Broadband VI asked the FCC to establish a "formal process" for eligible telecom carriers receiving funding for at least one high-cost USF program to "seek additional funding due to unanticipated increased expenses" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation or supply chain issues, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 18-143 on Viya's request to extend its legacy high-cost funding (see 2203030071). Broadband VI didn't take a position on Viya's request, although it "does concur with Viya that unanticipated, extraordinary inflationary pressures ... have imposed unexpected and unplanned-for costs on entities providing and developing broadband service in the U.S. Virgin Islands."
Funds for Learning told FCC Wireline Bureau staff that the E-rate competitive bidding framework "is healthy and should not be changed," said an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 21-455. The agency's NPRM proposing to establish a centralized online bidding portal "would conflict with state and local procurement regulations," the group said, citing the agency's "poor track record of creating effective online tools for applicants" (see 2112140062). The FCC should "continue to rely on local procurement officials to conduct local procurement," Funds for Learning said, saying the Universal Service Administrative Co. "has no experience managing procurement for school and library systems."
FCC rules on the third Emergency Connectivity Fund application filing window are effective Monday, said a notice for that day's Federal Register. The Wireline Bureau plans to award at least $1 billion during this round (see 2203230042).
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Consolidated Communications' 2019 petition to waive the all-or-nothing rule so its price cap local exchange carriers can "continue operating affiliated study areas subject to rate-of-return regulation," said an order Friday in docket 19-275. The retroactive waiver dates back to "the effective dates of the internal reorganization," the order said. The bureau also granted limited waivers of the commission's transition, tariffing and access charge rules. "Without these waivers, petitioners would be unable to benefit from our waiver of the all-or-nothing rule" because its rate-of-return affiliates "ceased to exist as separate corporate entities," the order said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau waived the July 1 deadline for eligible telecom carriers to certify and submit their Form 481 annual reports, pending OMB approval of "modifications to the associated information collection," said a public notice Friday in docket 10-90. The bureau said ETCs can still begin the filing process now, as the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s one portal opened Friday.
OMB approved for three years information collection for the FCC's third mandatory data collection on inmate calling services, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register (see 2203220031). Responses are due by June 30.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau dismissed in part Verizon's petition for reconsideration on procedural grounds and granted in part a request for clarification of a 2020 order saying Potomac Edison charged the telco "unjust and unreasonable" pole attachment rates, said an order Thursday in docket 19-355 (see 2012280034). Verizon's petition doesn't identify "any new, different, or distinct argument on this issue," the bureau said. It also denied the telco's petition on the merits, citing "no valid basis to delete the findings requested in the petition." The bureau granted Verizon's request for clarification that its previous order "only requires the parties to modify the [joint use agreement] to conform with the rulings in the order and does not require the parties to otherwise negotiate a completely new agreement." The bureau also granted in part and denied in part Potomac Edison's petition for reconsideration. The bureau partially granted its request to change the rate of return input to apply a 9.68% rate "from the beginning of the damages period through the end of 2018," a 7.7% rate for 2019, and a 7.15% rate from 2020 forward. It denied Potomac Edison's challenge of the appurtenance factor finding as "procedurally defective" and on the merits, saying the company "failed to explain its claim to have rebutted the 85% presumption." The bureau also rejected Potomac Edison's challenge to the space-occupied input and the average number of attachers in the rate formula. Verizon and Potomac Edison didn't comment.
USTelecom, AT&T, Lumen and Verizon asked FCC Wireline Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to require every provider to "enhance its existing robocall mitigation database ... rather than adopt prescriptive, gateway provider-specific mandates," in a meeting Monday, said an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 17-59 (see 2201110045). "[M]andating blocking obligations remove providers' flexibility in their blocking approaches," they said, noting the FCC could "implement a robocall mitigation program and provide a certification in the RMD" regardless of a provider's Stir/Shaken implementation status. USTelecom and the ISPs said the FCC's proposed requirement that gateway providers sign unauthenticated traffic "would be exorbitantly costly for some providers." The FCC should "focus any such requirement" on gateway providers "akin to what the agency did with shortening the small provider Stir/Shaken extension," they said.
ACA Connects backed USTelecom's request for a 60-day extension of the April 15 deadline for affordable connectivity program providers to comply with the non-usage tracking rule, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and staff, said an ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 21-450 (see 2203230041). The group said its members face similar challenges in meeting the deadline. ACA Connects also asked the FCC to allow fixed broadband providers to follow the agency's 2011 enforcement guidance on reporting actual speeds and latency in the forthcoming consumer broadband labels.
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by April 5 on AT&T's request for an additional 120 days beyond the April 15 deadline to apply the affordable connectivity program benefit to its AT&T Mobility and New Cingular Wireless postpaid mobile broadband plans, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2202110055).