Alabama Power continues to charge "egregiously high" pole attachment rates since the 2011 pole attachment order that should have meant its rate reduced significantly, AT&T Alabama said in an FCC docket 19-119 complaint Wednesday. It said it's paying multiple times the $8.35 per pole rate it should be charged, and Alabama Power hasn't shown AT&T is enjoying some benefit from the joint use agreement between the two companies that AT&T competitors aren't. The telco asks the FCC to set a "just and reasonable rate" retroactive to the 2012 rental year, and that the utility provide a refund. Alabama Power emailed that it and AT&T "have had a longstanding relationship regarding pole-sharing" and the utility is "reviewing the filing and will address its claims through the appropriate channels.”
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted appellee Hilton Grand Vacations' request for a stay in a consumer's appeal in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case (see 1903130025) pending the Supreme Court's decision in another TCPA case, PDR Network vs. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic, said a docket order Wednesday (in Pacer, docket 18-14499).
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment by May 8 on a refund plan filed by South Dakota Network, said a public notice Tuesday on docket 18-100. The FCC found an SDN revised rate tariff for its centralized equal access service unlawful (see 1903010004) and directed it “to work with the Bureau to file revised tariffed rates and refunds if appropriate,” said the PN.
Ohio's Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t delay implementing a rule, not effective for four years, that allows local phone companies to apply for clearance to increase basic local exchange rates without limitation, the Ohio Telecom Association replied Monday in docket 19-173-TP-ORD. Consumer groups sought delay of that part of a recent state law (see 1904110026). “Delay in approving the rule would not be lawful” and “would inject additional uncertainty into financial decisions that are made over years, not at the last minute,” OTA said. The Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association agreed. If the PUC adopts the rule, the Office of Consumer Counsel should be given advance notice of applications for unlimited price increases to protect consumers, OCC and other consumer groups replied.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau dismissed a complaint Missouri Network Alliance had filed against Sprint in August in a payment dispute over tariffs, after both sides said they had settled. “Granting the Motion to Dismiss will serve the public interest by promoting the private resolution of disputes and eliminating the need for further litigation and the expenditure of additional time and resources of the parties and this Commission,” the bureau ordered Monday.
The North American Numbering Council meets May 8 at 10 a.m. in the FCC Fifth-Floor South Conference Room to receive and discuss the N11 suicide prevention hotline report and recommendations from its Nationwide Number Portability Issues Working Group (see 1903280033), the FCC said Friday. The report, given to NANC in draft form earlier this month, is being reviewed by the panel and won't be publicly available until the group approves it, the working group told us Monday.
April 25 is the deadline for parties in the USTelecom forbearance petition proceeding and business data service proceeding to object to certain interested parties getting access to confidential information, said FCC Wireline Bureau notices in Friday's Daily Digest (see here and here) on dockets 18-141 and 16-143.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted eight slamming complaints against Tele Circuit Network, said an order Friday. It said Tele Circuit claimed it received authorization to change the complainants' telco service providers through third-party verification, but that verifier doesn't confirm the person is authorized to make a carrier change. It ordered Tele Circuit to remove charges incurred during the first thirty days after the alleged unauthorized change. The company didn't comment.
Iowa Network Services (Aureon) asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the FCC's February decision making it change its rate tariff for interstate switched transport in its centralized equal access service delivering long-distance traffic to small telcos throughout the state (see 1903010004). In a petition for review to be posted, Aureon said the FCC ordered it to provide additional cost support under rules applicable only to ILECs even though it had previously decided Aureon isn't one. That goes against the court's previous finding that CLEC and ILEC regulations are mutually exclusive, Aureon said. The FCC didn't comment.
The wireline orders approved Friday by FCC commissioners eliminating the rural telco rate floor and granting part of USTelecom's forbearance petition (see 1904120058) are now posted in dockets 10-90 and 18-141, the FCC said Monday (see here and here).