Telecommunication

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced updated minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported services as required by the 2016 Lifeline Order. The 2016 Lifeline Order established minimum service standards for certain Lifeline-supported services and established annual increases in those standards either in the FCC’s rules or pursuant to calculations set out in the Order and the FCC’s rules.  Accordingly, the Bureau announced the newly calculated minimum service standard for fixed broadband data usage allowance, which is the same as the curren

A definitive agreement has been signed by which AccessPlus will acquire Crocker Communications, a third-generation, renowned telecommunications leader based in Greenfield and Springfield, Massachusetts. The closing of the transaction will follow Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state regulatory approvals and is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2024. The acquisition includes Crocker Communications’ assets and its robust customer base, encompassing approximately 2,000 government, education, and residential clients.

In a ruling that quickly caused shock waves in the U.S. telecommunications industry, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, 9-7, that the Universal Service Fund (USF) is unconstitutional as currently administered. The Court explained its ruling by saying that the USF is a “misbegotten tax” that violates Article I, § 1 of the Constitution, which states that all legislative powers are given to Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

After the Fifth Circuit ruled, 9-7, that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional as currently administered, we've seen the following responses.

The period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s saw the transformation of information and communication infrastructure. In the same period, TPRC evolved from a narrower focus on conventional telecommunications and information policy to “The Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy.” Through the lens of interdisciplinary work on Internet policy and intersecting TPRC activity, this retrospective describes an arc of change that began at the 1994 TPRC and continued for about a decade.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau extended, for an additional year, the waiver pausing both the phase-out of Lifeline support for voice-only services and the increase in Lifeline minimum service standards for mobile broadband data capacity.

The prosecco corks were no doubt popping at Telecom Italia’s (TIM) headquarters in Rome after the operator’s relieved CEO was able to announce the completion of a long-gestated plan to sell off its fixed-line grid to the Optics BidCo consortium controlled by investment firm KKR. The sale of NetCo for up to €22 billion (U.S. $23.6 billion) also allows TIM to reduce its net financial debt by about $13.8 billion, from an adjusted net financial debt of €26.6 billion at March 31, 2024.

In this Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Federal Communications Commission  proposed to extend, for an additional six years, the jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors freeze for rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs). The current freeze extension is set to expire on December 31, 2024.

Anybody not involved in the telephone business will probably be surprised to find that the old TDM telephone networks are still very much alive and in place. The old technologies were supposed to be phased out and replaced by digital technologies.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has rejected a bid by AT&T to no longer be the “carrier of last resort” for phone service in California. The ruling is a win for people who still use landlines. Being a carrier of last resort requires the company to provide basic telephone service. That often means installing and maintaining old fashioned copper landlines for those who have nothing else, and the state’s biggest carrier of last resort is AT&T.