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
AT&T Discontinuance Petition
The FCC is seeking comment on the petition of AT&T (on behalf of its affiliates operating in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin) to discontinue AT&T Local Exchange Carrier Calling Card Service in those states. The AT&T Affiliates plan to discontinue the service on or after April 20, 2015, subject to FCC authorization. In support of the petition AT&T said that calling card usage has been declining for several years due to the market growth of other communications methods including mobile phones, email, social media streams, and voice over Internet Protocol. The proposed discontinuance will not impact any of the AT&T Affiliates’ prepaid calling card services or any prepaid minutes associated with those cards. Comments objecting to application must be filed by March 27, 2015.
PSAP Text-to-911 Registry
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced an update to the FCC’s Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Text-to-911 Readiness and Certification Registry listing PSAPs that are ready to receive text-to-911 messages. The Registry lists PSAPs that are ready to receive text-to-911 messages and provides notice to CMRS and other providers of interconnected text messaging services of the date of PSAP readiness. Covered providers must begin routing 911 text messages to requesting PSAPs within six months of the notice date. The updated Text-to-911 Registry reflects recent information reported to the Bureau since the Bureau’s February 4, 2015, announcement of the availability of the Registry. See the Regulatory Mix dated 2/6/15. The Registry lists each PSAP by FCC PSAP ID and name, the county of operation, the primary point of contact for coordinating text-to-911 service, the method by which the PSAP will accept texts, the state or local governing entity authorizing the PSAP to accept texts, the notice date of PSAP readiness, and the date of compliance for covered providers. The Registry is available here.
Michigan
The Michigan Public Service Commission issued its annual report to the Governor and the Michigan Legislature. Highlights of the 2014 report include:
•The MPSC awarded nearly $90 million in grants for low-income energy assistance to various organizations. The grants provide immediate assistance for heating needs as well as longer-term assistance in reducing future heating costs for low-income and senior citizens.
•The PSC continues to make its PSC meetings available via podcast, handling 17,208 consumer contacts and assisting consumers and businesses with more than 9,924 electric and natural gas complaints and inquiries; 2,171 telecommunications complaints and inquiries; and 1,574 video/cable complaints and inquiries.
•The PSC in 2014 issued 455 orders, consisting of 93 telecommunications, 303 electric, 55 natural gas orders, and four motor carrier orders.
•The PSC undertook a series of process improvement initiatives, including upgrading the intrastate telecommunications service provider database and software, and updating the MPSC scorecard, a record of the PSC’s performance on key indicators.
The entire report is available here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Among the topics to be explored are:
- VoIP: What is regulated and what is not
- Best Practices for De-tariffing
- Step 4 in Access Reduction
- Distinction between end office and transport
- Special Access – what’s next?
- IP Transition progress
- Open Internet/Net Neutrality and Interconnection
- Internet under Title II
- Review of Telecom Regulatory Reports and Obligations for CLECs, VoIPs, OSPs, IXCs, and others (format & scheduling, too)
- Form 499 Details and Developments
- USF Exemption Certificates
- Telecom Audits
