Volume 72, March 2008
Editor: Karen Pearl

Okay! So in 1958 my mom cut my hair and dressed me funny! I'm still willing to share my pictures with you. So why not share your pictures with us? As part of our 50th anniversary, we need pictures of you and your business from the 1950s and later. We will present commemorative albums to our convention guests. Send your pictures TODAY! [The Editor]

Headlines

- An Update - AB518 COMPLIANCE RULEMAKING

INDUSTRY NEWS

NARUC Passes Resolutions at its Winter Conference in Washington

FCC NEWS

	Wireline-to-Wireless LNP Compliance Date Set for March 24
	Annual Report on State of Competition in the Wireless Industry
	New Telephone Subscribership Report
	FCC and USDA Launch Web Site Focused on Rural Broadband Opportunities
	Telephone Numbering Resource Utilization Report
	Report on Quality of Service of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers

FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE NEWS

	President Signs "Permanent" Do-Not-Call Legislation
	Markey Introduces Net Neutrality Assessment Bill

New Members

dates to note

archives

PLACE YOUR AD HERE! CONTACT US

ASSOCIATION NEWS

AB518 COMPLIANCE RULEMAKING - Docket No. 07-06016

An update

Docket No. 07-06016. Since July of 2007, AT&T, Embarq, Verizon, NTA along with CLECs and cable companies have been working diligently on amendments to the Nevada Administrative Code to adhere with the edicts of AB 518 that was passed in the 2007 Legislature. Cooper, White & Cooper LLC, representing Lincoln County Telephone and Moapa Valley Telephone has now jumped on board to participate in Phase IV and V of this docket. The following is a status report on each phase and dates for upcoming workshops and hearings. If anyone is interested in becoming involved with Phase IV and V of this docket, the NTA recommends that you submit a form to be placed on the PUCN Service List for this specific docket. http://pucweb1.state.nv.us/PDF/Admin/AddressChangeRequest.pdf. To see all documents pertaining to this docket go to

http://pucweb1.state.nv.us/PUCN/(X(1)S(zmaqzsngiwspzqzruj150d45))/Dktinfo.aspx?Util=Rulemaking

	PHASE I - Repeal Regulations/Minor Amendments - Latest Status: An Order adopting the proposed regulations was issued December 23, 2007 by the Public Utilities Commission. The Legislative Commission adopted the LCB version on January 30, 2008,
	PHASE II - Provider of Last Resort Obligations - Latest Status: A draft order was submitted to the Commission and approved at its Agenda meeting scheduled February 27, 2008. Seeing the final order has yet to be published, a copy of the approved draft order is available here.
	PHASE III - Amendments Not Covered in Other Phases - Latest Status: The Commission has sent its draft regulations to the LCB for final draft before Commission approval. Also, a procedural order was issued on February 22, 2008 ordering the Commission Staff to determine the likely impact on small businesses. The report is due 45 days from issuance of the order. In the proposed regulations of this phase, the Commission is to adopt regulations for:

Discontinuance of basic network service by a competitive supplier

Change in service area boundaries by a competitive supplier

Changes to the consumer bill of rights regarding small-scale providers of last resort and fees charged for use of a credit card to pay a consumer's bill.

PHASE IV - Small Provider of Last Resort - Latest Status: Parties have submitted recommended changes to the proposed language prepared by the Commission Staff. A consensus document was presented to the hearing officer at the workshop February 28, 2008. This phase addresses the information that should be submitted by a small-scale provider of last resort in its application to become a competitive supplier. Procedural Order No. 6 was issued February 29, 2008 to order the PUCN Staff to do an impact study on whether there is a direct and significant economic burden on small businesses. Their findings must be presented within 45 days of this order. A copy of the proposed language sent to the LCB for final draft is attached here.

PHASE V - Universal Service Fund - Latest Status: Proposed language is due to the Commission April 3, 2008. Comments on the proposed language is due April 17, 2008, with reply comments due April 24, 2008. A workshop is scheduled for May 1, 2008.

