Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission recently sought comment on two petitions asking the Commission to preempt state laws regulating municipal broadband projects in Tennessee and North Carolina, two of twenty-one states that impose restrictions on municipal broadband.

The real debate is not about whether it is a good idea for cities to get into the broadband business. Nor is it about whether states should restrict localities from getting into the broadband business.

But those are questions to be asked and answered in the fifty state capitals as well as other cities all across our country. Rather, the debate at the Commission is going to be about a relatively narrow but critical question: Does the FCC have the legal authority to preempt state laws regulating municipal broadband? And the answer to that question is a resounding no.

[Berry is Chief Of Staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]

T-Mobile USA and CenturyLink have filed an application seeking the assignment of thirteen Lower 700 MHz A Block licenses from CenturyLink to T-Mobile.

The subject licenses cover geographic areas throughout the United States. The proposed transaction involves the transfer of spectrum; no customers or networks would be transferred.

The Federal Communications Commission’s preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the proposed transaction, T-Mobile would acquire 12 megahertz of Lower 700 MHz A Block spectrum in 179 counties in all or parts of 50 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs) in parts of various states. Post-transaction T-Mobile would hold 32 to 82 megahertz of spectrum in total in these 50 CMAs, including 12 megahertz of spectrum below 1 GHz.

Interested parties must file petitions to deny no later than September 3, 2014. Oppositions to such pleadings must be filed no later than September 15, 2014. Replies to such pleadings must be filed no later than September 22, 2014.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau outlined the process that will be used to award up to $100 million in rural broadband experiment support to bring next-generation voice and broadband service to high-cost areas of the country.

Specifically, the FCC summarized the procedures, terms, and conditions governing the submission of rural broadband experiments applications, the post-selection review of winning bidders and other important information for parties seeking rural broadband experiment funding.

Formal applications for participation in the rural broadband experiments are due 90 days after the July 14, 2014 release of the Rural Broadband Experiments Order. The deadline for applications will be on October 14, 2014.

On August 15, the Office of Management and Budget approved a plan to collect data from providers and purchasers of special access service for the purpose of conducting a comprehensive evaluation of competition in the marketplace.

Special access lines are dedicated high-capacity connections used by businesses and institutions to transmit voice and data traffic. Special access services are widely used to transport massive amounts of voice and data traffic from cell phone towers and buildings, as well as carry transactions from ATM machines and credit card readers.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau announces that it will proceed with the collection of data adopted by the FCC in 2012 for a comprehensive analysis of the special access market.

The Federal Communication Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau extends the deadline for filing reply comments in response to the 2014 Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the Framework for Broadband Internet Access Service Refreshing the Record Public Notice.

Accordingly, interested parties now have until September 15, 2014 to file reply comments.

On September 26, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission released the Inmate Calling Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM).

On April 17, 2014, the FCC submitted the mandatory data collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. In response to several petitions requesting an extension of time to file the mandatory data, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau extended the data collection deadline by 30 days, to August 18, 2014.

In this Order, the FCC responds to motions filed by CenturyLink, GTL, ICSolutions, NCIC, and Telmate (collectively ICS providers) seeking a further extension of time to respond to the Commission’s one-time mandatory data request. We do not find that the circumstances presented here warrant granting another extension.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Technological Advisory Council, comprised of a diverse group of leading technology experts, provides technical expertise to the FCC to identify important areas of innovation and develop informed technology policies supporting the United States’ competitiveness in the global economy.

The TAC is helping the FCC to continue the momentum spurred by the National Broadband Plan to maximize the use of broadband to advance national interests and create jobs.

In this , we affirm the Commission’s commitment to ensuring access to emergency services for all Americans.

The need to provide text-to-911 service in a timely manner is made more pressing because many consumers believe text-to-911 is already an available service, because of the unique value of text-to-911 for the millions of Americans with hearing or speech disabilities, and because of the crucial role it can play in protecting life and property when making a voice call would be dangerous, impractical, or impossible due to transmission problems.

We therefore take action to ensure that the potentially life-saving benefits of text-to-911 are available to all consumers as swiftly as possible. We require that Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers and other providers of interconnected text messaging applications be capable of supporting text-to-911 service by December 31, 2014. Covered text providers will have until June 30, 2015, or six months from the date of a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) request, whichever is later, to implement text-to-911 for that PSAP.

In the Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, we seek comment on technical issues related to the provision of enhanced location information and support for roaming for texts to 911, as well as the capabilities of future texting services.

We all know that the AM band is facing some big challenges. That’s why back in 2012 I proposed that the Federal Communications Commission launch an AM Radio Revitalization Initiative.

One year later, the FCC took the first step by announcing a comprehensive review of our AM radio regulations.

One thing is clear: While there are many issues at the FCC that are controversial, AM radio isn’t one of them. So the time for action is now. By Halloween, my goal is for the FCC to adopt AM revitalization reforms that do two things.

First, we should adopt the proposals the FCC outlined in 2013, with appropriate tweaks.

Second, we need to ask the public to comment on a new batch of specific proposals for improving our AM radio rules. We need to discuss whether there is still a demand for skywave, whether the FCC should pave the way for the use of synchronous transmission systems on the AM dial, and finally, whether we have reached the point where AM stations should be allowed to go all-digital on a voluntary basis.

Three points about the Federal Communications Commission’s review of transactions are important to understand:

First, the nature of the substantive review that Congress has instructed the FCC to apply. Second, the process that the FCC has instituted, consistent with that statutory standard, to provide an open and fair means of reviewing transactions. Third, the manner in which the complementary approaches of the Commission and the antitrust agencies work harmoniously to serve the public interest in a sector that has traditionally been the subject of careful governmental scrutiny.

I believe that the Federal Communications Commission's actions should be informed by competition principles. These principles look to the impact of practices on consumers and the public interest, not just on competitors. But, the "public interest" standard is not limited to purely economic outcomes. It necessarily encompasses the "broad aims of the Communications Act," which include, among other things, a deeply rooted preference for preserving and enhancing competition in relevant markets, accelerating private-sector deployment of advanced services, ensuring a diversity of information sources and services to the public, and generally managing spectrum in the public interest.