The FCC denied a Smart City Telecommunications petition to reconsider a 2016 order rejecting its request to waive intercarrier compensation "rules governing base period revenue [BPR] amounts used to calculate Eligible Recovery for rate of return" ILECs. Smart City sought to "include in its Fiscal Year 2011 BPR amounts received after [a] March 31, 2012 cutoff from a 'settlement of unpaid switched access charges,'" said a unanimous commission order Friday in docket 01-92. Calling the petition "procedurally and substantively flawed," the agency said Smart City "failed to present any arguments warranting reconsideration." The company didn't comment.
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 FCC Wireline Bureau opened docket 18-143 captioned “The Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund,” said a public notice Friday. A commission spokeswoman didn't comment. A previous FCC announcement translated the name of the first fund as the "Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund." An official recently said an order and NPRM targeting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for enhanced USF could be released soon (see 1805140032).
FCC staff approved 18C's proposed buy of 1-800 Collect assets and a domestic authorization under Communications Act 214, after lengthy review by the executive branch's Team Telecom. The Wireline Bureau granted the companies' license-transfer application Thursday subject to commitments and undertakings they made in a May 11 letter to the DOJ, its National Security Division and the FBI, said a public notice in commission docket 16-275. The DOJ petitioned the FCC May 14 to make company compliance with the assurances a condition for approving the deal. The DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security had asked the commission in October 2016 to defer action on the transaction while they reviewed national security, law enforcement and public safety issues (see 1610130051). The companies also filed FCC applications to transfer international authorizations.
The FCC set pleading cycles on CenturyLink and ITTA petitions for declaratory rulings. Comments are due June 18, replies July 3 on a CenturyLink petition (see 1805150055) urging the commission to "complete the remand" from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding application of a VoIP symmetry rule to long-distance providers delivering traffic by partnering with over-the-top VoIP providers lacking last-mile connections, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 10-90. The same deadlines apply to an ITTA petition (see 1805090021) asking the FCC to clarify that it is and has been permissible under truth-in-billing rules and Communications Act Section 225 for carriers recovering telecom relay service fund contribution costs to include TRS line-item fees on bills, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau PN in docket 03-123.
CenturyLink was “regrettably” unable to sign the proposed framework for the citizens broadband radio service band submitted to the FCC last week by the CBRS Coalition, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258. CenturyLink said the coalition proposal, which called for five county-based priority access licenses (PALs) and two census tract-based PALs (see 1805100062) in every market, didn’t provide enough small licenses. “A minimum of 40 MHz of licensed spectrum is essential to enable effective deployment of a fixed wireless high-speed broadband service in rural areas, especially one that would meet Connect America Fund Phase II broadband service requirements,” the telco said. It assured the commission it's serious about using the 3.5 GHz band. “This spectrum provides a rare opportunity to help meet the nation’s critical need for broadband network investment in difficult-to-serve rural areas that will otherwise remain left behind,” the company said. “The Commission can understand the reason that CenturyLink sees the coalition’s proposal as insufficient[.] CenturyLink is actively testing fixed wireless broadband service in the 3.5-3.7 GHz band and is evaluating the delivery of wireless broadband speeds of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.” NTIA, meanwhile, filed a letter at the FCC on technical aspects of the protection zones for DOD radar that are part of the rules for the band. NTIA also notified the FCC of a new exclusion zone for Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
Hargray Communications closed its buy of ComSouth, a small "integrated" telco serving middle Georgia, said a release Wednesday. The FCC approved related communications license transfers May 11 with a condition capping high-cost USF support based on Hargray's operating expenses to prevent potential cost shifting (see 1805110048).
Comments on an FCC Alternative Connect America Cost Model NPRM on changing some business data service regulation (see 1804180074) are due June 18, replies July 2, in docket 17-144, says Thursday's Federal Register. "The Commission proposes to allow rate-of-return carriers receiving universal service support" under the model "to voluntarily migrate their lower speed circuit-based" BDS offerings "to incentive regulation," the notice says. "It also seeks comment on whether to remove ex ante pricing regulation from these carriers’ higher speed BDS offerings and on whether further regulatory relief is warranted for these carriers’ lower-speed circuit-based BDS in areas deemed competitive."
CenturyLink was downgraded to underperform by an analyst who said demand for some services could fall amid capital expenditure needs and rising competition. "At 25% of revenue, consumer is still a sizeable part of the business and is in decline," Macquarie's Amy Yong wrote investors Wednesday. "With video de-emphasized but management committed to the segment, broadband is now the most important part of the bundle. Competition is rising, with AT&T’s fiber build and cable operators like Charter raising base speeds to 200Mbps vs CenturyLink’s at 12Mbps." The telco declined to comment.
Universal Service Administrative Co. signed a three-year contract with Conduent to determine Lifeline eligibility across the U.S., Conduent announced Tuesday. As third-party administrator for the national Lifeline eligibility verification service, Conduent will make determinations for applicants whose eligibility can’t be determined through USAC’s automated national verifier process, it said. Conduent plans a service center to answer general inquiries from the public and the company will work closely with telecom carriers that provide Lifeline services, it said.
CenturyLink wants the FCC to declare that traffic ending or starting with an over-the-top VoIP customer whose provider partners with a LEC to exchange traffic with the public switched telephone network can collect end office local switching access reciprocal compensation. Declaring such when the LEC and/or VoIP partner do things like call initiation or termination would “terminate a controversy or remove uncertainty,” said the company which described itself as a CLEC with such partnerships and also an interexchange carrier getting access reciprocal compensation invoices. "CenturyLink seeks a definitive resolution so that all industry participants know what charges must be paid and when," it filed in docket 10-90, posted Monday. It asked the regulator to complete a 2016 remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in AT&T v. FCC. The commission declined to comment Tuesday.