Back to top

INDUSTRY NEWS

NARUC Passes Resolutions at its Winter Conference in Washington

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners passed several resolutions dealing with energy, telecommunications, and water policy issues. With the Board's approval, the resolutions are official NARUC policy, and the Association's Washington office is responsible for advocating the policies before the federal government. The resolutions are first proposed and approved by NARUC's Committees before being sent to the Board. These are the telecommunications resolutions:

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Resolution on Forbearance Procedures
The Resolution commends the FCC for initiating a rulemaking to examine possible deficiencies in the procedures carriers use to waive existing statutory obligations, recognizes that it is essential for State commissions to have timely access to confidential data as they examine the potential effects of forbearance on a State's telecommunication industry, expresses support for bills to eliminate the "deemed granted" provision in the statute, and urges the FCC to act on this NPRM before additional forbearance petitions are filed and to adopt formal procedures that ensure full participation by affected States.

Resolution Promoting Digital Literacy
The Resolution says NARUC will promote: (1) access to information and communications technology to all regardless of income or advantage; (2) the provision of ubiquitous broadband service in a competitive marketplace at affordable cost; and (3) opportunities for all to acquire ICT digital literacy skills to benefit academically, economically and socially, and (4) adoption of ICT digital literacy policies and public awareness of ICT Digital Literacy efforts.

Back to top

FCC NEWS

FCC’s Wireline-to-Wireless LNP Compliance Date Set for March 24

(OPASTCO 411, 2/22/08) The FCC recently set a compliance date of March 24 for its Order requiring rural ILECs to provide wireline-to- wireless porting where the requesting wireless carrier’s coverage area overlaps the geographic location in which the customer’s wireline number is provisioned, provided that the wireless carrier maintains the number’s original rate center designation following the port. The FCC notes that wireline carriers are generally required to provide LNP only upon receipt of a specific request for local number portability (LNP) by another carrier. The Order also notes that federal and state waiver proceedings are available to rural ILECs. To view the Federal Register notice, visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-3130.pdf.

Comments on FCC LNP Validation Process Due March 24

On Feb. 21, the FCC published in the Federal Register its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requesting comments on how the new LNP validation requirements, addressed above, will affect the validation process. Comments should address whether or not technical limitations will influence the overall length of the porting interval such that the FCC should adopt different porting intervals for different types of ports. The Commission seeks comments on how the information required for validation fields affects the validation process, including ways that the fields could minimize error rates or further reduce the amount of information that a porting-in carrier must request from a porting-out carrier prior to submitting the simple port request. The NPRM also requests comments on how LNP rules should be extended to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service providers. Comments are due March 24. Reply comments are due April 21. To view the Federal Register notice, please visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-3129.pdf.

Back to top

FCC Releases Annual Report on State of Competition in the Wireless Industry

(February 4, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Twelfth Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile telephone – or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) – industry. The FCC concluded that there is effective competition in the CMRS marketplace. The report demonstrates that U.S. consumers continue to experience significant benefits – including low prices, new technologies, improved service quality, and choice among providers – from competition in the CMRS marketplace.

The Twelfth Report introduces a new data source that allows for a significantly more granular and accurate analysis of mobile telephone service deployment and competition. The new data source is a set of maps that provide the detailed boundaries of the network coverage areas of every operational mobile telephone carrier in the United States. Using these maps, the FCC was able to estimate: (1) the percentage of the U.S. population covered by a certain number of providers, and (2) the percentage of the population covered by different types of network technologies based on census blocks, rather than counties. Because census blocks are much smaller than counties – there are eight million census blocks versus 3,200 counties in the United States – this enabled a significantly more accurate and granular assessment. The analysis of this data shows the following:

	Approximately 280 million people, or 99.8 percent of the U.S. population, have one or more different operators offering mobile telephone service in the census blocks in which they live.
	More than 95 percent of the U.S. population lives in areas with at least three mobile telephone operators competing to offer service.
	More than half of the U.S. population lives in areas with at least five competing mobile telephone operators.
	Approximately 99.3 percent of the U.S. population living in rural counties, or 60.6 million people, have one or more different operators offering mobile telephone service in the census blocks within the rural counties in which they live.
	Approximately 82 percent of the U.S. population lives in census blocks with at least one mobile broadband provider offering service.

In addition, during 2006, the number of mobile telephone subscribers in the United States rose from 213 million to 241.8 million, increasing the nationwide penetration rate to approximately 80 percent. The average amount of minutes that subscribers spend using on their mobile devices increased from 708 minutes per month during the second half of 2005 to 714 minutes per month during the second half of 2006. In addition, the volume of text messaging traffic rose from 9.8 billion messages sent during December 2005 to 18.7 billon messages sent during December 2006. Revenue per minute, which can be used to measure the per-minute price of mobile telephone service, remained unchanged during 2006 at $0.07.

