The Commission released a Public Notice (“Notice”) seeking comment in its 2016 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations. Section 11 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to biennially review its regulations that apply to telecommunications services and “determine whether any such regulation is no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service.” The Commission is directed to repeal or modify any regulation that it finds is no longer in the public interest.
Submissions should specifically identify the rule(s) that the commenting party believes should be modified or repealed, and explain why or how, and explain how the suggested change satisfies the Section 11 standard. Note that separate pleadings must be filed with each Bureau or Office that has jurisdiction over the applicable rule, as identified in the Notice attachments. Several of the rule parts included in the Notice may be relevant, including but not limited to:
- Access to Telecommunications Service and Equipment by Persons with Disabilities (CGB; Part 6)
- Filing of Formal and Informal Complaints (EB; Parts 1 & 8)
- HAC Compliance (CGB; Part 20)
- Outage Reporting (PS; Part 4)
- WEA (PS; Part 10)
- E911 (PS; Parts 12 & 20)
- Open Internet (WCB; Part 8)
- Universal Service (WCB; Part 54)
- Various rules under the jurisdiction of the Wireless Bureau
Comments are due December 5, 2016.Reply Comments are due January 3, 2017.
Please contact us if you would like any additional information.