Arent Fox's This Week in Telecom - September 6, 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.
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 Tentative Agenda for the next FCC open meeting on September 22, 2011, contains two items: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on accelerating the deployment of Next Generation 911 (NG 911) service; and a white paper from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau on aerial communications infrastructure to facilitate communication among first responders. NOTE: The meeting is now scheduled to begin at 10:45 am Eastern. To view the Tentative Agenda, click here.
- The FCC has issued Notices of Apparent Liability seeking $5 Million in fines from each of four entities alleged to have engaged in deceptive marketing of prepaid calling cards. To view the Enforcement Advisory explaining the action and advising consumers of their rights, click here.
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Alan Fishel, Michael Hazzard, or Jon Canis (contact information below) for further information.
The Mobile Market
- As was widely reported last week, the Department of Justice has filed a federal complaint seeking a permanent injunction against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. The agency alleges that the relevant geographic market is nationwide, as many parties had advocated before the FCC, and relevant product markets of mobile wireless telecommunications and mobile wireless telecommunications to businesses and governmental entities. The agency focused on T-Mobile’s history of innovation and aggressive pricing, as well as the difficulty of new entry into these markets. Deutsche Telekom released a statement that it “is very disappointed by the DOJ’s action, and will join AT&T in defending the contemplated merger[.]” To read the complaint, click here. To read the full DT statement, click 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 26, 2011, the FTC announced updated fees for accessing phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Telemarketers must download the numbers regularly to ensure that they do not call consumers who have put their numbers on the Registry. Starting October 1, 2011, telemarketers will pay $56 (an increase of $1) for access to Registry phone numbers in a single area code, up to a maximum charge of $15,503 for all area codes nationwide (an increase from the previous maximum of $15,058). They will pay $28 per area code (a $1 increase) for numbers they subscribe to during the second half of the 12-month subscription period. More information is available here.
- On September 1, 2011, Deanya Kueckelhan, Director of the FTC Southwest Regional Office, testified about child identity theft on behalf of the agency before the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Ways and Means Committee at a field hearing in Plano, Texas. Ms. Keuckelhan identified the steps the FTC is taking to combat identity theft through law enforcement, nationwide complaint management, and education. She also highlighted the recent FTC publication “Protecting Your Child’s Personal Information at School,” which is designed to educate parents about how to limit the risk of identity theft for their children. More information on the testimony is available here. The publication is 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 30, 2011, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an order preventing The Ohio Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Ohio from disconnecting service to Infotelecom LLC. On August 24, 2011, Infotelecom filed a complaint against AT&T seeking PUC interpretation of the parties’ interconnection agreement (ICA) after AT&T demanded that Infotelecom pay charges associated with VoIP traffic into escrow. Infotelecom alleged in its complaint that AT&T, “relying on an erroneous interpretation” of the parties’ ICA, has “demanded that Infotelecom escrow millions of dollars, despite the fact that Infotelecom has never met the conditions that would require it to do so.” Infotelecom further asserted that AT&T threatened to terminate the ICA and to cease providing all service to Infotelecom as of September 1, 2011. In its order, the PUC stated that an immediate ruling was necessary because AT&T intended to terminate service even prior to answering the complaint, and ordered that AT&T “should not disconnect service to Infotelecom during the pendency of this dispute.” Docket No. 11-4887-TP-CSS.
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
- EXTENSION GRANTED: The FCC has extended the time period for submitting nominations for the Open Internet Advisory to October 1, 2011. For more information, click here.
- Comments on the FCC Notice of Inquiry (NOI) for next year’s “section 706” report are due today, 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 30, 2011, Verizon New England Inc. and Verizon New York Inc. filed suit against Sprint Communications Co., L.P. in the federal court for the District of Massachusetts, claiming that Sprint has failed to pay amounts due under Verizon’s federal tariffs. Verizon alleges that Sprint subscribed to a Commitment Discount Plan (CDP) in Verizon’s tariff under which it agreed to purchase a certain number of high-capacity telecommunications circuits. According to Verizon, an audit of Sprint’s usage in 2009 revealed that it missed the minimum commitment, and Sprint refused to pay for the shortfall. Verizon seeks damages in the amount of $1,159,807. Verizon New England, Inc. v. Sprint Communications Co., L.P, 1:11-cv-11522-MLW (D. Mass).
Please contact Ross Buntrock, Jon Canis, Michael Hazzard, Stephanie Joyce, or Joseph Bowser (contact information below) for further information.
Legislative Outlook
- Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Tex., Ranking Member, sent a joint letter to FCC Chairman Genachowski urging him to ensure that the nation has an interoperable, robust communications network that can withstand emergency situations. Reacting to the communications outages after the earthquake and the impending Hurricane Irene, the legislators stated that “Americans should expect that they can reach their loved ones during an emergency,” and that “first responders still do not have a nationwide wireless broadband network of their own.” To view a press release summarizing the letter, click here. To see the letter, 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.
- Stephanie Joyce, a Partner in our Group, will moderate a panel at the Bisnow event titled “Entrepreneurs in the Cloud: Founders and VCs” on September 14, 2011, that will run from 7:30 to 10:00 am Eastern at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner. For more information or to register, 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 |