FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will give the keynote speech at the Incompas Show April 11, the group announced Monday. The show is scheduled for April 10-13 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington.

AT&T said it will work with others to develop an industry proposal for replacing Part 32 accounting rules with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). AT&T representatives discussed issues related to a potential accounting shift with FCC officials Wednesday, said a company filing posted Friday in docket 14-130. "AT&T agreed to do some analysis of the potential impacts and work with other industry members on a recommendation," the filing said. In another recent filing, CenturyLink asked FCC officials to rescind the existing accounting regime, emphasizing "the needless costs and administrative burdens imposed by Part 32 accounting across ILEC operating companies." CenturyLink discussed how such a change would affect "materiality and pole attachment costs," the same two areas discussed by AT&T, Verizon and FCC officials in a previous meeting (see 1601250051). The Wireline Bureau has been looking to craft a draft order on Part 32 rules, Bureau Chief Matt DelNero said in December (see 1512030060).

Global Tel*Link claimed a "capstone victory" in its patent litigation against fellow inmate calling service provider Securus after the Patent Trial and Appeals Board issued a "final decision" Thursday, ruling against the validity of Securus claims on its patent 7,805,457. "The PTAB found that the data analytics and gang-member tracking ideas claimed by Securus were not innovations at all, but a group of concepts and technologies patented or developed by GTL and others years before," GTL said in a release Friday. Securus issued a release that said it expects some of its patents to be invalidated, but said that would have "no impact" on the "quality, business operations, or scale advantage" of its "industry-leading patent portfolio and product set." Securus said GTL was taking advantage of PTAB rules changes.

Inmate calling service providers asked a court to stay FCC ICS rate caps and other rules despite agency and intervenor arguments in defense of the rules (see 1602120060). CenturyLink, Global Tel*Link, Securus and Telmate filed replies Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is considering the providers' requests for a stay pending further review of their consolidated legal challenges to the FCC's order (Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461). "A stay is warranted because the FCC has no answer to CenturyLink’s core argument that the Order’s rate caps will prevent CenturyLink from recovering its cost of service in Texas and several other jurisdictions, in direct contravention of [Communications Act] section 276’s requirement that the FCC 'ensure that all [ICS] providers are fairly compensated for each and every ... call' they complete," CenturyLink said in its reply. "The FCC opposes Telmate’s stay motion by describing what the FCC did because it cannot explain why its decisions were authorized or reasonable. This does not overcome Telmate’s substantial case on the merits, which, coupled with the irreparable harm it will suffer and the balance of the equities, justifies a stay," Telmate said in its reply. GTL's reply is here and Securus' reply is here.

New FCC pole-attachment rules take effect March 4, said a summary published Wednesday in the Federal Register that corrected an erroneous effective date and typographical errors in a previous summary (see 1602030006). The rules are intended to lower electric utility pole-attachment rates paid by telco broadband providers to the generally lower levels paid by cable broadband providers, and to keep the latter from paying higher telecom rates in the wake of the FCC's 2015 reclassification of broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act.

Competify hammered USTelecom white papers that cited competitive success of the broadband business market served by special access services (see 1602110061). "USTelecom represents an industry in denial," Competify emailed Thursday night. The USTelecom white papers "follow the same tired logic that we’ve heard for years," said the group of CLECs, tech companies and others. "Connections to individual buildings remain a competitive bottleneck. Twenty years after monopoly services were allegedly opened to competition, the majority of business still have only one dedicated connection -- the incumbent telco's. Over the past ten years, there have been multiple studies, including the FCC’s own data, demonstrating what every consumer knows to be true -- that broadband incumbents are overcharging all of us billions of dollars annually.”

The FCC opposed inmate calling service provider motions to stay ICS rate caps and other rules, pending further judicial review of an underlying order. "No petitioner has met this Court’s stringent test for stay pending appeal, and the Commission’s long-overdue reforms should be permitted to go into effect," the FCC said in its opposition Friday filed with 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 opposition to a stay received support from the Wright Petitioners and various other groups backing the calling rights of inmates and their families. CenturyLink, GTL, Securus and Telmate have filed stay petitions.

USTelecom issued three white papers on the business broadband market since the 1996 Telecom Act. The papers look at the Internet economy growth, the rise of competition in the broadband business market and the FCC's related role (see here, here and here), said a USTelecom release. "These papers document the huge successes in this marketplace, which are exactly the competitive outcome Congress envisioned, and that the FCC has said it wants to see,” said USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick. “We hope the FCC will innovate with us by modernizing policy and regulation so industry can leverage the competition we have today to a greater future for tomorrow.” The FCC is reviewing special access services in the business broadband market.

Several changes to the Lifeline program proposed by commenters in the FCC proceeding would make it "significantly more challenging" for the disabled to participate in Lifeline, said disability advocates in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42. The advocates "strongly oppose" the use of a voucher system for the administration and distribution of program subsidies, they said. A voucher system would require recipients to physically visit or otherwise actively contact a provider to be able to continue receiving service on a monthly basis, said the American Foundation for the Blind, Arc, Hearing Loss Association of America, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and a few other groups. Such a requirement would impose unnecessary burdens on the significant segment of current program participants who face various physical, cognitive and communications challenges, the groups said. If the commission were to adopt the use of vouchers, many qualified recipients with disabilities may be at the risk of losing this vital and affordable communications link, the filing said. "We therefore urge the Commission to maintain the current system of automatic deposit of benefits on a consumer’s Lifeline phone and ensure that the benefits remain easy to use and maintain for consumers with disabilities."

The FCC authorized Midwest Energy Cooperative and Northern Valley Communications to receive funding for rural broadband experiments, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90. Northern Valley was authorized $2 million to provide broadband to 411 locations in 258 census blocks in South Dakota, and Midwest was authorized $211,532 to provide broadband to 421 locations in 31 census blocks of Michigan.