The FCC Wireline Bureau Friday identified seven companies that applied to participate in the Stage 2 competitive process for the USF telecom rebuild program for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The deadline was Sept. 3 (see 2008070035). In Puerto Rico, applicants are: AeroNet Wireless Broadband, Critical Hub Networks, Data@ccess Communication, Liberty Communications of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico Telephone. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, they are: Broadband VI and Virgin Islands Telephone. A quiet period for the companies started Sept. 3.

USTelecom signed on to the NCTA/EducationSuperHighway K-12 Bridge to Broadband program of working with school districts to buy internet service for low-income families with students through sponsored service agreements. It said Thursday members joining include AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, Windstream, Consolidated and Shentel. Meanwhile, Comcast announced Lift Zones, a multiyear plan for more than 1,000 Wi-Fi connections in community centers for students, plus educational and digital skills content. Its Internet Essentials program has helped more than 8 million low-income people get residential internet, Comcast said.

T-Mobile USA said it more than met an Aug. 31 goal of seamless call takeover for equipment-based IP captioned telephone service. Deployment was completed by July 24, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-24. “Users of Sprint Accessibility’s equipment-based IP CTS do not need to push the ‘Captions On’ button to effectuate a call transfer.”

Hamilton Relay told the FCC it implemented new procedures July 23 for call takeovers (CTOs) to make the process more seamless for providers of the IP captioned telephone service and other relays. “Previously, when a CTO occurred, the user would be directed by the CA [communications assistant] to press the captions button, and a new CA would take over the call with minimal disruption,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-24. Now “once a call takeover is approved by the CA’s supervisor, the call routes to the next available CA, and the original CA will continue captioning until the new CA actually takes over the call. Thus, there is no wait time.”

The FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. should “comprehensively assess fraud risks to the E-rate program and follow leading practices when designing and implementing data analytics to prevent and detect fraud,” GAO said in a report sought by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. The FCC Office of Inspector General reported to Congress in 2017 that the commission’s ability to detect and deter E-rate fraud was limited because of lack of oversight controls. GAO said Wednesday it found E-rate’s program design allows participants to “self-certify” and lacks sufficient FCC oversight to “identify potential fraud risks. For example, an applicant could receive payments for services they've claimed to have provided, but don't have the documentation.” Reliance on self-certification “is an inherent overarching key fraud risk affecting the E-rate program application and funding phases,” the auditor said. “This key fraud risk presents opportunities for applicants, service providers, or consultants to misrepresent dozens of self-certification statements on various application and funding FCC forms.” Other key fraud risks include “opportunities to misrepresent compliance with competitive-bidding requirements,” instances where “various E-rate program participants” can “collude” and potential conflicts of interest “when an E-rate consultant or Educational Service Agency represents both the applicant and service provider in the same transaction.” The proposed coordinated FCC-USAC assessments of E-rate fraud risks should include “implementing their respective plans for developing periodic fraud risk assessments, examining suitability of existing fraud controls, and compiling fraud risk profiles, GAO recommended. The FCC chairman should ensure the commission and USAC “follow the leading practices in GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework when designing and implementing data-analytics activities to prevent and detect fraud as part of their respective antifraud strategies for the E-rate program.” The FCC should direct USAC “to clearly define and fully document the data fields in all relevant E-rate program computer systems to help improve FCC’s ability to understand and use data to manage fraud risks,” GAO said. The FCC agreed about the recommendations. Coordination with USAC on E-rate assessments “complements” the regulator’s “existing efforts and will help the Commission and USAC to build on those efforts to mitigate fraud risk,” said FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens and Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith in an attached letter. The FCC and USAC “have been working collaboratively to incorporate the use of data-analytics activities into our fraud risk management plans and starting last year, began using data analytics in the context of investigation and enforcement.” The FCC plans to “direct USAC to better document and define the data fields in its E-Rate systems, with an initial focus on the key data fields that USAC relies on most to administer” the program, Monteith and Stephens said. USAC declined to comment.

Designation of 988 for the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline is effective Oct. 16, says Wednesday's Federal Register. The FCC voted unanimously in July, setting a July 16, 2022, implementation deadline (see 2007160030).

Comments are due Sept. 28, replies Oct. 5 on Hawaiian Telecom's ask for a waiver of its Connect America Fund Phase II buildout obligations for 2019 related to 523 locations destroyed or isolated by Kilauea Volcano eruptions, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Monday.

FCC rural call completion rules from 2018 have been effective, the Wireline Bureau reported Monday in docket 13-39. The bureau sought comment on that conclusion about the agency’s second rural call completion order, plus the effectiveness of intermediate provider service quality standards in the fourth order from 2019. Provider monitoring and point of contact requirements, plus removing data reporting requirements, “have been effective in contributing to a reduction in rural call completion issues,” said the bureau, citing provider experiences and complaint data. AT&T, Verizon and NCTA say “complaints are minimal and actual rural call completion issues are very rare,” the bureau said. The FCC received about 130 consumer complaints about rural call completion in 2018. The agency got 55 consumer complaints in 2019, 30 in the first half of 2020. That’s consistent with carrier complaint data showing 147 such complaints in 2018, including 129 before the rules took effect, the bureau said. The commission received 35 carrier complaints in 2019 and nine in the first half of 2020, it said: “Complaint data may not be completely representative of the state of rural call completion issues nationwide, and that the time that has elapsed since the rules took effect is limited.”

Searchlight Capital Partners will invest up to $425 million in Consolidated Communications, said the telco Monday. Consolidated will refinance its $2 billion in outstanding debt, allowing it to accelerate fiber deployment, said the release. The investment will involve two stages, with $350 million upfront and an additional $75 million after FCC and Hart-Scott-Rodino approval. The first stage isn’t subject to regulatory approval and will happen along with the refinancing.. The second is “subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions” and is expected to close in mid-2021, the carrier said. Searchlight is awaiting FCC approval for its purchase of a majority of Univision shares (see 2006190048). The Consolidated board will appoint one Searchlight nominee -- adviser David Fuller -- before the second stage, and one after.

CenturyLink is now Lumen Technologies, the carrier said Monday.