The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by Nov. 5, replies by Nov. 12, on Liberty Mobile USVI's proposed buy of Broadband VI, said a public notice Friday in docket 21-386. Liberty would acquire 96% of Broadband VI. Liberty's "experienced management team" would assume operations of Broadband VI, including its Connect USVI Fund obligations.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted a request by groups including Public Knowledge, the Communications Workers of America and Incompas to extend the comment period for Embarq's, now Century/Lumen, petition to discontinue its legacy phone service, said an order Friday in docket 21-298 (see 2110180067). Comments are now due by Nov. 24, replies Dec. 16.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent cease-and-desist letters to Duratel, Primo Dialler and PZ/Illum Telecommunication demanding the network providers stop permitting apparent illegal robocalls. Duratel and PZ/Illum were found to have apparently originated "substantial numbers of government imposter scam calls." Primo Dialler was found to have apparently originated robocalls that "threatened utility discontinuation and offered fake credit card rate reductions." This "should serve as a warning sign to other entities that believe the FCC has turned a blind eye to this issue," said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Thursday.
Telcos’ Texas USF lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission “is precisely the type of suit that sovereign immunity is designed to prevent,” said the PUC and the Texas attorney general office in a Thursday brief at the Texas Appeals Court for the 3rd Judicial District in Austin. Appellants seek to control how the PUC exercises discretionary authority from the legislature, effectively asking the court “to compel the PUC to nearly double the assessment rate imposed on Texans to fund the TUSF,” they said in a brief provided by plaintiff Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative. The state appellees asked the court to affirm a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the rural LECs' complaint about the PUC not fully funding state USF (see 2106210048). TSTCI is reviewing the brief, CEO Weldon Gray said Thursday.
Oakland's council voted 7-0 to pass legislation to require ISP choice in multiple tenant environments, in a consent agenda at a virtual meeting Tuesday. The proposal cleared a council committee last month (see 2109290031). It's "a direct concrete step municipalities can take to mitigate our broken broadband marketplace,” emailed Media Alliance Executive Director Tracy Rosenberg. “By granting every occupant the unchallenged right to use any provider that can service them, residents can use the most affordable and reliable services available to them” and competitive ISPs “can get footholds in new regions.” This follows a similar San Francisco law. Mayoral approval isn't needed, and the ordinance will become law Dec. 19, said Rosenberg: “The city will start sending out notifications to property owners shortly.”
More than 1,700 additional winning FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I bids, totaling more than $550 million, are ready to be authorized, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 19-126. Letters of credit and bankruptcy opinion letters are due 6 p.m. EDT Nov. 3. “This is good news for consumers waiting far too long for broadband in parts of the country that have yet to be served,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The bureau denied two providers waivers for the program, in another order Wednesday. It partially denied LTD Broadband's petition for waiver of the June 7 deadline to receive eligible telecom carrier designation in Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota. LTD "failed to provide a compelling rationale or demonstrate special circumstances" to warrant waiving the deadline. Staff denied NW Fiber's petition for waiver of the Jan. 29 deadline to submit long-form applications: The company continues "to miss required deadlines and failed to complete the requirements of the program."
Frontier Communications sought reconsideration of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission order setting the scope of a probe into how the company’s investment plans could affect service quality (see 2108260052). The order should be revised “to reflect the limitations on the scope of allowed investigation and discovery” intended by the legislature, Frontier said Tuesday in docket CI-21-150. Minnesota law doesn’t give the PUC jurisdiction over internet access or services, it said.
Wide Voice asked the FCC to deny AT&T and Verizon's request for an extension to file a damages claim following a June 9 order granting a complaint about access stimulation rule violations, in an opposition posted Monday in docket 20-362 (see 2109280065). Wide Voice has until Nov. 29 to file a petition for review of the liability order and said knowing what the damages claim will be “will affect Wide Voice’s course of action” and “whether and how it petitions for review of the commission’s decision.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Global Tel*Link's request to extend replies for a Further NPRM on interstate rate caps for inmate calling services, said an order listed in Monday's Daily Digest. The request was backed by the Wright Petitioners, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Free Press, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the United Church of Christ. Replies are now due by Dec. 17 in docket 12-375, following a previous extension to Oct. 27 (see 2108100036). The bureau denied GTL's request to extend comments on Paperwork Reduction Act and data collection.
Extend the comments until Nov. 24, replies until Dec. 1, on Embarq Florida's Communications Act Section 214 discontinuance application of its legacy phone service, urged Public Knowledge, the Benton Institute for Internet & Society, Center for Rural Strategies, Common Sense Media, the Communications Workers of America, Incompas and the Media Alliance, in a request posted Monday in docket 21-298. Embarq's, now CenturyLink/Lumen, application "presents novel questions of law and policy" because the FCC "has never relied on wireless services alone to substitute for time-division multiplexing Incumbent local exchange carrier voice service," the groups said.