The FCC addressed waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline USF program in a fifth order and a Further NPRM in docket 17-287, issued Thursday and OK'd about two weeks ago. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented in part and concurred in part. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later. The rulemaking seeks comment on prohibiting Lifeline providers from offering handsets to consumers at no cost.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an unopposed motion for extension, until Dec. 13, to file petitions for a rehearing of the recent net neutrality case, it said Wednesday. Net neutrality advocacy groups had asked for a 28-day extension to request a rehearing or hearing en banc for Mozilla v. FCC, case 18-1051 (see 1911050038). The Digital Justice Foundation asked for rehearing (see 1911010008).

Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy sought clarification of an FCC rule on rural telehealth, among petitions for reconsiderations posted in docket 17-310 Wednesday. Dunleavy said the new mechanisms for determining cost recovery rates "don't sufficiently acknowledge the logistical and economic challenges to delivering service throughout rural Alaska, nor does it recognize the dramatic differences between our regions and communities." Rule changes would lead to systemic underfunding of telecom needed to deliver healthcare services to hard-to-reach communities, the Republican said. Alaska Communications asked to promptly address all outstanding matters from the telehealth rulemaking. It said the FCC is better positioned than the Universal Service Administrative Co. to timely resolve questions about rural rate determinations. USTelecom has concerns about how the FCC will implement a new median rural rate framework, citing material errors or omissions, and "Alaska requires a different approach to setting a rural rate that is unique." The median rate calculation risks "defunding telehealth services for the neediest rural Alaskans," it said. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition said USAC may have overstated nonrural telehealth expenditures, and the FCC should reconsider major policy changes based on such data. It also warned against deprioritizing funding for nonrural telehealth consortium participants. The North Carolina Telehealth Network Association and Southern Ohio Health Network asked the FCC to modify the definition of rural for the purposes of the program's eligibility.

The California Public Utilities Commission plans to probe communications provider response to public safety power shutoffs, at a 10 a.m. PST hearing Wednesday in San Francisco. The commission Wednesday directed executives from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox and Frontier Communications to appear. Topics include the providers’ responses to maintain communication service, compliance with CPUC disaster relief rules including to provide supplemental cellular service and device charging stations and Wi-Fi access in refuge centers, and coordination with California’s Office of Emergency Services and Forestry and Fire Protection Department. CPUC President Marybel Batjer wrote communications companies Wednesday, asking them to file by Nov. 18 responses to questions about their performance during the shutoffs. “Based on your performances over the past few weeks, it appears that you are not managing your network infrastructure adequately to maintain vital communications services for Californians during emergencies," said Batjer, urging companies to "step up to address these issues before we experience another devastating wildfire or the unfortunate need for widespread Public Safety Power Shut-offs in California."

With the FCC in April no longer acting as accounting authority for international maritime mobile communications (see 1904230010), it will shut the post office box used to collect charges payments on July 15 and end the fee for processing those transactions, said a 5-0 order released Tuesday.

The lawyer who spoke about FCC staff finding for AT&T in a good-faith negotiations complaint is Rick Brecher, of Greenberg Traurig (see 1911080036). ... The docket number for Irregulators v. FCC before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is 19-1085, and an Oct. 31 brief by the National Exchange Carrier Association and NTCA, as well as an Oct. 31 FCC brief, added only appendix citations (see 1910310040).

A Connecticut court said the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority overreached when it ruled 2-0 last year that “municipal gain” space on utility poles or underground ducts -- reserved by a 2013 law “for any purpose” -- can't be used to provide muni broadband. Tuesday's Connecticut Superior Court ruling agreed with the state consumer counsel and municipal appellants that PURA “acted beyond its statutory power, and its action was invalid.” The court disagreed with PURA saying the 2013 law wasn’t plain and unambiguous about whether the space could be used for any purpose: “The authority created ambiguity where none otherwise exists by finding the conflicting construction proposed by the petitioners equally ‘plausible.’” The authority “paid no attention to the words of the statute, made no attempt to discern their meaning,” and should have checked the dictionary for the meaning of “any,” said the court. Sections 224 and 253 of the federal Telecom Act, and a Connecticut telecom law, apply only to telecom services, so they don’t prohibit a municipality from using the space for internet services, it said. The court noted the matter “is clearly headed toward higher judicial ground.” PURA didn’t comment.

FCC commissioners voted to discontinue the option of manual fee payment for four types of application fees for Office of Engineering and Technology services, said an order released Friday on docket 19-334. The fees are for experimental radio services, assignment of grantee codes, advance approval of subscription TV systems, and certification of equipment approval services. “Electronic payment of fees for the services processed by OET reduces the agency’s expenditures,” the order said.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania led a letter with nine other committee Democrats Friday seeking an FCC update by Nov. 29 on its investigation into wireless carriers' location tracking practices, including the sale of customer location tracking data allegedly accessed by bounty hunters (see 1805240073). House Commerce Democrats criticized the investigation during a May FCC oversight hearing (see 1905150061). “Despite announcing” the probe more than a year ago, “the FCC has failed, to date, to take any action,” Pallone and the other Democrats wrote Chairman Ajit Pai. “Time is running out since the statute of limitations gives the FCC one year to act.” Also signing were Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke of New York; Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui of California; and Reps. Tony Cardenas, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney of California; Debbie Dingell of Michigan; Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico; Darren Soto of Florida; and Peter Welch of Vermont. House Commerce “has repeatedly urged you to act quickly to protect consumers’ privacy interests, and unfortunately you have failed to do so,” the lawmakers wrote. “Reports indicate that these carriers have stopped the sharing of real-time location data with data aggregators. This is good news. Nevertheless, we are concerned that the Commission is shirking its obligation to enforce the Communications Act and the rules it has issued to protect consumers’ privacy.” The agency “received” the letter and is “reviewing it,” a spokesperson said.

Q Link and the National Lifeline Association weren't part of a Nov. 5 CTIA filing endorsing a TracFone proposal for the FCC to set a minimum 3 GB data allowance for broadband Lifeline customers instead of the 8.75 GB requirement set to take effect Dec. 1 (see 911060040). NaLA and Q Link filed, posted Thursday in docket 11-42, defending their earlier proposal. NaLA wants to make sure eligible telecom carriers in states without substantial subsidies to add to the basic federal Lifeline subsidy of $9.25 monthly can continue to offer voice and broadband service bundles on a non-co-pay basis. It suggested setting alternate minimum service standards in states without their own subsidies. Otherwise, new Lifeline enrollment "will be further diminished if not virtually eliminated in $9.25 states," NaLA said. "CTIA's latest filing does not reflect the broad coalition of Lifeline service providers it had represented before." CTIA and other industry members petitioned over the summer to delay implementing new broadband minimum service standards and delay reducing voice support until a Lifeline market study due in mid-2021 is evaluated (see 1907010055). NaLA said CTIA members Telrite and Boomerang also support the NaLA approach, as do Lifeline providers Amerimex Communications, Assist Wireless, Cintex Wireless, Easy Wireless, i-wireless, NewPhone Wireless and TruConnect. CTIA didn't comment.