Frontier Communications must spend $20 million over four years to upgrade internet speeds and infrastructure in North Carolina under a settlement with Attorney General Josh Stein (D), the state DOJ said Tuesday. The carrier also will pay $300,000 in restitution for North Carolina customers affected by slower speeds. North Carolina and other states joined the FTC suing Frontier in 2021 over slow speeds. The federal court in that case dismissed the state’s claims against Frontier while allowing the FTC’s case to proceed (see 2110040066). However, North Carolina continued to negotiate with Frontier to reach a settlement, the AG office said. “We’ve been hearing concerns from Frontier customers for years now, and I’m hopeful that these investments will lead to better service,” said Stein. Frontier didn’t comment.

State agencies advised rejecting Lumen objections to an administrative law judge’s recommendation that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission force the carrier to rehab its copper network to address reportedly widespread service quality problems. Lumen’s CenturyLink pushed back sharply earlier this month on the ALJ’s proposed findings and remedies (see 2404030012). Replying Friday in docket C-20-432, the Minnesota Office of Attorney General said, “The rosy picture of satisfied customers that CenturyLink presents is at odds with the evidence documenting the crackly reality wireline customers face.” The state Commerce Department agreed. “None of CenturyLink’s conclusory claims should cause the Commission to depart from the ALJ’s sound legal analysis,” rule interpretations and “findings that certain customers are not receiving adequate service and that certain facilities are failing to provide it.”

Microsoft applauded Nebraska lawmakers for passing a comprehensive privacy bill last week. “Microsoft is steadfast in our commitment to protect consumer privacy and work with policymakers at the state and federal level to advance robust privacy legislation,” a spokesperson emailed. Nebraska passing a Texas-style privacy bill drew concern Friday from Consumer Reports that the bill lacks teeth and doesn’t cover enough companies (see 2404120047). The bill still needs a signature from Gov. Jim Pillen (R) to become law.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) supported ending a five-year 911 audit by the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit. Kelly signed HB-2483, the governor’s office said Friday. The state legislature passed that bill and another to shake up state 911 administration earlier this month (see 2404020059).

Colorado appropriators supported bills on the future of the state's high-cost support mechanism (HCSM) at Friday committee meetings. The HCSM, which provides subsidies to a dozen rural telecom providers, is scheduled to sunset Sept. 1. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 for a bill (HB-1234) to prolong the fund indefinitely. It previously passed the House but will need another vote there to conform with Senate tweaks. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee voted 7-4 for HB-1336, which transfers authority for awarding grant money from the HCSM to the state broadband office. A broadband deployment board in the governor's IT office currently distributes the money. Senate appropriators also voted 7-1 for a social media bill, HB-1136. The House previously passed the bill, which would require the state’s education department to create elementary and secondary school curricula on social media’s mental health issues (see 2403120065). In addition, it would require social media platforms to display pop-up warnings when users younger than 18 spend more than one hour on a platform during a 24-hour period and when they are active on social media between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Illinois counties could lease or license fiber and other broadband infrastructure for delivery of high-speed internet under a bill the state's Senate approved unanimously Friday. After Senate passage, the bill (SB-3173) arrived in the House. Senators voted 59-0 for an amended bill that would allow counties to lease to public or private entities so long as they do so “on a nondiscriminatory, nonexclusive, and competitively neutral basis” and the county complies with safety codes and all other state and federal laws. The bill's original version would have let counties and municipalities sell local broadband service as a retail provider by obtaining a telecom carrier certificate from the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Louisiana could use unspent cash from a broadband grant program for non-internet infrastructure. The state House voted 100-0 Thursday to pass HB-617, which would permit unobligated funds from the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program for “nonbroadband infrastructure project uses.” Projects would need to satisfy the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund. The bill will go to the Senate.

Create a state version of the affordable connectivity program (ACP) with New York ConnectAll broadband funding helping low-income residents pay for wired broadband, the Cable & Telecommunications Association of New York (CTANY) suggested Thursday. The New York Public Service Commission received comments from the association, which includes Altice and Charter Communications, in docket 22-M-0313. "If ACP is eventually extended by Congress, the state program can complement the federal benefit, but if it is not extended, the subsidy can be an important safety net to continue connectivity for the over one million households who ... rely on ACP in the state,” CTANY said.

The California Public Utilities Commission plans to propose a decision in Q2 2025 on possible updates to the state’s deaf and disabled telecommunications program, Commissioner Darcie Houck said in a scoping memo Wednesday in docket R.23-11-001. The CPUC will consider whether and how it should modify program rules “in light of the changing communications landscape and participants' needs,” among other issues, it said. The agency will hold hearings and workshops from April to July and will collect more comments in Q4 this year, the memo said.

An Alaska effort to implement phone deregulation is back on. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska will soon seek comments on draft rules to implement SB-83, the state’s 2019 telecom deregulation law, commissioners decided 4-0 at their Wednesday meeting. The Alaska Department of Law in September disapproved rules that the RCA previously OK'd and suggested draft regulations that might cure the defects. In October, Alaska commissioners agreed to reboot the proceeding, directing staff to work with the law department to revise the draft (see 2310110046). On March 28 this year, the RCA received approval from the department to issue revised proposed rules for a 45-day comment period, said a Monday staff memo including the draft regulations. RCA staff said it's "prepared to make final arrangements” by the end of this week to close previous docket R-19-002 and start fresh in docket R-24-001. Prior to voting, Commissioner Bob Pickett said, "Let's get this thing moving."