Frontier Communications signed a two-year labor agreement with California union workers represented by Communications Workers of America, Frontier and CWA said in a Monday news release. Officials for the company and union applauded ratification of an agreement amending and extending existing contracts through September 2020. The revised contract includes extending existing contracts by 18 months with a no layoff provision, increasing pay by at least 2 percent and adding 50 technician and 35 call center jobs, they said. Also Monday, CWA announced radio ads in Midwestern states alleging AT&T broke a promise to add jobs with money saved from this year's Republican tax bill. The company killed 7,000 jobs since January when it got $20 billion in tax savings, said CWA. The CWA executive board in May approved possible strike by 14,000 workers covered by AT&T Midwest and Legacy T contracts (see 1805110029). The ads mislead, an AT&T spokesman said. The carrier never promised jobs from tax changes, but said the carrier planned to invest $1 billion this year "and that research shows that every $1 billion in capital invested in the telecom industry creates about 7,000 good-paying jobs for American workers, across the broader economy." AT&T this year hired 8,000 U.S. employees gross, not subtracting those who left, he said.
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 Office of Management and Budget OK'd for three years information collection for FCC IP transition discontinuance rules from 2016, with those changes effective Monday, the commission says in a notice set for that day's Federal Register. It noted that "to reduce burdens on carriers, the Commission (1) adopted a more streamlined approach for legacy voice discontinuances involving services that are substantially similar to those for which a Section 214 discontinuance meeting the adequate replacement criteria has previously been approved, and (2) now allows Section 214 discontinuance applications to be eligible for automatic grant" if ending a slow-speed legacy voice service with either no customers or no recent service requests.
Comments are due Aug. 27, replies Sept. 10 on FCC plans for an extended freeze on rural telco jurisdictional separations, says proposed rule for Friday's Federal Register (calendar). State regulatory officials object to the proposal, in a Further NPRM approved unanimously by commissioners, to freeze for 15 years the Part 36 rules for separating rate-of-return telco regulated costs and revenue into federal (interstate) and state (intrastate) accounts (see 1807200018).
Tribal officials made the rounds at the FCC to seek changes on USF issues affecting tribal carriers. They "discussed enhancing the Universal Service high-cost and Lifeline programs for Tribal areas, Tribal sovereignty, operational expense relief reconsideration petitions and Warm Springs Telecom’s designation as the incumbent carrier for its community," said a GRTyree Consulting filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. Representatives of the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA), Mescalero Apache Telecom, Mescalero Apache Tribal Council, Fort Mojave Telecommunications, Gila River Telecommunications, Nez Perce Tribe, Saddleback Communications, Tohono O'odham Utility Authority, Warm Springs Tribal Council and Alexicon met with Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr, aides to all four commissioners, and staffers of the Wireline, Wireless and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy. The filing included a summary of tribal policy positions and data on tribal carrier USF details and the lag in broadband deployment on reservations. NTTA also backed Mescalero Apache Telecom and Sacred Wind Communications' petitions to reconsider FCC decisions on operating-expense limitation relief for certain carriers (see 1805310032).
Private investment in U.S. broadband infrastructure seems to be picking up, after declining in 2014-16, blogged USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter Wednesday, citing its preliminary analysis of 2017 capital expenditures of wireline, wireless and cable broadband providers. "U.S. broadband companies, excluding independent competitive local providers and fiber operators, have invested between $72 and $74 billion in network infrastructure in 2017, compared to $70.6 billion in 2016," he said. Acknowledging that many factors affect such figures, he also credited policymakers with "restoring U.S. innovation policy to the constructive, nimble and pro-consumer framework that has guided the meteoric rise of our economy since the early days of the internet." After the previous FCC pursued "a sharply more regulatory path," Spalter said, the current commission has focused on creating "a more level playing field across the internet ecosystem" that encourages investment and still protects consumers. He cited government efforts to address "outdated rules," institute broad "net neutrality principles without onerous utility regulation" and promote rural broadband, including through a Connect America Fund II subsidy auction that started Tuesday. Net neutrality advocates have disputed that broadband investment declined 2014-16.
