Communications Industry Posts Wish List of Regs to Delete

It was a rare opportunity. The FCC asked the entities that it regulates to list all of the “unnecessary regulatory burdens” the Commission currently requires in a docket titled, “In Re: Delete, Delete, Delete.” Hundreds of individuals and associations found plenty of suggestions to offer.

Historically, rural telcos have asked the FCC to consider their comparatively their small staff sizes and budgets compared to larger telecommunications companies when writing new regulations. NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association placed “historic accounting rules” at the top if its list of things to change or omit. While many of those rules remain necessary, including rules needed to maintain the universal service program, other “existing regulations are no longer relevant in the face of market evolutions and new technologies,” NTCA said.

Instead of beginning a complete overhaul of the accounting rules, it recommends a “careful review” and updates of the rules’ language. NTCA also recommended “simplicity” current broadband labeling, disaster information reporting, cybersecurity, and data breach reporting.

The association elimination of Digital Discrimination rules the Commission adopted in 2023, meant to sure that all Americans have “equal access to broadband,” as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “Existing regulations already sufficiently address discrimination concerns, and the new rules could discourage investment and impose excessive administrative burdens on small providers,” NTCA said. “The proposed rules are overly broad and seek to address problems that to the Commission’s acknowledgment have not occurred and/or are not expected to arise.”

Amon NRECA’s top concerns was finding ways to refine the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) process, which the FCC implemented in 2022 to improve the quality of broadband availability data. The association questioned the need for a Professional Engineer to certify filing to BDC. “The Commission has repeatedly granted waivers of the PE certification requirement for several years of BDC filings, for good reason. The certified PE requirement is unnecessary and creates a significant hardship, for smaller ISPs in particular,” NRECA said.

In addition, NRECA said that BDC duplicates the reporting requirements for the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal. “While NRECA appreciates the distinct purposes of USAC’s HUBB portal and the BDC program, the Commission is requiring providers to submit the same information multiple times,” it said. It proposed finding a way to join and streamline the HUBB and BDC processes.

“The Commission’s top priority for deletion should be regulations that force broadband providers to waste significant resources maintaining copper telephone lines that faded from relevance long ago,” said USTelecom. Conversion away from copper infrastructure has long been a Commission goal, but momentum toward conversion has stalled in recent years. The association praised a series of actions the FCC took last month to spark renewed interest and investment in infrastructure modernization, which it called “an important first step.”

In particular, USTelecom complains that wireline telecommunications carriers are required by the Communications Act get FCC approval when it moves to “discontinue, reduce or impair” any service on its copper lines. The federal government created those nearly century-old regulations during a time of telecommunications monopoly, it said. However, “the Commission’s own data shows that consumers have overwhelmingly abandoned wireline voice service in favor of mobile voice.”

USTelecom recommended forbearance of the “discontinuance rule” and establishing permanent rules where possible to replace other instances of “anachronistic asymmetry.”

As the FCC considers the many deregulatory proposals before it, the White House has been actively encouraging federal agencies to shrink the number of rules on its books. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order “to rescind regulations that are unlawful under 10 recent landmark Supreme Court decisions.” The first decision the order mentions is Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the June 2024 decision that overturned Chevron deference.

The Loper decision has already influenced the reversal of an FCC order placing internet providers under Title II telecommunications regulation. The FCC over the years has used Chevron to defend several other regulations which now could be nearing removal.