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.

Micronesian Telecommunications was authorized to receive its full $2.63 million allotment in annual USF support from the FCC Connect America Fund Phase II, the Wireline Bureau said Friday in docket 10-90. Micronesian will use the subsidy for calendar years 2015-2020 to provide broadband service to 11,143 locations in the Northern Mariana Islands, the bureau said in a public notice that also authorized Hawaiian Telcom to receive $4.42 million in annual USF subsidy to provide broadband service to 11,081 locations after that price-cap carrier announced it would accept its full CAF Phase II allotment (see 1508200045).

Securus Technologies says it continues to serve small and medium-sized correctional facilities, despite recent Pay-Tel Communications assertions that large inmate calling service (ICS) providers are abandoning them. Pay-Tel had said the number of facilities with average daily populations (ADPs) of 0-99 inmates served by Securus dropped from 751 in 2013 to 640 in 2014. But Securus said in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 12-375 that Pay-Tel's information was out of date, because it was still serving 722 facilities with ADPs of 1-99 inmates in 2014. Securus also said the number of facilities with ADPs of 100-300 inmates that it served went up from 437 in 2013 to 444 in 2014, while Pay-Tel had asserted that the number of Securus-served facilities with ADPs of 100-349 dropped from 473 in 2013 to 430 in 2014. "Securus is not 'abandoning' any correctional facilities," Securus said. "Should the Commission nonetheless have any apprehension that small facilities will not be served under the new rules, Securus voluntarily commits to serving any facility of any size if the rate caps offered in the ICS Industry Proposal -- $0.20 per minute for debit calls and $0.24 per minute for collect calls -- are adopted." Securus also disputed a recent analysis from the Martha Wright et. al. petitioners that criticized its ICS cost data. Securus recently said FCC staff had told it that an ICS order would be released "in the near future" (see 1508210032). Meanwhile, the FCC received a letter Monday that said it was signed by 13 former and active federal and state correctional officials urging the commission "to use its clear authority to reduce the burden on people incarcerated and their families to remain in touch through phones by lowering rates as much as possible."

The FCC granted West Corp.'s takeover of HyperCube and West IP Communications, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Thursday in docket 15-163. HyperCube provides wholesale tandem switching and transport services, termination services and other services to telecom and information service providers, and West IP primarily provides VoIP service to business customers, a previous PN said. West Corp. provides a broad range of communications and network solutions to business customers through several subsidiaries -- including HyperCube, West IP, Intrado Communications and InterCall -- and its primary shareholders are funds managed by Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL), Quadrangle Group and Gary West and Mary West, the notice said. The parties acknowledged recently that "post-transaction, THL and Quadrangle could retain at least 10% interest in West and its subsidiaries."

Some small rural telcos will receive an additional $3.3 million in USF high-cost loop support under formula modifications proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association for "average schedule companies." The proposed extra money payable for 194 average schedule study (coverage) areas would mean the affected rural LECs would receive about $11.3 million in 2016, vs. $8 million in 2015 for 165 study areas under the current formula, a 41 percent increase, NECA said in a report posted Friday in FCC docket 05-337. Most of the proposed increase is due to an FCC rule change in December aimed at keeping total payments under a cap through across-the-board cuts rather than other loop cost adjustments. "The new method of controlling the fund has a smaller impact on lower cost companies than the old method," NECA said. "Under the old rules, the proposed formula would have increased payments to average schedule companies by approximately 2%." If the FCC approves the proposed changes, the average schedule payments still will be only 1.6 percent of the $718 million in total high-cost loop support for RLECs in 2016, NECA said.

FCC staff told Securus a final order on inmate calling service rules is imminent, said a filing reporting on meetings CEO Dennis Reinhold and others from the company had at the commission. “Securus noted particularly that it met with the three largest law enforcement organizations to seek their active participation in this proceeding,” said the filing in docket 12-375. Securus also said it responded to a recent filing by Pay-Tel on specific proposals for overhauling FCC rules for inmate calls (see 1507140065). Securus “stated its commitment to serving correctional facilities of any size” if the FCC adopts a rate cap that it, Pay-Tel and Global Tel*Link have proposed of 20 cents per minute for prepaid calls and 24 cents per minute for collect calls, the filing said. “Securus will file a more detailed, written response to Pay Tel’s filing very soon,” it said. CenturyLink, meanwhile, "understands the Commission’s interest in inmate calling service reform,” the telco said. “Given legitimate questions about the limits of the Commission’s statutory authority, if reform is to be lasting, it must be reasonable, comprehensive, and sensitive to the interests of all parties -- including inmate families, correctional authorities, and service providers.” CenturyLink said rules should include a uniform rate cap, limits on ancillary fees and commissions, and a transition plan for current service providers. Separate treatment for uniquely high-cost facilities also is important, the company said. “Juvenile detention centers, secure mental health facilities, and small jails are uniquely expensive to serve due to factors like exceptionally low call volume,” CenturyLink said. “While these facilities house vulnerable populations of inmates/residents that deserve the benefit of any regulatory protections the Commission adopts for other inmates, these facilities are particularly costly to serve due primarily to low call volumes.”

CenturyLink can support defining partial loss of communications to public safety answering points (PSAPs) as when at least 80 percent of the trunks serving a PSAP are disabled, the company said in an FCC ex parte filing posted Friday to docket 15-80. The company asked that the rule not become effective until at least Oct. 15, 2016, because of other 911-related activities. The telco said that imposing new reporting requirements for call blockages in the wireline network would be burdensome and challenging due to the lack of fully integrated monitoring capabilities across its service footprint.

Representatives from a group of LECs met with FCC officials to make their case on an intercarrier compensation fight (see 1505190056) between LECs and interexchange carriers (IXCs) over “intraMTA” (major trading area) wireline-wireless traffic. The meeting focused on the petition for declaratory ruling and reply comments filed by the LEC coalition in the proceeding, said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90. The FCC’s intraMTA rule “entitles wireless carriers to enter into reciprocal compensation arrangements for the exchange of LEC-CMRS [Commercial Mobile Radio Services] traffic but has no application to traffic exchanged between LECs and interexchange carriers over switched access trunks,” the LECs said. “We emphasized that the ‘intraMTA’ nature of traffic is not -- and never has been -- the sole factor in determining the type of compensation owed when it is exchanged by carriers.” The LECs said the relief they seek “would be consistent with longstanding industry practice, Commission and judicial precedent, and the public interest.” The LECs included Bright House Networks, CenturyLink, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Windstream; BHN and TWC are being bought by Charter Communications.

Any objections to Sprint's plan to discontinue long distance service to wireline consumers should be filed by Sept. 3, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday in docket 15-186. Sprint announced its plan June 19 to stop providing the service Sept. 19 (see 1506190036), and the FCC said it would be allowed to do so, absent further commission action. "The Commission normally will authorize proposed discontinuances of service unless it is shown that customers or other end users would be unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another carrier, or that the public convenience and necessity would be otherwise adversely affected," the bureau said.

Hawaiian Telcom was awarded more than $4 million annually in Connect America Fund Phase II support from the FCC for six years -- a total of more than $26 million -- to expand rural broadband, the company said Wednesday in a news release. This follows recent announcements by FairPoint Communications (see 1508190014) and CenturyLink (see 1508140052), which said they also planned to accept CAF funds. Hawaiian Telcom said it plans to use the CAF Phase II support to deploy 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload broadband to more than 11,000 unserved locations primarily on the neighbor islands. The company previously used CAF Phase 1 support to deploy broadband to more than 500 locations on Hawaii Island and is working to deploy high-speed broadband to 1,300 additional locations, it said.