Back to top

FCC Releases New Telephone Subscribership Report

(February 4, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its latest report on telephone subscribership levels in the United States. The report presents subscribership statistics based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau in July 2007. The report also shows subscribership levels by state, income level, race, age, household size, and employment status.

Statistical Summary

In July 2007:

	The telephone subscribership penetration rate in the U.S. was 95.0%, an increase of 0.4% over the rate from July 2006.
	The telephone penetration rate for households with incomes below $20,000 was at or below 93.2%, while the rate for households with incomes over $100,000 was 99.0%.
	Among the states, the penetration rates ranged from a low of 89.8% in Mississippi to a high of 98.0% in Vermont.
	Penetration rates ranged from 90.6% for households headed by a person under 25 to at least 96.0% for households headed by a person over 55.
	Households with one person had a penetration rate of 92.2%, compared to a rate of 96.7% for households with four to five persons.

The penetration rate for unemployed adults was 92.8%, while the rate for employed adults was 96.1%.

Back to top

FCC and USDA Launch Web Site Focused on Rural Broadband Opportunities

(February 1, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the launch of a new, online resource for those in rural America looking to bring the benefits of broadband services to their communities. This “Broadband Opportunities for Rural America” web site makes available the expertise and resources of the FCC and USDA in a single, easily-accessible location and user-friendly format.

The site provides information on the different technology platforms that can be used to provide broadband service, how to access spectrum necessary for delivery of wireless broadband services, government funding for broadband services, relevant FCC and USDA proceedings and initiatives, and data on broadband deployment. In addition, the site provides instructions on how to locate companies already licensed to provide wireless services in or near specific rural communities, as well as helpful links to other government and private resources related to encouraging broadband opportunities in rural America.

The web site can be accessed at http://wireless.fcc.gov/outreach/ruralbroadband.

Workshops

(OPASTCO 411, 2/8/08)The FCC and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced four joint workshops to cover different technologies available for broadband deployment, USDA’s funding opportunities, the FCC’s telemedicine program, and wireless spectrum access. The workshops are free of charge and will be held on April 30 in Blacksburg, Va.; June 19 in Saginaw, Mich.; Sept. 18 in Austin, Texas; and Nov. 20 in Phoenix, Ariz. For more information on the workshops, visit http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-281A1.pdf.

Back to top

FCC Releases Telephone Numbering Resource Utilization Report

(February 1, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its latest report on telephone number utilization in the United States. Telephone number utilization refers to the percentage of telephone numbers assigned to customers compared to the total of telephone numbers assigned to carriers. The Numbering Resource Utilization Report details how those telephone numbers are being used.

The report presents numbering resource utilization statistics based on December 2006 data that carriers submitted to the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), as well as other information. Tracking number utilization is one of a number of initiatives taken by the Commission to ensure that limited numbering resources are used efficiently. This and many other reports can be downloaded from the Wireline Competition Bureau Statistical Reports Internet site at www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.

Back to top

FCC Releases Report on Quality of Service of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers

(February 1, 2008) The FCC released a report entitled Quality of Service of Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers. This report enables consumers, regulators and industry to evaluate quality-of-service trends of the major incumbent local exchange carriers (regional Bell companies and Embarq), as well as smaller incumbent local exchange carriers. The data is presented separately for each company and includes measures of service quality provided to residential and business end-user customers, as well as service quality provided to long distance carriers. Statistically significant six-year trends as of 2006 were identified in three indicators of industry-wide service quality:

	Percentage of switches with outages is decreasing on average 11.1% per year.
	Trouble reports per thousand lines are increasing on average 2.1% annually.
	Repair intervals are increasing on average 5.5% annually.

Back to top

FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE NEWS

President Signs "Permanent" Do-Not-Call Legislation

(BloostonLaw 2/20/08) President George W. Bush last week signed legislation into law to extend and improve the Do-Not-Call registry. Earlier the House of Representatives passed the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007 (S.781) and the Senate passed the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 (H.R. 3541), sending both bills to the President. Senate Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Senator Byron Dorgan (DN. D.) are both sponsors of S. 781 and the Senate companion bill to H.R. 3541, S. 2096. The combination of this legislation will allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to collect fees to maintain the registry and remove the need for consumers to re-register their names on the Do-Not-Call list.

