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.
Minnesota will award $67.6 million in broadband grants later this year through a funding round using $25 million from the state and $42.6 million from the federal government. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) opened a request for proposals (RFP) Monday. No single project may get more than $5 million. Applications are due March 2 and DEED will award grants win “early summer,” the department said. The state awarded about $100 million in broadband grants earlier this month (see 2212090014).
A state appeals court ordered the Oregon Public Utility Commission to reconsider an order denying payphone providers refunds from Lumen. The Northwest Public Communications Council (NPCC), a regional payphone provider association, asked the PUC to order Lumen to issue refunds for payphone rates that its predecessor Qwest charged payphone companies between 1996 and 2003, saying the charged rates didn’t comply with federal law. “The PUC's prior orders in this docket neither require nor preclude the requested refunds and … we cannot say whether state and federal law require the PUC to order the requested refunds,” Oregon Appeals Court Judge Darleen Ortega wrote in Wednesday’s decision (case A166810). “However, because we conclude that the PUC relied on factual findings that are not supported by substantial evidence, we reverse Order No. 17-473 and remand to the PUC for reconsideration.” The PUC hasn’t determined if the pre-2003 rates complied with federal law, said Ortega. “Under the applicable regulatory scheme, the PUC does not have discretion to simply ignore NPCC's allegations that Qwest's pre-2003 payphone rates violate section 276” of the 1996 Telecom Act, she said. “And if, after proper inquiry, the PUC finds that Qwest's pre-2003 payphone rates exceeded that allowed by federal law and amount to 'unjust and unreasonable exactions,' the PUC has a duty to protect ratepayers, including NPCC's members, by providing some appropriate remedy,” which “may include ordering refunds for overcharges.” The Oregon PUC "will be reviewing the order and will take appropriate action based on the court’s decision," a spokesperson said Monday. Lumen declined to comment.
The California Public Utilities Commission awarded $5.75 million in broadband technical assistance grants to 16 local governments, the CPUC said Monday. Each grant from the $50 million state fund is about $500,000 and can be used to reimburse localities for network design services for unserved areas. The CPUC announced grants from the program in October (see 2210210071). Applications may still be submitted, the agency said.
NTIA awarded Michigan more than $6.3 million in funding through the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program and Digital Equity Act Monday. Nearly $5 million will be used to develop the state's five-year BEAD action plan, and the remaining funding will be used to develop statewide digital equity plans, said a news release. "Today’s announcement will help us close digital equity gaps and pinpoint unconnected and underserved locations in Michigan," said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist. The funding will "allow our office to begin the critical planning efforts needed to implement future federal investments creatively, efficiently, and transparently," said Michigan Chief Connectivity Officer Eric Frederick.
Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison filed an amended agreement with Frontier Communications in response to scrutiny from the West Virginia Public Service Commission about duplicative processes slowing pole-attachment application reviews (see 2212020048). Under the updated pact, the utility will perform the engineering review for both electric and communication spaces for jointly used poles, Mon Power said Thursday. “Frontier will not perform the engineering analysis on the application from a third-party [attacher], thus eliminating duplicative review and reducing costs and time to proposed third-party attachers.” The only exception is that Frontier will perform engineering for make-ready construction it must do to accommodate a new attachment, it said. Previous “agreements with Frontier’s predecessors are antiquated and do not reflect the current broadband market and dramatic increase in the number of entities desiring to attach to these poles,” the utility said. “Many of these agreements are from the 1980’s when generally if there were any attachments at all, it was the cable TV company.”
The opening brief of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is due Jan. 24 in its 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenge of Maryland's digital ad tax, said a briefing order Thursday (docket 22-2275). Maryland's response is due Feb. 23, said the order. The Chamber is appealing the U.S. District Court of Maryland's March decision dismissing businesses' challenge of the tax and the district court's Dec. 2 dismissal of their challenge to the tax's pass-through ban.
The California Public Utilities Commission awarded about $1.4 million in California Advanced Services Fund grants to 19 public housing broadband projects through the CASF Public Housing Account, the CPUC said Thursday. Commissioners voted 5-0 for the proposed order (resolution T-17775). The projects by three applicants -- Surf Development Company, Self-Help Enterprises and People’s Self-Help -- will bring free broadband service to 800 public housing units, it said. The projects will bring wireless or wired broadband networks that provide at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, even during peak usage times from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., the CPUC said. “Broadband service is not accessible if it is not affordable, and each of these projects will bring us that much closer to ensuring all Californians, regardless of income, have the digital capabilities to work, to study, and to access healthcare and emergency services,” said Commissioner Darcie Houck.
Two federal judges noted recent Georgia political developments as they pushed back on arguments that the Georgia Public Service Commission election violates 1965 Voting Rights Act Section 2 protections against racial discrimination. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argument Thursday on Georgia’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that electing PSC members for specific districts on a statewide, at-large basis illegally dilutes Black residents' votes (see 2210200035). The Supreme Court in August postponed Nov. 8-scheduled Georgia PSC elections, reversing the 11th Circuit's 2-1 decision to reverse the U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
The Georgia Public Service Commission will vote Tuesday on a pact between cable and electric cooperatives to keep the state’s one dollar pole attachment policy, commissioners decided at a telecom committee hearing webcast Thursday. In December 2020, the Georgia Public Service Commission required that ISPs pay only $1 per pole annually for attaching to electric co-op infrastructure. Cable companies and co-ops agreed last month to cancel a required biennial review of the program (see 2211300054).