T-Mobile asked the FCC to approve its revised proposal to offer Lifeline service in seven states and the District of Columbia under the USF program. The request came in a meeting with Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett and other bureau officials. “T-Mobile has been a strong advocate of reform of the Lifeline program to modernize it and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and it has taken steps to ensure that only qualified customers participate in the program,” the carrier said in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bnbkw6). “T-Mobile’s Lifeline application process conforms to the new statutory and regulatory requirements, and we have customer care representatives dedicated to properly processing Lifeline applications and to explaining to customers what they are certifying to when applying for Lifeline service.” T-Mobile also answered a question posed by staff -- whether its sales reps mention the brand names of other Lifeline providers, the filing said. “While our customer care representatives do not name other Lifeline programs by name, they do explain to customers that Lifeline is a government benefit, that they must be eligible in order to receive the benefit, and that they are prohibited from receiving more than one benefit at a time from the program."

The FCC should allow rural rate-of-return regulated ILECs to submit information on a standardized form instead of filing audited annual reports, if those ILECs do not already obtain audit reports in the ordinary course of business, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association told Commissioner Ajit Pai’s chief of staff Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bnbks2). The rural ILECs should also be able to submit financial data under seal, and pursuant to a protective order, NTCA said. NTCA also raised concerns regarding getting waivers from the new USF rules, calling the process “onerous” and time-consuming.

The proposed 3Q 2012 USF contribution factor is 15.7 percent, said an FCC public notice released Monday (http://xrl.us/bnbhvy). That’s a decrease from the 2Q contribution factor of 17.4 percent, and the 1Q factor of 17.9 percent (CD March 14 p11).

Lawmakers hammered the FCC over the costs and burdens that telecom carriers for tribal communities face when seeking waivers to the commission’s USF reforms. The barrage came at a hearing held Friday by the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs. Subcommittee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, was particularly critical of the commission’s high-cost order, which he said will lead to the eventual demise of the carriers that serve rural and tribal America. The FCC said that they did not agree with Young’s “characterization."

The FCC Media Bureau adopted a consent decree with the University of San Francisco and Classical Public Radio Network in San Francisco concerning the proposed assignment of the license for KUSF(FM) San Francisco from USF to CPRN. The decree stipulates that the organizations violated rules that prohibit noncommercial educational stations from selling program time for a profit, the bureau said in an order (http://xrl.us/bna7yt). Both organizations will collectively make a $50,000 voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury, it said. The bureau’s investigation into the violations is terminated, it said. The entities violated the rules in connection with a public service operating agreement, bureau Chief Bill Lake said in a statement (http://xrl.us/bna7z2). USF agreed to allow the programmer “to provide substantially all of the programming for the station in return for a monthly payment that exceeded the station’s expenses,” he said. “I hope our action in this case will serve as a reminder of the need for complete accuracy in all application filings."

Cox Communications opposed a telco’s USF waiver request. Accipiter Communications’ FCC petition (CD June 4 p5) “relies heavily on its inaccurate account of the facts involving” the telco’s “efforts to provide service in Vistancia, a subdivision in Peoria,” Ariz., which Cox serves, the cable operator said. “Accipiter also fails to meet the requirements for a waiver or to demonstrate that a taking will occur unless a waiver is granted.” Cox said in a filing posted Wednesday to docket 10-90 (http://xrl.us/bna5dz) that it’s “been subject to multiple attacks by Accipiter in Commission proceedings, starting in late 2010."

Senate Indian Affairs Committee members urged FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to consider how proposed reforms of the Universal Service Fund could negatively affect rural and native communities, during a hearing Thursday. In particular, lawmakers took issue with the hurdles and cost of the FCC’s waiver process for telecommunications companies that cannot adjust to the USF reforms.

The FCC Wireline Bureau asked Albert Hee, CEO of Sandwich Isles, a carrier in Honolulu, a battery of questions about its businesses practices, in a letter sent Wednesday. The carrier gets USF support of as much as $13,000 per line. The carrier asked for a waiver of new FCC rules limiting high-cost support to $250 per line per month. An “overwhelming majority of Sandwich Isles’ expenses -- many millions of dollars -- consist of significant payments to a number of affiliated companies” and many of them are owned by Hee, or family members, the letter notes. In its request seeking a waiver, “Sandwich Isles has failed to be forthcoming regarding its affiliates, the finances of these affiliates” and other financial matters, the FCC said. The letter was released on the eve of a hearing by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on USF reform, at which Hee is expected to testify. “We strongly disagree with the FCC’s categorization of Sandwich Isles’ responses as not being forthcoming,” said Rick Joyce, a lawyer at Venable who represents the carrier. “We have responded to every single question the FCC has presented and have repeatedly invited the FCC to meet with the owners, lawyers and accountants to answer any questions they might have."

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a draft fourth USF and intercarrier compensation reconsideration order, addressing how waivers will be handled by the agency. The standard set in the original order was more focused on consumer issues and loss of voice service, a commission official said. The order adjusts the standard to take broadband into account, since broadband was the major focus of October’s landmark USF/intercarrier comp reform order. The Wireline Bureau also plans to issue in the next few days an order providing some relief for one of the five rate-of-return carriers that have sought a waiver of the $3,000 annual per-line support limit imposed by the October order, the official said. The bureau is likely to grant relief to one or two of the other waiver applicants as well, the official said.

U.S. network operators’ privacy practices generally work, and the FCC has a role to play on the issue, Chairman Julius Genachowski said. Both the FCC and the FTC have “a very important role,” one that’s “in many respects” complementary, he said in a Q-and-A Tuesday at an FCBA luncheon. “In other respects they overlap,” Genachowski said of the agencies’ privacy roles, with the FCC focused on networks and “the FTC is more focused on apps.” He again said an update of the 1996 Telecom Act may be a good idea.