The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on Birch Communications' proposed buy of Sage Telecom Communications assets in a public notice posted Friday in docket 15-139. Both companies are CLECs, with Birch offering or certified to offer telecom or data services to residential and business customers in all 50 states and D.C., and Sage offering telecom or data services to residential and business customers in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, the PN said. Birch would obtain certain Sage "customer accounts and receivables, certain customer agreements and contracts, certain vendor agreements and contracts, certain equipment and certain intellectual property," said the PN. Initial comments are due July 6, replies July 13. In their application, Birch and Sage said the transaction is entitled to presumptive streamlined treatment because it would leave Birch with less than 10 percent of the interstate long-distance market, Birch would provide competitive telecom services only in areas served by a dominant ILEC, and neither applicant is regulated as dominant in any service. The applicants said the transaction is also in the public interest because it will allow Birch to expand its business and achieve economies of scale, strengthening its ability to expand its offerings to a broader customer base, while Sage's affected customers will have access to the same service quality and expanded offerings.

Sprint asked the FCC for authorization to stop providing long-distance services and associated features to wireline customers in three months. In an application filed at the commission Friday pursuant to Section 214 of the Communications Act, Sprint said it had received approval to stop offering the wireline long-distance service to new customers on Jan. 5 and plans to discontinue providing the services to its remaining customers Sept. 19, or as soon as it gets regulatory approval. "The specific Sprint wireline consumer long-distance services and associated features being discontinued are Message Telecommunications Service (i.e., 1+ long distance) ('MTS'), FŌNCARD, Directory Assistance, and Operator Service (collectively, the 'Sprint Services'), as well as all consumer pricing plans associated with the Sprint Services," Sprint said. Sprint said its exit plans wouldn't cause material harm because customers can easily obtain alternative long-distance services from other wireline providers, wireless providers -- including Sprint -- and VoIP providers. Sprint attached to its application a copy of a June 15 letter to wireline customers noting its plans to stop providing service, which it said gave them "ample time" to switch to other providers.

The FCC sent letters to Frontier and Verizon Wednesday requesting more information about Frontier's buyout (see 1502050059) of Verizon's wireline systems in California, Texas and Florida. The letters follow a Communications Workers of America request for both companies to provide the FCC with additional information about the details of the sale (see 1506010027). In the information requests, both companies are asked to respond to questions about potential financial issues, transition plans, functionality and service quality, broadband deployment improvement, capital expenditure plans, and potential savings. The FCC asked that written responses to each question in the letters be sent by July 1 "in order to expedite consideration" of the companies' sale application. "Frontier acknowledges that requests for further information are all part of the process in obtaining FCC and regulatory approval," a Frontier spokesperson said. "We will continue to provide information where appropriate." Verizon declined to comment on the FCC's request.

Small rural telcos continue to reach more customers with high-speed fiber lines, said an NTCA news release Wednesday citing a survey of members. The report "found that 45 percent of survey respondents deploying fiber serve at least 50 percent of their customers using fiber to the home (FTTH), up from 41 percent in 2013." In addition, 85 percent of respondents indicated they had a long-term fiber strategy, with 74 percent of those planning to offer fiber to the node to over three-quarters of their customers by the end of 2017; and 83 percent of respondents' customers have access to broadband speeds of 10 Mbps or greater, up from 66 percent the year before, though the majority of respondents' customers subscribe to 3 Mbps speeds or faster. Twenty percent of NTCA members participated in the winter 2014 online survey, said the group.

The FCC Wireline Bureau took several actions Monday on rural broadband experiments under the Connect America Fund. The bureau order in docket 14-259 denied a request from LDT Broadband for an extension of time to obtain a commitment letter for a letter of credit. The order also dismissed as moot the requests of Aristotle and WorldCall for waiver or extension of the Jan. 6 deadline to remain under consideration for rural broadband support. And the order removed one additional provisionally selected bidder, Halstad, from further consideration for failing to file a letter of credit commitment letter from a top 100 bank.

