NATOA and Conference of Mayors, in separate filings, warn FCC not to jeopardize local government Jobs to subsidize private entities in NBP; NATOA Files Comments on Anchor Institutions

Yesterday, NATOA joined with local government and public interest groups to submit two filings to the FCC in response to a final call for comments on all issues related to the National Broadband Plan.  The NBP is due to Congress on March 17^th, one month later than it was initially scheduled. 

 

 NBP Filing - Rights of Way Filing:

 

NATOA and other local governments warned the FCC not to use the NBP to take away significant Rights-of-Way (ROW) management away from local governments or threaten municipal coffers at a time that local governments are suffering layoffs.   NATOA warned that setting “compensation” at only cost recovery would be a windfall to private telecommunications companies that would not result in any increased broadband deployment – instead, it would only result in increased profits to these companies and layoffs of municipal employees or losses of municipal services. NATOA stated that the FCC has absolutely no legal authority over local ROW permitting or fees and rejected any argument that “fair and reasonable compensation” (which is what local governments are entitled to for ROW access under the Communications Act) is limited only to cost recovery.  To support these claims, the filing included detailed economic and academic studies that both concluded that limiting local compensation for ROW fees would not lead to increased broadband but would instead result only in increasing the “digital divide.”

 

NATOA also pointed out that ROW issues are community issues – not just telecommunications issues – and the lost revenue will hurt local community resources such as schools, fire services, and police departments.  NATOA reminded the FCC of the widespread and well-publicized crisis in local and state budgets at this time and highlighted some illustrative examples such as Portland, Oregon.  Portland’s budget crisis has already required it to freeze salaries and must cut expenditures by another $8.9 million to balance its budget for this year.  If Portland lost its revenue from ROW fees and taxes, it would be devastating and would cost many essential personnel such as police officers and firefighters to lose their jobs.  Portland is only one example and is not unique.  The filing makes quite clear that if the FCC forbids communities from obtaining fair market value for the use of ROW, the impact on already strained local budgets will be severe.  Rather than taking such actions, NATOA and its co-filers recommended that the FCC establish a partnership to work with local governments to establish a best practices guide to ROW management and encouraging localities to leverage their resources for broadband deployment.

 

The full text of the ROW filing is available here.

 

Conference of Mayors Letter to the FCC Commissioners on Local Management of Rights of Way:

 

Yesterday, the United States Conference of Mayors also sent a letter to the FCC Commissioners urging them to “reject proposals that would limit local authority to manage local rights-of-way and/or would negatively impact local budgets.”  The letter pointed out that Congress intended, in the Communications Act, to leave Rights of Way to local control.  The Letter also highlighted the same budgetary concerns raised by NATOA and its co-filers.  In short, the loss of revenue from rights of way fees will have a crippling effect on cities already anticipating a budget shortfall in the next year.  This will result in layoffs, salary freezes and reductions, increased fees to citizens (who are themselves struggling in the current economic climate), and reductions in essential services.  NATOA applauds the Conference of Mayors for its attention to this critical issue for our nation’s communities. 

 

The full text of the Conference of Mayor’s Letter is available here. 

 

Anchor Institution Networks Filing:

 

In another filing, NATOA joined with a number of public interest groups to support Anchor Institution Networks.  The filing pointed out the unique and urgent need of anchor institutions (such as schools, libraries, hospitals, universities, job training centers, etc.) to obtain high-capacity broadband.  It also pointed out that the private sector has, so far, failed to address this need.  The filing urged the FCC to promote the development of these networks through the NBP by supporting “the development of a ‘Unified Community Anchor Network’ (“UCAN”), a ‘network of networks’ from which all anchor institutions who wish can receive high capacity broadband service.”  The filing also called on the FCC to recommend the removal of restrictive legislation and ordinances to the development and expansion of these networks. 

 

The full text of the anchor institution filing is available here.

