The Wireline Bureau clarified that replies to opposition on Global Tel*Link's petition for reconsideration of the FCC's 2020 inmate calling services order are due Jan. 21, in a public notice Friday in docket 12-375 (see 2012030056).
New FCC rules on unbundling and resale requirements for unbundled network elements take effect Feb. 8, says Friday's Federal Register (see 2002060006).
New FCC rules on the Lifeline and Link Up take effect Feb. 8, says Thursday's Federal Register. The rules remove broadband from the list of services supported by Lifeline and preserve the commission's authority to fund broadband through the program, as part of acting on a court remand mostly upholding other net neutrality deregulation.
AT&T Florida and Florida Power & Light got until Jan. 15 to submit a joint statement on the FCC ruling in favor of AT&T's complaint it was being charged unreasonable pole attachment rates, said an FCC Enforcement Bureau order in Tuesday's Daily Digest (see 2005200057). Both parties sought an extension after failing to meet the extended Dec. 21 deadline. The 270-day review period was delayed 134 days because the statement will be filed beyond the Sept. 3 deadline established in the original order.
Alaska Communications Systems announced a $332 million sale to ATN International Monday, ending the agreement it originally had with Macquarie Capital and GCM Grosvenor (see 2012150033). The all-cash transaction is expected to close in Q2, and ACS said it paid the $6.8 million termination fee to Macquarie and GCM. The purchase will "allow us to enhance our expanded fiber network services and drive long-term value," said ACS CEO Bill Bishop.
Reject the National Lifeline Association's writ of mandamus, the FCC urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday regarding Lifeline minimum service standards in case No. 20-1460, saying the agency has "repeatedly responded to concerns that the formula it established in 2016 for calculating the minimum standards for Lifeline-funded mobile broadband services could threaten the affordability of those services" (see 2011300069). NaLA sought to block the commission from raising the standards and claimed the FCC failed to take meaningful action.
The FCC defended its rulemaking on interexchange carrier compensation rules and access stimulation in a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Great Lakes consolidated case 19-1233 (see 1911200061). Petitioners "engaged in and profited from access stimulation schemes" that the commission's rules now prohibit, the brief said. The FCC argued "substantial evidence" supports the new rules and alternate tests for access stimulation are reasonable.
Florida's Blue Stream Communications bought ITS Fiber and ITS Telecommunications, it said Wednesday in docket 20-256. The transaction expands Blue Stream's footprint in the state, the company said, announcing the deal. Terms weren't disclosed.
Reconsider "factual and legal errors" in finding that Potomac Edison charged Verizon unreasonably high rates (see 2011240037), Verizon urged the FCC. Verizon asked the commission to delete two findings saying the company is advantaged because it has guaranteed access to a subset of Potomac's utility poles under a joint use agreement and is allotted space on unused poles. Verizon also asked for clarification that rental rates be cost-based and that both parties "must conform their rate provision to the Commission's decision." Potomac also filed a petition for reconsideration, saying the FCC may have "overlooked" how it calculates its joint use attachment rates. The filings were in docket 19-355.
The FCC Wireline Bureau revised its rules on accelerating wireline broadband deployment, says Monday's Federal Register. The order redefines "technology transition" to exclude any change in service that "does not result in a discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service requiring Commission authorization," except in instances of copper retirement.