NTCA supports the petition by South Park Telephone Co. for a waiver of the $250-per-line-per-month high cost USF support limit, and of the regression analysis-based caps on high cost loop support (http://xrl.us/bn932b). South Park’s petition sets forth a “compelling” set of circumstances, NTCA said: The telco “offers service to 166 consumers (or 0.28 consumers per square mile) across hundreds of miles of high-cost areas surrounding a town of 900 people that is approximately two hours from Denver and one hour from Colorado Springs.” The telco shows it cannot reasonably anticipate to “make up” lost support through other means, such as new price increases that could result in “unreasonably incomparable rates,” NTCA said. “Strict application” of the rules “would harm consumers in its area and leave the company with little recourse to avoid or minimize that end-user impact.” NTCA has sued the FCC over what it calls its “flawed” regression analysis model, asking the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the rules (CD July 2 p12).

The National Broadband Map, riding on hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and a month shy of two years old, still struggles with the occasional inaccuracy, some contractors who helped assemble it told us. Many stakeholders said the process is becoming more accurate. They said accuracy will become more significant as the FCC ties large USF subsidies to the map’s data. NTIA and the FCC collaboratively run the map, which launched in February 2011 and is updated every six months, said its description (http://xrl.us/bn8xc6).

The FCC must address “statistical and data-related shortcomings” of the regression analysis-based caps on USF support, NTCA told aides to Commissioners Robert McDowell, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel on Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bn9w6k). Broader concerns exist about the “persistent lack of transparency, accuracy, and predictability” of the capping mechanisms, NTCA said. Before applying additional constraints on USF support, the commission must first study the effect of current reforms on end user rates, service quality, broadband adoption, state universal funds, and the advancement of broadband-capable network deployment and sustainable ongoing operations by carriers of last resort, NTCA said.

The Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) supports a telco’s petition for waiver of the monthly cap on total federal USF support, and the quantile regression model benchmarks adopted by the FCC Wireline Bureau (http://xrl.us/bn9tci). In comments Monday, WTA said the “unique circumstances” facing the telco, South Park, give its rural Colorado customers a “significant risk of losing access” to its network of broadband and voice services. Because the “very sparsely-populated rural area” has “no comparable service or coverage from alternative providers of voice or broadband,” the FCC should grant South Park’s petition, WTA said.

LAS VEGAS -- USTelecom President Walter McCormick said a quick tour of the massive floor at the Consumer Electronics Show will demonstrate to anyone who pays attention why the FCC should act on the group’s December petition for declaratory ruling asking the agency to determine that ILECs should no longer be considered dominant in providing switched access services. Others on a panel chaired by McCormick expressed hope that the FCC’s Technology Transitions Policy Task Force will mean the FCC becomes better able to keep up with the speed of technological change.

The data roaming decision reaffirms the FCC’s Title III authority to pass net neutrality rules, the commission told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in its surreply brief late Friday (http://xrl.us/bn9sts). That December decision, Cellco Partnership v. FCC, also supports the agency’s position that its net neutrality order doesn’t impose common carriage requirements, it said. Verizon had argued last month that the Cellco decision -- which upheld the rule requiring carriers to offer roaming agreements on “commercially reasonable” terms -- supported its position that net neutrality rules impose “per se common carriage” obligations on broadband providers (CD Dec 26 p1).

Sprint Nextel and AT&T oppose a joint proposal put forward in the New York Public Service Commission’s proceeding on its state USF and intrastate access charges. The two major telcos have argued for months that intrastate access issues should be resolved in litigation, not as part of a multiparty negotiation. “There should be no further delays in reforming New York intrastate originating access rates,” Sprint said Friday in its comments to the PSC (http://xrl.us/bn9sqr), calling Verizon’s current proposal, introduced in November and attracting wide support, “an effort to delay reform further.” Parties who signed on to the November joint proposal include PSC staff, the New York State Department of State Utilities Intervention Unit, the Cable Telecom Association of New York, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Frontier, Level 3, a group of smaller ILECs, Time Warner Cable, tw telecom and Windstream.

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn for another five-year term through July 1, 2017. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski commended the Senate action in a news release, saying she’s a “strong advocate in seeking to extend the benefits of broadband to all Americans.” There’s speculation that Clyburn could be in line to become acting FCC Chairman if Genachowski decides to leave the commission, as is expected by many (CD Nov 8 p1). Commissioner Robert McDowell separately hailed Clyburn’s reappointment and touted her willingness to seek bipartisan agreement on issues like USF reform. The Senate also confirmed the appointment of FTC nominee Joshua Wright, an economist and law professor at George Mason University and former FTC Scholar in Residence.

JSI Capital Advisors encouraged the FCC to reformulate its quantile regression analysis, make “fair and well-reasoned decisions” on outstanding USF waivers, bring the RLEC Connect America Fund and Remote Areas Fund to fruition, and hold a “carefully executed” rulemaking proceeding on the transition to all-IP networks. “All could potentially be white knights for RLECs in 2013, but such regulatory miracles will require consistent, ingenious, and sensible input from the RLEC industry,” the telecom analysts said in a research note (http://xrl.us/bn8wyy). JSI also called the FCC’s current approach to intercarrier compensation reform flawed: “Carriers that invest in critical infrastructure and provide vital telecommunications services in rural areas of the nation must be able to depend on a more equitable regulatory process than the one we are now seeing from the FCC."

State telecommunications associations in New York and Maine oppose Time Warner Cable’s Nov. 13 FCC petition seeking limited ETC classification and Lifeline participation, they told the FCC in filings posted this week. Time Warner Cable (TWC) wants to be categorized as an eligible telecom carrier for limited purposes of receiving Lifeline funds but hopes to avoid any redefinition of its service areas and doesn’t want other USF support. “Forbearance [of certain FCC rules associated with ETCs] would enable TWC to introduce a competitive alternative that better responds to the particular needs of low-income consumers,” it said in its petition (http://xrl.us/bn8w5e). The Wireline Bureau opened the petition for comment in a Nov. 30 notice (http://xrl.us/bn8wzg), with comments due Monday and reply comments due Jan. 14.