Incompas and competitive LEC members want the FCC to protect access to unbundled network elements (UNEs) from ILECs, they noted, posted Tuesday in docket 18-141. Members use the UNEs to deliver competitive services to both residential consumers and business customers, offering specialized services that ILECs "cannot or will not provide," Incompas said. Over time, CLECs are able to transition some of their customers to their own fiber-based networks, Incompas added, noted it's more difficult to do so when states approve substantially higher rates that ILECs can charge for UNE access. The Incompas group met with nine FCC staffers, including Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and Office of Economics and Analytics Associate Chief Eric Ralph, to urge the agency to reject USTelecom's forbearance petition (see 1905130050). USTelecom says forbearance from requirements to sell transport services as UNEs would promote competitive market conditions (see 1905280043).

Chairman Ajit Pai told fellow commissioners Friday a Further NPRM on robocalls is being changed to add a proposal that the FCC mandate secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology if major voice providers don’t comply with demands that it be implemented by year-end, officials said. The change came after the start of the sunshine period on the item, closing off outreach.

Hamilton Relay supports for traditional telephone relay service, captioned telephone service and speech-to-speech services the provider compensation rates that the interstate TRS fund administrator’s proposed for the July 1-June 30 period. The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment on proposed per-minute compensation rates for certain forms of TRS subject to the multistate average rate structure plan methodology. Hamilton also wants the FCC to compensate IP CTS providers “at a rate that, at minimum, represents their reasonable costs of providing the service,” it commented, posted Wednesday in docket 03-123. CaptionCall and Sorenson Communications urged the FCC to revisit the rate for IP CTS, saying it “suffers from vulnerabilities and deficiencies.” USTelecom applauded the FCC for “taking steps to be fiscally responsible” but urged the agency to establish a longer time frame “between when the final rates and budget size are announced and the effective date.” Replies are due June 7.

Interests representing ILECs and competitive LECs pressed opposing sides in replies mainly posted Wednesday in FCC docket 18-141 on a USTelecom petition for forbearance from selling unbundled network elements (UNEs) to competing telcos (see 1905140012). Incompas argued the Wireline Bureau "should not rely on unreliable data" in current broadband coverage maps (see 1905230043) in deciding, and that USTelecom "attempts to use the predictions of eventual competition made over two years ago to substitute for proof of actual competition today." Incompas said USTelecom hasn't met the burden of proof under forbearance procedures to demonstrate competitors are providing fiber in significant quantity to justify relief to ILECs from selling UNEs.

The digital divide is narrowing "substantially," with Americans without a 25/3 Mbps connection dropping from 26.1 million at the end of 2016 to 21.3 million a year later, the FCC said Wednesday in its 2018 broadband deployment report. But the agency's minority Democratic commissioners dissented, saying the report is built on a shaky foundation of invalid data -- sentiments echoed by some observers. "The rosy picture ... is fundamentally at odds with reality," Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said. The agency withdrew and reworked an earlier draft due to "drastically overstated" deployment data from one ISP (see 1905010205).

Fernando Laguarda, American University College of Law, rejoins Harris Wiltshire as of counsel ... New spatial computing company Meta View, in acquiring Meta’s assets, names Jay Wright, ex-Qualcomm, CEO ... Intelsat appoints David Tolley, ex-OneWeb, executive vice president-chief financial officer ... USTelecom hires Kristine Fargotstein, from FCC, as vice president-policy and advocacy ... Enterprise Wireless Alliance elects new board members Gary Lorenz, Selex ES; Nick Pennance, Tait Communications; and Tim Sage, Tactical Public Safety.

USTelecom continues to argue that a regulatory forbearance it seeks from the FCC meets the public interest test and would "restore incentives for all providers to invest in next-generation network facilities." In a May 24 letter posted Tuesday to docket 18-141, the group said granting ILECs forbearance from requirements to sell transport services as an unbundled network element to CLECs would restore competitive neutrality and eliminate market distortions. CLEC interests oppose the USTelecom petition (see 1905140012).

Windstream told the FCC Verizon mischaracterized Windstream's position regarding the telco's transition agreement with USTelecom in docket 18-141 on the association's forbearance petition. The telco group wants relief from a requirement that ILECs unbundle and resell access to some of their networks to CLECs (see 1905060025). Windstream previously withdrew an earlier objection to the forbearance petition, it noted, posted Friday, but it "never suggested that our agreement is tantamount to concurrence that competition is robust, or even present" in markets where Windstream purchases unbundled network elements. Replies on the petition are due Tuesday (see 1905150007). Verizon didn't comment right away.

The Senate passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151) Thursday on a 97-1 vote, largely as expected (see 1905220049). Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., had aimed as recently as Wednesday to move the measure via unanimous consent (see 1904110066), but an objection from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., necessitated a roll call vote, lobbyists told us. Paul, the sole no vote, didn't comment. Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., didn't vote. S-151 and House companion HR-2015 would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The bill would extend to three years the window for civil enforcement. The agency also would be required to begin a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers (see 1901170039). Thune and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, S-151's lead Democratic co-sponsor, lauded the bill's passage during a news conference. “It's an example” of an issue “that we can come together on” and reach a bipartisan consensus, Thune said. “We hope” the House “will be able to pass” it, too. House Commerce Committee leaders are negotiating on a bipartisan anti-robocalls bill but none of the seven measures the House Communications Subcommittee examined during a late April hearing was HR-2015/S-151 (see 1904300212). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the Senate for clearing the bill, saying its grant of further powers to the FCC “like increased fines, longer statutes of limitations, and removing citation requirements which obligate us to warn some robocallers before penalizing them, will significantly improve our already strong robocall enforcement efforts.” Commissioner Brendan Carr believes the legislation would allow the FCC to “continue our crack down on these annoying calls.” Commissioners are set to vote during their June 6 meeting on a declaratory ruling allowing carriers to block unwanted calls to their customers “by default” and giving consumers the ability to block callers not on their contact list. An accompanying Further NPRM will ask how caller ID authentication standards can help with call blocking (see 1905150041). Consumer Reports, NCTA, USTelecom and Verizon also praised Senate passage of S-151.

U.S. broadband coverage maps are deeply flawed and cannot be used to "burn the bridge to broadband," Incompas CEO Chip Pickering blogged. The FCC uses broadband maps to help inform deployment and competition policy, he said, but its reliance on Census block data "has created an inaccurate fairy tale of broadband availability." Pickering argued Thursday "the FCC must immediately reject any proposals based on the current broadband maps' flawed data," starting with a USTelecom petition for forbearance from requirements that ILECs sell transport network services to competitive LECs as an unbundled network element (UNE). Incompas says competition in the business-to-business market would be especially threatened in rural markets without facilities-based competition (see 1905140012). A USTelecom spokesperson said that the 1996 unbundling rules are obsolete, noting the group and members "are leading the charge to help improve the FCC's Form 477 broadband data collection process, particularly for rural areas where current data can be upgraded." The telco group said in a recent filing that Form 477 census block data "is more than adequate for assessing the presence and feasibility of competition for last-mile facilities without reliance on UNEs" (see 1905220066). USTelecom said it has proposed limiting forbearance relief to census blocks that are less than a square mile on average, "where the so-called 'bridge to broadband' has already been built by facilities-based providers and/or our cable competitors."