The FCC circulated a draft Connect America Fund item last week, according to the agency's circulation list updated Friday. The item contains two orders on data used in the Alternative Connect America Cost Model for purposes of calculating model-based offers of CAF broadband support to rate-of-return telcos, said a commission spokesman. The orders respond to a petition for reconsideration filed by Baraga Telephone May 25 and an application for review filed Aug. 5 by Valley Telephone Cooperative and Copper Valley Telephone, both in docket 10-90, he said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau signed off on Cox Communications' buy of a controlling interest in Unite Private Networks (UPN), it said in a public notice Thursday. There was no opposition to the petition filed in July, the bureau said. UPN provides telco enterprise services in 20 states. Cox and UPN have overlapping service areas in a handful of markets, but the cable operator/telecom provider won't likely have sufficient market power to raise prices in them, the bureau said. The deal instead "will result in a stronger competitive LEC" better able to compete against the incumbent LEC, it said. Under the deal, UPN also will have access to a credit facility that can fund capital projects such as expanding its fiber footprint inside and outside its current markets. Cox previously said UPN would keep its current management team and operate as a stand-alone business.

The FCC and DOJ opposed a Full Service Network motion to respond to petitions for rehearing challenges to the commission's network neutrality and broadband reclassification order, which a court panel upheld in June (see 1606140023). FSN filed its response on Oct. 3 without court authorization and then filed its motion on Oct. 10, said the FCC/DOJ filing Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063). "Essentially, FSN's 'response' is an untimely petition for rehearing." FSN, a petitioner challenging the FCC order in the original case, said the statute required the commission to classify broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act, but the commission decision to forbear from much ISP regulation was "unreasonable" (see 1610040032).

An FCC order to increase inmate calling service rate caps “was not gamesmanship but responsible decisionmaking,” said DOJ and the FCC in joint opposition Thursday to a Sept. 30 Securus motion to stay at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC denied petitions to stay the order (see 1609300054). “The petitioners fail to meet their burden to justify a stay,” the FCC told the court. “In the Order under review, the agency found that the inmate calling rate caps, as now modified, fairly account for the costs incurred by inmate calling providers and correctional facilities in furnishing inmate calling services. To whatever extent providers or facilities may lose revenue under the Order, the FCC reasonably determined that ensuring fair compensation for inmate calls does not obligate the agency to rubber stamp rates at levels above and beyond the legitimate costs of providing service, including reasonable payments to correctional facilities and a reasonable rate of return for providers. And the possibility of lost revenue to providers and facilities is far outweighed by the harm to the public interest that would result from a stay of the Order -- in particular to inmates and their families, who have for far too long been constrained to pay exorbitant inmate calling rates.”

The FCC established a pleading cycle on New York's request for expedited waiver of Connect America Fund Phase II rules requiring broadband-oriented subsidy support be awarded in the state through a reverse auction. Comments are due Oct. 24, replies Oct. 31, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90, listed in Friday's Daily Digest. New York said the FCC waiver would allow it to use the CAF II funds in its state broadband subsidy reverse auction (see 1610130047).

Kansas rural telcos joined by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., pressed the FCC for more details on USF subsidy support based on an Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM). They said even rural telcos attracted to model-based certainty and funding levels face a "tough decision" whether to opt into A-CAM by Nov. 1. "Without timely provision of full details on and better, clearer guidance on the impacts of various model definitions, new expense limitations, support for standalone broadband, and implementation of budget constraints for both support paths, some carriers could be forced to make this decision without sufficient information," said an NTCA filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90 on a meeting a dozen Kansas RLEC officials, Roberts and aides had with Commissioner Ajit Pai and his Chief of Staff Matthew Berry. They also expressed concern that A-CAM implementation not have negative unintended consequences on carriers that don't receive model-based support, including their funding and ability to offer stand-alone broadband at rates that are reasonably comparable to urban rates. In a separate meeting with Pai and Berry, the Iowa Communications Alliance board noted the "recent flurry of Commission data releases to be used by companies in determining whether to elect the voluntary ACAM model," said an ICA filing. "The Alliance delegation discussed challenges in analyzing all of this recently-released data prior to making their election to utilize the model-based methodology." They also cited high broadband deployment costs, the uncertainty of FCC budget control mechanisms, a "parent trap" rule preventing some RLECs from obtaining any type of model-based support in some areas, and the "continuing frustrations" and financial fallout from long-distance companies engaging in "self-help" practices that deviate from tariffs and dispute mechanisms.

The FCC slowed its review of 18C's planned takeover 1-800-Collect licenses after DOJ, backed by DOD and the Department of Homeland Security, sent a letter asking the commission to defer action while they review related national security, law enforcement and public safety issues. "Final action on this application should be expected after the Commission has received notification from the Agencies that the evaluation has been completed, but not later than 180 days from public notice that the application was accepted for filing," said a Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 16-275. A September PN said 1-800-Collect is a wireline long-distance service provider of mostly collect calling, and 18C, a newly created entity, is controlled by WiMacTel, which provides long-distance service and is a VoIP and wireless reseller in the U.S. and Canada.

NTCA said more than 150 rural telecom stakeholders will attend a "Cybersecurity Summit" Sunday through Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The meeting will examine cyberthreats and mitigation strategies for small broadband, community-oriented providers, with speakers from the FCC, the FTC, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an NTCA release said.

Consumer advocates petitioned the FCC to revisit "technical guidance" contained in a July tech transition order intended to ease telecom network upgrades while preserving consumer and public-safety safeguards (see 1607140066 and 1607150048). They said the order sets reasonable rules to require adequate voice replacement services when telcos seek streamlined discontinuance of legacy phone services under Section 214 of the Communications Act. "But the technical guidance in Appendix B is inconsistent with the rules and does not achieve the Commission’s objective that technology transitions result in consumers receiving service with comparable service quality and performance to that provided over the Public Switched Telephone Network," said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), Maine Office of the Public Advocate, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, and The Utility Reform Network of California, in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-5. "The technical guidance does not recognize that the PSTN is an end-to-end experience. The Commission cannot hope to preserve PSTN quality if it only tests a portion of a phone call." They said Appendix B also "presumes that the replacement service is an over-the-top (OTT) service, rather than a managed-VoIP service," like those offered by cable providers or incumbent telcos. "Commission data indicates that OTT services collectively serve a minuscule 0.8% of the VoIP lines provisioned by the ILECs that would seek a section 214 discontinuance," they wrote. "Finally, the technical guidance ignores the serious complications introduced when calls can be expected to traverse -- as they will during the nation’s extended transition to new technology -- different technology platforms and the networks of multiple carriers." The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC set out procedures for rate-of-return ILECs to file access charge tariffs and tariff review plans if they elect to offer broadband-only loop service starting Jan. 3, whether on a tariffed or detariffed basis. It applies to ILECs subject to either section 61.38 or 61.39 of the FCC rules, whether they choose model-based USF support or Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support, said a Wireline Bureau order in docket 16-317 and Friday's Daily Digest. It said tariff filings requiring 15 days' notice are due Dec. 19, petitions Dec. 27 and replies Dec. 30 (by noon). Tariff filings requiring seven days' notice are due Dec. 27, petitions Dec. 29 (by noon), and replies Dec. 30 (by noon).