TKC Holdings, Inmate Calling Solutions and Securus Technologies opposed calls for the FCC to reject TKC's proposed sale of ICSolutions to Securus. They said the Wright Petitioners and other critics "resurrect old allegations" against Securus' character and "assert, supported by scant evidence, that granting the Joint Application will inevitably have negative effects" on inmate calling service competition (see 1807170054). "Neither argument provides a basis for denying or delaying" the deal, said the applicants' opposition (to petitions to deny) posted Tuesday in docket 18-193. "The character arguments rehash the same assertions raised by many of the same Petitioners when they unsuccessfully sought to deny the transfer of control" of Securus to Abry Partners in 2013 and, subsequently, to Platinum Equity in 2017. "They admit that the new evidence (which in any event is erroneous) goes to the same alleged misconduct they raised in 2017. ... Repetitious assertions of claims that have previously been rejected by the Commission are evidently made solely for the purpose of delaying the Transaction." The applicants said competitive concerns are "factually and legally flawed." They said arguments the deal will lead to a duopoly of Securus and Global Tel*Link ignore other competitors such as CenturyLink, disputing it will reduce competition. The applicants filed a separate reply responding to various commenters. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey opposed the transaction, saying it "threatens" ICS competition nationwide and in her state at a time when Securus is seeking to avoid any Massachusetts regulatory oversight," said her reply. "Following many years of exorbitant and unfair charges imposed on inmate calling services, it is abundantly clear that we need more competition and oversight from the FCC and the states, not less."
The FCC defended its 2017 order limiting enhanced tribal Lifeline support against procedural and substantive legal challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. There was "ample notice and opportunity for comment" on proposed facilities-based and rural requirements, and fulfillment of a "voluntary commitment to consult with Tribal governments," said an FCC/DOJ response in National Lifeline Association, et al., v. FCC, No. 18-1026, consolidated (see 1801290020 and 1804190011). The "decision to limit the enhanced Tribal subsidy to facilities-based providers was reasonable, and consistent with its long-standing goals of promoting infrastructure development," and managing fund expenditures," it said. The restriction should also be viewed "against a background of significant waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, some of which has been driven by resellers," it said. The Wireline Bureau issued an erratum in docket 11-42 Friday on tribal consultation details in its decision denying legal challengers an administrative stay (see 1807060011). NTCA Monday again petitioned for temporary waiver to give RLECs some relief from a minimum data speed standard for wireline Lifeline broadband providers, in light of the agency's recent updated standard (see 1807180038). TracFone cited challenges it faced "with the soft launch" of a Lifeline national verifier in some states (see 1806180054). It also backed a Q Link emergency petition seeking implementation of a national verifier application programming interface "to avoid wasteful and time consuming duplicative manual entry of a Lifeline applicant’s personal information" and ensure other "seamless communications," said a filing in docket 17-287 on TracFone discussions with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr.
The FCC won't release Connect America Fund Phase II auction bidding information until its conclusion in order to preserve its integrity, a spokesman emailed us Tuesday, confirming the auction began (current schedule). He cited paragraphs 277-278 of a February procedures public notice in docket 17-182, which noted: "As in past Commission auctions, bidders will have secure access to certain non-public bidding information while bidding is ongoing." Participants in the reverse auction are bidding on subsidy support for fixed broadband and voice services in high-cost, rural areas traditionally served by large incumbent telcos but where they didn't accept CAF II offers.
The FCC approved 175 rate-of-return telcos to get $36 million more in annual USF support, cumulatively, under an Alternative Connect America Cost Model, in exchange for extending broadband to additional locations, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90 in Monday's Daily Digest. The RLECs accepted 210 of 217 state-level revised offers of model-based support made by the bureau implementing a March order (see 1805080028 and 1803230025). An accompanying report showed the revised amounts and deployment duties of carriers.
The FCC announced counties where certain relief from Lifeline voice duty applies, effective Sept. 21. The regulatory forbearance applies only to the Lifeline voice obligation of eligible telecom carriers designated to receive "both high-cost and Lifeline support (high-cost/Lifeline ETCs), and not to Lifeline-only ETCs," said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 11-42. The bureau was implementing an annual mandate from a 2016 Lifeline order to provide the conditional relief where certain competitive conditions are met. It said the forbearance will apply in the counties listed in an appendix "to the extent that ETCs are not receiving federal high-cost universal service support in those areas, until 60 days after the Bureau issues a Public Notice in 2019 updating the list."