Tag: ETC status

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Regulation - What is it Good For?

Summary Conclusions for Designing an FCC Broadband Grant

The earlier series of blogs looked at a number of ideas on how the FCC could create the most effective federal grant program for the upcoming $20.4 billion of announced grants. Following is a summary of the most important conclusions of those blogs:

Have a Clearly Defined Goal. If a federal grant’s program goal is something soft, like ‘improve rural broadband’ then the program is doomed to failure and will fund solutions that only incrementally improve broadband. The grant program should have a bold goal, such as bringing a permanent broadband solution to a significant number of households. For example, done well, this grant could bring fiber to 4 – 5 million homes rather than make incremental broadband improvements everywhere.

Match the Grant Process with the Grant Goals. Past federal grants have often had grant application rules that didn’t match the goals. Since the results of grants are governed by the application rules, those are all that matter. Stated goals for a grant are just rhetoric if those goals are not realized in the grant application requirements. As an example, if a grant goal is to favor the fastest broadband possible, then all grant application rules should be weighted towards that goal.

Match Speed Requirement with the Grant Construction Period. The discussion for the proposed $20.4 billion grant contemplates a minimum speed goal of 25/3 Mbps. That’s a DSL speed and is already becoming obsolete today. A goal of 25/3 Mbps will be badly outdated by the time any grant-funded networks are built. The FCC should not repeat their worst decision ever that gave out $11 billion for CAF II funding to build 10/1 Mbps networks – a speed that was obsolete even before the grants were awarded. The FCC should be requiring future-looking speeds.

Make the Grants Available to Everybody. FCC grant and loan programs often include a statement that they are available to every kind of entity. Yet the actual award process often discriminates against some kinds of applicants. For example, grants that include a loan component make it generally impossible for most municipal entities to accept the awards. Loan rules can also eliminate non-RUS borrowers. Grant rules that require recipients to become Eligible Telecommunications Carriers – a regulatory designation – discriminate against open access networks where the network owner and the ISP are separate entities. If not written carefully, grant rules can discriminate against broadband partnerships where the network owner is a different entity than the operating ISP.

Reverse Auction is not a Good Fit. Reverse auctions are a good technique to use when taking bids for some specific asset. Reverse auctions won’t work well when the awarded area is the whole US. Since reverse auctions favor those who will take the lowest amount of funding a reverse auction will, by definition, favor lower-cost technologies. A reverse auction will also favor parts of the country with lower costs and will discriminate against the high-cost places that need broadband help the most, like Appalachia. A reverse auction also favors upgrades over new construction and would favor upgrading DSL over building faster new technologies. From a political perspective, a reverse auction won’t spread the awards geographically and could favor one region, one technology or even only a few grant applicants. Once the auction is started the FCC would have zero input over who wins the funds – something that would not sit well with Congress.

Technology Matters. The grants should not be awarded to technologies that are temporary broadband band-aids. For example, if the grants are used to upgrade rural DSL or to provide fixed cellular broadband, then the areas receiving the grants will be back at the FCC in the future asking for something better. It’s hard to justify any reason for giving grants to satellite providers.

States Need to Step Up. The magnitude of the proposed federal grant program provides a huge opportunity for states. Those states that increase state grant funding should attract more federal grants to their state. State grants can also influence the federal awards by favoring faster speeds or faster technologies.

This blog is part of a series on Designing the Ideal Federal Broadband Grant Program.

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Regulation - What is it Good For?

Carrier of Last Resort

Every once in a while I see a regulatory requirement that makes me scratch my head. One of the requirements of the current CAF II reverse auction is that every winner must become an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) before receiving the funding – and I wonder why this is needed? This requirement is coupled with another puzzling requirement that anybody taking this funding must provide telephone service in addition to broadband. Since the purpose of the CAF II program is to expand rural broadband these requirements seem incongruous with the purpose of the program.

The ETC regulatory status was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Congress created this new class of carriers to mean any carrier that is willing to provide basic services within a specified geographic area (and in 1996 this was specified as providing voice service) and for that willingness to serve would be eligible to receive any available subsidies.

While this is not in writing anywhere, I’m guessing that these requirements are part of the ongoing plan to erode the rural carrier of last resort obligation (COLR) for the big telcos. Carrier of last resort is a regulatory concept that is applied by regulators to utility infrastructure providers including telco incumbents, electric, gas and water providers. The textbook definition of carrier of last resort is a utility provider that is required by law to serve customers within a defined service area, even if serving that customer is not economically viable. Further a COLR is required to charge just and reasonable prices and generally has legal hurdles that make it difficult to withdraw from serving within the defined service area.

