the regulatory mix from tmi's regulatory consultanst

The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.

TELECOM

FCC

The FCC has announced a new date for its October meeting. The meeting will now be held on October 28, 2013. Items to be considered include: (1) a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address problems associated with completion of long distance calls to rural areas; (2) a Report and Order that implements an industry solution to provide interoperable service in the lower 700 MHz band; and (3) a Second Report and Order adopting technical rules for the 700 MHz broadband spectrum licensed to the First Responder Network Authority. These are the same three items that were on the agenda for the October 22 2013 Open Meeting that was cancelled due to the government shutdown.

 

Connecticut

 

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority will hold a technical meeting on October 28, 2013, to discuss the withdrawal of Order Nos. 3 and 4 of the Authority’s August 14, 2013, Decision which implemented new standards for restoration of service during an emergency. The Standards require that telecommunication service providers submit an Out-of-Service Access Line Plan and a report on the state of its compliance with the Standards. In addition, the Decision requires that providers report certain Connecticut access line information and notify the Authority of outage reports submitted to the FCC. AT&T filed a petition for reconsideration of certain reporting requirements of the Restoration Standards. See TMI Bulletin dated September 5, 2013.

 

Delaware

The Public Service Commission has announced that it will “go live” with its electronic filing software, DelaFile, on November 1, 2013. DelaFile will allow Telecom Providers to file all documents at the PSC on-line. This will eliminate the need for multiple paper copies of applications and other documents. Annual reports and assessments will also be able to be filed through DelaFile’s ACH payment gateway. Telecom Providers have been asked to complete a PSC-provided worksheet in order to allow the PSC to pre-register providers. 

 

Maryland

Verizon has submitted a tariff revision filing that would reduce the number of free residential Directory Assistance calls from four to two calls per month. The company requested that the filing (made on October 15, 2013) become effective October 16, 2013. Verizon noted that legislation reducing the required number of free residential Directory Assistance calls became effective on October 1, 2013, and that residential customers were notified of this change in their August bills.

 

 

Regulatory Briefing