this issue>general
prepaid
Regulatory Rundown
FCC Crackdown
By Matthew Schulman
This issue of the Regulatory Rundown deals with the following
items:
1. FCC Announces Joint E911 Task Force
2. FCC Extends Reporting and Compliance Deadlines for I-VoIP Providers
3. Encryption for VoIP! Potential Regulatory showdown?
4. Unsolicited Fax Compliance Deadline Extended
5. FCC Regulatory Fees increase by 2.6 %
6. FCC Chairman Shares FCC Policy Possibilities
FCC Announces Joint E911 Task Force
On July 25, 2005, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin announced a Joint
Federal and State VoIP Enhanced 911 (E911) Enforcement Task Force.
This FCC-NARUC (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners)
task force will be comprised of staff from both the FCC and State
Public Utility Commissions, who will work closely with representatives
from the public safety community, including the Association of Public
Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency
Number Association (NENA).
The Task Force was created to facilitate the timely and effective
enforcement of the FCC’s VoIP E911 rules. Working together,
federal and state Task Force members will look at developing educational
materials to ensure that consumers understand their rights and the
requirements of the FCC’s VoIP E911 Order. They will also
consider rules on how best to expedite compliance and facilitate
enforcement, if necessary. The Task Force will also compile data
and share best practices.
Chairman Martin said, in announcing formation of the Task Force,
“One of the FCC’s core missions is to promote public
safety. Our VoIP E911 rules are critical to achieving that goal.
I look forward to working with my colleagues in the states to advance
our common goal that all Americans, no matter their provider, have
access to life-saving emergency 911 services.”
FCC Extends Reporting and Compliance Deadlines for I-VoIP
Providers
On July 26, 2005, the FCC Enforcement Bureau (EB) released a “guidance”
notice to Interconnected Voice Over Internet Protocol Service Providers
Concerning the July 29, 2005 Subscriber Notification Deadlines.
(Note: This item is covered more completely in an associate article
in the telecom & technology section of this month’s issue)
In this Public Notice, the EB provided guidance and assistance to
providers of interconnected voice over Internet protocol (I-VoIP)
service concerning enforcement of the subscriber notification provisions
of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rules governing
enhanced 911 (E911) capability. The FCC extended the deadline for
compliance by 30-days to August 29, 2005 (approx.) as long as the
I-VoIP providers have met certain reporting requirements by August
10, 2005.
Encryption for VoIP! Potential Regulatory showdown?
Phil Zimmermann, creator of the Pretty Good Privacy, PGP, e-mail
encryption program, was a keynote speaker at the Black Hat Briefings
held July 28-31 in Las Vegas. He is promoting his new project, Zfone,
which is designed to encrypt VoIP to avoid eavesdropping. Most people
believe that VoIP is a secure technology, because voice is transmitted
in separate data packets, and the fact that there have not been
many documented cases of problems. The only cases that this author
is aware of are related to wholesale VoIP traffic where a gateway
IP address is spoofed or penetrated and traffic is passed without
permission. But on the consumer side, only certain platforms have
the ability to “monitor” conversations occurring on
their network, and outside “interception” has not been
discovered so far.
One main question that arises is, “How will this technology
potentially conflict with CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act) requirements, which as related to VoIP, are still
in development?”
Unsolicited Fax Compliance Deadline Extended
On June 28, 2005, the FCC delayed the effective date for rules concerning
unsolicited fax advertisements until January 9, 2006. The FCC has
delayed until January 9, 2006, the effective date of the Commission’s
July 2003 determination that anyone sending an unsolicited advertising
fax obtain a prior signed, written statement as evidence of the
recipient’s permission to receive the fax. Until January 9,
2006, such faxes may be sent without prior written consent to people
with whom the advertiser has an existing business relationship.
FCC Regulatory Fees increase by 2.6 %
On July 7, 2005 the FCC released a Report And Order On Reconsideration
of regulatory fees.
In this Order, the FCC concluded a proceeding to collect $280,098,000
in regulatory fees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005. These fees are mandated
by Congress, and are collected to recover the regulatory costs associated
with the Commission’s enforcement, policy and rulemaking,
user information, and international activities. This adjusted amount
is $7,140,000, or approximately 2.6 percent greater than the $272,958,000
the Commission was required to collect during the previous fiscal
year.
The FCC did not change or modify the methodology for assessing regulatory
fees for international carriers that have International Bearer Circuits.
The FCC declined to adopt the Tyco proposal to create a new, separate
fee category for non-common carrier cable landing licensees at this
time.
The FCC also declined to modify the FY 2005 regulatory fee assessment
methodology for Direct Broadcast Service (DBS) providers in response
to the comments of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association
(NCTA) and American Cable Association (ACA). The FCC declined to
establish a MVDDS regulatory fee category at this time.
Regarding Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers (ITSPs),
the FCC began sending pre-completed FCC Form 159-W assessments to
carriers in an effort to assist them in paying the Interstate Telecommunications
Service Provider (ITSP) regulatory fees. In the FCC’s FY 2005
NPRM, they sought comment on this billing initiative and on ways
to improve it, but received no comments or reply comments. So the
FCC will continue the ITSP, Form 159-W, billing initiative in FY
2005.
The FCC denied the petition for reconsideration filed by Cingular
Wireless LLC of the Commission’s FY 2004 Report and Order.
The FCC disagreed with arguments by Cingular, CTIA, and others,
that the NRUF data are not sufficiently accurate for the purpose
of assessing regulatory fees for the three classes of Commercial
Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers — the Cellular Radiotelephone
Service, the Personal Communications Service (PCS), and the Specialized
Mobile Radio (SMR) Service. The FCC will continue to rely on the
NRUF data for the FY 2005 regulatory fee assessments for these carriers.
FCC Chairman Shares FCC Policy Possibilities
FCC Chairman Martin remarked on July 26, 2005 at the NARUC summer
meeting held in Austin Texas that “Perhaps the most important
action we need to take in furtherance of broadband deployment is
to place wireline and cable providers of broadband Internet access
services on a level-playing field.” He further commented that
“Right now, cable modem providers operate free of most regulation.…which
is not the case for [legacy] telcos. This disparity continues to
distort the marketplace. Again, we need to make the broadband regime,
as well as the universal service and intercarrier regimes, technology
and competitive neutral. Now that the Supreme Court has spoken and
provided us much needed clarity (regarding the Brand X decision),
we can move forward. To this end, I have already shared with my
colleagues a proposal that would give telcos the same deregulatory
treatment as cable. It is my strong hope that this order will be
adopted as soon as possible so that consumers can reap the benefits
of continued infrastructure investment and the increased deployment
of broadband services. Although I believe that new technologies
and services should operate free of economic regulation, I also
believe that law enforcement agencies must have the ability to conduct
electronic surveillance over these new technologies.”
Open FCC Meeting Held on Aug 4, 2005
The FCC held an open commission meeting on Thursday, August 4, 2005
to discuss several issues. Among them:
1- An inquiry into the Commission’s Process to Avert Harm
to U.S. Competition and U.S. Customers Caused by Anticompetitive
Conduct and circuit disruption by foreign carriers on U.S.-international
routes.
2- An Annual Assessment of the Status of Competition in the Market
for the Delivery of Video Programming.
3- The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration concerning
the Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services in the 1710-1755
MHz and 2110-2155 MHz bands
Additional information concerning this meeting may be obtained
from Audrey Spivack or David Fiske, Office of Media Relations, (202)
418-0500; TTY 1-888-835-5322.
Matthew Schulman is a principal of the Regnum Group. He can be reached
at mschulman@regnumgroup.com.
|
