The FCC granted Sandwich Isles Communications and others an extra 10 days to refresh the record on the company's disputed cost recovery from the National Exchange Carrier Association (see 1603290030). Comments are now due April 28, replies May 9, said a Wireline Bureau order in docket 09-133 listed in Monday's Daily Digest. Sandwich Isles sought 15 more days. Parties have disputed whether certain lease expenses incurred by Sandwich Isles were "used and useful" costs that could be included in the NECA pool.

Bibliologic, a "purported" nonprofit organization, agreed to surrender almost all its assets allegedly transferred to it by defendants involved in a multimillion-dollar landline cramming operation, the FTC said Monday in a news release. The commission approved the final order 4-0 and filed the proposal in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana. In 2013, the FTC filed a complaint against American eVoice, eight other companies, relief defendant Bibliologic, Steven Sann and three other individuals for allegedly placing more than $70 million in bogus charges on consumers' phone bills (see 1301230059). The commission said the defendants transferred millions of dollars "in ill-gotten gains to Bibliologic." The Bibliologic settlement "mirrors" one between the nonprofit and the Chapter 7 Trustee of Sann's bankruptcy estate, of which the FTC is the largest creditor, the commission said. Bibliologic will surrender "several assets, including a large tract of land, the contents of multiple bank and investment accounts, gold and silver, and several vehicles" to the trustee, the FTC said. While Bibliologic will be allowed to keep $100,000 to use for charitable purposes, the settlement also imposes a suspended monetary judgment of $100,000, meaning it would become due if the organization uses the money to benefit any defendant in the case. Bibliologic identifies itself as a Christian ministry on its IRS Form 990 tax return for 2012 compiled by the National Center for Charitable Statistics. An attorney for Bibliologic didn't comment.

A court set an inmate calling service briefing schedule running through early October, largely accepting the timetable and format of a joint proposal by the parties (see 1603280021). Briefs from ICS providers and state and local petitioners challenging the FCC 2015 order will be due June 6, with industry allotted 15,500 words (1,500 of which is for a separate brief by Securus Technologies analyzing cost data), and the government parties 14,000, said the order (in Pacer) from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the consolidated case Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461. The FCC response brief is due Aug. 5 and that of supporting intervenors is due Aug. 22, with the FCC allotted 18,500 words, Martha Wright Petitioners 7,500 and Network Communications International 3,500. Petitioner reply briefs are due Sept. 21 and allotted 14,750 words (7,750 for industry and 7,000 for state/local groups). Final briefs incorporating a joint appendix are due Oct. 5, and oral argument will typically be set for at least 45 days later, said the order. It said counsel must notify the court "as soon as settlement negotiations begin, when settlement of the case becomes likely, and when settlement is reached." Various ICS industry representatives met with FCC officials last week to discuss whether a comprehensive resolution of disputes was possible, but they said they didn't discuss substantive proposals (see 1604150054). The court has stayed FCC rate caps, one set of ancillary fees and application of 2013 interim interstate rate caps to intrastate services, pending further review (see 1603070055 and 1603230058). The panel reviewing the merits of the case will be announced later. Also Monday, parties asked for an extra 30 days to file motions advising the court on how the 2015 order affected an earlier Securus challenge to the FCC's 2013 order (Securus v. FCC, No. 13-1280). The parties have conferred but not reached a consensus on what to propose, with the court's partial stays of the 2015 order complicating debate, said an unopposed motion (in Pacer) filed by Securus, the FCC and others.

The FCC Wireline Bureau released broadband data filed by nonincumbent providers between Feb. 19 and March 30 for rate-of-return carrier areas. The Form 477 data cover competitive broadband deployment as of June 30, 2015, said a public notice in docket 10-90 listed in Friday's Daily Digest, which included a link to the data set.

