FCC Loosens Reporting and Accounting Requirements, Seeks Additional Comment

Acting on petitions from AT&T, Qwest, Embarq, Frontier, Citizens and Verizon, the Federal Communications Commission granted significant forbearance from carriers' obligation to file service quality and infrastructure reports. To ensure that the FCC has at least some ability to access needed data going forward, the Order includes a condition that the carriers continue to collect, and in certain cases report, the data provided today for another two years.The FCC also recognized that collection of certain of that information might be warranted, if tailored in scope to be consistent with FCC objectives, and if obtained from the entire relevant industry of providers of broadband and telecommunications. Therefore, the FCC is seeking comment on whether and how the Commission should collect such data on an industry-wide basis including what information should be collected. FCC Chairman Martin said the Commission is taking "another step to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens and ensure a regulatory level playing field." Commissioner Michael Copps said he'd have preferred to deny the carriers' petitions and have handled the matter in an rulemaking procedure. He warned that the "collection and analysis of solid communications-related data is a linchpin in the Commission's ability to make sound decisions and provide useful guidance and assistance to consumers, states, industry-participants and other stakeholders. That is why it has been so troubling to see in to many instances the Commission headed down the road of collecting less data."
Order