The Regulatory Mix

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

        Cable Inflation Adjustment

The FCC announced that the fourth quarter 2014 Inflation Adjustment Figures for cable operators that use FCC Form 1240 is 0.12%. The adjustment factor is a measure of the annualized change in prices occurring over the period from October 1, 2014, to December 31, 2014. FCC rules give regulated cable operators the option of filing for rate adjustments on an annual basis instead of quarterly. Form 1240, Annual Updating Of Maximum Permitted Rates For Regulated Cable Services, is used for this purpose.

         Urban Rate Survey

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau announced: (1) the results of 2015 rate floor for ILEC eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) and the reasonable comparability benchmark for fixed voice and broadband services; and (2) the posting of the fixed voice and broadband services data collected in the most recent urban rate survey at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/urban-rate-survey-data.

Based on the survey results, the 2015 rate floor for voice services is $21.22 and the reasonable comparability benchmark for voice services is $47.48. ILECs that receive high-cost support must report in their annual FCC Form 481 the number of residential service lines for which the sum of the local rate and state fees (as of June 1, 2015) is below $21.22. To the extent that an ILEC’s local rates (plus state regulated fees) in 2015 are less than $16, that carrier’s high-cost support will be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis. In addition, each ETC, including competitive ETCs providing fixed voice services must certify in the FCC Form 481 that the pricing of its basic residential voice services is no more than $47.48.

 

 

Contact Us About Access Reduction Filings

 

Rural Call Completion Reporting

 

TMI Bulletin Series: FCC New Open Internet/Net Neutrality Rules