We are seeing rural carrier of last resort obligations eroding all over the place. For example, the FCC is proposing rules that will allow copper providers to tear down copper networks with no obligation to replace them with some alternate technology.

I think this requirement in the CAF II reverse auction is along the same vein. All of the areas covered by this auction are within the historic regulated footprint of one of the large telcos. Except for the Verizon service areas, where Verizon did not accept the original CAF II funding, these are the most remote customers in this auction are in very rural areas. These are the customers at the far end of long copper lines who have no broadband, and likely no quality telephone service.

Anybody accepting the CAF II reverse funding must file for ETC status for those census blocks where they are getting funding. This is a requirement even if the auction winner is only going to be serving one or two people within that census block. Census blocks are areas that generally include 600 – 800 homes. In cities a census block might be as small as a block or two, but in rural areas a census block can be large.

My bet is that the large telcos are going to claim that they no longer have carrier of last resort in any rural area where there is now a second ETC. They will ask regulators why they need to serve a new home built in one of these areas if there is another carrier with similar obligations. If that’s the case, then this reverse auction is going to remove huge chunks of rural America from having a carrier of last resort provider. It’s likely that incumbent telcos will use the existence of a second ETC to avoid having to bring service to new homes.

I have an even more nagging worry. ETC status is something that is granted by state regulatory commissions. In granting this status it’s possible that some states are going to interpret this to mean that a new ETC might have some carrier of last resort obligations. If the incumbent telco tears down the copper network, it’s not unreasonable to think that state regulators might turn to the new ETC in an area to serve newly constructed homes and businesses.

I would caution anybody seeking ETC status as part of getting this funding to make sure they are not unknowingly picking up carrier of last resort obligations along with that status. If I was making such a filing myself I would query the regulators directly to get their response on the record.

I will be the first to tell you that I could be off base on this – but this feels like one of those regulatory requirements that could have hidden consequences. I can’t think of any reason why this program would require a new provider to supply telephone service other than for letting the large telcos off the hook to do so. I know that many companies going after this funding would think twice about taking it if it means they become the carrier of last resort.

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Regulation - What is it Good For?

Carrier-of-Last-Resort Obligations

Earlier this month the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld FCC orders that still require large telcos to be the carrier-of-last-resort provider of telephone service for at least some of their service territory. The ruling is the result of appeals made by CenturyLink and AT&T that required them to provide telephone service to new rural households.

The idea of carrier of last resort has been part of the telephone industry for nearly as long as the FCC has been regulating the industry. The concept was a key component of spreading the telephone network to all corners of the country – the Congress and the early FCC understood that the whole country was better off if everybody was connected.

Over the years the FCC and various state regulatory commissions ruled that telcos had to make a reasonable effort to connect rural customers. Telcos always had the option to petition against adding customers in really hard to reach places like mountaintops, but for the most part telcos routinely added new homes to the telephone network.

Carrier-of-last-resort started to weaken with the introduction of competition from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Since that time the big telcos have been able to walk away from carrier-of-last-resort obligations in most of their territory. This court order ruled that in areas where the telcos are still receiving federal high cost support that the telcos are still obligated to connect homes that request service.

I worked for Ma Bell pre-divestiture and there was a real pride in the telephone industry that the network reached out to everybody. Telcos then also deployed huge numbers of pay telephones throughout the network to reach those that couldn’t afford phone service – even though they lost money on many of the payphones. The Bell company and the smaller independent telcos made it their mission to extend the network to everybody.

This order made a few comments, though, that puzzled me. They point out that many of the high-cost areas served by the big telcos are up for new funding from the upcoming CAF II auctions. Any winners of that auction are required to file to become the Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) for any areas they receive funding. The discussion in the court order implies that these new ETCs will become the carrier-of-last-resort in these areas.

That surprised me because there are plenty of carriers that have ETC status and yet are not the obligated carrier-of-last-resort. The best example is the same big telcos examined in this case who are the ETC of record for their whole footprints but now only have carrier-of-last-resort obligations for the last most rural areas covered by this case. There have been stories for years of people who built new homes, even in urban areas, and are refused service by both the telco and cable company. The cable companies have no carrier-of-last-resort obligations, but it’s clear that in many places the telcos have been able to walk away from the obligation.

I think that companies seeking the CAF II reverse auction funding might be surprised by this interpretation of the rules. Being carrier-of-last-resort means that a carrier is obligated to build to reach anybody in the covered area that requests telephone service. The reverse auction doesn’t even require total coverage of the covered census blocks and that seems to be in conflict with the court’s interpretation. The reverse auction census blocks are some of the most sparsely populated areas of the country and building to even one remote customer in some of these areas could be extremely expensive.

