate implementation of the proposed freeze (see 1511270011). VRS provides video-connected interpreters for the deaf and hard of hearing to communicate with phone callers.
Broadband competition pushed by the FCC is spurring consumer online shopping, including over Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, said Incompas President Chip Pickering in a Medium post. More than 300 businesses have written the FCC “calling for more choice in broadband service by preserving and protecting common sense competition policy -- both in the tech transitions and the special access proceeding,” he said. “Industry associations representing 150,000 gas stations and convenience stores and 70% of all the electricity providers powering homes and businesses also wrote to the FCC to ask that competition be enshrined for future networks.” Pickering said the FCC tech transitions order would “unleash investment and new ideas” from nonincumbent providers, "but challenges remain as lobbyists and lawyers from the largest incumbent providers threaten to pick that deal apart.” He also credited the FCC for moving ahead with the special-access rulemaking and an investigation “into egregious terms and conditions that lock up customers and lock out competition.”
The American Cable Association asked the FCC to revise financial qualifications a draft order would require of applicants seeking to participate in its planned reverse auction for broadband-oriented Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy support. The qualifications under consideration “are so onerous that they would act as a disincentive” to small-provider participation in the auction, said ACA in a Wednesday filing in docket 10-90 on a meeting with agency officials. Instead, the FCC should “tailor the requirements so that 'serious' smaller providers could participate,” said ACA, which represents small cable and telco video providers. To allow experienced small applicants to participate while ensuring they're financially qualified, ACA suggested smaller providers shouldn't be required to submit audited financial information before bidding. It said such information can cost $50,000-$100,000 -- “a large amount for a smaller bidder with no certainty of prevailing” in the auction, under which low subsidy bidders would generally win support. If the FCC remains concerned about small applicants' wherewithal, it could require them to put “a reasonable amount of money in escrow” that could be forfeited if they didn't comply with post-auction requirements, ACA said. And it said smaller participants should be allowed “to obtain a Letter of Credit ('LOC') other than from a 'top 100 bank' that has a Triple B or better credit rating and that is insured by the FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] or FCSIC [Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation].” That requirement might work for larger providers, ACA said, “but most of ACA's smaller providers only have relationships with community -- not top 100 -- banks." This "is not only driven by longstanding relationships within a community; it also has a sound financial basis” because “big banks find it inefficient and unprofitable to make small loans (or loan commitments)” and “smaller providers in turn are loathe to pay the high fees big banks demand,” the group said. ACA said it plans to offer specific alternative financial qualification proposals.
Three small video relay service (VRS) providers asked the FCC to speed a proposed freeze of their compensation rate at its June 30 level of $5.29 per minute. ASL/Global Services VRS, Convo Communications and Hancock Jahn (also known as Communications Access Ability Group/Star VRS) on Wednesday filed an emergency petition for a temporary nunc pro tunc waiver in docket 10-51 to waive their scheduled VRS rate cuts to the extent necessary to implement the rate freeze for 16 months, including retroactively. The FCC recently issued a Further NPRM proposing to give the small, (Tier 1) VRS providers (which handle fewer than 500,000 calling minutes/month) such relief for 16 months through Oct. 31 (see 1511030064), and is seeking comments by Dec. 9 and replies Dec. 24 (see 1511180026). The three small providers asked the FCC for a freeze “as promptly as feasible but in no event later than December 31, 2015 -- the day before the next VRS rate reduction is scheduled to take effect” because the commission wouldn't otherwise normally act in time. They said the FNPRM acknowledged the average per-minute VRS costs of the small providers exceeded their $5.06 compensation rate, which took effect July 1. “Consequently, the Tier 1 Providers have been operating at a loss,” the three companies said. “Absent Commission action before January 1, 2016, the Tier I Providers’ operating losses will be compounded by the further Tier I rate reduction that is scheduled to take effect this January 1st,” they said. “This further rate reduction will fundamentally undermine, if not jeopardize, the ability of the Tier I Providers to continue to participate in the Commission’s VRS program.” The petition noted the request is consistent with the FCC's 16-month proposal "but is not intended to be understood as the small providers' implicit concurrence with the FNPRM's proposed end of the freeze period." ASL, which targets Hispanics, made a separate filing in support of the petition that said its situation is particularly urgent because of the costs of providing interpreters fluent in three languages: American Sign Language, English and Spanish. VRS provides video-connected interpreters for the deaf and hard of hearing to communicate with phone callers.
A Securus Technologies patent is the "Stupid Patent of the Month," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. Identifying three elements in the inmate calling service provider's patent, EFF said Tuesday it boiled down to this: "When an inmate gets booked into the local jail, Securus robocalls a family member to ask if they are willing to set up a pre-paid phone account." EFF said there were two serious problems: "First, the claims are directed to a mind-numbingly mundane business practice and should have been rejected as obvious. Obvious uses or combinations of existing technology are not patentable. Second, the claims are ineligible for patent protection under the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Alice v. CLS Bank -- that holds that an abstract idea (like contacting potential third-party payers) doesn’t become eligible for a patent simply because it is implemented using generic technology. That the system failed to register either of these defects shows deep dysfunction." Securus didn't comment.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied TransWorld Network objections to the release of its sensitive business data, subject to a protective order, in the special-access rulemaking. TransWorld objected to the release of the data until potential reviewing parties disclosed whether they specifically sought to view the company's confidential and highly confidential data, and their reasons for wanting to do so. AT&T and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates had asked the bureau to dismiss the four TransWorld objections. In an order Tuesday denying TransWorld's objections in docket 05-25, the bureau said all 86 potential reviewing parties challenged by TransWorld had executed acknowledgements certifying they were seeking access to the data solely to participate in the rulemaking. It also said it was sticking with a previous decision to make available to all potential reviewers all the business data the FCC collected from industry parties and not require individual reviewers to specify which data they wanted to examine.