Windstream asked the FCC for a waiver to collect a little more money as it reduces transitional intrastate access service rates under a commission order. "Specifically, the Windstream ILECs request a waiver of the relevant portions of Section 51.915(c) and (d) insofar as such requirements would prevent the Windstream ILECs from including in their Intrastate Access Reduction calculations uncollectible intrastate access charges billed to Halo Wireless, Inc. (‘Halo’) during Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 (October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011) that were not collected by March 31, 2012," the telco said in a petition posted in FCC dockets 10-90 and 01-92 Wednesday. Windstream said the FCC in 2011 ordered many access charges to be driven down to zero over time under a bill-and-keep regime. It also said the FCC was "all too familiar with the sordid details of Halo's operations and their effect" on LECs. "As the Commission recently described, 'Record evidence outlines an access charge avoidance scheme whereby Halo attempted to disguise traffic otherwise subject to access charges as traffic subject to reciprocal compensation under the intraMTA rule,'" Windstream said. "The Windstream ILECs were among Halo’s victims, terminating millions of interstate and intrastate switched access minutes that Halo disguised as subject to reciprocal compensation rather than switched access charges." Windstream filed various claims on Halo before and after the latter went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Windstream noted the FCC had already issued a waiver to TDS similar to the one it's seeking. To offset its losses, Windstream said it's seeking to collect an extra $2.05 million in Connect America Fund intercarrier compensation support for the time period 2012-2015.

A revised Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) is available, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Monday in a public notice in docket 10-90. The revised A-CAM contains broadband deployment data from the latest Form 477 filed by broadband providers. The A-CAM is being considered for use by the commission to help determine future USF support under the Connect America Fund for at least some rate-of-return carriers, mostly small RLECs. The bureau also released "results that illustrate how different per-location funding caps used in calculating support impact the potential support calculated for a particular study [coverage] area" served by rate-of-return telcos. The three scenarios the bureau looked at -- all using a funding benchmark of $52.50 -- had per-location funding caps of $200, $215 and $230. A-CAM information is available at a commission webpage.

The FCC will generally calculate price-cap telco transitional USF support using the same time period, regardless of when the carriers made their Connect America Fund Phase II decisions, the Wireline Bureau said Monday in a public notice in docket 10-90. The bureau said under commission rules carriers electing CAF Phase II support in states where that support is less than their CAF Phase I frozen support will transition to model-based support over several years. In addition to their Phase II support, carriers are to receive 75 percent of the difference between Phase I frozen support and model-based support in the first year, 50 percent of the difference in the second year and 25 percent of the difference in the third year, the bureau said. For administrative convenience, the bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. to calculate the transition funding years, starting this year, as running from Aug. 1 through July 31 of the next year, whether the carriers made their Phase II acceptance decisions on the deadline date of Aug. 28 or before (see 1508270068) -- except USAC was directed to make adjustments if necessary for the two carriers that were authorized to being receiving Phase II support prior to its August processing deadline (Frontier Communications and Windstream were the first two).

The FCC seeks comment by Sept. 11 and replies by Sept. 18 on an application to allow Integra Telecom to buy opticAccess pursuant to Section 214 of the Communications Act, a Wireline Bureau notice said Friday. "OpticAccess, a Nevada privately-owned limited-liability company, is authorized to provide resold and facilities-based local exchange carrier and interexchange services in California," the notice said. "OpticAccess is also authorized as a competitive telecommunications provider in Oregon."

The FCC affirmed Wireline Bureau denial of petitions by three small companies seeking to participate in the agency’s rural broadband experiment program. In an order Thursday, the full commission denied applications for review filed by Last Mile Broadband, Lennon Telephone Co. and Rural Broadband Service Corp. (RBSC), which sought waivers of financial qualification requirements. The companies were among the provisionally selected bidders that the bureau removed from consideration after they didn't provide three years of audited financial statements and/or a credit commitment letter from an acceptable bank. The full commission said the bureau’s strict enforcement of the filing duties was appropriate to ensure the experiments didn't delay offers of model-based Connect America Fund Phase II USF support to price-cap carriers. “Contrary to the suggestion of the petitioners, it was not arbitrary and capricious for the Bureau to apply those requirements evenly to all applicants, particularly given that there were so many other applicants that were able to meet the financial and technical information requirements without waiver,” the order said. “We find that it was appropriate for the Bureau to act expeditiously in order to finalize the list of areas that would be included and excluded from the Phase II offer of support.” The deadline for price-cap carrier CAF Phase II decisions was Thursday (see 1508270068). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn partially dissented, criticizing the “unnecessarily unyielding” denial of the Lennon application. She said Lennon submitted reviewed financial statements consistent with those it uses to receive high-cost USF support. “So, reviewed financial statements are sufficient for rate-of-return carriers to receive approximately $2,000,000,000 in universal service annually, but not sufficient to provide $60,000 in support to the same carrier for a rural broadband experiment?” Clyburn asked. She said the FCC had the means to address any concerns through Lennon’s USF participation. She also said the regulatory "inflexibility" could discourage small entities from participating in USF Phase II competitive bidding and leave some consumers in hard-to-serve areas without broadband. “While I appreciate that strict adherence to the rules may be appropriate for entities that do not currently receive universal service support because the Commission may be unable to recoup funding, that is not the case here,” she said. But the commission said Lennon mistakenly believed the reviewed financial statements were sufficient and didn't even seek a timely waiver. "Applicants were expected to familiarize themselves fully with the Commission's rules and requirements," the order said.

