LTD Broadband asked the FCC to reject the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association's request to deny the company's long-form application for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, in an opposition posted Tuesday in docket 19-126 (see 2104010065). WSTA "has not shown that the Commission’s experienced and expert Commission staff cannot make a 'reasonable expectation' that LTD, or any applicant, is 'reasonably capable' of meeting its RDOF commitments," LTD said. WSTA didn't respond to a request for comment.
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by April 19 on AT&T, DeltaCom and Windstream Nuvox Communications Act Section 214 applications to "discontinue, reduce, or impair certain telecommunications services," a public notice said Friday in docket 21-102. The applications will be deemed granted automatically beginning May 3, unless the agency otherwise notifies the applicants, it said.
Several state telecom associations want the FCC to review LTD Broadband's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application with increased scrutiny and, if necessary, reject it, in recent filings in docket 19-126. The Minnesota Telecom Alliance and Iowa Communications Alliance said there's "no indication that LTD has the technical, engineering, financial, operational, management, staff, or other resources" to meet the RDOF requirements for the locations it won in either state. If LTD can't prove otherwise, the commission should reject its long-form applications, the groups said. The Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association filed a similar request, saying LTD "will not be able to provide the requisite broadband service with the support it won in the RDOF auction." The company filed an opposition to MTA and ICA's petition, arguing the groups are part of an "off-key chorus of unsuccessful bidders disappointed in the outcome of the RDOF auction." LTD accused MTA and ICA of "pick[ing] out the winner of the largest amount of RDOF support and, relying on speculation, innuendo and surmise, call[ing] into question" its qualifications. "Attempts by some members of these rural ILEC associations to disparage LTD Broadband after failing to bid competitively in the reverse auction are transparently sour grapes," said LTD Broadband CEO Corey Hauer in an email. "This is not the FCC's first reverse auction nor is it the first time they have withstood criticism from angry mobs of losing bidders." LTD is "excited" to begin building rural fiber networks, Hauer said. "Demand for broadband is acute in these rural areas."
The Fiber Broadband Association plans to focus on increasing support for "symmetric gigabit broadband deployment" and opposing low earth-orbiting satellite deployment for rural broadband, CEO Gary Bolton wrote members Wednesday. SpaceX's Starlink, which won 85% of sub-1 Gbps awards in the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction (see 2102080072), "will not meet the performance requirements specified" and "does not provide a path to fiber," Bolton said. SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.
Callers from 82 area codes in 35 states and Guam must begin dialing 10 digits beginning April 24 for all local non-mobile calls in the transition to the 988 national suicide prevention hotline (see 2012230007), said an FCC Wireline Bureau fact sheet Tuesday. All local calls must be placed with 10 digits beginning Oct. 24.
The California Public Utilities Commission proposed a revision to a condition adopted in its March 18 OK of Frontier’s bankruptcy reorganization. The item will appear on the agency’s April 15 agenda, said CPUC Administrative Law Judge Anne Simon in a Friday proposed decision in docket A.20-05-010. The March 18 condition required the provider to build fiber-to-the-premise to 150,000 locations in places with a maximum internal rate of return of 20% and where the telco is the only service provider, with at least 10% in rural areas. Friday’s proposal would instead require at least 10% of those locations be in places where Frontier is the only fixed broadband provider. It would additionally require that at least 10% of Frontier funds allocated to that fiber buildout go to locations outside urbanized areas. The company suggested such changes last week (see 2103250059). "Frontier is reviewing the Proposed Decision and expects to emerge successfully from Chapter 11 shortly after [a] final approval order is received from the California PUC," a spokesperson said Monday.
The FCC wants comment by April 29 on a matching agreement between Universal Service Administrative Co. and the Utah Department of Workforce Services, says Tuesday's Federal Register. It lets officials verify eligibility of emergency broadband benefit program applicants beginning April 29 by determining whether applicants receive Medicaid or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Comments to Privacy@fcc.gov.
National Lifeline Association members faced "push back" from those reviewing applications for the FCC's $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, attorneys for NaLA told the Wireline Bureau, per a posting Friday in docket 20-445 (see 2102260058). Members are being told they "cannot seek an alternative verification process because they do not have a preexisting low-income program and can use the National Verifier instead," attorneys said. Members say having a preexisting program wasn't required to receive approval for an alternative verification process, and NaLA's attorneys asked the commission to provide clarification to application reviewers. An attorney for NaLA couldn't be reached for further comment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit scheduled oral arguments for two cases on access stimulation rules and access change benchmark rates. Great Lakes consolidated case 19-1233 (in Pacer) will be heard May 4 (see 2012300039). Aureon, No. 18-1258 (in Pacer), will be heard May 14 (see 2102030064). Both start at 9:30 a.m.
The FCC Wireline Bureau gave Tata Communications limited waiver of rules for revenue reporting years 2020 and 2021, in an order said Thursday. This waives the 12% limited international revenue exemption (LIRE)-qualifying threshold so Tata may "continue to contribute to the Universal Service Fund based solely on its interstate end-user telecommunications revenues." Waiver is limited to "direct USF contribution obligations only" and expires at year-end or the effective date of any new rules revising LIRE on an industrywide basis. Tata won't be exempt from paying indirect USF contributions if its interstate revenue declines to a level that would qualify the company for de minimis status.