CenturyLink, USTelecom Back AT&T Challenge to FCC Decisions on USF Voice Duties
CenturyLink and USTelecom sought to back AT&T's challenge to FCC decisions declining to remove price-cap telco "eligible telecom carrier" obligations to offer voice service in high-cost areas where they no longer receive USF subsidies under a broadband-oriented Connect America Fund…
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(see 1601110036). "The result is an unfunded mandate," CenturyLink said in a Thursday motion for leave to intervene filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing the case (AT&T v. FCC, No. 16-1002). USTelecom's motion said AT&T is challenging an FCC order issued in response to a USTelecom forbearance petition (see 1512170052). Meanwhile, Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute said the FCC based much of its USTelecom forbearance order "on biased and manipulated information or else major facts were totally ignored." In a filing posted Thursday in docket 14-192, the institute asked the commission to investigate "the data used in this and every related FCC order." Kushnick alleged major telcos have manipulated their accounting to gain regulatory advantages (see 1512230049).