FCC Cutting Red Tape to Unleash New Infrastructure Investments

The Federal Communications Commission is taking an initial set of actions that will help accelerate the transition from aging copper lines to modern network infrastructure in communities all across the country. These actions will help ensure that providers roll out upgraded, high-speed networks to more Americans on a faster timeline—rather than requiring providers to keep pouring resources into maintaining decades-old and increasingly expensive copper line networks. While encouraging copper retirement, the FCC is keeping consumer protections in place, including requiring interoperability and guarding against price hikes by ensuring that consumers transitioning to new networks get access to services at similar or lower price points. The FCC takes the following actions through its orders:

• Adopts a clarification that will enable providers to use streamlined procedures more often when they apply to discontinue copper lines.
• Adopts a waiver that allows providers to retire copper networks, not only in cases where replacement voice services are available on a stand-alone basis, but in cases where those services are available on a bundled basis. The FCC’s pro-consumer pricing protections will remain in place.
• Adopts an order that waives unnecessary requirements that kicked in whenever a provider “grandfathered” a legacy service—meaning, they stopped offering it to new customers.
• Adopts an order that waives costly and excessive notice requirements in cases where they provide no demonstrable benefit. In fact, over the past two years, the FCC has processed more than 400 network change disclosure filings and not once has the FCC received a comment in opposition.