NTCA supported aspects of Great Lakes Comnet’s (GLC) challenge to an FCC order siding with AT&T on an access charge dispute. The commission “ignored the terms of its own rules and based its decision on irrelevant facts, or on no facts at all, and thereby created uncertainty as to the lawfulness of the prices charged by hundreds of other” rural telcos, NTCA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in an amicus brief Wednesday (the case is: Great Lakes Comnet v. FCC, No. 15-1064). The FCC's March 18 order found GLC billed AT&T for interstate access services under a tariff that violated CLEC “benchmark” rules capping access rates. GLC and its indirect subsidiary Westphalia Telephone Co. (WTC) provide tandem switching and inter-office transport services to AT&T and other long-distance carriers (see network map). GLC and WTC challenged the order on various grounds, including that GLC shouldn't be subject to the benchmark rules because it didn't provide end-office switching and wasn’t a CLEC; and even if it were, it should be entitled to a “rural CLEC” exemption or not subject to a “competing ILEC” benchmark cap based on the access rates of AT&T Michigan as that ILEC (see 1508190065). NTCA -- one of whose members is Clinton County Telephone Co., the parent of WTC -- said the FCC decision was arbitrary and capricious because the commission “ignored the language of its own rule and considered irrelevant factors, including the location of certain transport facilities, to determine that Great Lakes Comnet was not a ‘rural CLEC,’” and it “had no rational basis on which to conclude that Michigan Bell was the ‘competing ILEC’ for calls switched by Great Lakes Comnet.” The FCC response is due Oct. 5.

Frontier Communications updated the FCC on the status of its state approval proceedings in connection with its pending buy of Verizon's wireline services in California, Florida and Texas. Frontier has completed three rounds of pre-filed testimony in California and is adhering to the schedule of the California Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to decide on a final order by Dec. 3, it said in a letter filed at the FCC Tuesday in docket 15-44. A Texas administrative law judge issued a proposal last week that, if adopted, would approve the transaction there, Frontier said. Although no approval is required in Florida, said the letter, Frontier briefed the Florida Public Service Commission on the transaction and will issue a post-closing notification. The letter also clarified statements from a previous filing, which said Verizon had no plans to expand FiOS or improve broadband service in areas affected by the transaction beyond satisfying current obligations. The obligations refer only to commitments under video franchise agreements to serve customers in Verizon's existing footprint and to supply FiOS to customers in the existing footprint, said the filing. "Post-closing, [Frontier] will continue to be subject to these obligations irrespective of the change in ownership."

The FCC International Bureau approved Oxford County (Maine) Telephone & Telegraph taking over BayRing's Communications Act Section 214 authorizations from owner Utel as part of its purchase of Utel. Oxford -- a reseller of switched international long-distance toll service -- said in its initial June filing BayRing will continue operations under the same trade name and in the same territories as a telecom services provider. The Wireline Bureau also approved the deal after Oxford and its parent, Oxford Networks Holdings, agreed to conditions required by the Department of Justice, the FBI and other executive branch agencies as part of their review of national security, law enforcement and public safety issues.

A table showing how census blocks are classified -- rural, suburban or urban -- in the FCC's Alternative Connect America Cost Model is available through a link at the bottom of a public notice put out by the Wireline Bureau Monday. The notice invited parties wishing to comment on plant mix values for the model to view the table. The broadband cost model is being developed for use in a possible new Connect America Fund mechanism to give USF support to rate-of-return carriers providing service in rural, high-cost areas.

Comments on proposed high-cost loop USF payments to some RLECs are due Sept. 24, replies Oct. 9, the FCC's Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Tuesday in docket 05-337. To implement an FCC rule change, the National Exchange Carrier Association proposed high-cost loop formula modifications that would give "average schedule" rural carriers $11.3 million in 2016, up from $8 million in 2015 (see 1508240014). The proposed formula, if approved by the FCC, would be set to take effect Jan. 1, the bureau said.