Union workers and Frontier Communications tentatively agreed to a four-year contract for 1,400 workers in West Virginia and Ashburn, Virginia, said Communications Workers of America. The tentative deal includes wage increases, while maintaining existing job security language and health and welfare benefits, CWA said Saturday. Also, Frontier pledged to create additional jobs, the union said. A contract ratification vote will occur in coming weeks, CWA said. “We started this round of bargaining with one of the best contracts in the telecommunications industry,” said CWA District 2-13 Vice President Mike Davis. He said the union’s side “did an excellent job in the face of intense pressure from the company for concessions on post-Medicare retiree benefits.” Frontier didn’t comment.

On average, 85% of the drones state agencies purchased from 2010 to 2022 were made in China, and the typical state devoted 76% of its drone spending to Chinese drones, said a report Thursday by the Foundation for American Innovation. “From 2010 to 2022, states spent at least $5.3 million on Chinese drones, and at least $8.1 million on drones overall” and 66% of spending was on Chinese drones, the report said: “Thirty-two states devoted at least half their drone spending to Chinese drones. In 38 states, the majority of drones used by state agencies are Chinese.” Concerns over Chinese drones surfaced on Capitol Hill (see 2303160048) and at the FCC (see 2110190051). Commissioner Brendan Carr warned that China-based DJI has more than half the U.S. drone market. DJI disputes that it's a threat to U.S. security (see 2205120027). With the DOD, “members of Congress, and the Biden administration all expressing concerns about the use of Chinese drones, there is growing political will to reduce dependence on Chinese drones and improve U.S. cybersecurity,” the foundation said.

A Wisconsin task force will weigh AI’s impact on the workforce, Gov. Tony Evers (D) said Wednesday. Evers signed an executive order directing the new group to make predictions and recommendations, the governor's office said. “Establishing this task force will be critical in understanding, adapting to, and capitalizing on the transformations AI will bring, ensuring Wisconsin’s workforce and industries remain steady, stable, and robust in the face of technological advancement,” said Evers. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek or a designee will chair the governor’s task force. The governor will appoint additional members, including secretaries or designees from Wisconsin’s Department of Administration and Economic Development Corporation, plus University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College Systems representatives, said the Evers office: The task force may also include others from state and local government, businesses, academia, organized labor and the tech sector.

The California Public Utilities Commission set a Sept. 7 workshop in a proceeding to consider changes to service quality standards in General Order 133-D. The commission is considering whether to apply its traditional wireline standards to VoIP and wireless and if the CPUC’s penalty mechanism has been effective (see 2306050051). The workshop starts at 9 a.m. in Sacramento, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola ruled Monday in docket R.22-03-016. Meanwhile, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission scheduled a Sept. 20 workshop in its five-year review of state retail telecom service rules (Chapter 4901:1-6). The workshop starts at 10 a.m. at the Ohio PUC, said a Monday notice in case 23-817-TP-ORD.

California lawmakers teed up digital equity and privacy bills Monday for a later vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee sent AB-41 and AB-1546 to the suspense file, a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly. AB-41 aims to tighten digital equity requirements in the state’s video franchise law. AB-1546 would extend the statute of limitations for privacy claims brought by the state attorney general. State appropriators cleared or moved into suspense several telecom bills last week, with votes on the bills expected by Sept. 1 (see 2308170044).

Gov. Kristi Noem (R) announced the final round of broadband funding under the Connect South Dakota program Tuesday. Applicants will vie for $27 million left in grants. “It’s time to finish the job,” said Noem in recorded remarks for the South Dakota Telecommunications Association conference. The state has spent about $269.5 million on broadband since 2019. “South Dakota has always budgeted conservatively and wisely. We can afford to make these dollars available and still maintain our fiscal responsibility.”

States can calculate their extremely high cost per location threshold (EHCT) for the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program with an economic modeling tool released Monday by the Fiber Broadband Association. The Cartesian tool uses geospatial analysis to build a financial model states can use to develop cost thresholds for fiber deployments, they said. The BEAD notice of funding opportunity directed states to deploy fiber except in the highest cost areas. States must set up an EHCT to determine where alternative technologies may be used. “The NTIA has just allocated $40 billion to the states, and now it is the states’ turn to use this funding to maximize fiber deployments by setting the correct EHCT,” said FBA President Gary Bolton. “Everyone recognizes this task is critical, but also challenging.”

T-Mobile’s MetroPCS asked to dismiss a California Public Utilities Commission investigation into a dispute over USF surcharges due to completion of a related court case at the U.S. District Court for Northern California. MetroPCS won judgment against the CPUC earlier this month (see 2308040071). The federal court decided the resolutions the agency was trying to enforce against MetroPCS “are unlawful (because they are preempted by federal law) and enjoined the Commission from enforcing the Resolutions against MetroPCS,” T-Mobile said in Thursday’s motion.

The California Public Utilities Commission needs more information to review several telecom companies’ requests for extensions to provide pole attachment data required by a 2021 California Public Utilities Commission decision. The CPUC received requests from Verizon, T-Mobile, ExteNet, Sonic Telecom, Charter Communications and Consolidated Communications (see 2308010019). In a Wednesday order in docket 17-06-027, Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason asked each requestor to respond to several follow-up questions by Tuesday. T-Mobile responded Thursday.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is seeking comment on how to reallocate $1.6 million remaining from a 2022-retired enforcement mechanism called the Colorado Performance Assurance Plan, the PUC said Wednesday. The commission said it must distribute remaining funds for competitively neutral telecom efforts that don’t directly benefit Lumen’s CenturyLink. Comments are due Sept. 8, replies Sept. 22 (docket 23M-0210T).