Minority Media & Telecom Council asked FCC to consider impact of economic recession in ruling on extension requests by small and minority entrepreneurs. In letters to each commissioner, Council Exec. Dir. David Honig said “financiers are loathe to sink funds into any venture whose value could be zero” if, for instance, FCC denied extension of construction permit. He said current recession had been “exacerbated by the dramatic market fluctuations” following Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and financing delays had been caused by dislocation of N.Y.-based lending institutions. “These circumstances disproportionately impact minority entrepreneurs,” Honig said, asking FCC to consider “recession impact showings” on case-by-case basis for extension requests. He asked Commission to make public announcement that it was adopting policy to “calm nervous investors and lenders.”
La. PSC issued order saying BellSouth must pay penalties if it bungled too many transfers of unbundled network element platforms (UNE-Ps) to CLEC service between expected Dec. 31 FCC grant of interLATA long distance authority and date it completes operation support system (OSS) changes to streamline UNE-P transfer process. PSC in Sept. ordered BellSouth to consolidate its UNE-P connect and disconnect orders, which currently are separate, into single “change” order by April 1. Order was in response to CLEC complaints that BellSouth failures to process connect and disconnect orders in correct sequence were leaving their new customers without dial tone, with CLEC usually getting blame. Effective when BellSouth receives FCC long distance okay and until BS starts processing all CLEC UNE-P orders as consolidated “change” transaction, PSC (Case U-22252-C) told carrier it must complete 99% of UNE-P changeovers without premature disconnects or face fines of at least $400 per muffed transfer. Fine will rise by $100 monthly, to maximum $800, until OSS modifications are completed. BS also will owe affected CLEC up to $875 refund per missed item. PSC said performance assurance plan also was contingent on BellSouth’s receiving FCC long distance approval.
Resolution of negotiations between House Commerce and Judiciary Committee leadership on data deregulation bill rests on whether to give Dept. of Justice (DoJ) expanded role in reviewing Bell company applications for long distance authority, congressional source said. Commerce Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) for months have debated issue of Bell company deregulation behind closed doors and have remained tight-lipped on sticking points of those negotiations. But now congressional source closely following contentious debate said Tauzin and Sensenbrenner were considering meeting halfway on Sensenbrenner proposal to expand DoJ’s role in reviewing applications for Sec. 271 relief.
NARUC told FCC it agreed with CompTel that federal-state joint conference should be convened on unbundled network elements (UNEs) in conjunction with agency’s upcoming triennial review of UNE regime. In Dec. 5 letter to commissioners, NARUC said state regulators also agreed with CompTel that parties seeking to have UNE removed or scaled back bore burden of proof to show requested relief was justified. CompTel proposals were in Nov. 26 petition to FCC.
Window is now open at FCC through Jan. 22 for filing of settlement agreements between mutually exclusive applications for low-power TV stations and TV translator construction permits. Commission said it agreed to provide more time for settlements at request of competing applicants in some markets.
Senate Majority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) clarified comments he made last week that “it doesn’t take legislation to enact” controversial NextWave settlement. Daschle had said in press briefing Dec. 6 that congressional action was unnecessary to seal negotiated agreement between bankrupt NextWave and govt., but staffer said Daschle was referring to options for settling case, particularly if courts were left to resolve matter: “If it’s resolved in the courts, then no congressional action is needed.” Daschle hasn’t taken position on terms of deal, but says it’s now “incumbent upon the Administration to make a case for the settlement.” FCC and Dept. of Justice officials recently testified in House that Congress must codify arrangement, which would require NextWave to surrender C- and F-block licenses for $5.85 billion (CD Dec 7 p1) while putting $10 billion in U.S. Treasury via proceeds from re-auctioned spectrum. House Telecom Subcommittee will hold hearing on issue Tues. that source said would feature FCC Chmn. Powell.
Responding to calls by state consumer advocates, FCC Comr. Abernathy said Fri. she didn’t think it was good policy to “re-regulate” long distance business. Consumer advocates are expected to file petition soon urging FCC to require long distance companies to inform consumers before changing prices. Advocates say they're concerned that consumers, particularly low income customers, are unaware of pricing changes since Commission detariffed long distance. Speaking at conference sponsored by Competition Policy Institute (CPI), Abernathy said she was “inclined to resist… calls for increased regulation of the long distance market.” She pointed out that there wasn’t any consumer notification under previous tariffing regime, either. “All that happened was carriers filed tariffs with the FCC,” Abernathy said. “It is difficult for me to believe that consumers were monitoring the thousands of pages of tariff filings the Commission used to receive each year.” Under detariffing, carriers contract directly with customers in way that other providers such as credit card companies do. FCC’s Consumer Information Bureau is keeping eye on situation, Abernathy said, and if any problems surface, agency will address issue, but so far no complaints have been lodged about it.
Ban imposed by FCC on newspaper-broadcast cross- ownership was adopted more than 25 years ago and “even then [it] was premised on supposition, not on evidence,” Hearst- Argyle TV (H-A) said. Commenting on Commission rulemaking (CD Dec 4 p9), H-A said agency “did not find a pattern of specific abuses, did not find that the existing combinations generally were harmful to competition… and did not find the existing combinations had failed to serve the public interest.”
FCC said Time Warner Cable’s analog must-carry obligations didn’t require company to carry Gemstar-TV Guide International’s electronic program guide. Commission said decision didn’t preclude companies from entering into commercial agreements that would involve carriage, and companies said they were in negotiations to that end. Agency used 3-pronged test to determine whether material carried in vertical blanking interval (VBI) of local broadcasts was program-related and therefore required cable carriage: (1) Is information intended to be seen by same viewers who are watching main program? (2) Must information be available during same interval of time as main program? (3) Is information integral part of main program? Commission ruled 4-0 that answer to questions was “no” on all counts.
FCC issued report -- Quality of Service of the Local Operating Companies -- that found percent of residential installation commitments met by ILECs had remained fairly stable over last 5 years at around 98%. Report includes results in 1999 and 2000 for ILECs in various areas such as number of customer complaints, average number of trouble reports, installation intervals. Study doesn’t rank ILECs for overall quality, but Qwest issued statement saying report showed strong improvement in its customer service during those years in installation, repair and quality of its network. Qwest said report showed it was first among ILECs in 4 of 7 measurements and improved in 6 of 7. FCC also took note of Qwest’s improvement, saying “dramatic improvement in a single year, as seen in the case of Qwest for the year 2000… may provide the basis of cautious optimism.” Qwest, once criticized by state regulators for poor service quality in its former U S West region, had vowed last year to improve situation. Example of report’s measurements is number of initial trouble reports per 1,000 lines. BellSouth came up highest with 290.9 and Verizon South was lowest with 156.2. In another measurement, percent of residential customers dissatisfied with their installation of service, SBC’s Ameritech region was highest at 16.4% and Verizon’s GTE unit was lowest with 4.4%. Qwest had lowest percent of residential customers dissatisfied with repairs -- 8% -- compared with 26.5% at SBC Ameritech, highest.