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TOP OF THE NEWS
FCC Chairman Outlines Key Actions and
Timeline for Addressing IP Transition
New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week wrote a blog entitled "The IP Transition: Starting Now," in which he said that now that the commission is now at full force it is "time to act with dispatch" on decisions relating to the transition of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to IP technology.
To that end, he said that at the December 12 FCC meeting, the Technology Transitions Policy Task Force will present a status update with the expectation that the January meeting will include consideration of an Order for immediate action. Chairman Wheeler continued that the "Order should include recommendations to the Commission on how best to: (i) obtain comment on and begin a diverse set of experiments that will allow the Commission and the public to observe the impact on consumers and businesses of such transitions (including consideration of AT&T's proposed trials); (ii) collect data that will supplement the lessons learned from the experiments, and (iii) initiate a process for Commission consideration of legal, policy, and technical issues that would not neatly fit within the experiments, with a game plan for efficiently managing the various adjudications and rulemakings that, together, will constitute our IP transition agenda."
Among the topics that should be addressed in the draft Order, according to the Chairman, include "recommendations to the Commission on how best to speed the initiation of experiments and assess, monitor, measure and analyze their outcomes. How consumers are informed and protected should be a major component. In addition, the Order should explain how the Commission can best obtain accurate and useful information about the technology transition from multiple resources that could include collaboration with other federal, state and tribal agencies, public input through crowdsourcing, and leveraging outside expertise and advisors. And it should set forth the best process that the Commission can initiate so that, in parallel, it may decide the legal and policy questions raised by this network revolution."
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NARUC
NARUC Adopts Cooperative Federalism Resolution
At its 125th Annual Meeting in Orlando last week, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) passed a resolution adopting is report on cooperative federalism.
The resolution states that changes to the underlying structure of the network or the technology used to carry information do not change the need for reliable, robust, affordable and ubiquitous communications services and that any new federal legislation should focus on the principles of cooperative federalism.
COMPTEL is particularly encouraged by the NARUC Task Force's recognition of the states' role in arbitrating interconnection agreements and its acknowledgement that the interconnection provisions of the Act do not depend on the technology used by the interconnecting parties. COMPTEL also appreciates that the resolution encourages states to monitor the state of competition, as this is critical in evaluating the effect of the FCC's last mile policies and the need for modernizing them in order to enable a wholesale market that ensures and further enhances competition.
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AT THE FCC
FCC Invites Input on Process Improvement by Dec. 2
Last week, Diane Cornell, special counsel in the Office of the FCC Chairman Wheeler, wrote in a blog, entitled "A Call for Input: Improving Government Efficiency at the FCC," that she has been tasked with developing a plan with in the next 60 days that includes recommendations on how to best tackle the challenge of reforming FCC processes.
She invited public input ideas and insights to improve the FCC's efficiency by no later than Monday. December 2. To submit your input, e-mail innovation@fcc.gov.
FCC Announces December 12 Meeting Agenda
The FCC announced the tentative agenda for its next open meeting, scheduled for December 12 at 10:30 a.m. ET. On the agenda is:
- Technology Transition Policy Task Force status update on its work making near-term recommendations related to the FCC's expectations and role in the IP transition;
- Increasing consumer access to in-flight mobile wireless services;
- Improving 911 reliability; and
- Wireless Telecommunications Bureau presentation on efforts to promote mobile wireless device unlocking.
The meeting will take place at FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C., and will be shown live at FCC.gov/live.
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ON THE HILL
House Committee Approves Patent Abuse Act
November 20, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Innovation Act (H.R. 3309) by a vote of 33 to 5. The Innovation Act is designed to curb abusive patent litigation, protect the patent system, increase transparency, modernize fee shifting, provide greater clarity and offers education and outreach by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office for small businesses.
On July 17, COMPTEL joined 50 organizations on a letter urging Congress to address the abuses of the legal system by patent trolls.
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COMMITTEE MEETINGS
All COMPTEL Committee meetings are held at the Association's headquarters, 1200 G St NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005, unless otherwise noted. All times listed are Eastern. For more information, call 202-296-6650.
November 26 Regulatory/Legislative Committee Meeting
December 3 Regulatory/Legislative Committee Meeting
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