The FCC Wireline Bureau approved GTCR Onvoy's planned takeover of Broadvox-CLEC, Layered Communications, Minnesota Independent Equal Access, Onvoy and Zayo Enterprise Networks, said a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The PN said license transfers were granted under Section 214 of the Communications Act. The acquired entities are operating subsidiaries of Communications Infrastructure Investments.

A USTelecom request for ILEC relief continued to draw resistance from rivals and state commissions, and support from incumbent telcos, in reply comments posted this week in FCC docket 13-3. The battle lines were basically the same as in initial comments on USTelecom's 2013 petition asking the FCC for a declaratory ruling that incumbent telcos are nondominant in the provision of switched access voice services (see 1602230069). The FCC asked parties to refresh the record (see 1601210066). "ILECs remain dominant in the switched access marketplace, and USTelecom has been unable to offer sustainable evidence otherwise," said Incompas, representing CLECs and other ILEC competitors, urging the FCC to deny the petition. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and South Dakota regulatory commissions also said (here, here, here) USTelecom hadn't made the case for the requested relief. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said it based its opposition on the data in the FCC's October 2014 local competition report, which "indicates that the ILEC provision of switched access service still remains a dominant service." The USTelecom petition is premature, it said. But USTelecom said no parties opposing its requests offered "any tangible or new evidence to dispute the overwhelming facts in the record clearly demonstrating that [ILECs] are not dominant in the provision of switched access voice services because they no longer possess sufficient power to control prices in that marketplace." USTelecom said it wasn't seeking blanket deregulation of those services. It wants ILECs to have the same rights as others to (1) file tariffs on one day's notice and without cost support, (2) face a 30-day (instead of 60-day) waiting period for discontinuance applications to be granted and (3) be eligible for presumptive streamlined treatment for more types of transfers of control under Section 214 of the Communications Act. It said the relief wouldn't affect special access services, wholesale obligations or forbearance decisions. AT&T said the current regulation imposes administrative costs and hurts dynamism by "inhibiting carriers' ability nimbly to adjust to changes in consumer demand in today's hypercompetitive marketplace." Alaska Communications also backed the petition.

Parties have until April 18 to weigh in on Puerto Rico Telephone Co.'s plan to serve 323 more census blocks with higher-speed service using Connect America Fund Phase I support, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a docket 10-90 public notice listed in Monday's Daily Digest. Under CAF I rules, other providers get 45 days to indicate if they're already providing 3 Mbps down and 768 kbps up data speeds in any of the targeted areas, and PRTC must certify to the best of its ability whether the locations are unserved.

AT&T and Great Lakes Comnet asked a bankruptcy court to ease an automatic stay to permit a federal appellate court to continue its review of GLC's legal challenge of an FCC order siding with AT&T on an intercarrier compensation dispute, AT&T said in an appellate court filing Monday. "AT&T expects that the bankruptcy court will act on the stipulation as early as this week, and will enter an order consistent with the stipulation that lifts the stay (to the extent it applies) to allow this proceeding to move forward," AT&T told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which has been considering Great Lakes Comnet and Westphalia Telephone Co. v. FCC, No. 15-1064. If the stay is lifted for the D.C. Circuit case, AT&T suggested the appeals court keep its oral argument scheduled for April 1. GLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and said the automatic stay blocked D.C. Circuit review of its challenge to the FCC order (see 1602040034). AT&T asked the bankruptcy court to lift the stay (see 1602250022). Answering a D.C. Circuit request that they weigh in on the matter, the DOJ and FCC told the court in a response Monday that they don't intend to take a position on the AT&T request for the bankruptcy court to lift the stay. If the bankruptcy court lifts the stay in a timely manner, the DOJ and FCC said they don't object to the D.C. Circuit holding oral argument April 1. If the stay isn't lifted, they said they believe the D.C. Circuit's review of the GLC challenge to the FCC order is blocked, and that it wouldn't be appropriate to move ahead with review of GLC subsidiary Westphalia Telephone's case against the FCC order.