The FCC adopted a protective order in its review of its Part 32 telco accounting rules. The Wireline Bureau order released Friday establishes rules for "the filing of and access to confidential information" in the proceeding in docket 14-130. "We have found that in certain circumstances, such information is competitively sensitive and, if released to competitors or those with whom a Submitting Party does business, might allow those persons to gain a significant advantage in the marketplace or in negotiations," the order said. "The procedures we adopt in this Protective Order give appropriate access to the public while protecting especially competitively sensitive information from improper disclosure." The bureau has been looking to draft an order revising its Part 32 Uniform System of Accounts (see 1512030060). AT&T recently said it would work with others to develop an industry proposal for basing new rules on generally accepted accounting principles (see 1602220016).

The FCC made tariff review plans available for ILECs updating interstate access service tariffs. A Wireline Bureau order in Thursday's Daily Digest included a link to the TRPs, which support rate revisions by both price-cap and rate-of-return telcos in their tariffs. "The completion of the TRPs appended to this document will provide the supporting documentation to partially fulfill the requirements established" in various sections of the Commission’s rules, the order said. Rate-of-return telcos on July 1 must adjust their tariffs to reflect an 11 percent authorized rate of return under a six-year phasedown from 11.25 percent to 9.75 percent adopted in the FCC's rural USF overhaul order in March (see 1603300065). Both rate-of-return and price-cap telcos must incorporate other tariff modifications that were detailed in the order.

Rural telcos will have to provide more broadband, often with less federal support, said Fletcher Heald attorney James Troup, who represents RLECs and examined recent FCC actions overhauling high-cost USF subsidies for rate-of-return carriers (see 1603300065 and 1603310039). The commission is "imposing numerous additional obligations upon rate-of-return regulated incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), while leaving many rural ILECs with the same or even less compensation to satisfy the significant broadband build-out expenditures mandated by the new regulations," Troup said in a blog post Wednesday. The FCC is phasing down the authorized rate of return from 11.25 percent to 9.75 percent over six years and giving carriers two options: shifting to model-based support or staying with legacy mechanisms, with one revamped as Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) and providing stand-alone broadband support. In both cases, ILECs "will have new broadband construction obligations entailing additional costs," Troup wrote. "The FCC did not allocate additional funds to recover the increase in construction expenditures for those ILECs that elect to receive CAF BLS and high cost loop support. The FCC only provided $150 million more to pay for all the new broadband construction it is mandating for those ILECs that select model-based support. The funds within the current budget will first be distributed to those that elect model-based USF, and what is left within the current budget will be available for those that receive CAF BLS and high cost loop support." Many RLECs will receive less funds under a "regression analysis" that limits operating and corporate expenses, and due to capital budget constraints, he said. The changes create substantial uncertainty for those choosing legacy support, Troup told us Thursday. He said rural telcos will be forced to bear the burden of broadband construction that benefits long-distance providers, wireless carriers and Internet edge players using those networks.

The FCC OK'd Birch Communications' planned buy of certain assets from Primus Telecommunications, debtor-in-possession (Primus has filed a petition under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code), said a Wireline Bureau order Monday. A public notice outlined the proposed CLEC transaction (see 1603100045).

Frontier Communications gained access to $48.6 million in Connect America Fund subsidies for serving 114,610 locations in areas of two states covered by wireline systems it recently acquired from Verizon (see 1604010036), said an FCC Wireline Bureau order in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Frontier was authorized to receive $32 million for California and $16.6 million for Texas that Verizon had accepted in broadband-oriented CAF Phase II support. The bureau directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to disburse to Frontier the USF subsidy amounts, which included some deferred amounts and other adjustments not previously disbursed to Verizon.

BT Americas disputed AT&T statements that Ethernet prices are lower in the U.S. than elsewhere due to less regulation here. BT cited data it said showed metro Ethernet services in the U.S. are clearly pricier than elsewhere in 94 percent of cases. "AT&T arrives at the demonstrably false conclusion that Ethernet prices in the US are in fact 'overall lower' and that the correlation between responsible regulation of economic bottlenecks and better outcomes for consumers has magically disappeared. AT&T does this by conveniently ignoring the facts," BT said in a filing Friday responding to a recent AT&T filing in docket 05-25 (see 1603290063).