The FCC Wireline Bureau waived the July 1 deadline for eligible telecom carriers to certify and submit their Form 481 annual reports, pending OMB approval of "modifications to the associated information collection," said a public notice Friday in docket 10-90. The bureau said ETCs can still begin the filing process now, as the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s one portal opened Friday.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau dismissed in part Verizon's petition for reconsideration on procedural grounds and granted in part a request for clarification of a 2020 order saying Potomac Edison charged the telco "unjust and unreasonable" pole attachment rates, said an order Thursday in docket 19-355 (see 2012280034). Verizon's petition doesn't identify "any new, different, or distinct argument on this issue," the bureau said. It also denied the telco's petition on the merits, citing "no valid basis to delete the findings requested in the petition." The bureau granted Verizon's request for clarification that its previous order "only requires the parties to modify the [joint use agreement] to conform with the rulings in the order and does not require the parties to otherwise negotiate a completely new agreement." The bureau also granted in part and denied in part Potomac Edison's petition for reconsideration. The bureau partially granted its request to change the rate of return input to apply a 9.68% rate "from the beginning of the damages period through the end of 2018," a 7.7% rate for 2019, and a 7.15% rate from 2020 forward. It denied Potomac Edison's challenge of the appurtenance factor finding as "procedurally defective" and on the merits, saying the company "failed to explain its claim to have rebutted the 85% presumption." The bureau also rejected Potomac Edison's challenge to the space-occupied input and the average number of attachers in the rate formula. Verizon and Potomac Edison didn't comment.

OMB approved for three years information collection for the FCC's third mandatory data collection on inmate calling services, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register (see 2203220031). Responses are due by June 30.

USTelecom, AT&T, Lumen and Verizon asked FCC Wireline Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to require every provider to "enhance its existing robocall mitigation database ... rather than adopt prescriptive, gateway provider-specific mandates," in a meeting Monday, said an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 17-59 (see 2201110045). "[M]andating blocking obligations remove providers' flexibility in their blocking approaches," they said, noting the FCC could "implement a robocall mitigation program and provide a certification in the RMD" regardless of a provider's Stir/Shaken implementation status. USTelecom and the ISPs said the FCC's proposed requirement that gateway providers sign unauthenticated traffic "would be exorbitantly costly for some providers." The FCC should "focus any such requirement" on gateway providers "akin to what the agency did with shortening the small provider Stir/Shaken extension," they said.

ACA Connects backed USTelecom's request for a 60-day extension of the April 15 deadline for affordable connectivity program providers to comply with the non-usage tracking rule, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and staff, said an ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 21-450 (see 2203230041). The group said its members face similar challenges in meeting the deadline. ACA Connects also asked the FCC to allow fixed broadband providers to follow the agency's 2011 enforcement guidance on reporting actual speeds and latency in the forthcoming consumer broadband labels.

The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by April 5 on AT&T's request for an additional 120 days beyond the April 15 deadline to apply the affordable connectivity program benefit to its AT&T Mobility and New Cingular Wireless postpaid mobile broadband plans, said a public notice Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2202110055).

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector is reviewing Mesa Telecoms’ proposed buy of Dobson Fiber, DOJ told the FCC in a letter posted Monday in docket 22-110. Mesa is controlled by iCon Infrastructure Management, a U.K.-based infrastructure investor, said a March 4 filing. The FCC “will be notified when the Chair has determined that responses to the Committee’s initial request for information are complete and the 120-day initial review period can begin,” DOJ said.

More than $313 million in FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I support is ready to be authorized, said an FCC news release Friday (see 2203100066). The funding will support more than 130,000 locations in 19 states. Central Telephone Company of Virginia, CenturyLink (now Lumen), CenturyTel, OzarksGo, Qwest, South Central Connect and Tri-County Electric Coop were among the winning bidders ready to be authorized. They have until April 8 at 6 p.m. EDT to submit letters of credit and bankruptcy code opinion letters, said a public notice in docket 19-126. The Wireline Bureau also denied RHMD's request to waive the deadline to obtain eligible telecom carrier designation to receive support, said an order Friday. The company "failed to present information that justifiably explains why its request for ETC designation was filed so late or why it remains pending" at the Georgia Public Service Commission, the order said. The Fiber Broadband Association "commends the [FCC] for continuing to carefully scrutinize [RDOF] long form applications and for approving fiber and well-designed broadband projects," said CEO Gary Bolton. The FCC should "continue to carefully scrutinize non-fiber projects, as this precious funding is desperately needed to connect communities with reliable and future-proof broadband service now and into the future," Bolton said.

Aureon told the FCC it submitted "confidential information" on its "network costs and cost study," in an ex parte letter posted Thursday in docket 18-60. Commissioners approved an order in February requiring Aureon to submit the information to the Wireline Bureau to calculate refunds to its customers (see 2202180054).

The FCC Wireline Bureau granted in part the Georgia Department of Public Health and ENA Healthcare Services' appeal of the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s decision to recover funding for FY 2015 and FY 2016 through the rural healthcare program, and its denial of funding for the state's Southeast Health District during FY 2017 and FY 2018, said an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The bureau remanded certain funding requests during FY 2017 to USAC and directed it to "calculate the funding commitment amounts" for these requests "using the documented urban rate" that the Southeast Health District had in its appeal. The bureau also granted a limited waiver of the program's competitive bidding rules. It disagreed that the Southeast Health District's failure to submit bid copies was a "minor clerical error" but granted the limited waiver because the health district took "careful steps" in "apparent good faith compliance" with competitive bidding requirements. It also cited USAC's recommendation that the health district file two forms "to circumvent USAC's internal application filing limitations in a manner to permit the timely rollout of service." The bureau remanded the appealed funding requests to USAC to determine whether the competitive bidding documentation complied with commission rules.