The FCC adopted a protective order proposed by AT&T and Great Lakes Comnet (GLC) for a docket affecting the two companies, said Enforcement Bureau Deputy Division Chief Lisa Griffin in a letter Thursday posted in docket 16-170. Griffin said the bureau is satisfied the protective order would "ensure that, in addition to commission staff, only the parties' counsel and authorized representatives will have access to privileged or confidential information." The order was largely based on a model protective order previously approved by the agency, she said. A federal court May 24 largely upheld a 2015 FCC decision siding with AT&T in an intercarrier compensation dispute with GLC, remanding a "rural exemption" issue (see 1605240022). In addition, AT&T can pursue damages.
A federal court pushed back the briefing schedule for AT&T challenges to two FCC orders from December 2014 and December 2015 on price-cap telco USF duties (see 1601110036). An order (in Pacer) issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an unopposed AT&T motion to extend a previous timetable (see 1605170061) due to deadline conflicts faced by the company's counsel. An initial joint brief from petitioners and supporting intervenors is now due July 12; a brief from respondents FCC and DOJ is due Sept. 2; and a joint reply brief from petitioners and supporting intervenors is due Sept. 19. Petitioner AT&T is joined in the challenges by CenturyLink as a petitioner/intervenor and USTelecom as an intervenor. The consolidated case is AT&T v. FCC, No. 15-1038.
The FCC approved the transfer of Logix Communications to Logix Acquisition Co. under Section 214 of the Communications Act, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 15-280. The commission had postponed action at the request of the DOJ and FBI, backed by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, while they reviewed the deal on national security, law enforcement and public safety grounds, the PN said. The executive branch departments told the FCC May 25 they had no objections to the transaction, clearing the way for commission approval. The bureau also granted a Section 214 application for Lightspeed Networks to acquire the assets of Qualcom (formerly known as Quantum Communications), said a notice Tuesday in docket 16-130.
The General Services Administration extended Level 3's Networx Enterprise contract until May 2020, said a company news release Wednesday. The contract, which allows Level 3 to bid for provisioning government network services, was to expire in May 2017 but is being extended to give agencies time to move to next-generation Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions. "The importance of a smooth transition to the EIS contract cannot be overestimated," said David Young, a Level 3 regional vice president in its government markets group. Level 3 said it provides "critical networking support" to the Department of Defense, civilian agencies, systems integrators, state and local governments, and educational/research institutions.
The FCC approved the acquisition of Selectel by Compass Capital and Compass Atlantic from Matthew O'Flaherty, Teri O'Flaherty and Stacy Hergenrader. The commission had postponed action on the transaction after the DOJ and FBI, backed by the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, asked in February for a delay while they reviewed the telco deal on national security, law enforcement and public safety grounds, said a Wireline Bureau notice Thursday in docket 15-8. The executive branch departments/agencies notified the FCC Wednesday they had no objection to the application. The bureau thus granted it. Asked about possible new FCC deadlines in reviews involving the executive branch's "Team Telecom," Chairman Tom Wheeler said Wednesday, "After Team Telecom, we normally act -- bam -- like that" (see 1605250070).
The FCC set a pleading cycle for a bid by several small Midwest telcos to transfer assets among them. Comments are due June 8, replies June 15 on the application from Consolidated Communications (CCI), Consolidated Communications of Iowa Co. (formerly known as Heartland Telecommunications Co.), Crystal Communications, Mutual Telephone Co. of Sioux Center, Iowa, d/b/a Premier Communications (Mutual), Premier Communications and Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association, said a public notice in docket 16-150 in Thursday's Daily Digest. The companies seek FCC approval under Section 214 of the Communications Act to "(1) transfer control of Heartland from CCI to Mutual; (2) transfer certain assets from Heartland to Winnebago; and (3) transfer certain assets from Crystal to Premier and Winnebago," the PN said. A recent PN sought comment on a related waiver petition from Mutual and Winnebago to break off Heartland's Bancroft and Lakota exchanges to form a new study area for Winnebago, with the remaining Heartland exchanges to be owned by Mutual (see 1605230045).
Rural telcos asked the FCC to reconsider parts of its rate-of-return USF order aimed at helping small carriers maintain and expand broadband service in high-cost areas (see 1603300065). The FCC should address issues of "sufficiency and reasonable comparability," a "cost recovery "black hole" and broadband cost "model election budget issues," among other things, said NTCA in its petition Wednesday in docket 10-90. A WTA email said its petition seeks reconsideration in four areas: "the Commission should reconsider and strengthen its requirements for qualifications as 'unsubsidized competitors' to ensure that customers in affected 'competitive' areas do not suffer loss or degradation of service; the Commission should clarify and expand its rules regarding the treatment of transactions after the ACAM [cost model] and Rate of Return paths are implemented; the Order’s build-out obligations do not consider virtually certain price increases and delays regarding fiber optic cable and construction contractors; and the Order’s benchmark and budgetary controls render it unlikely that retail broadband rates can comply with reasonably comparability ceilings." A Madison Telephone Co. petition asked the FCC to eliminate a “parent trap” rule, which governs high-cost USF support when rural exchanges are sold or transferred.
The FCC said streamlined review of a "study area" waiver petition filed by two rural carriers is inappropriate. Comments are due June 22 and replies July 7 on the waiver sought by Mutual Telephone Co. of Sioux Center, Iowa, and Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 96-45. The petition asks to "redefine the Consolidated Communications of Iowa f/k/a Heartland Telecommunications Company of Iowa (Heartland) study area" by breaking off the Bancroft and Lakota exchanges to form a new study area for Winnebago, with the remaining Heartland exchanges to be owned by Mutual, the PN said. Although the bureau noted petitioners intend to honor broadband-oriented Connect America Fund Phase II buildout commitments and say the study area change won't raise USF burdens, it said the request raises questions that need further evaluation.
The FCC should clarify that video relay service providers can populate the "iTRS database with provider domain names, rather than user IP addresses," the five VRS providers said Thursday in a filing in docket 10-51. ASL Holdings, CSDVRS, Convo Communications, Purple Communications and Sorenson Communications said they have made much progress toward developing "voluntary, consensus-based" Session Initiation Protocol standards, but that in order to implement SIP, providers must publish their domain names in the iTRS database instead of user IP addresses. They said the FCC hadn't yet directed Neustar, which runs the iTRS database, to clarify that the domain name use is permissible despite their request it do so. They said using domain names has several advantages, including that it would enable providers "to switch service centers for maintenance and incident mitigation by changing DNS [domain name system] entries thus increasing VRS service reliability." It also would also allow providers "to more easily identify the provider of a peer-to-peer call to work on interoperability problems," enable "DNS load balancing and advanced routing" and minimize robocall attacks that affect VRS, they said.
The FCC teed up a National Exchange Carrier Association proposal to modify its high-cost loop support for average schedule telcos (see 1605160023). Comments are due June 20 on the NECA proposal to incorporate into its formula the FCC's reduction in the authorized rate of return for rural carriers from 11.25 percent to 11 percent for the second half of 2016, said a Wireline Bureau public notice listed in Friday's Daily Digest.