USTelecom is on track to pick a new chief in a couple of months, a spokeswoman confirmed, after informed sources described how the search is playing out so far. President-CEO Walter McCormick, who announced his planned departure a year ago (see 1509110042), is still scheduled to remain through the end of 2016, she said. She also confirmed the telco group hired the executive-search firm Korn Ferry.

Parties disagreed on the adequacy of the scope and pace of broadband deployment under a Telecom Act Section 706 mandate, and on the metrics the FCC should use. Major wireline and wireless telco groups said advanced telecom capability (ATC) is being rolled out to all Americans in a reasonable and timely way, and urged the commission to keep or soften its current ATC criteria. Smaller wireless carriers and consumer advocates said broadband isn't being deployed widely and quickly enough, and urged the commission to raise and expand ATC benchmarks. Comments were posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 16-245 in response to a notice of inquiry, which cited ATC and broadband similarities but said not all broadband services provide ATC.

Two telco groups, two satellite providers and a fixed-wireless association filed oppositions to petitions asking the FCC to reconsider aspects of its planned Connect America Fund Phase II broadband-oriented subsidy auction. Filings were posted Friday and Tuesday in docket 10-90 in response to a public notice (see 1608120048). USTelecom opposed proposals that would "unnecessarily risk" CAF funds or "unnecessarily direct such CAF resources to areas where funding is not justified," including those from Broad Valley Micro Fiber Network, Southern Tier Wireless, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Utilities Technology Council. NTCA opposed the petitions of Broad Valley and Crocker Telecommunications as undermining a "reasonably comparable" rural mandate by seeking "to sidestep the distinct offering of voice telephony to consumers" in auction areas, particularly by revisiting a stand-alone voice requirement. ViaSat opposed the petitions of Broad Valley, Crocker and Southern Tier Wireless, which the satellite company called procedurally improper, and also opposed a Verizon petition that sought "to prioritize funding to census blocks based on the 'dollar per location' reflected in winning bids for those blocks" rather than the "ratio of bid to reserve price." Hughes Networks Systems opposed petitions "that would undermine" the FCC's goal of encouraging a broad range of providers to participate in the auction -- particularly those requests "that would preclude applicants in the higher latency category from competing effectively." Hughes supported ViaSat and Verizon proposals. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association opposed requests "that seek to undermine the technology-neutral approach," particularly those proposed by Verizon. WISPA said such requests would "benefit price-cap carriers that declined" initial FCC offers of broadband-oriented support "in their efforts to bid on selected areas with technologies that cannot deliver unlimited usage and cannot meet a 95 percent buildout requirement."

Industry requests for rigid timelines for so-called Team Telecom review of transactions don't properly account for ”the complexity of the national security and law enforcement considerations that the Executive Branch must weigh in its review,” NTIA replied in FCC docket 16-155 by Friday's deadline. NTIA also takes issue with a proposal that applications on which Team Telecom hasn't ruled would be approved if the review lasted beyond a certain time period. “The assumption that silence denotes acceptance creates the potential for a license to be granted without full consideration of potential Executive Branch concerns," NTIA said. Nearly all industry commenters that filed reply comments restated their view (see 1608190048) that NTIA should have a rigid timeline to review a transaction, including CTIA, Incompas, Sprint and USTelecom. “The commission should reject proposals resulting in an unlimited Team Telecom review timeframe,” said joint comments by BT Americas, Deutsche Telekom, Orange Business Services and Telefonica Internacional USA. “This proceeding should reform the current process that provides the Executive Branch with unlimited review and no accountability to the Commission or applicants, not extend it,” CTIA said.

States, the FCC and industry plan extensive outreach​ to reduce consumer confusion about changes to Lifeline that will allow the USF program for low-income people to get broadband and not just phone service, officials said on a Wednesday webinar staged by the National Regulatory Research Institute, the research arm of NARUC. "We think it's very important that we help in getting the word out … because there will be a lot of confusion," said Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson. Lifeline tops the department’s list for planned outreach efforts, and the state government hopes the low-income program will play a big role in a state effort to increase broadband adoption, she said. The FCC plans to make copious amounts of information available through its website and other outreach venues, said Wireline Bureau Telecommunications Access Policy Division Chief Ryan Palmer. TracFone plans targeted communications to customers rather than a broad and generalized approach, said the company’s Corporate Counsel Stephen Athanson. AT&T sees potential for customer confusion because it will take some time for states to sync their programs with the federal program, said Executive Director-Public Policy Beth Fujimoto. She said the company supports a USTelecom reconsideration request pending at the FCC, including deferring the effective date of the streamlined eligibility criteria to give states more time to make necessary changes (see 1608090023). States won’t find a uniform method to implement the order, said Peterson. "Each state is unique and they're going to have to address it in their own way." The commissioner said one concern of states is what happens to consumers’ ability to call 911 if they're moved from voice to broadband plans. She said the issue is “hard to explain to the average citizen.” Massachusetts plans to work with consumers, industry and the FCC “to make sure a consumer doesn’t have to pick” between voice and broadband, she said.

