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  2. October 2015

October 2015

How Is the FCC Protecting Consumers in the Digital Age?

[Commentary] Speeches by Federal Communications Commission chairmen and commissioners don’t often get big headlines, so you’ll be forgiven if you missed the news of two interesting speeches by key FCC staffers recently that address the commission’s role in protecting consumers. Both speeches highlight the need for the FCC’s expertise in overseeing telecommunications – and working with the other agencies with jurisdiction in this area. On September 24, Gigi Sohn, Counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, was in Providence, Rhode island, to deliver a speech titled, Consumer Protection in the Broadband Era: The Role of the FCC. Sohn highlighted what Chairman Wheeler sees as the two core responsibilities of the FCC: 1) to facilitate dynamic technological change and world-class networks that drive innovation, economic growth and improvements in the lives of the American people; and 2) to ensure that our networks reflect core values: universal access, public safety, and consumer protection. On September 25, FCC General Counsel Jon Sallet visited the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference to deliver a keynote, The Federal Communications Commission and Lessons of Recent Mergers & Acquisitions Reviews. Sallet’s aim was to give insight into the FCC’s thinking as it considered the suggested Sprint-T-Mobile merger, AT&T’s acquisition of DIRECTV, and Comcast’s abandoned bid to buy Time Warner Cable.

Finishing The Job On Prison Phone Calls

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is about to finish its long-delayed proceeding to reform the rate structure for prisoner phone calls. The FCC has announced that it will take up the issue at its next meeting on October 22. The FCC will cap rates, allowing slightly higher rates for local jails and smaller institutions. It will allow a few fixed additional transaction fees, such as for credit card calls paid through a live operator, but ban all other ancillary fees. As in its earlier order, phone companies will have to bear the cost of site commissions and may not pass them on to prisoners. Not surprisingly, the reform effort raises many legal and policy issues.

Tentative Agenda for FCC’s October 2015 Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 22, 2015:

  1. Rates for Inmate Calling Services (ICS): The Commission will consider a Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would adopt comprehensive reform of intrastate, interstate, and international ICS calls to ensure just, reasonable and fair ICS rates, and seek comment on additional measures the Commission could take to ensure that interstate and intrastate ICS are provided consistent with the statute and public interest. (WC Docket 12-375)
  2. Review of Foreign Ownership Policies: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would streamline the foreign ownership review process for broadcast licensees and applicants, and standardize the review process for broadcast, common carrier and aeronautical licensees and applicants. (GN Docket 15-236)
  3. Spectrum Frontiers: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to create new flexible use service rules in certain bands above 24 GHz to support multiple uses, including mobile wireless. (GN Docket 14-177, RM-11664, WT Docket 10-112, IB Docket 97-95)

American Cable Association: Lifeline Needs Major Overhaul

The American Cable Association says that the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program needs a major overhaul as the FCC migrates the phone subsidy for low income Americans to a broadband subsidy.

ACA says the FCC should:

  • Allow providers to require pre-payment for service
  • Support recurring and one-time coast
  • Allow customers to use the subsidy toward any service
  • Not impose the FCC's own service requirements
  • Have third parties, rather than carriers, verify eligibility
  • Give benefits directly to Lifeline customers
  • Streamline the provide eligibility process.

Statement of FCC Commissioner Clyburn on AM Revitalization Proceeding

The tone and substance of the discussions surrounding the AM Revitalization Window item proposed during my tenure as interim chair are both incendiary and misleading.

I believed then – as I do today – that AM radio plays a significant role in our media landscape, contributing to the diversity of voices and ownership that are vital to the functioning of our economy and our democracy. At that time, I expressed appreciation – as I do again now – for the support of an AM station in South Carolina that helped to buoy my professional career. At that time, I acknowledged the challenges, notably interference with station signals and standards, related to community coverage that made it difficult for station owners to survive and thrive. And at that time, I acknowledged the steps that the FCC had taken during my tenure to provide relief to AM broadcasters, including our efforts designed to increase the number of FM translators by more than 25%. Today, I am proud that these efforts have seen some success. While I remain convinced that opening an AM only window for broadcasters to receive one new FM translator is sound policy, revisiting this proposal closer to the time of the Incentive Auction, would make this relief effective. I carefully considered Chairman Wheeler’s proposal to provide immediate relief to AM broadcasters through a 250 mile waiver, and believe that it would increase the availability of translators for AM broadcasters.

Cogent's Schaeffer: Our interconnections with AT&T, Verizon are nearly congestion free

Cogent is seeing its efforts to alleviate traffic congestion with AT&T and Verizon finally paying off with these networks becoming nearly free of any issues. Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer said that the Federal Communications Commission's adoption of network neutrality rules that include Title II regulation, and passage of similar rules in the European Union, have led to ports on other networks becoming unclogged. "The adoption of the Open Internet order and Title II jurisdictional authority were mirrored in the EU and on June 30 the European Commission adopted a set of regulations that were passed by the parliament and the council," Schaeffer said. "As a result of that we have seen significant port augmentations." In particular, Cogent has seen its connections to Comcast become uncongested, while it continues to add capacity to AT&T and Verizon where it has signed agreements.

Analysts: 600 MHz incentive auction could generate $60 billion, but per-MHz prices could be lower than AWS-3 auction

Despite Sprint's announcement that it will not participate in the Federal Communications Commission's planned incentive auction of TV broadcasters' 600 MHz spectrum in 2016, analysts still expect the event to generate as much as $60 billion in total bids. That amount would make the auction by far the government's most successful spectrum auction ever in terms of total money raised.

However, some analysts are predicting that average spectrum license prices might be lower in next year's auction than this year's AWS-3 auction due to the FCC's tightened bidding rules, the 30 MHz spectrum reserve, and wireless carriers' tightening balance sheets. "In 2016, we expect large M&A deals to be limited due to the upcoming broadcast-spectrum auction, which is scheduled to start on March 29, 2016," reported Moody's. "The Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) spectrum auction that ended in January 2015 raised nearly $45 billion in provisional winning bids. We anticipate bids in the broadcast-spectrum auction could approach $60 billion if non-traditional bidders -- cable MSOs and technology companies, such as Comcast, Dish Network, and Google -- decide to participate."

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