The FCC adopted a protective order in its review of its Part 32 telco accounting rules. The Wireline Bureau order released Friday establishes rules for "the filing of and access to confidential information" in the proceeding in docket 14-130. "We have found that in certain circumstances, such information is competitively sensitive and, if released to competitors or those with whom a Submitting Party does business, might allow those persons to gain a significant advantage in the marketplace or in negotiations," the order said. "The procedures we adopt in this Protective Order give appropriate access to the public while protecting especially competitively sensitive information from improper disclosure." The bureau has been looking to draft an order revising its Part 32 Uniform System of Accounts (see 1512030060). AT&T recently said it would work with others to develop an industry proposal for basing new rules on generally accepted accounting principles (see 1602220016).

The FCC made tariff review plans available for ILECs updating interstate access service tariffs. A Wireline Bureau order in Thursday's Daily Digest included a link to the TRPs, which support rate revisions by both price-cap and rate-of-return telcos in their tariffs. "The completion of the TRPs appended to this document will provide the supporting documentation to partially fulfill the requirements established" in various sections of the Commission’s rules, the order said. Rate-of-return telcos on July 1 must adjust their tariffs to reflect an 11 percent authorized rate of return under a six-year phasedown from 11.25 percent to 9.75 percent adopted in the FCC's rural USF overhaul order in March (see 1603300065). Both rate-of-return and price-cap telcos must incorporate other tariff modifications that were detailed in the order.

Rural telcos will have to provide more broadband, often with less federal support, said Fletcher Heald attorney James Troup, who represents RLECs and examined recent FCC actions overhauling high-cost USF subsidies for rate-of-return carriers (see 1603300065 and 1603310039). The commission is "imposing numerous additional obligations upon rate-of-return regulated incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), while leaving many rural ILECs with the same or even less compensation to satisfy the significant broadband build-out expenditures mandated by the new regulations," Troup said in a blog post Wednesday. The FCC is phasing down the authorized rate of return from 11.25 percent to 9.75 percent over six years and giving carriers two options: shifting to model-based support or staying with legacy mechanisms, with one revamped as Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) and providing stand-alone broadband support. In both cases, ILECs "will have new broadband construction obligations entailing additional costs," Troup wrote. "The FCC did not allocate additional funds to recover the increase in construction expenditures for those ILECs that elect to receive CAF BLS and high cost loop support. The FCC only provided $150 million more to pay for all the new broadband construction it is mandating for those ILECs that select model-based support. The funds within the current budget will first be distributed to those that elect model-based USF, and what is left within the current budget will be available for those that receive CAF BLS and high cost loop support." Many RLECs will receive less funds under a "regression analysis" that limits operating and corporate expenses, and due to capital budget constraints, he said. The changes create substantial uncertainty for those choosing legacy support, Troup told us Thursday. He said rural telcos will be forced to bear the burden of broadband construction that benefits long-distance providers, wireless carriers and Internet edge players using those networks.

The FCC OK'd Birch Communications' planned buy of certain assets from Primus Telecommunications, debtor-in-possession (Primus has filed a petition under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code), said a Wireline Bureau order Monday. A public notice outlined the proposed CLEC transaction (see 1603100045).

Frontier Communications gained access to $48.6 million in Connect America Fund subsidies for serving 114,610 locations in areas of two states covered by wireline systems it recently acquired from Verizon (see 1604010036), said an FCC Wireline Bureau order in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Frontier was authorized to receive $32 million for California and $16.6 million for Texas that Verizon had accepted in broadband-oriented CAF Phase II support. The bureau directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to disburse to Frontier the USF subsidy amounts, which included some deferred amounts and other adjustments not previously disbursed to Verizon.

