The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
FCC
Toll Free Number Brokering
The FCC issued a Forfeiture Order imposing a penalty of $3,360,000 against Richard Jackowitz and IT Connect, Inc., for selling or attempting to sell 210 toll free numbers in violation of FCC rules. The numbers were brokered for fees ranging from $375 to $60,000 per number. The Order finds Jackowitz and IT Connect willfully and repeatedly violated §52.107 of the FCC’s rules which prohibits hoarding, including data brokering (the selling of a toll free number by a private entity for a fee). Due to the egregious nature of the violations, Jackowitz and IT Connect were assessed the maximum forfeiture allowed by law, $16,000 for each brokered toll free number. The Order was issued because Jackowitz and IT Connect failed to file a timely response to the FCC’s Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued in March 2014. See our 4/8/14 Blog “FCC Issues $3.36 Million Fine For Brokering Toll-Free Numbers”
February Open Meeting
The FCC released the final agenda for its February 26, 2015, Open Meeting which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Audio/Video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live over the Internet from the FCC Live web page at www.fcc.gov/live. As reported previously, the agenda includes the following two items:
Open Internet/Net Neutrality: A Report and Order on Remand, Declaratory Ruling, and Order that responds to the Verizon court remand and adopts strong open Internet rules, grounded in multiple sources of the FCC’s legal authority, to ensure that Americans reap the economic, social, and civic benefits of an open Internet today and into the future.
Community Broadband: A Memorandum Opinion and Order addressing petitions filed by two municipal broadband providers asking that the Commission preempt provisions of state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that restrict the abilities of communities to provide broadband service.
