Vonage and other VoIP interests lobbied the FCC last week. The agency’s proposal for direct access to numbers for interconnected VoIP (iVoIP) providers should be finalized, the company said in-house and external lawyers told FCC officials including General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and Wireline Bureau officials. Such direct access would let iVoIP providers “dramatically expand voluntary IP interconnection arrangements, creating a critical IP interconnection test bed as the Commission considers how to advance the IP transition while protecting the public interest,” said a Vonage filing posted Friday to docket 13-97 (http://bit.ly/1qAUuQc). “Based on its experience seeking IP interconnection with other parties, Vonage expects that a wide array of potential IP interconnection partners would be willing to enter into voluntary IP interconnection agreements with iVoIP providers if the Commission grants those providers direct access to numbers.” With no direct access, iVoIP provider numbers appear to belong to numbering partners, preventing direct routing for IP interconnection, said Vonage. “Direct access will also lower costs, enable innovative and advanced services such as HD voice” and have other positive effects, said the company. It’s among the backers of a petition by the Voice Communication Exchange Committee (also using the VCEX acronym) for the FCC to start an inquiry on HD voice. No filing in the comment cycle on the VCEX petition opposed such an inquiry (CD June 25 p15; June 26 p17; July 10 p5). VCXC founder Dan Berninger and VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver, both Vonage co-founders, warned the FCC of the consequences of imposing Communications Act Title II rules on broadband Internet access to achieve net neutrality, as an NPRM asks about. (See separate report above in this issue.) “Abandoning” the regulated Title II distinction for telecom and the nonregulated Title I approach for information services for net neutrality authority merits a much closer look and more “extensive evidence of market failure” than exists in the record, said Berninger and Pulver. A VCXC filing on their separate meetings with Commissioner Ajit Pai, an official in the Wireline Bureau and an officials the General Counsel’s office was posted Friday in docket 14-28 (http://bit.ly/1wmOPPb). The role state, telco and VoIP officials see for Title II rules in a transition from circuit-switched to IP phone service depends on how stakeholders would be affected by the IP transition and interconnection, our survey of stakeholders found (CD July 11 p7).
Optic Internet Protocol faces a potential $7.62 million FCC fine for allegedly switching consumers’ long-distance phone services without authorization, billing customers for unauthorized charges and submitting falsified evidence to regulatory officials as “proof” of consumers’ authorizations, said an agency news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1oY2jhC). “Cheating and lying to consumers are unacceptable, predatory business practices,” said Travis LeBlanc, Enforcement Bureau acting chief. The FCC issued a notice of apparent liability to the company (http://bit.ly/1js1pfv). Optic provides 1+ dialing long-distance service, the release said. Consumers’ long-distance service was switched to Optic so long-distance calls are carried over Optic’s network and billed by Optic, the FCC said. Optic allegedly switched complainants’ preferred long-distance carriers and billed the consumers for long-distance service by placing charges for its set-up fee and recurring monthly fee on their local phone bills, the agency said. Optic typically charged customers a $3.95 or $4.95 one-time set-up fee and a monthly service fee of $4.95, $8.95 or $29.95, said the FCC. It said the agency reviewed more than 150 complaints against Optic that consumers filed with the agency, the FTC, state regulatory agencies and the Better Business Bureau. Optic wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The challenges faced by each school or library are different, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said in a statement after the passage of the FCC E-rate modernization order. (See separate report above in this issue.) “We need to make sure that limited E-Rate program resources are used effectively to address unique problems faced by individual institutions rather than being consumed for any single purpose,” Bloomfield said. The order “takes a step toward ensuring that our young people continue to have access to world-class learning resources -- regardless of where they live or the affluence of their school districts and libraries,” said PCIA CEO Jonathan Adelstein. The action “to use E-Rate funding in a balanced and integrated way to deliver true high speed Internet service to schools and libraries ... represents an important step toward realizing the promise of the Administration’s ConnectED initiative,” Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote (http://bit.ly/1nfAej6) on the cable operator’s blog.
A Verizon network operations team review of a Los Angeles customer’s complaint about buffering on Netflix while using a 75 Mbps FiOS connection “confirmed again” Verizon’s contention that Netflix’s buffering issues are occurring because of congestion at Netflix’s interconnection with Verizon’s border router, said David Young, Verizon vice president-federal regulatory affairs, in a blog post Thursday (http://vz.to/1mDnTcy). Netflix and Verizon have repeatedly sparred over the causes of Netflix’s latency issues, most recently due to messages Netflix was displaying in late spring for users on Verizon and some other ISPs blaming congestion on the ISPs’ networks for the problem. Netflix ended those messages June 16 after Verizon sent it a cease-and-desist letter (CD June 18 p7). The network operations team found that Netflix’s links to the Verizon network were congested while links carrying non-Netflix traffic “did not experience congestion and were performing fine,” Young said. Non-Netflix networks were using a maximum of 10-80 percent of capacity on their connections, he said. Verizon is “working aggressively with Netflix to establish new, direct connections from Netflix” that would fix the latency issues, Young said. A Netflix spokeswoman said in an email that “congestion at the interconnection point is controlled by ISPs like Verizon. When Verizon fails to upgrade those interconnections, consumers get a lousy experience despite paying for more than enough bandwidth to enjoy high-quality Netflix video. That’s why Netflix is calling for strong net neutrality that covers the interconnection needed for consumers to get the quality of INTER-net (cq) they pay for.” A Verizon spokesman said the telco had no additional comment.
