Mississippi Commissioners Seek FCC Audit of AT&T

All three Mississippi Public Service Commission members asked the FCC to audit AT&T on its use of more than $283 million in Connect America Fund support to expand broadband to 133,000 Mississippi locations. The FCC is looking into this, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “As part of our annual certification of” eligible telecom carriers, “evidence has been uncovered by our agency that leads to great concern surrounding the validity of AT&T Mississippi’s claims and the honesty of data submitted by them to the Universal Service Administrative Company’s High Cost Universal Broadband,” said a Tuesday letter signed by Chairman Dane Maxwell (R) and Commissioners Brandon Presley (D) and Brent Bailey (R). The PSC investigation found “concrete, specific examples” showing the company reported addresses as served when they aren't, said the commissioners, alleging AT&T has “actual knowledge” of the allegedly invalid submissions. AT&T responded last month to the PSC’s subpoena (see 2009180047). "The data we report as part of Phase II of the Connect America Fund is already subject to strict audit and compliance measures by the federal government," and the carrier is focused on deploying high-speed infrastructure across Mississippi, a company spokesperson emailed now.