The Prepaid Press - July 15, 2008 - (Page 6) PREPAID BUSINESS July 15 · 2008 - 6 REGULATORY RUNDOWN by Ed Maldonado JULY 2008 1. FCC to Telemarketers: Do-Not-Call Ever, Consumer List Requirements Permanent 2. The Evolution of the FCC Form 477 Reporting for Interconnected VoIP Providers 3. U.S. Senate Moves on E-911 Blocking and Call Connection: Law to Follow Soon 4. Fast-Track FCC Comment Sought on Advanced Wireless Spectrum 5. Roll Over: FCC Holds $600 Million in Unused USF Contributions 1. FCC to Telemarketers: Do-Not-Call Ever, Consumer List Requirements Permanent WASHINGTON, DC (June 11, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amended its rules to require telemarketers to honor registrations with the National Do-Not-Call Registry indefinitely, under Report and Order FCC 08-147. Prior rules that prohibited calls to consumer telephone numbers registered with the National DoNot-Call List provided that registrations would expire after five years. This period ended June 11th 2008. In 2007, Congress passed the Do-NotCall Improvement Act of 2007, which prohibits the removal of numbers from the Registry unless the consumer cancels the registration or the number has been disconnected and reassigned or is otherwise invalid. The Federal Trade Commission has already committed to retain numbers on the Registry indefinitely. The order by the FCC harmonizes its rules with the Do-NotCall Improvement Act and FTC policies in registry administration that protect the underlying goal of the registry to protect consumer privacy rights. In its order, the FCC further encouraged telephone companies to convey information on disconnected and reassigned numbers to the FTC, the administrator of the registry, in a timely and accurate manner, to ensure accuracy. Those providers who utilize outbound telemarketing to sell their prepaid calling cards, residential or business VoIP services, or residential and business long distance services would be wise to recheck their policies to ensure compliance, or ask outsourced call centers for their policies to ensure their services are not being sold contrary to law and regulation. 2. The Evolution of the FCC Form 477 Reporting for Interconnected VoIP Providers WASHINGTON, DC (June 12, 2008) The FCC issued a Report and Order and further Notice of Proposed rulemaking under WC Docket No. 07-38 that requires Internet service providers to begin providing the FCC data on the percentage of their subscribers who are residential clients, based on census tract areas. In a consecutive Report and Order under the same docket, the FCC required such reporting of broadband connections data to be reported under FCC Form 477, under expanded categories that account for the percentage of such residential connections. These changes were targeted to get data to measure the increased use of wireless broadband and VoIP applications by providers and LECs. Currently, such information is regularly reported by wired, terrestrial fixed wireless, and satellite broadband service providers, however this reporting does not distinguish residential versus business subscribers and connections. Present reporting is based on ZIP codes rather than census tract, which can provide a more granular look at a geographic location. Providers will now be required to break out reported data based on tiers of service to which their customers subscribe based upon the existing FCC definition of broadband service. This includes: 1st Generation Data which is between 200k up to 768k; Basic Broadband which is in four subsets: 768k to 1.5mbps; 1.5mbps to 3.0mbps; 3.0mbps to 6.0 mbps; and 6.0mbps and above. The implication for Interconnected VoIP providers who sell to end-users is clearly within this category of reporting companies. Form 477 is due to the FCC on March 1 and September 1 of each year. The Proposed Rulemaking steps a fine line for the FCC. The proposed rulemaking has drawn into question the FCC’s current definition of broadband service, which is defined with a threshold of 200 kilobits per second and above. Many from within the industry and other governmental bodies have criticized this definition as outdated. On May 25th 2007, the Senate Commerce Committee voted in favor of Senate Bill 1492, which would require the FCC to establish a revised definition for broadband services within 120 days of the Bill’s enactment. The Bill also calls for reporting of broadband access by nine-digit ZIP codes as opposed to five, and to create a $40 million, fiveyear matching grant program for organizations that work to spur broadband adoption. The FCC and others in the industry have complained that the use of ZIP codes has many shortfalls in relation to accuracy, as its intended purpose is postal delivery not subscriber data collection. Thus far, the Senate Bill has sat in Congressional limbo with no action to date. Reporting under the FCC’s proposed rulemaking may have preemptively shifted the focus of any future Congressional mandates to utilize census tracks instead of ZIP codes. The issue for reporting providers is how on a going forward basis