The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment on NDS Technologies' request to transfer control of Baltimore-Washington Telephone to Voxology Group by Dec. 31, replies Jan. 7 in docket 20-415.

The FCC Wireline Bureau extended replies to Jan. 15 for a Further NPRM on inmate calling services, a docket 12-375 order said Thursday (see 2011250048). The Wright Petitioners, Prison Policy Initiative, Public Knowledge, the Office of Communication at the United Church of Christ and Worth Rises filed a petition for the extension, citing limited resources amid the pandemic and holidays. The deadline had been Dec. 22.

Rate-of-return carriers may include their actual rates for consumer broadband-only lines for the first three months of 2019 instead of revenue based on the maximum rate, the FCC Wireline Bureau ordered Wednesday. Forms are due Dec. 31.

Increased access to broadband is associated with higher farm productivity, the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics reported Tuesday. The working paper said an increase in connectivity to 25/3 Mbps results in higher crop yields, and a 1% increase in such connections per 1,000 households is associated with a 3.6% increase in corn yields. Access to the internet also allows farmers to boost profitability, lower supply costs and gain access to credit, the report said.

Alaska Communications Systems got a takeover bid of $325 million. If ACS agrees to the new proposal, it will be required to pay a $6.8 million fee to Macquarie Capital to terminate their deal, whose price recently was increased (see 2012100010).

The FCC should prioritize utility pole replacement complaints to speed up broadband deployment and clarify what constitutes "proportionate and equitable" costs, Incompas told the Wireline Bureau, Chairman Ajit Pai, and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, an ex parte letter said Tuesday. NCTA petitioned the FCC in July for an expedited declaratory ruling on pole attachments (see 2007170023).

The FCC Wireline Bureau said Monday it extended the gift rule waiver deadline to June 30 for E-rate and Rural Health Care program participants. The original deadline of Sept. 30, 2020, was previously extended to the end of this year (see 2009030063).

CenturyLink agreed to pay $500,000 over a December 2018 multistate outage that lasted nearly 37 hours and failed to deliver 11 911 calls in Arizona, the FCC Enforcement Bureau announced Monday (see 2002060026).

E-rate applicants and service providers may submit an invoice up to 120 days after the Universal Service Administrative Co. issues a letter approving a post-commitment request or granting an appeal of a previously denied or reduced funding request, said a new order by the FCC Wireline Bureau. The order in Friday's Daily Digest also allows relief to be requested regardless of whether applicants or providers were unable to file an invoice while awaiting a post-commitment decision and file a waiver request. It also waived the existing invoice rule for program participants that were unable to submit an invoice while awaiting a post-commitment decision and filed a pending request for a waiver during FY 2016. This is "the right thing to do right now," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. She also expressed disappointment the commission didn't take more action.

InnoCaption received conditional certification to provide IP captioned telephone service using only automatic speech recognition, said the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in a news release Friday. InnoCaption joins MachineGenius and Clarity as the only three providers to receive such certification (see 2006040045).