Unfortunately, the carrier-of-last-resort obligation only applies to telephone service and not to broadband. It would be nice to see this concept applied to broadband and the FCC missed a good opportunity to do this when they handed out billions of federal dollars in the CAF II plan. With that plan the big telcos are only required to make their best effort to reach customers with broadband in the areas that got the CAF II funding – I’m hearing from rural people all over the country that a lot of the CAF II areas aren’t seeing any upgrades. For the most part the idea of carrier-of-last resort and universal coverage are becoming quaint concepts of our past.

Categories
Regulation - What is it Good For?

The Dawson Internet Act of 2018

A few days ago I wrote that we are not likely to get any significant telecom legislation this year. That’s unfortunate because we really need a major new Act to update all of the regulatory rules concerning broadband, telephone and cable TV. That got me thinking what I might write into such an act if I was the author, so following are the highlights of the envisioned Dawson Internet Act of 2018 (it’s time we stop calling this the telecom industry):

Cable TV. It’s time to scrap all requirements that dictate cable tiers. Cable companies need to be able to offer whatever channels they think make economic sense, including offering a la carte channels, if that’s what the public wants. I’d also scrap the must-carry rules for major network stations. The retransmission costs for those channels are one of the primary culprits for rate increases and removing the requirement to carry channels will return cable companies to a position of fair bargaining for price since they could walk away from any local station that wants too much.

Telephone. Other than a few rules that govern customer privacy I’d totally scrap federal regulations for landline service. I’d eliminate the CLEC classification and deregulate traditional telephone and VoIP equally to put the products on a non-regulated level playing field. I think I would retain the historic monopoly service territories, although I’d have to give that a lot more thought.

Interconnection. I’d keep the mandate that network owners must continue to interconnect with other carriers. They can’t be allowed to shut out a competitor by refusing to give them access to the underlying backhaul networks. But since I would eliminate the CLEC status, the big network owners need to be required to interconnect with anybody who meets specified technical standards.

ETC Status. Today a company must become an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier in order to participate in Universal Service Funds or other federal funding programs. I’d eliminate this requirement because it’s nothing more than a paperwork barrier to market entry. The current rules also disallow certain types of providers, such as owners of open access networks, although customers almost universally prefer that operating model.

Broadband. The FCC needs to regulate broadband, even if they elect to regulate it lightly. Congress can mandate this and get rid of the nonsense of trying to make broadband fit under Title II and just explicitly give the FCC the authority and obligation to regulate it.

Network Neutrality. I would make network neutrality the centerpiece of broadband regulation. The most important aspect of network neutrality is prohibiting paid prioritization – because once the ISPs start doing that all of the nightmare scenarios of a broken Internet emerge.

Spectrum. I think the FCC is already on a good path to free up spectrum for broadband. But I think they are missing the boat by not providing more spectrum for public access. One only has to look at the huge economic boom created by WiFi to see that giving all spectrum to big monopolies is not the best answer. I’d also make a firmer use-it-or-lose it rule for rural spectrum. A huge amount of spectrum sits unused in rural America but is still under control of the big carriers who purchased large-area licenses. Finally, rather than turn spectrum auction proceeds over the US Treasury I’d redirect these revenues towards meeting universal service goals.

Universal Service. I’d maintain the requirement that the FCC monitor broadband connectivity and require them to try to find solutions for areas without good broadband. I’d also prohibit them from funding any broadband programs like CAF II that support technologies that are slower than the federal definition of broadband. I’d also mandate an ongoing process for defining the official speed of broadband.

Privacy. I like what I’m reading about the European Union privacy rules. They are allowing ISPs and others to monitor and track customers only with customer consent. That will allow people who care about privacy to maintain it while allowing others who choose to sacrifice privacy for services to allow tracking. The penalties for violating customer privacy must be economically severe.

Municipal Broadband. I’d eliminate all barriers to municipal competition. Local communities ought to be able to decide themselves if they want to tackle the risk of building broadband. This is particularly needed in rural America where, in many cases, the local government might be the only one willing to tackle funding a network.

Access to Poles, Ducts and Dark Fiber. I’d make these assets available to anybody that can meet technical standards to use them. I’ve still not decided how I feel about federal one-touch rules, but I’d have the FCC institute a major rulemaking to get more facts on the issues involved.

I’m sure everybody in the industry has a different list than mine. I remember all of the discussions and negotiations leading up to the Telecommunications Act. That Act took  some political bravery since Congress was taking on the big telcos for the greater public good – and that Act did a fairly good job of promoting competition. But I don’t see this same courage in Washington today and most of the topics on my list are sadly not even being discussed.

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