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.
FCC
The FCC is seeking comment on a Petition for Declaratory Order filed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The PUC seeks clarification on whether it may adjudicate intercarrier compensation disputes when they arise between CLECs outside Sections 251 and 252 of the Communications Act, when they involve the exchange of local dial-up Internet traffic, and when the PUC decision properly enforces the FCC’s ISP Remand Order and is consistent with FCC rules. The PUC asks the FCC to find that it has jurisdiction to adjudicate such disputes so long as the result is consistent with the FCC’s ISP Remand Order and applicable law. Comments are due June 30, 2014; reply comments are due July 30, 2014. TMI Bulletin subscribers, watch for a Bulletin when the Petition is available.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU
The Public Safety And Homeland Security Bureau will investigate the circumstances of a major 911 outage centered in Washington state. On April 9-10, 2014, an extensive 911 outage occurred, centered in Washington state, but also affecting large areas of Oregon and portions of California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Press reports and preliminary data submitted to the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) indicate that in Washington alone, over 4,500 911 calls to public safety answering points (PSAPs) did not get through during a six-hour period beginning just before midnight on April 9, 2014.
“Given the large area impacted by this outage, the interdependent communications infrastructure spread across multiple states and providers, and the critical importance of dependable and resilient 911 service throughout the United States, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is examining the causes, effects, and implications of this outage.” The Bureau has opened a public docket and invites interested parties to provide information concerning the causes, effects, and implications of the outage.
