Moving Forward on The Phone Transition: Trials and Conclusion

[Commentary] The argument about technical trials for the transition of the phone network has unfortunately broken down largely into two sides. AT&T and its supporters, who want to see AT&T convert a wire center under terms defined by AT&T, and everyone else, who thinks we don’t need trials at all. Public Knowledge supports well-constructed trials that actually further the debate.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler intends for the FCC to authorize “experiments,” and focuses on numerous details that such experiments would need to cover -- such as reporting requirements and consumer notice. Up for grabs are what, specifically, the new rules will be. Chairman Wheeler believes the Commission Order in January will “set forth the best process that the Commission can initiate so that, in parallel, it may decide the legal and policy questions raised by this network revolution.” In other words, those expecting to see things like “will we have mandatory interconnection for IP-based calls” decided in January 2014 are likely to be disappointed. The January Order will likely queue up important questions like these, with a method for how to decide them. I believe -- reading the tea leaves here -- it will focus heavily on exploring the right overall approach. Which, according to Public Knowledge, is the right way to go. The FCC needs to kick this up to a Commission level, assert control, and start moving us down the path of phasing out the old technology. At this stage, we need a road map for how we plan to transition the phone system. The big unknowns are the states, the local governments, federal agencies and Indian Tribes. So far, to the extent these constituencies have weighed in at all, it has tended to be at a high level policy concern. The broad nature of this process and the lack of any central proceeding makes it difficult for people to focus on the decisions that need to be made. Hopefully, that will now change.