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’s Wireline Competition Bureau released a list of the census blocks that will be removed from the offer of Connect America Fund Phase II model-based support for price cap carriers. The census blocks are being removed because they are in areas where a non-winning bidder for rural broadband experiment support timely indicated its desire to remain in consideration should additional funding become freed-up. Interested parties can access the list of the census blocks here. The list provides the census block ID numbers (CBFIPS) and census tract ID numbers (TractFIPS) of those census blocks that were the subject of Funding Category One bids where the bidder successfully filed the requisite financial and technical information required by the FCC’s January 6th deadline. The list also details the state and county where the census blocks are located, as well as a breakdown of the total locations in each block.
The Bureau also announced that it has posted updated answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the rural broadband experiments. The posting is available here.
California
TMI has confirmed that the CPUC will submit late-filed comments in the FCC IP Transition-related NPRM. (See TMI Blog Ref FCC To Consider Rules For The IP Transition dated 11/21/14.) The comments will be based on PUC Staff recommendation and will address the FCC’s docket involving the transition from networks based on time-division-multiplex (TDM) circuit-switched voice services running on copper loops to Internet Protocol (IP) multi-media networks using copper, co-axial cable, wireless, and fiber as physical infrastructure.
Washington
The Commission seeks responses to the Second Comments on proposed changes to its rules relating to attachments to transmission facilities. Washington statute authorizes the Commission “to regulate in the public interest the rates, terms, and conditions for attachments by licensees or utilities” (RCW 80.54.020) and requires it to adopt implementing rules, regulations, and procedures (RCW 80.54.060). In April 2015 the Commission opened this proceeding to adopt rules to implement RCW 80.54. Responses to the Second Comments should address the extent to which proposed revisions to the Revised Draft Rules are consistent with FCC or another state utility commission rules, orders, and interpretations, and responses that provide factual information to demonstrate and quantify the practical impact of problems other stakeholders have raised, as well as the ramifications of the rule revisions proposed to resolve those issues. Responses must be filed no later than February 27, 2015.
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