Comments on proposed USF overhauls are due Aug. 8, replies Sept. 8, in FCC dockets including 14-58, said the agency in a Federal Register notice Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1oJT46i). The NPRM seeks to adapt its universal service reforms to ensure those living in high-cost areas have access to services that are reasonably comparable to services offered in urban areas (CD April 24 p2).
The FCC should adopt as soon as possible a “carefully constructed” transition from legacy support mechanisms to a new mechanism focused on supporting broadband-capable networks, as it considers updates to the existing high-cost rules for areas served by rural rate-of-return-regulated LECs, NTCA and several other organizations told Wireline Bureau staff Tuesday, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1r9iEm3) posted to docket 10-90 Wednesday. Also attending the meeting were representatives from the National Exchange Carrier Association, TDS Telecom, Totah Communications, USTelecom and WTA, as well as Jeff Smith of GVNW and Paul Cooper of Fred Williamson & Associates.
Further lowering inmate calling rates or eliminating commissions paid to governments by phone providers “could have a detrimental impact on both ICS [inmate calling service] providers and the jails and prisons that rely on these revenue sources to provide inmate phone services,” Network Communications International Corp. (NCIC) President William Pope said July 7 during separate meetings with staff for the FCC Wireline Bureau and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1syGYxF) posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. Pope also said the data collection requirement in this proceeding is burdensome because NCIC does not maintain its data on a facility-by-facility basis and he encouraged approval of a 60-day extension sought by NCIC. The FCC should model any change to rates and fees on a recent order approved by the Alabama Public Utilities Commission. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision meanwhile outlined the steps it took in eliminating the commissions in 2007, in a letter (http://bit.ly/1mgWEVR) to the Wireless Bureau posted in the docket on Tuesday. Wednesday, an FCC workshop heard from ICS providers, commissioners and others on inmate call reform, which Chairman Tom Wheeler called a priority (CD July 10 p4).
Small, independent telcos are deploying some form of broadband services to 96 percent of K-12 schools in their service areas and 98 percent of public libraries, an NTCA survey found. About 75 percent of schools receive fiber to the premises, 17 percent use copper, 5 percent receive fiber to the node and less than 1 percent use fixed wireless, said the association in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1sxQWzu). Nearly 47 percent of public libraries are connected via FTTP, 38 percent use copper, and 13 percent receive FTTN, it said. NTCA members offer an average maximum speed of 435 Mbps down and 62 Mbps up to schools, and an average of 296 Mbps down and 47 Mbps up to public libraries. Schools on average buy 65 Mbps down and 13 Mbps up, while libraries take 17 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, said NTCA. “The results of this survey are a clear indication that NTCA members and other small, rural providers understand the importance of these anchor institutions having high-quality broadband service,” NTCA Economist Rick Schadelbauer. The FCC considers an E-rate order Friday, and it may be a party-line vote (CD July 9 p1) (See related story above.)
USTelecom opposed an American Cable Association FCC application for review of a Wireline Bureau April decision on the Connect America Fund cost model order that calculated costs of serving census blocks in price-cap telco areas. “USTelecom stands by its cost of capital calculation which resulted in a zone of reasonableness above 8.48% and below 9.52%, resulting in a point estimate of 9.00%” and other figures, said that association in an opposition filing to ACA’s request posted Monday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/U1g5GM). “ACA presents no new information to contradict it. Yet ACA rejects the Bureau’s considered conclusion which adopted a cost of capital 50 basis points below the recommendation of the ABC Coalition.” The association said an FCC model used data from the coalition, a USF reform group of telcos that has included USTelecom members (http://bit.ly/1pXdWuo). ACA’s June 20 application for review said the bureau’s model, “for the key input of the cost of money ... adopted a cost significantly in excess of forward-looking market rates” and would mean price-cap LECs get more support than required (http://bit.ly/1vWPFSK). ACA plans to respond to USTelecom’s opposition, in reply comments, said ACA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. He declined further comment.
Equipment capable of using alternative technologies like TV white spaces that can provide reliable broadband service to schools and libraries should qualify for E-rate funding, even if provisioned by schools and libraries and not by a broadband service provider, Microsoft said in a letter (http://bit.ly/1md8LD9) posted as an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 13-184. School districts in urban areas or near major universities frequently have 1 Gbps connectivity, but more than half of U.S. students are in rural school districts, said the company. Employing alternative technologies “should increase the likelihood and reduce the expense of reaching that broadband threshold in rural areas,” it said. Exempting schools and libraries from competitive bidding procedures when purchasing commercially available Internet connections “creates a poor precedent within the E-rate program and could adversely impact the applicants, the Fund and the competitive providers that are currently active in the program,” a Comptel official told a Wireline Bureau official, said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/TQXOeX). Splits are emerging at the commission on E-rate, with a Friday vote on an order nearing. (See separate report above in this issue.)