A federal court asked the Department of Justice and FCC to respond to a Great Lakes Comnet filing notifying the court of a bankruptcy automatic stay that GLC said barred further court consideration of the company's challenge to a commission order siding with AT&T on an intercarrier compensation dispute (see 1602040034). The respondents should address the effect of the automatic stay on the GLC case and whether they intend to take a position on an AT&T motion for a bankruptcy court to lift the stay (see 1602250022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in an order Thursday in Great Lakes Comnet, No. 15-1064. The DOJ/FCC response is due Monday.

The FCC modified a protective order to allow parties to use confidential materials from a commission enforcement proceeding -- on an AT&T intercarrier compensation complaint against Great Lakes Comnet -- in the bankruptcy proceeding of Great Lakes Comnet (see 1602040034) pursuant to a protective order to be entered in that case. The action was announced in a letter Thursday from the Enforcement Bureau to AT&T, GLC and their outside counsels.

The USF contribution factor for carriers will fall in Q2 to 17.9 percent of interstate and international telecom revenue due to lower subsidy demand, industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg said in an email update Tuesday. He said the Universal Service Administrative Co. projected industry long-distance telecom revenue for Q2 at $14.74 billion, about $191 million less than in the current quarter. The downward revenue trend is putting upward pressure on the contribution factor over time, but Gregg noted USF demand for Q2 also edged down to $2.211 billion -- due mainly to "out of period adjustments" (see 1602020047) -- allowing the rate assessed to carriers to decline somewhat from the current quarter's 18.2 percent.

Communications Sales & Leasing's planned buy of PEG Bandwidth got antitrust OK Monday, said the FTC's list of early termination notices, which posts such notices from both the FTC and DOJ. CSL is paying $409 million to purchase PEG Bandwidth's equity interests from affiliates of Associated Partners, the companies said in a January release announcing the deal, which they said is expected to close in April. PEG Bandwidth is a "leading provider of infrastructure solutions including cell site backhaul and dark fiber for telecom carriers and enterprises" and has a fiber network of more than 300,000 miles in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Illinois and South Central U.S., the release said. It said CSL is a real estate investment trust and Associated Partners is a telecom investment vehicle of Bill and David Berkman.

FairPoint Communications reported lower revenue and net income in Q4 than in Q3, but lower operating expenses helped the company beat an analyst's expectations on cash flow metrics. FairPoint is "committed to delivering on our unlevered free cash flow [FCF] objectives," said CEO Paul Sunu in a company earnings release Wednesday. It also expects "to be an active participant in our consolidating industry," though that partially depends on reasonable financing, he said. Revenue dropped $11.8 million to $209.8 million in Q4 due to "seasonality" and an anticipated $4.8 million reduction in regulatory funding, primarily lower USF subsidies under a transition to Connect America Fund Phase II support, the telco said. Net income was down $10.8 million to $42.3 million, primarily due to the revenue reduction, which was partially offset by a $1.9 million decrease in operating expenses to $90.9 million due to lower head count and debt expense, it said. The company ended 2015 with 2,718 employees, down 334 from a year before. Adjusted EBITDA dropped $2.8 million to $63.9 million and unlevered FCF fell $9.8 million to $23.3 million due in part to higher pension contributions. But Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said she had estimated adjusted EBITDA would be $60.2 million and unlevered FCF would be $21.2 million. So while the revenue decline had been expected, the company's cost containment focus allowed it to beat expectations on both adjusted EBITDA and unlevered FCF, she emailed investors. FairPoint said it continued to make progress in 2015 on customer service, reporting "fewer repair tickets in the queue and improved ability to timely address the service orders received." The improvements produced less employee overtime and fewer repeat calls, and should yield more brand loyalty and lower customer churn over time, it said. FairPoint's share price closed down 3 percent to $14.98 Wednesday.

The FCC sought comment on bids to discontinue certain nondominant telecom services and/or interconnected VoIP services in geographic areas specified in applications submitted by Qwest (CenturyLink) in Oregon, Bullroar Telecom in Louisiana and Hill Country Telecommunications in Texas. The Qwest/CenturyLink application seeks to discontinue "interstate, intraLATA toll (local long distance) service" in Oregon areas served by its affiliates CenturyTel of Eastern Oregon and CenturyTel of Oregon, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 16-36, which said comments are due March 15 and contained links to the applications. The requests will be deemed granted March 31 unless the commission notifies an applicant otherwise, though the actual dates they are authorized to discontinue, reduce or impair service will vary in early April, the PN said.