A recommendation to update emergency service network reliability rules may become a Colorado Public Utilities Commission final decision mid-January if no exceptions are filed and the commission doesn’t stay it, Administrative Law Judge Conor Farley said last week. The ALJ released the recommended decision Thursday. Colorado 911 stakeholders agreed to draft rules in September (see 2209200027 and 2209070041).

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will decide how to proceed with an investigation of Lumen’s CenturyLink, at commissioners’ Jan. 5 meeting at 10 a.m. CST, said a PUC agenda last week. Settlement talks in docket C-20-432 stalled in August (see 2208160036). The Minnesota Commerce Department’s “ongoing investigation into CenturyLink’s performance has exposed serious service quality deficiencies,” the department told the PUC Dec. 9. “CenturyLink’s outside plant performance continues to deteriorate in violation of relevant Commission service quality rules related to plant investment, maintenance, and repair.” The commission should adopt service-quality remedies or hold hearings, it said.

NTIA failed to adequately inform states and localities about important deadlines for the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar (R) said Thursday. When NTIA said in November that it would use the FCC map for BEAD funding allocations, it didn’t say the FCC deadline for location challenges had been due in September, Hegar’s office said. NTIA told the Texas Broadband Development Office about it in mid-December, “effectively negating the immediate benefit of a bulk location challenge by BDO or Texas communities," said Hegar. “It is unfortunate that NTIA’s failure to communicate these important deadlines has the potential to disadvantage Texas and has effectively shifted the responsibility to BDO and Texas communities to respond with a sense of urgency to a problem that our partners at the federal level created and could resolve.” Hegar, who last week urged the NTIA to extend the Jan. 13 deadline for map challenges by 60 days (see 2212130076), said he will continue to urge NTIA for more time to improve map accuracy. “Allowing additional time to incorporate a bulk location challenge into the map fabric is a meaningful step that NTIA can take to improve BEAD funding decisions.” NTIA didn’t comment.

NTIA unveiled more planning awards through digital equity and broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) programs Thursday. Kansas will get about $5.7 million, including nearly $5 million for BEAD and almost $693,000 for digital equity, NTIA said. New Mexico also will get a similar amount, including $5 million for BEAD and nearly $741,000 for digital equity, NTIA said. Kansas Office of Broadband Development Director Jade Piros de Carvalho said the state will launch planning efforts at a Jan. 19 summit at Wichita State University.

An internet equity bill passed the D.C. Council on final reading by a 13-0 vote Tuesday. The council voted 12-0 for the bill (24-0200) on first reading earlier this month (see 2212070018). It would expand the Office of Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) purpose statement to include ensuring that residents and businesses can access affordable broadband. And it would require reports. The bill goes next to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D). Congress gets 30 session days to disapprove D.C. bills before they take effect.

Extend the Jan. 13 deadline for challenging the FCC’s national broadband map for 30 days, said the Vermont Community Broadband Board and the state’s congressional delegation Tuesday. The map will be used to determine broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) support allocations beyond the minimum $100 million each state will receive. The FCC map didn’t include 22% of addresses in the Vermont Public Service Department database, the Vermont groups said. “There are also many addresses that are marked served that are actually not served and/or have poor service. This could have significant impact on the amount of funding that Vermont receives.” NTIA should release the minimum $100 million state allocation quickly, they said. The federal government is evaluating multiple states’ concerns about the imminent challenge deadline, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Tuesday (see 2212200060).

The Wyoming Public Service Commission will keep a state surcharge for telecom relay services at four cents per access line, commissioners agreed 3-0 at a partially virtual Tuesday meeting. The commission adopted an order in docket 90000-172-XO-21 that will take effect Jan. 1. “We are on track to continue to draw down the cash reserve balance and hit the target … of 10 times the average monthly expenditures by the end of next year,” said TRS program consultant Lori Ceilinski. Revenue increased this year due to an increase in access lines, “which has been a little bit surprising to us” because they had been steadily declining for many years, she said. Expenditures that dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic “are coming back up,” she said.

Lumen’s CenturyLink proposed giving wireless or satellite service subsidies to an estimated 600 Montana customers experiencing copper service problems. The carrier responded Monday to a Nov. 3 order in docket 2021.12.136 by the Montana Public Service Commission requiring the company to propose how to resolve a service-quality investigation. CenturyLink will subsidize eligible customers’ satellite or wireless service costs for one year, it said. The subsidy would include up to $100 monthly for monthly charges and cover any one-time non-recurring charges, it said. Eligible customers, who would have six months from the commission's order to elect to take the subsidy, would have to disconnect their CenturyLink wireline service upon activating the alternative service, it said. The carrier would send three notices directly to each eligible customer, it said. "Overall, CenturyLink’s service in Montana, including service provided over Anaconda and similar copper equipment, is reasonable, adequate, and reliable,” said the company, saying it "easily and consistently meets" the Montana PSC's rule that customer trouble reports not exceed six per 100 local access lines per month per exchange. "While CenturyLink disagrees with the assertion that the company’s network and services, taken as a whole, are unreasonable, inadequate, or unreliable, CenturyLink is respectful of the Commission’s concerns and is open to a reasonable settlement that meets the needs of all parties and Montana consumers,” it said. Also, the carrier proposed meeting with the state commission to discuss possible legislation to relax Montana's "80/20 rule," which requires carriers requesting broadband funding to contribute at least 20% of construction costs. "The effect of this '80/20' is to preclude carriers from seeking funding (and thus expanding broadband) to the most remote portions of the state where the costs of construction are the highest and customer density is the lowest,” it said. “There is simply no economically viable way for these communities to be served, even in the presence of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding.”

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission adopted proposed changes to inmate calling service (ICS) rules, including lowered rate caps (see 2212150009). Commissioners voted 4-0 at a partly virtual meeting Monday for the order that takes effect Jan. 18. Commissioner Joseph Maestas wasn’t present. The adopted order would reduce an existing cap of 15 cents per minute on intrastate rates to 12 cents for state prisons and 14 cents for large local jails (docket 20-00170-UT). It wouldn't allow a $1 fee for collect calls.

Georgia Public Service Commissioners voted 5-0 at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday to approve an industry agreement to forgo the first biennial review of the state’s $1 pole attachment policy (see 2212150008). In December 2020, the Georgia Public Service Commission required that ISPs pay only $1 per pole annually for attaching to electric co-op infrastructure. Staff doesn’t object to the agreement signed by AT&T, the Georgia Cable Association and Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, said Patrick Reinhardt, Georgia PSC public utilities engineer.