The FCC International Bureau granted AT&T’s unopposed petition requesting enforcement of the benchmark rate of 19 cents per minute for international traffic on the U.S.-Fiji route terminated with Fiji’s ILEC Fintel. A Friday bureau order found AT&T had been unable to negotiate benchmark-compliant rates with Fintel on the route since November 2011.
The public notice Thursday seeking “focused comment” on E-rate modernization (CD Mar 7 p16) “bodes poorly for real reform,” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Friday: “Reform should mean eliminating the priority system that arbitrarily favors some technologies over others. Yet the Public Notice doubles down on it. Reform should mean abolishing the discount matrix that encourages wasteful spending by well-funded districts and consistently underfunds small, rural schools and libraries. Yet the Public Notice builds on it. And although the Public Notice mentions streamlining the administrative process, the proposals to do so (such as making ’simple changes’ to the existing forms or changing ‘invoicing deadlines') are overwhelmed by proposals that would saddle our nation’s teachers and librarians with more paperwork.” Pai suggested the FCC advance a “concrete proposal” in a further notice of proposed rulemaking. “If the Commission needs to focus comment on an issue,” it should do so in a way that complies with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, he said: “The Wireline Competition Bureau cannot propose new rules."
Cisco WebEx made a “good faith effort to report the revenue derived from WebEx sessions conducted entirely by phone as telecommunications revenue,” Cisco told FCC Wireline Bureau officials, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/MUPw27). Cisco has challenged a Universal Service Administrative Co. ruling that audio communication portions of the WebEx conferencing service should be considered a telecom service (CD May 20 p6). Because WebEx is a “tightly integrated information service,” Cisco could not “simply identify audio-only WebEx usage” and therefore “could only devise an over-inclusive proxy” that reported minutes from WebEx sessions initiated by telephone, and minutes from “call legs that joined a WebEx session before an online meeting has started,” it said. “This proxy illustrates the tightly-integrated nature of WebEx service."
Verizon Business is seeking permission to “grandfather DS0 private line service” so that no new customers can purchase the service, it told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1g6Kpaz). DS0 service offers speeds of 64 kbps or less. Pan Am Railways and National Fuel Gas Co., which have raised concerns about the loss of that service, “would be able to retain their DS0 private line service in accordance with their contractual terms and conditions,” Verizon said. “Granting Verizon Business’s application to grandfather DS0 private line service is in the public interest,” it said. “Existing customers can continue to purchase the service, but no new customers for this outdated legacy service will be accepted."
"Functional equivalency should be the filter” through which all telecom relay service program actions are assessed, several deaf and hard-of-hearing associations told FCC officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1cIAfIP). Workshops and summits on topics such as deaf-blind and deaf and mobile-disabled matters could help increase functional equivalency, said the groups including Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, American Association of the Deaf-Blind and the Hearing Loss Association of America. Review panels on technology and service issues could also help, they said.
Several CLECs are “concerned” that NCTA is “urging the Commission to approach the data collection and the special access proceeding in a manner that would undermine Chairman Wheeler’s objective of establishing a technology-neutral framework for the preservation of competition in an IP, packet-based environment,” they said in a filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1igCt9P). Contrary to NCTA’s assertions, the proposed data collection on the state of the special access market should not be used solely to revise the pricing flexibility triggers for legacy DS1 and DS3 special access services, said the CLECs, including Cbeyond, EarthLink, Integra Telecom, Level 3 and tw telecom. Also, “despite its complaints, the estimated burden of the proposed information collection on NCTA members is manageable given the size of the companies at issue,” they said. Further, “the FCC has the experience and expertise to collect and timely process and analyze the information requested in the proposed collection,” they said.
Comments are due March 11 on inmate calling service provider Securus’s petition to expand the Pay-Tel waiver, and its request to be able to add a fee for voice biometrics technology to the per-minute prison calling rate, the FCC said in a public notice Tuesday (http://fcc.us/NsQcfY). Securus has asked that the relief granted to Pay-Tel be granted to all ICS providers operating in the 13 states that Pay-Tel services.
Comments are due March 31 on AT&T’s IP transition trial proposal, the FCC said in a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/NnVB8b). AT&T proposed two southern locations Friday to be the first wire centers the telco attempts to transition to all-IP technology (CD Mar 3 p3). AT&T also proposed to convert the wire centers, in part, to wireless-based service, the FCC said. Reply comments in GN docket 13-5 are due April 10.
The FCC Wireline and Wireless Bureaus extended further interim support of $33,276 and $40,104 to Alaskan telco Adak Eagle Enterprises and its subsidiary Windy City Cellular. The support will last six months or until the bureaus or the FCC complete review of the telcos’ petition for reconsideration of a waiver denial, whichever comes first, the bureaus said Friday (http://bit.ly/NO1b3m). The bureaus had denied their petition for waiver of rules setting a monthly $250 per line cap on high-cost universal service support. The telcos said last month that without continued support, they wouldn’t be able to provide telecom service to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team as it searches for active World War II-era bombs on the island (CD Feb 21 p14).
Several prisoners’ rights groups opposed a petition by Securus to add a 2 cent-per-minute fee to its interstate calls to cover the cost of providing voice biometric technology, in a filing Friday (http://bit.ly/1cof6Jm). “Securus utterly failed to demonstrate that the rate caps imposed in the Inmate Calling Services Report and Order are below its cost of providing service, even if the Voice Biometrics fee is included,” said the groups, including the D.C. Prisoners’ Project, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, the Prison Policy Initiative and others. Securus said Pay-Tel had gotten similar relief (CD Feb 21 p15), but the prisoners’ groups said Securus hadn’t submitted nearly enough proof of its need. “While Paytel was required to submit audited financial statements and detailed cost studies in connection with its request for waiver, Securus merely states -- ‘Me too,'” they said. Unless Securus is willing to submit financial documents detailing its financial situation and verified cost studies, the FCC must deny the petition, the groups said.