The FCC said rate-of-return telcos can select one of two methods for determining their broadband deployment obligations if they stick with a revised legacy USF subsidy support mechanism, rather than opting into new model-based support. The deployment duty of rural carriers for the five years from 2017 to 2021 under each method for study areas is here, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 10-90.

Rural telcos said FCC subsidy support is insufficient in USF broadband mechanisms based on an "Alternative Connect America Model (ACAM) Path and the Rate of Return (RoR) path." Officials of 3 Rivers Communications in Montana, US Connect in Colorado and Wheat State Telephone in Kansas "emphasized the difficulties of deploying additional broadband and operating their existing networks on the limited support from the ACAM Path or the RoR Path," said a WTA filing posted in docket 10-90 Thursday on a meeting with aides to Commissioner Ajit Pai. "There is simply not enough money for them to keep up with the growing broadband service needs and demands of their rural customers. In such a climate, they urgently ask the Commission not to impose unnecessary regulatory burdens and costs upon them." The officials also discussed broadband privacy, security and broadcast retransmission consent.

Flowroute urged the FCC to deny a Comcast waiver bid seeking limited relief from recordkeeping, retention and reporting rules under a 2013 rural call completion order (see 1609160017). Flowroute, which says it's a "SIP telecom provider" and CLEC, said it agreed with NTCA (see 1609260055) that Comcast hadn't shown good cause for a waiver, and shouldn't get a "free pass" from correcting violations due to "an administrative oversight" and network migration issues. "Comcast does not claim that it cannot correct its violations, or even that it would be extremely burdensome to do so. Its only justification for a waiver amounts to 'trust us, retroactive compliance does not matter because everything was working fine and should be working properly now,'" said a Flowroute filing Wednesday in docket 13-39. "The fact is that Comcast’s failure to 'account for the complexity of [its own] current network structure' resulted in Comcast being unable to comply with the Commission’s requirements for over a year." Granting the waiver would give Comcast "an excuse to avoid questions with respect to its call completion and network management practices," Flowroute said. Comcast didn't comment.

AT&T and the Communications Workers of America reached a tentative accord on a national internet contract, the telco said. "The agreement covers nearly 1,200 CWA-represented wireline employees in 16 states who work on areas of AT&T's business related to products such as IPTV and DSL. It will be submitted to the union's membership for a ratification vote in the coming days," said an AT&T release Tuesday. The company said it has reached 19 agreements with the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 2015 and 2016 (such as 1609300012), covering more than 95,000 employees.

Three video relay service providers urged the FCC to stabilize a VRS market they say is under pressure from a 2013-17 agency schedule of compensation rate cuts. With rates at their lowest level ever and consumer demand flat, Sorenson Communications said, VRS compensation was $44.2 million in August, down from $54.5 million in May 2010, forcing providers to cut costs while trying to maintain service quality. Innovation and support technology will come from VRS providers, not government, and industry needs "greater financial stability over the next five years," said a Sorenson filing Tuesday in docket 03-123. Convo Communications and Purple Communications executives met with FCC officials about VRS market conditions, including the impact of implementing "dramatic VRS rate cuts on competitive providers' viability and ability to compete for market share." Sorenson is the top provider. "Although the 2013 VRS Reform Order set forth reforms intended to enable competitive providers to grow market share and reduce costs concurrently with the declining rates, those structural reforms have yet to be realized in the market even as rates have dropped," said a Convo/Purple filing on discussions with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Ajit Pai, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. "The need for VRS rate structure reform that will help stabilize the marketplace and the potential components of such reform were discussed." Sorenson and affiliate CaptionCall, which joined its filing, also suggested various steps the FCC could take to ensure IP captioned telephone services are provided to consumers "who actually need them," including by having users screened by independent hearing health professionals to certify their needs.

The FCC said two resources were issued to help rural rate-of-return telcos determine their capital investment allowances (CIA) for new broadband-oriented USF support mechanisms. Universal Service Administrative Co. "published illustrative results showing each carrier’s allowance had CIA ... been applied to each carrier’s 2015 investment," said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90 and Monday's Daily Digest. It said USAC also published "a worksheet that allows a carrier to calculate the CIA based on its own inputs. Using this worksheet, a carrier may replicate the illustrative 2015 results, calculate its 2017 allowance, or test alternate investment plans." To help rural telcos decide whether to opt into model-based Connect America Fund subsidy support, the bureau in another public notice said it released a spreadsheet and other information (with links included) about unsubsidized competitors and broadband deployment in incumbent study areas.

AT&T said it's filing a forbearance petition seeking FCC relief from certain intercarrier compensation requirements, five years after a commission overhaul. The "narrowly tailored petition" addresses "two statutory and regulatory shortfalls that promote unreasonable rates, harm consumers, distress broadband investment and are generally inconsistent with the public interest," said Matt Nodine, assistant vice president-federal regulatory, in a Monday blog post. "The FCC should detariff tandem switching and transport access charges for all" LECs, "on all calls to or from LECs engaged in access stimulation," he said, calling the action a follow-on to previous FCC determinations against "traffic pumpers" that take advantage of "arbitrage." The commission should also "require LECs to assess per query 'database dip' charges on toll-free calls on a competitive basis," he wrote. "This fits naturally with bill-and-keep, as one underlying purpose of that reform was to reject the idea that only one party 'should bear the entire cost of originating, transporting, and terminating a call.' The current situation not only discriminates against toll-free customers but increasingly results in tariffed query charges priced well above wholesale market rates -- a sure sign of distorted competition. With carriers’ ability to seek competitive rates, these costs will fall more in line with a properly functioning marketplace."

FCC staff approved a transaction involving LogMeIn and Citrix. Associated license transfers under Section 214 of the Communications Act were granted in a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 16-256. The deal recently received antitrust clearance from the FTC (see 1609270025).

The FCC set a pleading cycle on FairPoint Communications' waiver request to withdraw its rate-of-return ILECs from a National Exchange Carrier Association "common line" pool when they decide whether to receive new model-based Connect America Fund broadband support (see 1609190044). Comments are due Oct. 14, replies Oct. 31, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 16-309 and Friday's Daily Digest.

The FCC teed up Madison Dearborn Capital Partners' plan to take indirect control of AccessLine Communications from Oak Hill Capital partners, with comments due Oct. 13, replies Oct. 20, said a public notice in docket 16-298 in Friday's Daily Digest. It said AccessLine is authorized to provide competitive telecom services nationwide and also provides intrastate telecom services in 48 states (New Jersey and Virginia aren't included).