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
Consumer Help Desk
The FCC announced that its information technology team was recognized with the Association for Federal Information Resources Management’s (AFFIRM) Leadership Award in Cloud Computing for its role in developing the new Consumer Help Desk. The FCC was the only recipient of a team award from AFFIRM this year. The new Consumer Help Center eliminated the previous paper-based system in favor of an online system. This new online system allows for 24-hour filing, tracking, and handling of complaints and uses a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service model, which embodies the FCC’s approach to IT moving forward. The FCC’s Consumer Help Desk can be visited here: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov.
Time Warner Cable/Charter/Bright House
The FCC opened MB Docket 15-149 in anticipation of the filing of various applications seeking consent to transfer the control of Time Warner Cable, Inc. and Bright House Networks LLC to Charter Communications, Inc. The FCC also announced that the proceeding will be covered by permit-but-disclose ex parte procedures. Those procedures are summarized in the Public Notice.
Special Access Data Collection
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced it is now accepting executed Acknowledgements of Confidentiality (Acknowledgements) pursuant to the protective order governing the data collection in the special access proceeding. Parties are encouraged to file their Acknowledgements by July 2, 2015, to help ensure timely access to the data. As part of the data collection effort, the Bureau established a Secure Data Enclave (SDE) for authorized parties to access and analyze sensitive information and data submitted in response to the collection. The FCC contracted with NORC at the University of Chicago to provide access to the SDE via the NORC Data Enclave® in a physical location in Bethesda, Maryland and remotely via thin client laptops. The Bureau will outline the process for authorized parties to gain access to the NORC Data Enclave®, including the physical location and thin client laptops, in a forthcoming Public Notice. Acknowledgments should be filed electronically through the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), or by hand delivery with a copy to SpecialAccess@fcc.gov. The FCC said it will periodically release public notices identifying those parties that have filed a signed Acknowledgement and post copies of all Acknowledgements filed on the following webpage: http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/acknowledgement-confidential-special-accessdata-collection.
Separately, the Bureau announced it was further extending the deadlines for interested parties to file comments and reply comments in response to Section IV.B of the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in the special access rulemaking proceeding. Comments are now due by September 25, 2015; reply comments are now due by October 16, 2015. In Section IV.B of the FNPRM , the FCC sought comment on possible changes to its rules for the special access services provided by ILECs in price cap areas.
