Technology Transitions Policy  
Task Force 
 
December 12, 2013 
 
 
Technology Transitions Policy Task Force 
• The Task Force is a cross-agency working group 
charged with presenting an Order to the 
Commission at its January Open Meeting: 
o Wireline, Wireless, Media, Consumer Affairs, 
International, and Public Safety Bureaus 
o Office of General Counsel, Office of Strategic Planning 
and Policy Analysis, and Office of Engineering and 
Technology 
o Chief Technology Officer, Chief Economist 
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Principles for Early Action 
• Our immediate goal is to understand the impact of 
technology transitions on consumers through diverse 
experiments and open-data initiatives 
• Act—with speed—to support technology transitions that will 
benefit consumers and the economy 
• Learn – through the diverse experiments and research that will 
yield the data necessary for fact-based Commission decision 
making 
• Protect Enduring Values:  
• Public safety 
• Universal access 
• Competition 
• Consumer protection 
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What We Have Learned 
• Technology transitions are on-going 
• Benefits include innovative services 
and further investment 
• But important issues still need to be 
resolved 
 
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What We Have Learned:  Record 
• Robust record of diverse and sometimes contradictory views: 
o Over 400 comments from our Dec. 2012 and May 2013 Public Notices 
o Experiments are best suited for evaluating consumer impacts; 
policy/legal questions to be informed by, but not decided as part of, 
experiments 
o Stakeholder questions about the consumer impact of experiments: 
o Public Safety 
o Disabilities Access 
o Critical infrastructure and federal operations 
o Service quality, reliability, and consumer protection 
 
• “Natural experiments” highlight the impact of ongoing network 
changes to consumers, businesses, wholesale customers, 
competition, and the importance of regulatory and public 
involvement 
 
 
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What We Have Learned:  AT&T Petition 
• Asks the Commission to initiate a proceeding to elicit proposals for 
sponsored experiments 
o Providers would promptly submit detailed plans for conducting the 
experiments, including 
o Where the experiments would be held 
o What network modifications are involved 
o What services would be both provided and discontinued 
o How customers will be notified and transitioned 
o Timeline for implementation 
 
• Commission would seek broad public comment on the proposals  
• Commission would consider the proposals and the comments and then give its 
decision 
• The Task Force’s view:  To authorize any experiments, the Commission would 
act under section 214 and other sections of the Act or our rules as appropriate. 
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How Can We Learn More: Targeted Experiments 
• Initiate experiments and commissioned research that focus on 
impacts to consumer services and elicit data on how to 
preserve and protect fundamental values 
• These efforts focus on particular classes of users and/or 
“proof of concept” in technology advancement  
o To demonstrate over-the-horizon network services that serve the 
public interest 
o To enhance services to consumers that may not have access to 
advanced services (e.g., rural America) 
• Example:  Access for persons with disabilities in an all-IP 
world. 
o Entering MOUs with federal research agencies to develop research 
plans to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and consumer response to 
current and anticipated IP-based relay technologies 
 
 
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 How Can We Learn More:   
Structured Observation & Data Collection 
• Collect and analyze data outside of experiments to inform decision 
making on transition issues 
• Principles that will guide our data collection: 
o Collected in an open, transparent process 
o From multiple sources, including outside experts/advisors; 
collaboration with other federal agencies, state, local, tribal 
governments and leaders; crowd-sourcing 
o Clear and consistent definitions and metrics, enabling aggregation of 
feedback to provide comprehensive picture of transition experience 
o Made publicly available for all interested parties while protecting 
customer privacy 
• Example:  FCC Consumer Complaints and Inquiries 
o To ensure that consumers know how to give FCC feedback on 
transition; create an inclusive data-sharing environment to optimize 
our collection and analysis efforts; and use real world experiences 
mined from the data to drive strategic decision making 
 
 
 
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What Is the Path Forward? 
 • The Task Force is working toward an Order for 
Commission consideration in January that would:  
o Invite, on a rolling basis, service-based experiments with 
short timelines for submission, establish criteria for 
experiments that focus on the impact on consumers, and 
create a speedy process for public comment and 
Commission evaluation 
o Recommend Commission actions to support targeted 
experiments and research 
o Describe structured observations and data collection 
initiatives 
o Establish a timeline for the adoption of a managerial 
framework to resolve the important legal/policy questions 
raised by the technology transitions 
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