Arent Fox's This Week in Telecom - August 29, 2011
Welcome to the latest edition of Arent Fox’s This Week in Telecom, our weekly newsletter designed to keep you apprised of recent developments in telecommunications policy, legislation, and litigation. Follow our Telecom Group on Twitter! Click here.
We wish everyone a safe and restful Labor Day Weekend!
Jump to a Topic:
FCC Announcements l The Mobile Market l FTC and Privacy Regulation l Intercarrier Compensation l Compliance Notes l Broadband News l In the Courts l Legislative Outlook l Events
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Announcements
- The next Open Meeting of the FCC will be September 22, 2011, at 10:30 am Eastern. We will publish the Tentative Agenda when it is released. For more information, click here.
- The FCC is seeking nominations for persons to serve on the Open Internet Advisory Group which was created by the Open Internet Order adopted in December 2010. Nominations are due September 1, 2011. For more information, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Michael Hazzard, or Jon Canis (contact information below) for further information.
The Mobile Market
- The FCC has requested further information from AT&T regarding its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, and specifically its LTE deployment plan. Some reports suggest the reason for this action is that documents AT&T inadvertently filed at the FCC reveal that it could have expanded its 4G LTE network to 97 percent of the country for $3.8 billion, a fraction of the $39 billion it will pay for T-Mobile. A redacted version of the letter is available here.
- The FCC also has restarted the informal review “clock” on the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. The review clock had been stopped on July 20 when the FCC requested further information about purported merger efficiencies. It was restarted on August 26 which, according to the notification letter, was Day 83 of the FCC’s review. The letter notification is available here.
- Comments on the FCC Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the use of microwave links for wireless backhaul are due October 4, 2011, and Reply Comments are due October 25, 2011. For more information, click here. To view the NPRM, click here.
- Comments on the draft Mobile Medical Applications guidelines from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are due October 19, 2011. The draft guidelines are available here. Filing instructions are provided in the document.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Michael Hazzard, or G. David Carter (contact information below) for further information.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Privacy Regulation
- On August 19, 2011, the FTC announced that it approved settlements with three credit report resellers: SettlementOne Credit Corporation; ACRAnet, Inc.; and Fajilan and Associates, Inc., also doing business as Statewide Credit Services. The cases involved FTC allegations that the companies “did not take reasonable information security steps to protect consumers’ data, allowing hackers to access more than 1,800 credit reports without authorization.” The settlement requires the companies “to strengthen their data security procedures and submit to audits for 20 years.” More information is available here.
- Starting August 25, 2011, new privacy controls were activated on Facebook that allow users to selectively distribute posts, pictures, and other shared content. The move by Facebook is viewed as a reaction to similar features in Google+ using what it calls “Circles”. The privacy changes also allow users to pre-approve being tagged in photos by other users. The ACLU has provided its review of the changes, available here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Stephanie Joyce, or Jason Koslosfky (contact information below) for further information.
Developments in Intercarrier Compensation
- On August 24, 2011, the Pennsylvania Telephone Association (PTA) filed a brief with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) opposing Verizon North, LLC’s transiting services tariff. Verizon filed the tariff on April 5 of this year, claiming that the rural local exchange carriers (RLECs) represented by PTA were using Verizon’s network for years without payment, and that the tariff was designed “to bring to an end the RLECs’ free use of Verizon’s network to transit their local traffic to other providers.” In response, PTA filed a complaint with the PA PUC on April 22, and the PA PUC suspended the tariff until December 2011 while it investigated its legality. In the August 24 brief, PTA asserted that those transiting services had never been tariffed, and this issue has only arisen because competitive LECs and CMRS providers indirectly route their traffic to the rural LECs, including PTA members. PTA argued that it “is illogical, inequitable and unlawful to require the RLECs to pay for and subsidize the CLECs and CMRS providers’ use of Verizon’s network to establish an indirect interconnection with the RLECs, by forcing the RLECs to then pay for facilities not on their network to reach the CLECs and CMRS providers.” The PTA is urging the PA PUC to reject the tariff and instead require Verizon to negotiate interconnection agreements with the RLECs that outline the rates, terms and conditions for terminating local transit traffic. Docket Nos. R-2011-2234464, C-2011-2237456, R-2011-2234462, C-2011-2237496.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, Michael Hazzard, Stephanie Joyce, or Adam Bowser (contact information below) for further information regarding intercarrier compensation matters.
Compliance Notes
- The Universal Service contribution factor for the Third Quarter of 2011 is 14.4%. A copy of the notice can be found here.
- Payment of annual FCC regulatory fees is due by 11:59 pm EST on September 14, 2011. To view the Public Notice setting the deadline, click here. To review the payment procedures, click here. To learn about the electronic Fee Filer system, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, or Michael Hazzard (contact information below) for further information regarding compliance matters.