Industry parties generally criticized and state authorities backed FCC proposals to expand communications network outage reporting requirements. Commission proposals to extend network outage reporting duties to broadband providers drew opposition from wireline and wireless telcos, sparked calls from cable interests for a more targeted solution, and were supported by state regulators and 911 administrators. Comments were posted Friday and Monday in docket 15-80 on a Further NPRM approved in May along with an order revising Part 4 network outage reporting system (NORS) rules over two partial dissents (see 1605250061). Replies are due Sept. 12.

Incompas fired back at CenturyLink opposition to proposed rate reductions for business data services, saying the telco's cost claims are based on "unreliable evidence that contradicts public statements." Parties this week continued robust BDS lobbying of the FCC, which some expect to act this fall. Incumbent telcos, a cable company and allies urged the commission not to impose BDS regulation they say will discourage investment in deployment of high-speed fiber lines and other facilities. Meanwhile, U.S. TelePacific said AT&T's most recent BDS tariff filings still didn't comply with an FCC order.

The FCC should postpone the effective date of new Lifeline federal eligibility criteria and obligation to offer broadband service under the low-income program to Dec. 31, 2017, or 12 months after approval by the Office of Management and Budget, the Michigan Public Service Commission said in a letter Tuesday to the commission in docket 11-42. The PSC supported that aspect of a USTelecom petition for reconsideration (see 1608090023). “The MPSC has similar concerns as those expressed by USTelecom regarding the effective date of the new federal eligibility criteria and its impact on state laws, rules and orders with programs that differ from the new federal eligibility criteria,” the state commission said. “Michigan is one of the states in which the state eligibility criteria for the state discount are now different than the new federal criteria. … Postponing the effective date of the federal eligibility criteria will provide a better opportunity for parties to address the differences between state and federal Lifeline programs, obtain answers to the numerous questions that still remain, and also provide additional time for all parties to work together to ensure a smooth, efficient, and effective transition.” States have sued the FCC over the order, challenging the creation of a federal eligible telecom carrier process and pre-emption of state commission authority to designate ETCs (see 1607270020).

A group of business customers asked the FCC to reconsider the relief it gave ILECs in granting USTelecom's petition for nondominant treatment of incumbent telco interstate switched access services connecting local callers to long-distance networks. The FCC reclassified the ILECs as nondominant "despite its failure to finalize access rate regulations for toll-free originating access minutes," said the Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee in a petition posted Tuesday in docket 13-3. To justify the relief, the commission partially relied on the continuing applicability of regulatory protections for terminating access rates, said the group. "But the Commission has yet to act on its long-standing proposal to apply those same rate protections to originating access for toll-free service. The Commission must either (1) reconsider its decision to declare ILECs non-dominant or (2) act on its proposal to apply the same regulatory protections to the 'open' end of a toll-free call as apply to terminating 'sent paid' service." As the FCC noted on intercarrier compensation, "the 'open' or originating end of a toll-free call is the equivalent of the terminating end of a 'sent paid' call," the group said. Because in both cases the access-paying customer has no control over the choice of access provider at one end of the call, the providers of both forms of access are insulated from competitive forces and should be regulated to protect consumers, it said.

Parties backed the FCC 2015 tech transition order on the discontinuance process for replacing legacy telecom services provided over copper networks with IP services over fiber and other broadband networks. CLECs, their trade group Incompas, and Public Knowledge said the FCC correctly interpreted Communications Act Section 214 "to require approval for wholesale changes" to ILEC offerings that would limit consumer functionality. "Petitioner's contrary argument reduces to the assertion that service is not 'impaired' or 'reduced' when fax machines stop working, customers can no longer reach 911, medical monitoring devices stop working, and retailer credit-card readers do not function -- or even call clarity and reliability decline -- absent inconsistency with some representation in a tariff," they said in an intervenor brief (in Pacer) Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1414). But Section 214 "is a licensing provision requiring a certificate of public convenience and necessity for any change" that degrades service, not just changes that create inconsistencies with tariffs, they wrote. The FCC properly decided Section 214 approval is needed for changes that degrade service to any customer, including CLEC customers, not just ILEC customers, and that ILECs should be required to provide reasonably comparable replacement services before discontinuing wholesale service, they said. The CLECs were: Access Point, BullsEye Telecom, Granite Telecommunications, Level 3, Manhattan Telecommunications, Matrix Telecom, New Horizon Communications, Windstream, Xchange Telecom and XO Communications. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's brief (in Pacer) said the FCC adopted "forward looking" regulations to maintain "public safety, pro-consumer, pro-competition policies and protections." Citing the FCC determination that tech transitions shouldn't be a "pretext to limit" competition or "compromise" wholesale access, the PUC agreed the federal agency took reasonable action to ensure new IP services meet consumer and provider needs.