LTD Broadband asked the FCC Wireline Bureau to reconsider its order denying LTD's waiver request to obtain eligible telecom carrier designation in California for its winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids, said a petition for partial reconsideration posted Thursday in docket 19-126. The bureau's order "[leaves] out critical facts concerning serious professional misconduct and deception by LTD’s former counsel before the FCC and the CPUC that LTD unknowingly submitted into the record of the waiver proceeding," it said about the timing of its ETC application being filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (see 2106230047). LTD said it shouldn't be held liable for its former counsel's actions because it "innocently hired him to perform legal services and could not have foreseen that he would behave improperly." Kristopher Twomey, LTD's then-counsel, didn't comment.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau redesignated USTelecom as the registered consortium for the industry-led robocall traceback group, said an order posted Wednesday in docket 20-22 (see 2106180056). “This is a vote of confidence from the FCC and a recognition of the value and track record the ITG brings to the robocall wars,” said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter in a statement.
Industry disagreed whether the FCC should grant Edison Electric Institute's petition for declaratory ruling on pole attachment rate disputes, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. Comments were due Monday (see 2107230030). The petition "fails to offer any compelling reason for the commission to revisit either of the well-established policies that EEI seeks to overturn," said ACA Connects, which NCTA echoed. USTelecom agreed and said EEI's proposals "would further exacerbate the digital divide by creating additional barriers to broadband deployment by reducing the likelihood that electric utilities will charge just and reasonable rates." EEI's argument is "flawed" and an attempt to "reverse recent commission precedent," said Crown Castle Fiber. The Coalition of Concerned Utilities, which includes the Arizona Public Service, Exelon, FirstEnergy, the Hawaiian Electric companies, Minnesota Power and NorthWestern Energy, said EEI's petition is "simple to implement, practical from a dispute resolution perspective, productive because it encourages collaboration and settlement, and fair in that pole owners would be informed sooner rather than later of any potential disputes." Granting the petition would "[restore] business certainty to the relationships between pole owners and attaching entities," said Duke Energy, which American Electric Power echoed.
The FCC dismissed Telplex's petition for reconsideration of a slamming charge, said an order listed in Thursday's Daily Digest. Telplex "absolved complainant of all charges it assessed" in compliance with commission rules, the order said. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau also vacated a Consumer Policy Division order finding Telplex changed a consumer's carrier without proper authorization verification after it provided a third-party verification recording that wasn't provided at the time the order was issued.
The FCC should reconsider its decision to phase down Lifeline voice-only support, said stakeholders in reply comments on NASUCA's petition to refresh the record posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. Replies were due Tuesday (see 2106280011). Consumers relying on Lifeline voice services "cannot be ignored," said CTIA. The FCC should pause the phasedown until it can "consider the implementation of [the emergency broadband benefit] program and more fully evaluate additional data concerning how consumers use support for broadband and other services," it said. The FCC has a "social obligation" to assist low-income consumers who rely on voice-only support, said USTelecom, which NTCA, Public Knowledge and Next Century Cities echoed in similar comments. The commission "needs to act now to stop the elimination of voice subsidies to assure a bad situation doesn’t get worse," said NARUC. Some Lifeline-eligible consumers "may be unable to find affordable voice-only services" and are "disproportionately likely" to be consumers of color or with disabilities, said MediaJustice and the Center for Accessibly Technology. The record "shows broad support for retaining voice-only support," said New America's Open Technology Institute, saying voice services "have been crucial" for accessing healthcare services during the pandemic.
The FCC's order adopting 911 fee diversion rules takes effect Oct. 18, said a Public Safety Bureau notice posted Tuesday in docket 20-291. Commissioners approved the order in June (see 2106250049).
The FCC Enforcement Bureau granted in part and denied in part AT&T's abandonment clause claim against Florida Power & Light on utility pole attachments, said an order posted Monday in docket 20-214. The bureau granted AT&T's claim that FPL "engaged in unjust and unreasonable practices" by sending its notice of abandonment contrary to the terms of its joint use agreement. FPL was directed to remove any remaining signs that said a pole was the property of AT&T because it "could have caused consumer confusion." The bureau denied AT&T's request that it amend the abandonment clause. The bureau also dismissed AT&T's payment default clause claim with prejudice because it "violated the commission's rules by failing to assert the claim in its first complaint," which is pending before the commission regarding the rate it pays to attach its facilities to FPL's poles. The bureau previously granted in part AT&T's complaint on unreasonable pole attachment rates (see 2101140066). AT&T is "reviewing the decision," emailed a spokesperson. FPL didn't comment.
Audio conference call provider ZipDX asked the FCC to "not grant a blanket extension" for foreign service providers that haven't registered in the robocall mitigation database. The request came in a letter posted Monday in docket 17-97 (see 2108040075). It said U.S.-based providers should seek an extension that applies to the requesting provider accepting calls from the foreign source listed in its request. "Rather than asking that the can be kicked further down the road, gateway providers accepting foreign traffic should be analyzing that traffic as of TODAY to ensure it meets the appropriate metrics," ZipDX said.
Frontier's alleged misrepresentation of its DSL speeds to customers is "textbook deception" and "violates federal and state consumer protection statutes," said (in Pacer, docket 21-cv-04155) the FTC and six states, asking the U.S. District Court for Central California Friday to deny Frontier's motion to dismiss its claim against the ISP (see 2107210062). "Thousands of consumers have complained that defendants were not providing the Internet speeds they have paid for," plaintiffs said. The officials said the court has standing to hear the claims because Frontier has "sufficient contacts within the United States to satisfy due process." Frontier didn't comment.
NTCA, NCTA and ATIS opposed the California Public Utilities Commission's petition for reconsideration of the FCC's decision to maintain confidentiality for information obtained in the network outage reporting system and disaster information reporting system. The opposition came in comments posted Friday in docket 15-80. The petition "fails to make a persuasive case that unfettered public access to NORS and DIRS filings would not be detrimental to national security," said NTCA. NCTA agreed. It said it isn't practical to determine the national security risks of releasing outage reporting information case by case: "It should be clear to all stakeholders that the risk of some type of attack on critical networks is far from idle speculation." ATIS said public disclosure may "decrease the utility of reports" because providers voluntarily share information under current rules. Rolling back the presumption of confidentiality "would discourage providers from voluntarily taking meaningful incremental steps to make more information available," ATIS said.