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Vol. 11, No. 15April 20, 2015
IN THIS ISSUE
BOARD ELECTIONS
COMPTEL PLUS
AT THE FCC
MERGER
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
WELCOME 
NEW MEMBER


For more information about the benefits of COMPTEL membership, or to join,
email Kevin Morris or call 202-296-6650.
MEMBER NEWS










For more information about submitting member company news, please contact Gail Norris.
FCC DEADLINES

April 28

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Diamond Rio publicity shot

 
TOP OF THE NEWS
13 Members Elected to COMPTEL Board of Directors 
TSI's Deb Ward Re-Elected as Chairwoman

Deb Ward
Last week at the COMPTEL PLUS Business Expo 2015 during the annual membership meeting, members of COMPTEL elected 13 companies to serve on the COMPTEL Board of Directors for the 2015-2017 term. These newly elected board members join the others who are currently serving their 2014-2016 terms. 

At its first meeting, also in Orlando, the Board re-elected Deb Ward, CEO of TSI, as its chairwoman; Chris Murray, senior vice president of Public Policy at EarthLink as vice chairman; and Jim Butman, group president at TDS as treasurer. Rounding out the Executive Committee are four at-large members: Robert Beaty, president of Impact Telecom; Dale R. Schmick, COO of YourTel America Inc.; Sam Kline, senior vice president - Corporate Strategy at Granite; and Bill Barloon, vice president of State and Federal Legislative Affairs at Sprint.

"I'm honored to be re-elected to serve as COMPTEL's chairwoman," said Ward. "This is an exciting time for COMPTEL, which is a leading voice for competitive networks and policies. I look forward to continuing the momentum of the past year to grow and evolve our membership, effectively advocate for their needs and deliver the business opportunities that enable them to succeed."

Companies elected to the board for the 2015-2017 term include:

Small Member Category
  • CoastCom, Inc. - Greg Palser, President and Co-Founder
  • Kansas Fiber Network - Steven Dorf, President and General Manager
  • TSI - Deb Ward, CEO
  • WILCON - Eric Bender, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President
  • YourTel America, Inc. - Dale Schmick, COO
Medium Member Category
  • Hypercube - Ron Beaumont, President
  • Impact Telecom - Robert Beaty, President
  • Sonic Telecom - Dane Jasper, CEO and Co-Founder
  • Spirit Communications - Grey Humphrey, Executive Vice President of Sales
  • TDS - Jim Butman, Group President
Large Member Category
  • Google - Milo Medin, Vice President, Access Services
  • TelePacific Communications - Russell Shipley, Senior Vice President, Wholesale and Network Services
  • XO Communications, Inc. - Lisa Youngers, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Federal Affairs
COMPTEL PLUS
Dealmakers Convene in Orlando for COMPTEL PLUS
The dealmaking was in high gear during the COMPTEL PLUS Business Expo 2015 last week in Orlando, where nearly 1,500 attendees converged to explore the expo hall, featuring 80 exhibitors, and to hear from industry leaders during our keynote sessions, educational sessions and workshops.  In addition to all the deal making at booths in the expo hall, in the sponsored meeting rooms, and networking events, the COMPTEL PLUS Deal Center had nearly 850 visitors who participated in 371 meetings.

Exhibitors, sponsors and COMPTEL members made news, which was featured in our Show Daily and in the COMPTEL PLUS Hub, located centrally in the expo hall.

Sen. Bill Nelson Delivers the Congressional Keynote.
Monday's Industry Keynote: Google's Milo Medin












COMPTEL CEO Chip Pickering 
Speaks with Tuesday Keynote, Sprint's Dow Draper.

Expo hall raffle winners Bill Vanderploeg ($500), Katherine Barker Mars
hall ($1,000) and Peter Stazzone ($1,500).




AT&T's Rick Reed and Jack Laskowitz (standing)during "The Value Stack" General Session.
Golfers celebrate a great putt
during the annual outing at Celebration Golf Club.

Attendees catch up with current customers... 

...and meet new prospects at COMPTEL PLUS.
  





























AT THE FCC

Open Internet Order Published in Federal Register

On April 13, the FCC's Open Internet Order was published in the Federal Register. The Order adopts bright-line rules that prohibit blocking, throttling and paid prioritization; a rule preventing broadband providers from unreasonably interfering or disadvantaging consumers or edge providers from reaching one another on the Internet; and provides for enhanced transparency into network management practices, network performance and commercial terms of broadband Internet access service. The order also reclassifies broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service subject to Title II of the Communications Act, but forbears from the majority of Title II provisions, leaving in place a framework that will support regulatory action while simultaneously encouraging broadband investment, innovation and deployment.

 

The effective date of the rules is June 12, 2015 except for the enhanced transparency rule, which needs OMB approval.
 

 

COMPTEL Comments on Frontier Request to Acquire Verizon ILEC Operations and Long Distance Customers

Frontier Communications Corp. is seeking approval to acquire Verizon's ILEC operations and some long distance customers in California, Florida and Texas. In comments filed last week with the FCC, COMPTEL noted that any approval of this transaction must be subject to enforceable conditions that will safeguard competitors' contractual and statutory rights to wholesale inputs that they need to serve their end users and that will ensure that they are not penalized financially when ownership passes from Verizon to Frontier. COMPTEL also proposed a number of conditions to the transactions to address these issues. Read more on COMPTEL's website.
COMCAST-TIME WARNER CABLE MERGER
COMPTEL Joins Others in Letter to FCC Opposing Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger 
On April 17, COMPTEL joined nearly 40 other organizations in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, in which they expressed their opposition to the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger.

Noting strong opposition to this transaction - as evidenced in more than 700,000 Americans urging Chairman Wheeler to reject the merger - the groups signing the letter stated, "The message is clear: The Commission should reject this merger because it would result in too much power in the hands of one company. You have staked your chairmanship on the importance of fostering competition to protect consumers and spur innovation, investment, lower prices and diversity. We agree. And the only way to protect that competitive future now is to reject the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger outright - no conditions, no side deals - no merger, period."
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.

April 21            Regulatory/Legislative Committee Meeting
2 p.m.              Contact Karen Reidy

April 28           Regulatory/Legislative Committee Meeting 
2 p.m.              Contact Karen Reidy
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