Wireline + Subsidy Programs

Led by the former Chief of the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau, HWG helps clients navigate the fast-moving changes in wireline technology and regulation.

The wireline sector continues to evolve at internet speed. Cloud-based services, IP technology, and converged services challenge service providers in a heavily regulated area, while regulators continue to update the rules to reflect new realities and problems. The fast-moving changes in technology and regulation make it difficult yet critical to know what the rules are and when new, innovative services may be subject to them. Our telecom team has the proven ability to present complex technical, economic and legal issues in ways that policymakers can appreciate and find comprehensible. And the legal horsepower to lay the record for judicial review at the regulatory agencies and prosecute that review in the courts.

We provide extensive compliance counseling, working with clients to help them understand how complex legal requirements apply (or don’t apply) to their products and services, and help those who wish not to be subject to extensive regulation to structure their activities appropriately.

Recently, we have represented clients before the FCC or advised on topics including:

• • Robocalls and robotexts
  • Broadband transparency and “nutrition labels”
  • Wholesale obligations
  • Interconnection
  • Merger review
  • Numbering, number porting, and specialized dialing codes
  • E911
  • CALEA
  • Relay services
  • VoIP regulation
  • Broadband data collection and mapping
  • Universal service, including E-rate, Lifeline, Rural Healthcare, High-Cost Support, Affordable Connectivity, and Contribution Obligations
  • Discontinuance of service
  • Intercarrier compensation

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