they will internally adjust to census track reporting under such criteria. Comments are sought at the FCC through the E-File Comment process available at www.fcc.gov . Internet services using a portion of the winning bidder’s network in the 2.1 GHz Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum. Highly controversial within the proposed rulemaking are requirements to provide free Internet service, content filtering and open access to third-party devices and applications as conditions inherent to the broadband license. The proposed rulemaking also contemplates combining the 2155-2175 MHz band with the 2175-2180 MHz band in order to create a 25 megahertz block of spectrum that would support a single nationwide license, called AWS-3 (Advanced Wireless Services-3). The proposed rulemaking is on a fast-track public comment cycle and is anticipated to be ruled upon as early as August 2008. The FCC is also seeking concurrent comment on service rules for the H Block. This encompasses AWS spectrum in the 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz bands. The FCC has proposed auctioning this license on a basic trading area basis for 10-year license terms, with requirements for the licensees to provide coverage a minimal of 35% of population coverage in each licensed area within four years, and, at least 70% within each licensed area by the end of its license term. Under the FCC’s proposal, base and fixed transmissions would be prohibited in the 1915-1920 MHz band and mobile transmissions would be prohibited in the 1995-2000 MHz band. Congress will likely chime in soon as the pending Bills are related to use of the same bands. Reps. Anna Eshoo (DCalif.), Christopher Cannon (R-Utah) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have already sponsored a bill to foster deployment of a national, family-friendly wireless broadband network with open access. Anticipating an expedited comment period, interested parties should make comment as soon as possible through the E-File Comment process at the FCC – www.fcc.gov. 3. U.S. Senate Moves on E-911 Blocking and Call Connection: Law to Follow Soon WASHINGTON, DC (June 16, 2008) The United States Senate has passed its version of the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act by unanimous vote. The Bill was originally introduced and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2007 under HR 3403, but with the recent Senate modifications, the Bill will be resubmitted to the House for final approval. The crux of the proposed law addresses concerns by interconnected VoIP providers that E-911 calls are sometimes blocked by traditional telecom carriers, causing emergency dispatch centers to question who bears legal liability if VoIP 911 calls are blocked or do not go through. The proposed law limits the liability of dispatch centers when attending to an E-911 VoIP call. The new requirement mandates that 911 networks connect VoIP providers using the same rates and conditions they use when connecting mobile phone carriers. The Bill further proposes the federal government to create a plan for migrating to IP-based 911 networks. While touted as an improvement by both the VON Coalition and 911 dispatchers, questions remain as to how exactly the FCC will implement pertinent parts of the law. 4. Fast-Track FCC Comment Sought on Advanced Wireless Spectrum WASHINGTON, DC (June 17, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further Notice) that proposes public access to free, nationwide, high-speed wireless broadband 5. Roll Over: FCC Holds $600 Million in Unused USF Contributions WASHINGTON, DC (June 23, 2008) The FCC, through its Wireline Competition Bureau, announced that $600 million in unused funds will be carried forward from funding years 2002, 2003 and 2004 to increase disbursements to schools and libraries in funding year 2008 in excess of the annual cap. The roll-over to fund 2008 disbursements is a result of May 2, 2008 projections submitted by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) on the demand and administrative expenses for the federal universal service fund for the third quarter of 2008. According to USAC’s projections, the $600 million in unused funds from Funding Years 2002 through 2004 is available to carry forward to increase disbursements to schools and libraries via the schools and libraries universal service mechanism. Worth raising an eyebrow toward is the fact that the amount of unused USF funds held by the FCC now totals hundreds of millions of dollars since 2002. This roll-over now comes as carriers and interconnected VoIP providers scramble to collect and remit their quarterly and annual contributions to USAC, and as the FCC has come under Congressional scrutiny over past and present USF funding allocations. While normally a mundane administrative process, those in the regulatory arena would be wise to keep track of such processes with an eye toward futu http://www.fcc.gov http://www.fcc.gov http://www.allstateprinting.com http://www.allstateprinting.com
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