Broadband News
- On August 22, 2011, the Department of Agriculture announced $103 million in funding for 23 projects to bring broadband “to unserved and underserved rural communities.” Eighteen recipients will receive the funding, including Wichita Online, Inc., which will use a $480,000 grant to provide broadband to the rural community of Tushka Town, Okla. that was hit by a tornado on April 14, 2011. Also announced were $90 million in loans for five broadband infrastructure projects, including a $11.4 million loan to Dubois Telephone Exchange “to provide broadband to nearly all of the businesses and residents in Wyoming’s Upper Wind River country and Little Snake River Valley.” More information is available here.
- Comments on the FCC Notice of Inquiry (NOI) for next year’s “section 706” report are due September 6, 2011, and Reply Comments are due October 4, 2011. To view the NOI, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Michael Hazzard, Jeffrey Rummel, or Jason Koslofsky (contact information below) for further information.
In the Courts
- On August 24, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed its earlier decision that allowed a putative class arbitration to proceed involving challenges to Verizon Wireless’s practice of extracting millions of dollars from customers through an unauthorized “administrative charge” on their monthly invoices. The Court of Appeals found that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion compelled reversal of the earlier ruling, stating that the holding in Concepcion is “broad and clear: a state law that seeks to impose class arbitration despite a contractual agreement for individualized arbitration is inconsistent with, and therefore preempted by, the [Federal Arbitration Act], irrespective of whether class arbitration is desirable for unrelated reasons.” Verizon, like AT&T and the nation’s other wireless carriers, requires customers to agree that they will never lodge any claim except through individual arbitrations. Litman v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, No. 08-4103 (3d Cir.).
- On August 15, 2011, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed most of Skynet’s lawsuit against AT&T Florida. Skynet was a reseller of, among other services, AT&T Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuits. The parties negotiated an agreement that, Skynet claimed, set a fixed price for the PRIs, which understanding was corroborated by emails from two AT&T sales personnel. Despite that agreement, AT&T began charging Skynet usage-sensitive charges, which Skynet then disputed and refused to pay. AT&T terminated service, and Skynet sued. The district court, relying on the filed tariff doctrine, dismissed most of Skynet’s claims, explaining that the “flaw with Skynet’s argument is that parties to an agreement for the provision of a tariff-regulated telecommunication service cannot contract around the tariff rate.” The Court also dismissed Skynet’s Section 201 [of the Communications Act] claim on the ground that the “Communications Act does not apply to intrastate telecommunications services.” The court will allow Skynet’s claims for an accounting and for defamation/slander of credit to go forward. Solar Star Systems, LLC d/b/a Skynet 360 v. BellSouth Telecomms., Inc. d/b/a AT&T Florida, No. 10-21105 (S.D. Fla.).
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, Michael Hazzard, Stephanie Joyce, or Joseph Bowser (contact information below) for further information.
Legislative Outlook
- Rep. Fred Upton, D-Mich., Chair of the House Commerce Committee, and Rep. Greg Walden, D-Ore., Chair of the Communications Subcommittee, released a joint statement on the FCC’s repeal of the Fairness Doctrine: “The rules are outdated and needlessly endanger our sacred freedoms of speech and the press. The FCC has finally done what it should have done 20 years ago: It has scrapped the Fairness Doctrine once and for all.” Chairman Genachowski thus made good on his promise to repeal the rule by August, as stated in his June 8 letter to Reps. Upton and Walden. For further information, click here.
- Both the House and the Senate are on August Recess through September 5, 2011.
Please contact Stephanie Joyce (contact information below) for further information.
Upcoming Events
- Ross Buntrock, a Partner in our Group, will deliver the keynote address at the Mobile Payment Conference to be held September 8 and 9, 2011, in New York, NY. For more information or to register, click here.
- Jeffrey Rummel, a Partner in our Group, will speak at the 8th Military Antennas Summit held by the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement September 12-15, 2011, in Washington, DC. For more information, click here.
- Jonathan Canis and Ross Buntrock, Partners in our Group, will speak at CompTel Plus in Orlando, Florida on October 3, 2011, on a topic titled “Mediation, Complaints and Referrals: What Does It Take to Get Disputes Resolved Before the FCC?” For further information, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jonathan Canis, or Jeffrey Rummel (contact information below) for further information.
For further information, please contact any of our attorneys in the Arent Fox Telecommunications Group, including:
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Ross A. Buntrock |
Michael B. Hazzard |
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Jonathan E. Canis |
Stephanie A. Joyce |
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Alan G. Fishel |
Jeffrey E. Rummel |
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Adam D. Bowser |
Marcia Fuller Durkin |
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Joseph P. Bowser |
Jason A. Koslofsky |
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G. David Carter |
Katherine Barker Marshall |