Markey Introduces Net Neutrality Assessment Bill

(OPASTCO 411, 2/14/08) Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) recently introduced H. R. 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act. The legislation would instruct the FCC to conduct a proceeding on whether or not broadband service providers are complying with the FCC’s Policy Statement (411, Sept. 27, 2005). The proceeding would assess whether or not broadband service providers charge customers fees to access particular applications and services; how traffic is managed and prioritized; the benefits of open access; whether or not greater bandwidth reduces the need for regulation; and the potential benefits of promoting openness in spectrum allocation, universal service and video franchising. The bill would also instruct the Commission to hold eight broadband summits over the next year. To view the bill text, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h5353_ih.xml.

NEW Members

CCI

P. O. Box 190

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

Website: www.cciinc.us

CCI is an employee-owned full service turnkey provider of engineering, mapping, construction and integration services for converging video, voice, data, transportation and utility networks.

Ken Baker, 290 South 200 West, Annabella, UT 84711, Phone (906) 776-2624, E-mail: ken.baker@cciinc.us

***

CONKLIN-INTRACOM

11360 Technology Circle

Duluth, GA

Website: www.conklin-intracom.com

Providers of fs/cdn IPTV solutions, Flex Access 9000, FASTmux model 2004 and WiBAS broadband wireless solutions.

Christina Wright, Phone (770) 295-2535, E-mail: sales@conklin-intracom.com

***

CORNING CABLE SYSTEMS

489 Siecor Park

Hickory, NC 28603-0489

Website: www.corning.com/cablesystems

Manufacturer of copper and fiber optics communications equipment; fiber optic distribution hardware (racks & Shelves), passive optical devices, optical cross connects, connectors, splice closures, inside and outside plant cable, splicing and connectorization equipment, fiber optic talk and test equipment, subscriber network interface devices, station protection, central office and field solid state protection, and Cook connecting blocks and frames.

Mike Spoon, Sales Mgr. SW, 2352 El Vista Street, Redding, CA 96002, Phone (530) 222-0978, Cell (530) 945-0978, E-mail: mike.spoon@corning.com

Truc T. Nguyen, Field Sales & Support, 5022 W. 7^th St., Santa Ana, CA 92703, Phone (714) 554-9439, E-mail: truc.nguyen@corning.com

***

VERIMATRIX, INC.

6825 Flanders Drive

San Diego, CA 92121

Website: www.verimatrix.com

Wendy Rood, Phone 858-677-7800, E-mail: wrood@verimatrix.com

***

dates to note

March 10-12, 2008 - CalCom Spring Conference, Monterey, CA for more information go to www.calcomwebsite.com

March 16-19, 2008 - Utah Rural Telecom Association's Annual Conference, The Hilton Garden Inn, St. George, UT. For more information go to www.urta.org.

March 31-April 3, 2007 - IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (IEEE WCNC 2008). Co-located with CTIA Wireless 2008, Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information go to www.ieee-wcnc.org/2008

March 31-April 3, 2008 - NARUC Spring 2008 Meeting, Astor Crowe Plaza, New Orleans, LA. For more information CLICK HERE.

March 31-April 3, 2008 - WTA Spring Annual Meeting, Heritage Resort & Spa, Napa, CA. CLICK HERE for more information.

April 7-11, 2008, - IP Possibilities, Sponsored by OPASTCO and NTCA, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Chicago, IL. For more information, go to www.BuildIPNow.com.

April 28, 2008 - NTA Board of Directors Meeting, North Tahoe Conference Center, 2:00 p.m. with dinner at 6:00 p.m. Open to NTA Board Members only. For more information, click on the mail link below.

April 29-May 1, 2008 - CalCom Suppliers Tech Expo, Radisson Hotel, Sacramento, CA. CLICK HERE for more information.

May 19-21, 2008, 2008 Legislative & Regulatory Conference - OPASTCO & WTA, Renaissance M Street Hotel, Washington, DC. CLICK HERE for more information.

Seminar Series for 2008

Moss Adams Telecom Seminars CLICK HERE

JSI Seminar Series for 2008 CLICK HERE

Back to top