Wheeler Should Distinguish Himself on IP Transition, Cicconi to Tell Congress

The subcommittee is holding a hearing called “The Evolution of Wired Communications Networks” at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in 2123 Rayburn. House Commerce Committee Republicans may revisit don’t support this IP transition, said the majority staff memo (http://1.usa.gov/HaJyIr). They will consider “how the evolution of these networks away from older and less flexible ways of delivering services is impacting consumers and the companies that invest in delivering service to them, and ultimately, whether the laws that were enacted to govern these discrete services are appropriate” in an IP era, it said. The memo spent several paragraphs describing the debate over whether sections 251 and 252 of the Communications Act should apply to IP-to-IP interconnection agreements, a controversial sticking point. CLECs, state public utility commissions and some public interest advocates see the changes as validating the need for Title II regulation, it said. Committee Democratic staff noted how some of these network technology challenges played out in real time after superstorm Sandy, noting Verizon’s attempted rollout of Voice Link as a sole offering on Fire Island, N.Y., its memo said (http://1.usa.gov/1eGzceC).

"A failure by the FCC to plan risks confusion, disruptions, a squandering of resources, and even a new sort of digital divide,” Cicconi plans to say. “This is an area where we need the FCC to act like the expert agency it is supposed to be. And it’s an opportunity for incoming Chairman [Tom] Wheeler to really distinguish himself and his agency by articulating a vision for a 21st Century FCC and a truly modernized approach to regulation.” He plans to praise Public Knowledge for its articulation of “universal connectivity, interconnection, consumer protection, reliability and public safety” as fundamental consumer protection principles in an IP era. Cicconi will stress the need to change the way “wireline communications are uniquely saddled with restrictions on innovation and the ability to upgrade or replace old technology with new technology."

The FCC has focused on technologies and not services and should make a call of “needed certainty” on whether VoIP is a telecom or information service, NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman John Burke plans to testify (http://1.usa.gov/1a3LydF). “If the FCC is truly interested in facilitating rollout of IP services, and saving taxpayers/ratepayers money, the best thing it can do is provide legal certainty -- not open-ended trials.” The FCC is giving VoIP “special treatment” rather than focusing on the service, he said.

Comptel wants the FCC to affirm that Communications Act provisions overseeing interconnection agreements are technology neutral. It wants the agency to update its last-mile access and interconnection policies, Mark Iannuzzi, president of TelNet Worldwide, is to testify on the association’s behalf (http://1.usa.gov/18HnHlD). The last-mile access policies should allow competitive carriers to get last-mile connections with packetized technology with reasonable rates, terms and conditions, he plans to say. The agency should also make sure to preserve copper no longer in use by the bigger telcos, he will say.

"As Commissioner [Jessica] Rosenworcel and Public Knowledge have both articulated, our conversation should start by laying out the core values or principles that will guide the transition to all-IP voice networks,” Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., plans to say in her opening remarks. “Fundamentally, the FCC must ensure universal service to all Americans, rules of the road for competition, strong consumer protections and access to 9-1-1. Consumers and businesses must have confidence in the reliability and functionality of these services, particularly during times of emergency.” Consumers don’t distinguish between the traditional switched network and IP -- they just want their phones to work, she will say. She also plans to remind people that there are not just two or three ILECs involved but “an ecosystem that includes hundreds of communications companies.”

It’s “absurd” to call voice just another application, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld plans to testify (http://1.usa.gov/1cTkb8F): “How on Earth can any rational person dismiss a system to which 96 percent of the country still subscribes as anything other than fundamental to our daily lives? No other technology even comes close to this level of ubiquitous adoption.” His testimony emphasized the values he believes the transition should be based on and laments “’telecom lawyer disease’ that sees this transition solely in terms of rules and laws.” He offers case studies in which the price of basic service rises and the location accuracy of wireless 911 calls drops. Don’t forget how the transition affects stakeholders like small businesses, Feld added, pointing to Fire Island.

Congress should push the FCC to seek a “fact-based recommendation” from funded Federal-State Joint Boards, Burke plans to say. He is also chairman of the Federal-State Joint Board on Separations and a Vermont Public Service Board commissioner. “Related and equally important” is FCC reform, Cicconi will tell the House Communications Subcommittee. The subcommittee has pushed for a variety of FCC rule updates, changes AT&T broadly supports. Cicconi’s testimony lamented the way the agency “still operates under a statute designed for the communications services and markets of the last century.”

The FCC should get involved when there are “findings of demonstrable market failure and actual consumer harm,” Free State Foundation President Randolph May plans to advocate (http://1.usa.gov/1acGtlh). He will lay out the outlines for what he called a “Digital Age Communications Act” and say “Congress should be ready to act” if the FCC fails to make the necessary regulatory changes for the IP transition. The commission or potentially Congress should set a firm IP transition deadline, said May. He plans to slam what he sees as FCC inactivity since November when AT&T filed a petition urging the agency to conduct IP trials: “While the Commission has opened a proceeding, solicited comments, and held a workshop or two, it has not acted with sufficient dispatch, or shown a commitment to do so. Perhaps this hearing, and further congressional oversight, will provide a spur for faster Commission action.”

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson praised the hearing’s focus. He also praised “America’s competition-based broadband model in incentivizing innovation and promoting the continued deployment of high speed networks” in a statement Tuesday, although Atkinson is not testifying. “The U.S. continues to lag in broadband adoption, largely because we lag in digital literacy and computer ownership rates.”