Make children and teenagers eligible for California's deaf and disabled telecommunications program, Center for Accessible Technology and The Utility Reform Network said in comments posted Monday at the California Public Utilities Commission. Similar programs in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington state are open to kids as young as 4 or 5 years old, said the consumer groups in docket R.23-11-001. Also, the consumer advocates said the commission should do more targeted outreach to gather input on topics including emergency preparedness, program certification requirements and ways to spur technological innovation. In addition, the CPUC should address barriers to access, they said. “A very common driver of a lack of access is a failure to recognize that there is a wide spectrum of communications needs, and that individual communications needs can be very complex.”
The California Public Utilities Commission won’t vote on possible VoIP rules at Thursday’s meeting. The telecom industry last week warned the CPUC not to vote for a proposed decision that would say that interconnected VoIP providers are telephone corporations subject to the same laws and rules as other wireline and wireless telcos (see 2410110040). CPUC staff held the item until the Nov. 7 meeting, said a hold list released Monday. In addition -- and for the fourth time -- staff postponed voting on a plan to allow people without social security numbers to apply for state LifeLine support (see 2409250016). The CPUC gave no reasons for the delays.
With the California Public Utilities Commission planning a vote within days about regulating VoIP, AT&T and the cable industry urged that commissioners at least delay -- if not outright reject -- the controversial item. Industry groups representing voice technologies stressed in comments last week in docket R.22-08-008 that the CPUC lacks legal authority to regulate VoIP.
The California Public Utilities Commission might waive penalties from a condition in the CPUC’s November 2021 decision that approved Verizon buying Tracfone. The condition required that Verizon migrate all Tracfone wireless customers to the Verizon network within two years. The CPUC plans to vote Nov. 7 on draft resolution T-17849 to waive the penalty that would amount to $60,000 per day. “Verizon and TracFone have engaged in concerted efforts using a robust outreach plan, incentives, and strategies … to migrate customers in compliance with” the condition, the draft said. “The Commission understands that it is the consumer's choice not to migrate to the Verizon network. Customers who choose not to migrate despite repeated efforts to inform them of the opportunity to do so and not lose service will receive ample notice 60 days, 30 days, and 7 days before their service ends.” Consumer advocates have been fighting with Verizon over customer migration delays (see 2402230055).
Don’t make wireless carriers become carriers of last resort (COLR), CTIA said in comments posted Thursday at the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC received comments this week about updating COLR obligations (see 2410020037). Directing wireless companies to involuntarily be COLRs “would be inconsistent with the competitive marketplace in which wireless providers operate,” said the wireless industry association. The “classical elements of COLR policy are ill-adapted to, or … prohibited in, the wireless marketplace,” added CTIA: Under federal law, no state may regulate wireless rates or market entry.
California should shed carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations in many parts of the state, carriers that are subject to those regulations said in comments posted this week at the California Public Utilities Commission. Just don’t extend the rules to other kinds of companies, warned a cable broadband association, whose members are free from such regulations. However, consumer advocates said COLR obligations remain necessary and should be updated to include high-speed internet service, not just voice.
Comments will be due Oct. 10 on how California will treat VoIP providers going forward, the California Public Utilities Commission said. Replies will be due Oct. 15. Administrative Law Judge Camille Watts-Zagha extended the deadlines by one week in a Friday ruling (docket R.22-08-008). The CPUC’s proposed decision would say that interconnected VoIP providers are telephone corporations subject to the same laws and rules as other wireline and wireless telcos (see 2409130046).
The California Public Utilities Commission seeks comments by Oct. 29 on a staff proposal recommending a permanent intrastate rate cap for debit, prepaid and collect calls for incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS), said a ruling by Administrative Law Judge Robert Haga in docket R.20-10-002. The proposal would also make permanent the current cap on ancillary fees. In addition, staff recommended a process for periodic adjustments and a way for providers to seek changes “specific to their circumstances.” Replies will be due Nov. 19.
California and Oklahoma last week delivered more broadband grants funded by federal cash. The California Public Utilities Commission said it approved $172 million in grants for last-mile projects through its federal funding account. Award winners included local governments, AT&T and other private ISPs. The CPUC also approved volume 2 rules for NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2409260066). Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board approved about $158 million in grants, including 50 grants for a dozen ISPs, the state broadband office said Thursday.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4-1 Thursday to approve the FCC’s December changes to pole attachment replacement rules, which clarified transparency requirements for pole owners and established an intra-agency “rapid broadband assessment team” to review pole attachment disputes and recommend solutions (see 2312130044). The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 later in the day to approve state rules implementing volume 2 of its plan for rolling out the $1.86 billion allocation from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2408260027).