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The FCC announced the agenda for its last Open Meeting before the upcoming 2020 general election, scheduled for October 27, 2020. The FCC first plans to respond to the remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on its Restoring Internet Freedom Order. The Commission will address three issues sent back to the agency for further consideration and largely reiterate its original conclusions regarding the impact of its reforms on public safety, pole attachments, and the Lifeline program. The Commission also plans to finalize its proposed 5G Fund with a two-phase reverse auction to target support for the deployment of 5G networks in rural areas, establishing a ten-year support term and a $9 billion overall budget. The October meeting will also consider allowing unlicensed white space devices to operate on broadcast television channels, as well as streamlining the state and local approval processes for wireless tower modifications. Lastly, the FCC plans to eliminate certain unbundling and resale requirements for incumbent local exchange carriers.

Unlike most monthly Commission meetings, none of the items on the October agenda initiate new proceedings or propose new rules. Instead, the items focus on implementation of a number of policies prioritized under Chairman Pai. FCC regulatory activity will likely slow in the aftermath of the election. As a result, the October agenda may represent the FCC’s final push for any major reforms in the near-term. However, on October 15, Chairman Pai did announce his intention to move forward with a rulemaking to interpret the meaning of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. You will find more details on the significant October meeting items after the break:…

Continue Reading FCC Plans to Finalize Internet Reform, 5G Fund, and TV White Spaces at October Open Meeting

Among the items being considered at the upcoming April 12, 2019 Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) open meeting is possible regulatory forbearance of certain legacy regulatory and structural requirements applicable to Bell Operating Companies (“BOCs”), price cap local exchange carriers (“LECs”), and independent rate-of-return carriers (“RoR carriers”). Acting on a nearly year-old USTelecom petition, the FCC’s draft Memorandum Opinion and Order (“Order”) proposes to forbear from enforcement of three regulatory requirements: (i) that independent RoR carriers offer in-region long distance service through a separate affiliate (“structural separations”); (ii) that BOCs and price cap LECs do not discriminate in service provisioning intervals and that they file special access provisioning reports; and (iii) that BOCs provide nondiscriminatory access to poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way (collectively, “pole attachments”). However, the draft Order declines to decide on USTelecom’s request for forbearance from certain network unbundling and resale requirements. The Commission’s deferral on the unbundled network elements (“UNE”)/resale issue is not surprising in light of the significant industry and consumer opposition to this aspect of USTelecom’s petition. With the exception of the few comments supporting USTelecom’s petition, the vast majority of comments were relatively silent regarding the other forbearance requests. If adopted, the draft Order will be effective upon release.
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Continue Reading FCC Considering Partial Grant of Regulatory Forbearance for Incumbent Carriers

After a year of heated debate between pole owners and service providers, the FCC is poised to adopt a one-touch make-ready (“OTMR”) process for the “vast majority” of pole attachments at its meeting on August 2, 2018. Late last week, the FCC released a draft Order and Declaratory Ruling that would implement a streamlined process for service providers to bypass certain pole owner requirements in order to gain access to poles to attach new facilities. Chairman Pai has touted the new procedure as hastening broadband deployment by allowing for faster, cheaper pole attachments. The FCC expects significant growth in pole attachments as service providers install the small cells necessary to support 5G technologies.
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Continue Reading FCC Plans to Speed Broadband Deployment Through One-Touch Make-Ready Fastlane for Pole Attachments

Highlighting the need for rapid infrastructure deployment to meet growing consumer data demands and support future 5G services, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) unanimously adopted a Report and Order at its November 16, 2017, meeting to eliminate historic preservation review of replacement utility poles under certain conditions. The FCC’s limited action marks the first decision to come out of the much broader FCC rulemaking proceeding initiated earlier this year to foster wireless infrastructure investment and deployment. The item also consolidates the FCC’s historic preservation review requirements into a single rule to aid compliance.
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Continue Reading November 2017 FCC Meeting Recap: FCC Aims to Speed Wireless Deployment by Eliminating Historic Preservation Review When Replacing Utility Poles

On August 16, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky granted summary judgment in favor of the Louisville Metro Council to uphold the city’s recently-enacted ordinance amendments providing for “one-touch make-ready” (“OTMR”) on poles in the City’s public rights-of-way.  The ordinance had been challenged by AT&T, which alleged that in enacting it, the Louisville Metro Council exceeded its authority under state and federal law.  The victory is a win for providers seeking faster access to poles when facing routine and other make-ready work because it obviates the need for a number of procedural steps that many see engendering delays and thwarting new attachers’ desire to build our or augment their networks promptly to provide customer services.  The decision is the first in the country to review an OTMR ordinance, although other challenges to OTMR ordinances are pending.
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Continue Reading Louisville One-Touch Make-Ready Ordinance Survives AT&T’s Challenge in Federal District Court

On April 20, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (“Commission” or “FCC”) initiated three interrelated proceedings in new WC Docket No. 17-84 that aim to “better enable broadband providers to build, maintain, and upgrade their networks” and transition from legacy copper networks to next-generation networks and services. The docket consists of three interrelated parts: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”), Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”), and Request for Comment (“RFC”) (collectively, the “Wireline Infrastructure Proceeding”). The Commission hopes to promote “more affordable and available Internet access and other broadband services.”
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Continue Reading Client Advisory: FCC Explores How to Speed Next Generation Wireline Broadband Deployment in New Proceeding

The FCC’s modification to the telecommunications carrier pole attachment rate formula have been published in the Federal Register and are set to take effect on March 4, 2016.  As we reported in December, the FCC issued an Order on Reconsideration modifying the cost allocators to bring parity between the telecommunications and cable attacher rates. …