Consumer Watchdog petitioned the FCC Monday to enact rules requiring edge provider Internet companies like Facebook and Google to honor Do Not Track requests sent from a consumer’s Web browser, a Consumer Watchdog news release said. “New rules protecting net neutrality and reclassifying broadband Internet access providers as common carriers that went into effect last Friday do not extend privacy protections to edge providers,” CW said. “Because the FCC has found that concerns about Internet privacy can hinder broadband deployment, rules to protect privacy, such as requiring companies to honor DNT requests, are necessary to promote improved broadband use.” All four major Web browsers, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, have the capability to send a DNT request, but edge providers are under no obligation to honor it and most don't, said CW's release. “Ensuring that ISPs respect their customers’ privacy is important, but privacy rules covering companies like Google and Facebook are also necessary if people are going to trust the Internet,” said Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson. “The FCC clearly has the authority it needs and must do everything it can to build that trust if it is to succeed in promoting timely broadband deployment.” Consumer Watchdog has proposed that edge providers’ offering a first-party online service that received a DNT request be prohibited from selling, sharing or otherwise transferring the personal information of the consumer to any other entity, including a third-party online service. Edge providers offering a third-party online service would also be required under the proposed rule to honor DNT requests and not collect or store consumers' personal data, it said. The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC is seeking comment by July 27 on proposed rules to make permanent its program distributing communications equipment to low-income deaf-blind individuals, a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice said Wednesday. A summary of the NPRM with the proposed rules was published in that day's Federal Register, triggering the 45- and 60-day comment deadlines, with replies due Aug. 10. The iCanConnect program, which operates with up to $10 million from the Telecom Relay Service Fund, provides individuals who have combined hearing and vision loss with equipment -- such as Braille-enabled devices, magnifiers and vibrating alerts -- giving them communications access. The NPRM was adopted May 21 (see 1505210056).

The FCC Wireline Bureau denied American Teleconferencing Services' request for review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision and a waiver. "USAC acted properly when it rejected ATS’ late-filed second revised 2012 FCC Form 499-A," said an order released Tuesday. "ATS has failed to demonstrate that good cause exists to justify waiver of the revision filing deadline for its second revised 2012 Form 499-A." Industry contributors to USF mechanisms are required to file Form 499-A by April 1 each year reporting their prior year's revenue, among other things. Parties that make mistakes in their forms have until March 31 of the subsequent year to file a revision, but ATS didn't realize a mistake in a revision to its 2012 filing until past the deadline in 2013, filing a second revision in August 2013 that was rejected by USAC. The bureau said it found that the ATS claim of financial hardship didn't warrant waiver of the deadline because it "does not rise to the order of magnitude" that petitioners in precedent cited by ATS would have faced without a waiver.

Level 3 and Telefonica Business Solutions said they reached an interconnection agreement for "their public IP networks." Both companies "will add capacity and establish new interconnection locations between the two networks to stay ahead of growing traffic demands, thus offering flexibility for each network while improving performance and reliability for their respective customers," a joint release said Monday.

The FCC suspended Oscar Enrique Perez-Zumaeta from participating in Lifeline activities, after he was convicted of money laundering in connection with fraudulent claims against the Lifeline USF program, said an Enforcement Bureau letter released Monday. Perez-Zumaeta owned and managed PSPS Sales, a California entity that recruited low-income people to apply for Lifeline-supported phone service through Icon Telecom, the bureau said. Icon pleaded guilty to knowingly making a false statement to the Universal Service Administrative Co. about fraudulent Lifeline claims, the letter said. "According to court records, you were charged with directing PSPS workers to enroll fictitious customers and falsify Lifeline recertification forms for use in Icon’s fraudulent scheme," the letter said to Perez-Zumaeta. "On November 7, 2014, you pled guilty to one count of money laundering for depositing a $52,390.00 check from Icon into a PSPS bank account, despite knowing that more than $10,000.00 of those funds was the result of criminal fraud against the Commission." Under FCC rules, the conviction requires the bureau to suspend Perez-Zumaeta from participating in any activities involving Lifeline, the letter said.