The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) has adopted a Report and Order on Remand reaffirming its 2017 decision to deregulate and detariff price cap carriers’ provision of business data service (BDS) time-division multiplex (TDM) transport services nationwide, which the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had overturned last year for lack of adequate notice. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order accompanying the Report and Order on Remand, the Commission also granted in part a request for forbearance filed by USTelecom, declaring that the agency will no longer enforce requirements for price cap carriers to provide DS1 and/or DS3 unbundled transport at wire centers within a half-mile of competitive fiber networks.
The Report and Order on Remand and Memorandum Opinion and Order was approved by the three Republican Commissioners, with the two Democratic Commissioners concurring in, rather than approving, the decision because of concerns related to “process issues” and the Commission’s “steady march toward deregulation.”
