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
Lifeline Proceeding
The FCC agreed to extend the dates for filing oppositions and replies to Oppositions to Petitions for Reconsideration of its recent Lifeline Order. Oppositions to the petitions are due on or before October 8, 2015; replies to any oppositions are due October 19, 2015. They had been due September 17, 2015, and September 28, 2015, respectively. The extension was granted to allow parties time to review comments and reply comments filed in the FCC’s ongoing Lifeline rulemaking proceeding, which raise issues relevant to the petitions for reconsideration. The FCC also noted that its website, and therefore various relevant documents, was unavailable for 15 days during the time of the original pleading cycle. See the Regulatory Mix dated 9/11/15. TMI Regulatory Bulletin Service subscribers see Bulletins dated 7/2/15, and 7/1/15.
CAF Funding
The FCC released additional data on the 10 telecommunications carriers authorized to receive nearly $9 billion in Connect America Fund Phase II support over six years for rural broadband deployment. This support, together with the carrier’s own investment, will expand broadband to nearly 7.3 million rural consumers in 45 states nationwide and one U.S. territory over the next few years. The additional data details the amount of annual support and locations of support by carrier, state and county. A map depicting areas where support was accepted is available at https://www.fcc.gov/maps/caf-2-accepted-map.
Nevada
The PUC announced that Solix, Inc., the administrator of the Nevada Universal Service Fund (NVUSF), filed its Fiscal Year 2016 assessment recommendation [Docket Number 15-08035]. Interested parties may file petitions for leave to intervene or comments by September 30, 2015. A prehearing conference is scheduled for October 6, 2015.
