CenturyLink said it was chosen as an authorized network services provider by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency under its $4.3 billion Global Network Services (GNS) contract. Authorized providers can bid on orders for network transport services that support DOD operations, mostly outside the continental U.S., said a release Thursday from CenturyLink, which noted it could bid on a suite of services that includes "content delivery networks, virtual private networks, fiber-optic broadband, Wi-Fi, satellite, wave length, network security, colocation, cloud connectivity and software-defined networking services." GNS is a multiple-award contact with a five-year base period (and five one-year extensions possible) aimed at shifting the use of point-to-point circuits to "newer technical approaches" to consolidate DOD's "network for global voice, video, imagery and data transmissions" on a 100 Gbps backbone by 2020, it said.
The FCC removed U.S. TelePacific's planned buy of DSCI from streamlined review, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. DOJ, backed by the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, asked the commission March 29 to defer action on the transaction while the departments do their review of national security, law enforcement and public safety issues, the PN said. Final FCC action should be expected after the departments provide notification that they have completed their evaluation, the bureau said, but not later than 180 days from a March 15 public notice opening the proceeding in docket 16-67 (see 1603150039).
Three telcos urged the FCC to provide interim USF support for voice service in extremely rural, high-cost areas not yet covered by Connect America Fund Phase II support. CenturyLink, FairPoint and Frontier Communications said they understand the commission is considering including the areas in a planned reverse auction of CAF II broadband/voice subsidy support, but for now a number of price-cap telcos are responsible for maintaining voice service without support. "Our specific request is that the Commission continue to fund voice services in the highest cost, remote areas where carriers have accepted CAF II support but where there are remaining rural customers that are not covered by CAF II support," they said in a letter to all five commissioners Tuesday in docket 10-90. "Voice access is critical to our customers in these areas for personal, professional and public safety reasons. Therefore, voice service funding should be maintained while these areas await the Commission’s actions to implement a workable broadband deployment solution."
An Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions panel asked the FCC Wireline Bureau to revise its methodology for toll-free number codings. The ATIS System Number Administrative Committee said it reached consensus on various recommendations, including that the schedule for new toll-free code openings be based on the expected number of months until code exhaustion, rather than the percentage of numbers in use for open codes. In a filing Wednesday in docket 95-155, the committee also proposed the bureau: (1) not allow the date of the code opening to be changed once it's set, since various parties rely on that date, (2) institute rationing rules when predictions indicate number utilization is occurring faster than expected, (3) make one new toll-free code available at a time and (4) limit each "Responsible Organization" group (including affiliates of each other) to reserving 100 numbers per day during the first 20 days of a new code opening.
The FCC teed up a Somos petition seeking a temporary waiver of a "first-come, first-served" rule for allocating toll-free numbers, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 95-155. The bureau sought initial comments by April 21 and replies by April 28. Somos, which used to be called 800/SMS, requested the waiver "to establish a fair system of allocating a large quantity of 800 numbers currently controlled by the Somos Help Desk," the PN said. "Somos seeks to conduct a limited release of the 800 numbers, restricting RespOrgs to 100 of these toll free numbers per day, for a period of five days. According to Somos, prior experience suggests that in the absence of an allocation system, a small number of entities will be able to reserve the majority of these numbers," it said.
The FCC issued the results of its urban rate survey for fixed voice and broadband. The Wireline Bureau "announces the 2016 rate floor for incumbent eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) and reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband services," said a public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90. "We announce the posting of the fixed voice and broadband services data collected in the most recent urban rate survey, and explanatory notes regarding the data, on the Commission’s website at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/urban-rate-survey-data. The Bureau also announces the required minimum usage allowance for 2016 for ETCs subject to broadband public interest obligations." The 2016 monthly rate floor for voice is $21.93 and the voice reasonable comparability benchmark is $41.07, while the broadband reasonable comparability benchmark varies from $69.14 to $89.24 per month depending on speeds and usage allowances, it said. For simplicity's sake, the bureau required price-cap carriers receiving model-based Connect America Fund Phase II support to allow customers at least 150 GB of monthly data usage.
Competitive telecom providers "seek to gain competitive advantage through regulatory arbitrage" in the FCC special access proceeding, the Communications Workers of America said. In an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 05-25, CWA President Christopher Shelton said that the FCC will find the special access market to be "highly competitive" if it counts cable providers in its data collection. If the FCC were to disagree with this approach and side with CLEC arguments, it would kill jobs and network investment by ILECs, he said. CLECs and cable companies "want to subject incumbent providers to regulatory constraints, including price regulation, while they are free to negotiate discount prices and other favorable conditions," Shelton said. He added that while AT&T, Verizon and other incumbents employ skilled union workers, cable companies and CLECs "pay lower wages and benefits, make extensive use of a less-skilled, contract workforce, and block their employees' efforts at collective organization." The fight over the FCC's review of the special access market has been heating up, with ILECs and competitors sparring over market data analysis (see 1603280027).
The FCC Wireline Bureau provided process guidance for eligible telecom carriers to elect the Universal Service Administrative Co. to perform Lifeline recertification for their subscribers in 2016, a public notice said Friday in docket 11-42. The guidance will remain in effect for subsequent years unless superseded by further FCC action, it said.
An FCC webinar Monday at 2 p.m. will summarize the rate-of-return USF overhaul order released Wednesday, said a wireline bureau public notice listed in Friday's Daily Digest. Parties can register at http://bit.ly/1ZRHZla, it said.
Citing the possibility of missing the Alaskan construction season altogether, Quintillion Subsea Operations is asking the FCC International Bureau for special temporary authority (STA) to construct and test its Quintillion System fiber optic system linking Nome and Prudhoe Bay. The submarine cable company in its IB filing Wednesday said it won't operate or initiate service on the system until its pending submarine cable license application (see 1603250010) is granted. According to Quintillion, not having the 180-day STA raises the possibility of construction not being complete by early to mid-October, when the weather turns colder. In its filing the company asked for the STA to be granted by April 15.