Allowing more foreign investment in Consolidated Communications would mean more financial support for its multiyear investment program to deploy fiber to the home to as many as 1.4 million locations and accelerate its commercial fiber build, said its FCC International Bureau petition for declaratory ruling Monday for foreign investment higher than the 25% benchmark in the Communications Act. Consolidated said it and Searchlight Capital Partners worked out a $425 million deal that would mean Searchlight investment funds owning 35% of Consolidated’s common voting stock and up to about 62.4% of its equity, with Searchlight's control ultimately being in a Cayman Island partnership run by a Canadian and a German.
Comments are due Nov. 23, replies Dec. 22, on the interstate inmate calling services Further NPRM approved 5-0 in August (see 2008060053), said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Friday. Proposals in the FNPRM include lower rates on collect calls.
New rules on rates for interstate inmate calling services, approved by FCC commissioners 5-0 in August (see 2008060053), take effect Nov. 23, says a Friday Federal Register notice. A second notice sets comment deadlines on an accompanying Further NPRM -- Nov. 23 for initial comments, Dec. 22 for replies, in docket 12-375.
Any carrier wanting to end its legacy time division multiplexed voice service to a community or part of a community when it's the last retail provider of that service is subject to FCC technology transition discontinuance rules, including the requirements to receive streamlined treatment of its discontinuance application, said a Wireline Bureau declaratory ruling Tuesday. It said since the FCC updated its TDM discontinuance rules in 2018 (see 1806070021), some CLECs have mistakenly believed that the technology transition discontinuance rules don't apply when trying to end TDM voice services.
The inmate calling services database that FCC staff developed for use in the ICS proceeding is available subject to a protective order, says Tuesday’s Federal Register. Commissioners approved 5-0 an order on remand and a Further NPRM on ICS rates in August (see 2008060053).
Current U.S. broadband networks are "nowhere near ready for self-driving vehicles, drone delivery and telemedicine," Incompas CEO Chip Pickering blogged Friday, supporting the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-7302). Along with endorsing the $100 billion in spending, Incompas made policy suggestions. It suggested Congress amend Section 224 of the Communications Act to make clear that broadband-only providers have equal rights as cable operators and carriers, including equal rights to utility poles, and there be streamlined state and local approval processes. Future federal money should target building broadband networks where infrastructure is lacking and should be coordinated across federal agencies, it said. The group urged improved FCC broadband mapping.
The FCC Wireline Bureau provided guidance on new districtwide budgets for category two E-rate services. “Beginning in funding year 2021, we will permit charter schools to demonstrate that they are individually responsible for their finances and administration even when they are legally part of a school district under state law whether for category two budget or discount rate purposes,” said the public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest. Staff clarified that school districts “are to count each full-time student in the district one time when calculating their district-wide budget.” Recognizing that enrollment has been affected by COVID-19, the bureau will “permit applicants to provide their full-time enrollment numbers from their funding year 2020 FCC Form 471 applications” in the 2021 funding year.
Radiate's purchase of En-Touch Systems, parent of Houston-area cable operator and CLEC ETS Cablevision and ETS Telephone, (see 2008040060) was consummated effective Sept. 18, it told the FCC International Bureau Wednesday.
Google Fiber is “ready to come back out of the shadows” and expand into more mid-sized cities, Public Policy Head John Burchett said Wednesday. On a Fiber Broadband Association webinar, Burchett acknowledged the once-hyped ISP slowed down in 2016. “We got out ahead of our skis and were building in ways that ended up not being the most profitable,” he said. It paused new construction and spent the past few years “figuring out how to retool our business,” he said. Earlier this year, it began increasing construction in existing markets, while exploring new business models with municipalities in which Google won’t handle everything as it did before, he said. In a project announced in July with West Des Moines, Iowa, the city is building conduit to people’s homes and Google Fiber will be among the provider options, Burchett said. “We’re talking to a bunch of other cities,” with talks furthest along in places that had already been thinking about how to expand broadband, have money for bonding and have municipally owned utilities, he said. Google seeks to “catalyze a movement” of “third network providers,” said Burchett. “What we’d like to do is show it’s financially viable and you can be successful coming in as the competitor.” The strategy isn’t only about getting internet to places that don’t have it “but also having competition so that the existing carriers and the new carriers are always incentivized to increase their speeds.” State limits on municipal broadband remain a barrier, the representative said. “All the restrictions on municipalities and on utilities for providing broadband themselves drives me nuts.” The ISP has talked to several cities that want to collaborate, “but the state laws ... prohibit muni broadband or put ridiculous restrictions on them” that make “a really close-call economic project infeasible.” National focus on funding unserved and underserved areas makes it “really hard for anybody but the incumbents to do meaningful expansions using federal resources," he added.
The FCC 5-0 order cutting IP captioned telephone service rates (see 2009300057) is effective Dec. 1, says Wednesday's Federal Register.