From 2008 to 2014 Verizon spent more than $12 billion on its copper network, the company said in an ex parte filing Friday, in response to a letter that the Communications Workers of America (CWA) sent on Oct. 9 (see 1510130033) that attempted to "cast Verizon as failing to invest and maintain its network." The $200 million figure that CWA continues to use and that Verizon used in a July letter to the FCC reflected "a small subset" of what the company said it spends to maintain, repair, rehabilitate, restore and supplement its copper plant, the filing said. The $200 million reflected spending only in one category of capital investment, Verizon said. Verizon said the company's total 2008-14 expenditure on its wireline network was $50 billion. "We are taking reasonable steps to ensure we maintain the quality of service we provide to all of our customers, including those served by copper." CWA didn't comment.

North Carolina broadband leaders should find ways to attract companies to cities in need of better service to avoid challenging the state's restrictive laws such as happened in the city of Wilson before the FCC stepped in (see 1505150043), said Marc Hoit, North Carolina State University chief information officer. That point was the main focus of a discussion about the future of broadband at a panel held in North Carolina by MCNC, which operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network. The panelists offered recommendations on how to provide cities and regions with tools and resources that attract broadband investments, Hoit said. Panelists included Blair Levin, Brookings Institute fellow; Glenn Ricart, founder and chief technology officer of U.S. Ignite; and Laura Spining, NTIA's director of broadband infrastructure.

Sprint lost a bid in the New York Court of Appeals to get a case dismissed that charges the company with failing to collect more than $100 million in taxes from customers in New York, said the court's decision in New York v. Sprint Nextel Corp., New York State Court of Appeals case No. 127. The New York Attorney General originally denied Sprint's attempt to get the case dismissed. The case seeks to recoup three times the $100 million in taxes that Sprint owes New York state and local governments since 2005, plus penalties, the AG's office said in its release in 2013. Tuesday's decision leaves Sprint open to a lawsuit from the state. Sprint "unbundled a part of the fixed monthly charge that it attributed to intrastate mobile voice services and did not collect taxes on the portion that it attributed to interstate and international calls," the decision said. Sprint is disappointed in the court's decision and is "reviewing the opinion and considering our legal options," a spokesman said.

The FCC should accept the Regional Planning Committee's reserve channel and spectrum re-allotments and reservations, the Virginia Department of State Police said in comments in docket 02-378.

Ting plans to build out a symmetrical gigabit network in Holly Springs, North Carolina, the company said in a news release. Ting previously built in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Westminster, Maryland. The company said Wednesday that it will start surveying residents about demand for the service this quarter, and the results of that survey will guide construction, which could start as early as 2016.

The FCC should add broadband to its Lifeline program to augment the current program so low-income families can afford Internet services, said the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) in comments Monday in docket 11-42. The program should require Internet providers have an affordable, unbundled option that costs about $10 per month, said CETF. The program shouldn't force people to choose between phone and Internet service, it said. There should also be a streamlined process for third-party verification of eligibility, said CETF. It asked the FCC to encourage states to have their own Lifeline program to supplement the national one.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit in federal court against Charter Communications for violating federal and state telemarketing and no-call laws, Koster's office said in a news release Monday. The AG’s office has received 350 complaints about Charter’s telemarketers, with some consumers receiving daily calls from the company, and some getting up to three calls a day, it said. A Charter spokesman said it's not the company's policy to make marketing calls to people on the Do Not Call list and if calls were made, "it was an error and will be fixed."

As of March 31, 17 projects remained in active status and 263 had been completed since the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program's (BTOP) inception, program officials said in a quarterly status report, released Friday and dated "July 2015." The program's grant recipients exceeded FY 2015 subscriber and community anchor institute goals and were making progress toward the miles goal, the report said. BTOP grant recipients deployed or upgraded 673 network miles, connected 101 community anchor institutions, and generated 671,585 new subscribers, the report said. In March, NTIA added the last set of data collected from the State Broadband Initiative (SBI) and found that the country met the president's goal of making sure 98 percent of the U.S. has access to wireless. The data also showed that 85 percent of the country had access to wired broadband at the FCC new benchmark level of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps. As of March 31, five SBI grant recipients were still active, the report said. Data in the progress report is from January through March 2015.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster (D) reached a $575,000 settlement in a lawsuit against Farmers Insurance Exchange for violating state telemarketing and no-call laws, said a release from Koster's office. The settlement requires Farmers to create policies that will prevent future no-call violations, including agent training and annual audits of a sample of the company’s agents, the release said. The settlement will be the largest paid by a telemarketer for Missouri no-call and telemarketing violations, and will be used to educate consumers about the laws and to pay for the cost of the lawsuit, the release said. A Farmers spokesman said the company didn't think it "infringed on" any state regulations, it thinks the settlement "enables us to move forward with an outcome that is the best course of action for everyone involved."

The California Public Utilities Commission's request for an FCC waiver to be able to use government-issued identifications other than the last four digits of Social Security numbers to verify eligibility for the Lifeline program was the subject of a recent lobbying meeting with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, NARUC said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. It said that California allows residents without a Social Security number to acquire driver's licenses, so some may have government-issued identification but not the required SSN.