BT Americas disputed AT&T statements that Ethernet prices are lower in the U.S. than elsewhere due to less regulation here. BT cited data it said showed metro Ethernet services in the U.S. are clearly pricier than elsewhere in 94 percent of cases. "AT&T arrives at the demonstrably false conclusion that Ethernet prices in the US are in fact 'overall lower' and that the correlation between responsible regulation of economic bottlenecks and better outcomes for consumers has magically disappeared. AT&T does this by conveniently ignoring the facts," BT said in a filing Friday responding to a recent AT&T filing in docket 05-25 (see 1603290063).

FCC special access regulation is needed to ensure competitors can lease access to incumbent telco facilities on reasonable wholesale terms, Windstream CEO Tony Thomas said at the Incompas Show Monday. About 77 percent of business buildings have just one facilities-based provider, 20 percent have two, and 2 percent have three or more, he said in Oxon Hill, Maryland: "That is the state of competition and it's not going to change overnight" due to the economics. Windstream is investing heavily to deploy fiber and upgrade its networks, but it's a "drop in the bucket," given the challenge of serving business customers with multilocation offices across the country, he said. Incumbent telcos said competitive fiber runs close to the vast majority of buildings and could be connected to them, and Thomas said long-haul connections are "pretty easy," but the "last half-mile" is "really hard and really expensive on both ends" of communications transmissions. Installing fiber underground in major cities such as Washington or Los Angeles is costly and difficult, particularly without existing rights of way, he said: "That's why we need a robust wholesale market." Thomas said the Ethernet market, which has been deregulated by FCC forbearance decisions, is "fundamentally flawed" with "staggering" problems, such as higher wholesale prices than retail prices and frequent "special construction charges" that constitute "back-door price increases meant to impede competition." Without more reasonable wholesale prices and related terms and conditions, business customers will often be left with just one provider, he said.

About 40,000 Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) members in eight states and the District of Columbia plan to go on strike against Verizon starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, they said. Major strikes have become a rarity, with only 12 strikes involving 1,000 or more employees last year, compared with 22 a decade earlier and hundreds annually being common before the 1980s, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. "We have tried everything, and I do mean everything," CWA President Chris Shelton said on a conference call with journalists Monday. "Verizon has forced us there. They have no regard for anybody but themselves." IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson said the union has proposed alternatives to the company's proposed health and retirement benefit changes, but Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam "has refused anything less than his full agenda of cuts." Union officials tied many of their complaints to Verizon's failure to build out its Fios network. "It's greed, just greed, plain and simple," said Ed Mooney, CWA District 2-13 vice president. The union has in the past pointed to Fios plans as an example of the company not living up to obligations (see 1601220013). Verizon has been preparing for more than a year in the event of a strike, with nonunion workers trained to handle job duties from repairs on poles to handling call center inquiries, it said in a statement Monday. “We’ve tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal,” Chief Administrative Officer Marc Reed said. “Verizon has been moving the bargaining process forward, but now union leaders would rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table.” Verizon said the company's contract proposal includes a 6.5 percent wage increase over the life of the contract and a 401(k) with company match, along with "structural changes" to its legacy healthcare plans that would bring them in line with what it offers its non-union U.S. workforce. The current contract expired Aug. 1, according to the unions.

The new version of the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM, v2.2) incorporates inputs and changes from the FCC's recent rate-of-return USF overhaul order (see 1603300065), said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in the Daily Digest, posted in docket 10-90. The bureau released illustrative results showing support amounts for carriers to assist their decisions on whether to opt in to the model-based support, but it said the model hasn't been finalized. The PN invited unsubsidized rural telco competitors to update information on their broadband-oriented deployments, which can be used to deny incumbent carriers new Connect America Fund support. Comments challenging competitor coverage data are due April 28.

Stakeholders in the planned local number portability administrator (LNPA) transition from Neustar to Telcordia/iconectiv can participate in a couple of "outreach and education events" being held by PwC, the transition oversight manager, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 95-116. Stakeholders can attend an in-person event on Monday and Tuesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hampton Inn & Suites National Harbor, Oxon Hill, Maryland, said the PN. PwC will also host its next webcast April 20 at 3 p.m., it said.