Telecom Business Alert - Text-to-911, Pole Attachment Rules, E-Rate Report - Vol. XI, Issue 33
August 18, 2014, Volume XI, Issue 33
Title: Text-to-911, Pole Attachment Rules, E-Rate Report
Text-to-911
At its August 8th Open Meeting, the FCC adopted new rules requiring wireless carriers and certain text messaging providers to be capable of supporting text-to-911 services by December 31, 2014. The new rules also require these “covered text providers” to implement text-to-911 for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) by June 30, 2015, or six months after a request by a PSAP. The FCC also adopted a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking comment on enhanced location information, support for text-to-911 roaming, and future texting services. Please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239) with questions.
Louisiana Adopts Pole Attachment Rules
The Louisiana Public Service Commission recently adopted comprehensive pole attachment rules that lift a 15-year rate freeze, establish an attachment rate higher than the FCC rate, impose make-ready deadlines, and establish other access and dispute resolution processes. For additional information, please contact Tom Magee (magee@khlaw.com; 202-434-4128).
E-Rate Staff Report
Last week, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning and Policy released a staff report regarding the Commission’s E-Rate program. The report estimates the E-Rate program will need $2.5 Billion to fund broadband connections for 10 million students and 3,000 libraries annually. The report also estimates that 65% of public schools have access to fiber, with a majority of the schools without fiber located in rural areas. The report projects that the savings due to the phase out of non-broadband services will largely cover the $1 Billion funding target. For more information, please contact Doug Jarrett (Jarrett@khlaw.com; 202-434-4180).
NTIA Community Broadband Workshop
NTIA, the division of the Department of Commerce responsible for advising the President on telecommunications issues, announced it will hold a workshop on September 4, 2014 to discuss the lessons learned in community network build-outs. The workshop also will discuss partnership models that have been used in the build-outs.
New Frequency Coordinator
Last week the FCC announced it has certified the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as a certified frequency coordinator in the 806-816/851-861 and 896-901/935-940 MHz bands. The Association also is certified to coordinate certain frequencies below 500 MHz. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239).
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Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert is a complimentary weekly electronic update created by the Telecommunications and the Business Counseling and Transactional practice groups of Keller and Heckman LLP. All articles, videos, and quotations are on topics of general interest and do not constitute legal advice for particularized facts. Keller and Heckman LLP's Telecom Business Alert © 2013. All rights reserved. Articles may be copied with attribution. To sign up for our weekly alert, please send us an email at telecomalert@khlaw.com and provide us with your name and email. Please follow us on twitter at @KHtelecom.