Local number portability administrator transition parties "are in active negotiations" seeking agreement on an LNPA contingency rollback plan, said Greg Chiasson, a principal at PwC, transition oversight manager for North American Portability Management. He was speaking Wednesday on a PwC webcast heading into Sunday's initial, Southeast region cutover from incumbent Neustar to incoming LNPA iconectiv (see 1804020051). NAPM, which the FCC charged with overseeing the transition, and its large carrier members say the chance of a "catastrophic failure" is very low and have pushed for a manual, industry-led contingency rollback to Neustar if a breakdown occurs, but the incumbent says new system testing has been inadequate and prefers an automated contingency rollback. Some smaller providers also are concerned about being required to manually resubmit porting requests to Neustar's number portability administration center (NPAC) if iconectiv's system fails. Chiasson said "all mandatory industry testing is complete" and voluntary testing continues. He said "mechanized users" have verified connectivity to both iconectiv NPACs, eliminating one risk heading into the regional cutover. Data transfer from Neustar's NPAC to iconectiv is in progress and on track to be completed by Sunday, 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.
Modified FCC rules on rural telco consumer broadband-only loop (CBOL) service costs take effect May 3, after publication in Tuesday's Federal Register. A USF and intercarrier compensation order reconsidering access recovery charge treatment and a surrogate cost methodology for rate-of-return CBOLs was released Feb. 16 (see 1802200032).
The FCC should waive a $400 million rural health care USF program cap and fully fund qualified applications, said the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Tuesday, noting it filed an emergency petition in docket 17-310. Recent RHC program cuts of more than 15 percent to individual health-care providers and 25 percent to consortia (see 1803160040) "will severely degrade the quality of healthcare in rural America," SHLB said. “Health care providers from Alaska to New England will face significant financial hardship from this unexpected funding decrease, potentially resulting in downgraded telehealth services, staff layoffs, or even bankruptcy,” said Executive Director John Windhausen. “There is no way that applicants could have predicted the size of the funding cutbacks this year, which have no precedent in the 20-year history of the program.” An FCC spokesman had no immediate comment but noted a December NPRM launched a rulemaking on possible RHC program changes.
The local number portability administrator transition is on track, but risks remain, including continued disagreement over a contingency rollback plan to incumbent Neustar, said North American Portability Management in its monthly report posted Monday in FCC docket 09-109. "Although one or more transition milestone dates may be adjusted as appropriate to mitigate risk, the previously published dates remain accurate," and the "transition is currently on track to meet" a May 25 "Final Acceptance Date" of iconectiv as the new LNPA, said NAPM. Disagreement "regarding the incumbent LNPA's obligation to resume [number portability administration center] operations in the event of an industry-led rollback remains a point of concern," said the report, noting NAPM "continues efforts to reach agreement among all parties." An initial regional cutover to iconectiv's system is scheduled for Sunday. "On March 18, a dry run of the Southeast Region data migration was successfully conducted to validate data transfer, data validation, and data loading activities as well as the range of internal and external communications and governance activities," the report said. NAPM and industry backers say the chance of a "catastrophic failure" in iconectiv's system is extremely small, and a manual contingency rollback plan can address any problems that arise, but Neustar is more skeptical and prefers an automated solution (see 1803130047 and 1803280038). Neustar and iconectiv didn't comment.
The FCC extended by 30 days until April 30 the deadline for video relay service providers to submit data to the telecom relay services user registration database (TRS-URD). In a Friday order in docket 10-51, the FCC said it wants to give more time “to collect user data and consent from those VRS users who have not consented to submission of their information to the TRS-URD.”
Verizon plans to replace copper with fiber in several New York wire centers including in parts of New York City -- among them Long Island City, Forest Hills and Williamsburg neighborhoods -- the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a copper retirement notice Thursday in docket 18-88. Verizon plans to make the change on or after Sept. 25, it said. AT&T plans to remove and replace copper with fiber in San Antonio in September or later, the bureau said in another notice in docket 18-87.
The FCC invited input on National Exchange Carrier Association proposals for modifying average schedule formulas of rural telcos. Comments are due April 26 and replies May 11 on "proposed revisions to the currently effective common line and special access average schedule formulas (the 2017 interim revisions), and to the formulas proposed to be effective July 1, 2018 (the 2018 further modifications)," said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 16-400. "NECA proposes that the 2017 interim revisions be effective from January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018, and that the 2018 further modifications be effective July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019."
Windstream said it acquired MASS Communications, a privately held telecom network management company, for $37.5 million in cash, a release said Tuesday. It said MASS "serves a broad range of small to mid-sized global enterprises in the financial, legal, healthcare, technology, education and government sectors, providing custom engineered voice, data and networking solutions."
An FCC draft order on an Alaska Communications Systems targeted request on the Connect America Fund was sent to commissioners March 19, said the agency's circulation list updated Friday. The draft in docket 10-90 addresses an ACS petition to reconsider an Oct. 31, 2016, order setting CAF Phase II voice and broadband service obligations for the carrier, an FCC spokesman emailed Monday. That petition sought to revisit one aspect of the order. To receive $20 million in annual "frozen" USF subsidy support over 10 years, ACS was "required to offer voice and broadband service at the same speed, latency, usage and pricing metrics as established for Phase II model-based carriers to at least 31,571 locations, primarily in census blocks identified as high-cost that are unserved by unsubsidized competitors, with limited exceptions," said the 2016 order (see 1610310056). "The Commission allows up to 2,714 of those locations to be in census blocks that are deemed 'low-cost' under the Connect America Model ... provided such census blocks are adjacent to high-cost census blocks, and provided Alaska Communications certifies that the selected locations themselves are actually 'high-cost," said the ACS petition. "Alaska Communications objects to none of these conditions, but seeks reconsideration only of the meaning of 'high-cost' in this context."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai suggested Pennsylvania provide a match of Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction of subsidies for fixed broadband and voice services beginning July 24. "If your state did this, such funds would increase the incentive for providers to invest in Pennsylvania and bring new service to those without -- likely increasing the quality of service as well as the federal funding for rural parts of the state," he said, in an exchange posted Friday in docket 18-5 with Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and other members of the state's congressional delegation. The lawmakers asked the FCC Jan. 25 to reverse a then-pending denial of a Pennsylvania petition for CAF II funding help. "Because the petition before the Commission did not explain why such matching efforts were insufficient to accomplish the Commonwealth's goals given our interest in maximizing the effectiveness of our universal service dollars for all Americans, the Commission denied the request in January," Pai wrote March 14. He noted the FCC also is looking at a subsequent "Remote Areas Fund" auction for areas still without high-speed broadband, giving Pennsylvania another opportunity.