The FCC defended a previous rule saying forbearance from requirements to unbundle and make available to competitors at avoided cost resale analog copper loops, as requested in a USTelecom petition in docket 18-141, "served the public interest," said a respondents' brief. The brief was posted by the FCC Thursday on Incompas et al. v. FCC (case No. 19-1164) before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The California Public Utilities Commission filed a separate petition against the forbearance order, and the court consolidated the cases.

A draft FCC NPRM on wireline phone charges is stirring some industry concerns, stakeholders said. Small, rural LECs may have different interests than ILECs owned by national companies in a proposed FCC rule to change the way wireline voice services are billed, said NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry Affairs and Business Development Mike Romano in an interview. Commissioners vote Tuesday on a draft NPRM on docket 20-71 to determine whether the agency should prohibit telcos from assessing certain access charges as separate line items once the FCC mandates they're detariffed (see 2003100065).

State commissioners should keep watch on telecom to protect consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in a Thursday interview. “Once this crisis is behind us, we’ve got to view broadband service as a national security issue, in the sense of economic security,” he said. “I won’t have much toleration for anybody that comes to tell me that internet is a luxury.”

ILECs failed to prove ending their avoided cost resale of unbundled networks would "speed the deployment of advanced networks," Incompas replied, in filings posted through Monday in docket 19-308. The CLEC group wants the FCC to refrain from forbearance (see 2002060006). USTelecom wants the FCC to implement its proposal to eliminate "outdated and unnecessary unbundling regulations" that had required incumbent LECs to open their networks to competitors, it said. The record "strongly supports eliminating UNE DS1 and DS3 loops in all price cap areas," AT&T said. The forbearance proposal would hurt CLECs' ability to compete, said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. "Eliminating CLEC access to the DS1 and DS3 loops would impair the ability of CLECs to serve all customers in an area, and cause customers to lose important competitive options." Since comments were filed Feb. 5, "the coronavirus has elevated considerations of public safety to an even greater importance," the Michigan Internet and Telecommunications Alliance said. "Commission use of data that is widely recognized as flawed for determining access to DS0 loops would not constitute sound policy decision-making," CLEC Sonic Telecom said. The FCC "cannot simply transplant findings and analysis from the Business Data Services ('BDS') proceeding to this one," said Uniti Fiber.

American Tower promotes Tom Bartlett to president-CEO, succeeding Jim Taiclet, becoming president-CEO, Lockheed Martin, effective June 15, replacing Marillyn Hewson, becoming executive chairman; American Tower also advances Rod Smith to executive vice president-chief financial officer and treasurer ... ICANN appoints Mikhail Anisimov, ex-.RU/.РФ, as head-global stakeholder engagement, Eastern Europe and Central Asia ... T-Mobile Executive Vice President David Carey retiring, effective April 30.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation condemned a net neutrality bill by New York Senate Energy and Telecom Committee Chairman Kevin Parker (D). It pales compared with language in the state budget, said EFF Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon in a Friday interview. Parker introduced SB-8020 Tuesday (see 2003110017). Falcon blogged Thursday that the bill “ignores critical net neutrality issues such as zero rating” and “would legalize paid prioritization” by ISPs. Due to Parker’s rank, SB-8020 bill seems to be the leading alternative to passing net neutrality through the proposed budget by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), Falcon told us. EFF is working with Cuomo to strengthen budget language that’s not yet as strong as California’s law but prefers it to Parker’s bill. “Industry wants to get this out of the budget process” because it wants to avoid a bipartisan vote; legislators must vote on the budget but nothing forces them to vote on a stand-alone bill, the EFF official said. One thing EFF is working on with Cuomo’s office is to make sure rules stop anti-competitive conduct against internet companies; currently, only end users would be protected, he said. NCTA and USTelecom declined comment. Parker didn’t comment.

Dozens of ISPs of all sizes agreed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's suggestion the industry not take adverse action against customers for the next two months amid the coronavirus pandemic, he announced Friday morning. Those companies won't terminate service to any residential or small-business customers because of inability to pay due to such disruptions; will waive any related late fees; and will open their Wi-Fi hot spots to anyone. Pai is also seeking that the providers make other changes, including related to bandwidth caps.

House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., told us he’s eyeing attaching a rider to the subcommittee’s FY 2021 appropriations bill aimed at allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Quigley raised concerns about the FCC’s current C-band auction plan during a Wednesday House Appropriations Financial Services hearing on the commission’s FY 2021 budget request. The C-band plan drew criticism from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., during that subpanel’s Tuesday FCC budget hearing (see 2003100022).

Industry groups challenging Maine’s ISP privacy law agreed to dismiss three Public Utilities Commission members as defendants in case 1:20-cv-00055 at the U.S. District Court of Maine, leaving only Attorney General Aaron Frey (D), said a Friday notice (in Pacer). ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom sued Maine last month (see 2002180050).

USTelecom is seeking a single change to rules approved 5-0 in November barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE in networks funded by the USF (see 1911220033), it told aides to all the commissioners, except Jessica Rosenworcel. USTelecom’s petition is “very narrow” and seeks “reconsideration of a single footnote that expands the Commission’s information collection on use of covered equipment to all affiliates and subsidiaries of [eligible telecom carriers], regardless of whether the affiliate/subsidiary receives USF support,” said filings posted Monday (see here and here) in docket 18-89. Aides included Nick Degani, senior counsel to Chairman Ajit Pai.