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
US Congress
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is holding a hearing on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, entitled, “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.” All five FCC Commissioners are scheduled to testify. The hearing will have a broad scope covering every aspect of the agency, from its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request to major policy issues before the Commission. This will be the Committee’s first public opportunity to directly question the Commission about its controversial Open Internet Order. The Committee is also expected to explore matters related to the modernization of the nation’s communications laws and the reauthorization of the agency, which has not occurred in 25 years.
Connecticut
In a letter to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Frontier has said it will be making the product/service terms available to Connecticut ISPs by March 15, 2015. Frontier had expected to make its DSL product/services terms and pricing available in February 2015. In December 2014, after review of Frontier’s filings and its offer to negotiate new Wholesale DSL Transport contractual arrangements, the Authority deferred acting on a petition filed by the Connecticut Internet Service Providers Association. See the Regulatory Mix dated 12/18/14.
Canada
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a $1.1 million penalty to Compu-Finder for spamming Canadians. Compu-Finder has 30 days to respond or pay the penalty. The CRTC found that Compu-Finder sent commercial electronic messages without the recipient’s consent as well as emails in which the unsubscribe mechanisms did not function properly. The emails sent by Compu-Finder promoted various training courses to businesses, often related to topics such as management, social media, and professional development. The alleged violations occurred between July 2, 2014, and September 16, 2014.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