NATOA and the Benton Foundation File Comments in Support of FCC Net Neutrality Policy

Yesterday, NATOA and the Benton Foundation filed comments with the FCC on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would codify the FCC’s four existing Broadband Principles and would add two more (transparency and non-discrimination).  NATOA supports the FCC’s proposed actions and stated in the filing that “network neutrality guarantees are necessary because major private providers have demonstrated their ability and willingness to interfere with communications across endpoints on the network for reasons that are unrelated to legitimate network management needs.”    

 

NATOA’s filing also highlights our previous advocacy for an open internet and references NATOA’s Net Neutrality Policy (adopted in 2007) and NATOA’s Broadband Principles (adopted in 2008).  The filing also provides encouragement for the FCC to take additional steps to ensure an open internet.

 

The full text of NATOA’s filing is available here.

NATOA Announces Search for Executive Director/General Counsel Position

NATOA has launched its search for a new Executive Director/General Counsel.  A complete job description can be found here.  To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to Tonya Rideout via email: trideout@natoa.org.  Questions can be directed to Tonya Rideout at 703-519-8035 x 203. 

Responses are due by Monday, February 15, 2010.

Register now for the 2010 eNATOA Seminar Series

NATOA has an excellent array of topical eNATOA sessions for 2010, offering a high-quality learning experience to members and supporters at a great value.  Sign up for one, three, five, nine or the entire year.  The more you buy, the more you save!  Package prices only apply at the time of purchase.  Click here for the 2010 session schedule and to register.

NATOA Files Petition for Reconsideration on FCC Tower Siting Ruling

Yesterday, NATOA, joined by the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the United States Conference of Mayors, and the American Planning Association, filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the FCC as to a part of the FCC’s recent ruling developing a “shot clock” for tower siting application review. 

 

Although the entire rule, and the FCC’s claim of legal authority to issue it, is troublesome to NATOA, the Petition focused on one of the most troubling aspects of the Ruling.  In addition to establishing deadlines of 90 days for collocation application reviews and 150 days for review of all other applications, the Ruling gave a local government the ability to toll those shot clocks when an application was “incomplete.”  However, the local government would only have the power to toll the shot clock because the application was incomplete if it discovered the incompleteness within 30 days of when the application was submitted.  This rule has the potential for serious unintended consequences, especially when problems with an application are only apparent after 30 days through no fault of the local government, or when third parties (or the applicant) hold up the review process. 

 

 NATOA focused its Petition on this 30 day incompleteness deadline.  First, our Petition argues that the FCC (even under its own, incorrect, understanding of its authority) exceeded its power by issuing this rule.  Second, our Petition discusses some of the numerous practical problems with the 30 day incompleteness deadline.  Third, our Petition expresses our concern about the origin and thought process behind this rule when the rule was implemented without CTIA’s request, without discussion in any party’s comments or ex parte presentations, and without preliminary discussion with any local government. 

 

NATOA requested that the FCC remove or revise the 30 day deadline and, instead, give local authorities the ability to toll the shot clock for legitimate reasons at any point during the review process.  To accompany this Petition, NATOA also filed an Emergency Motion for Stay requesting that the Commission suspend the entire Ruling or at least the 30 day incompleteness deadline until there is more deliberation on this issue.

 

NATOA’s Petition does not address the FCC’s legal authority to institute the 90 and 150 day shot clocks.  The Petition makes clear to the FCC that we are not accepting their argument that they acted within their authority, but, we are not holding that argument at this time in this Petition.  Rather, we believe that this larger legal argument is more suited to a judicial appeal.  NATOA supports appeal efforts on the part of local governments; however, NATOA is not currently participating in an appeal at this time.  NATOA does have the ability to join an appeal at a later date if it is determined that such action is in the strategic best interest of our members. 

 

We will keep you up to date on any developments on our Petition or Stay request. 

 

The full text of NATOA’s Petition for Reconsideration is available here.

 

The full text of our Emergency Motion for Stay is available here.