The FCC Wireline Bureau accepted modification of average schedule formulas for interstate settlements as proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association in December. NECA calculates that as a result of the changes, 274 companies are expected to see increases in settlement rates and 48 study areas are expected to see decreases, at constant demand, the bureau said Wednesday. The NECA changes would increase settlement rates by 6.6 percent overall, at constant demand, it said. “We have reviewed the unopposed NECA filing and find that its proposed formulas are reasonable,” the bureau said. “NECA revised the average schedule formulas using procedures consistent with those used in previous filings.”

Customers he sees want high-capacity wireline broadband service but “are far less interested in retaining their traditional wired voice service,” said Jimmy Todd, CEO of Nex-Tech of Lenora, Kansas, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The absence of a data connection service plan mechanism “imposes a substantial hardship upon customers who want to take broadband service, but want to use wireless or voice over Internet Protocol technology for their voice service,” Todd said. “The current universal service rules preclude support for the same facilities that were serving the customer before he or she terminated voice service.” The filing in docket 01-92 was made by WTA, Advocates for Rural Broadband, which also sent representatives to the meeting with O'Rielly.

EarthLink asked the FCC Enforcement Bureau to resolve a Communications Act sections 201 and 202 complaint the company filed in 2004 against SBC Communications and SBC Advanced Solutions, saying in a letter posted Tuesday that “the delay has been extraordinary.” EarthLink had brought a complaint against the SBC entities over practices related to SBC's wholesale asynchronous digital subscriber line service that EarthLink said violated sections 201(b) and 202(a). EarthLink said it attempted to address the violations directly with SBC before filing the complaint and followed prescribed complaint rules. The bureau did a full investigation, collecting information on the complaint through January 2005, EarthLink said. The company said it never received an explanation of the delay, saying federal courts have ordered the FCC “to act on matters that were pending for significantly less time.”

The FCC sought comment on Frontier Communications’ compliance plan for forbearance relief from the agency's cost-assignment rules. Comments are due May 28, replies June 12. In May 2013, the FCC conditionally gave price-cap carriers forbearance from rules that generally require carriers to assign costs to build and maintain the network, and revenue from services provided, to specific categories, said the Tuesday order on dockets including 12-61.

AT&T Services asked the FCC to deny Westelcom's petition for limited, expedited waiver of the definition of a "Rural CLEC," said a filing with the FCC posted Monday. Westelcom is seeking the waiver so it can "continue to charge the 'rural exemption' rate for its interstate switched access services," the filing said. It said the petition fails to demonstrate that the requested waiver is for good cause or would be consistent with the public interest.

CCI filed a petition for a retroactive waiver of FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules for advertising faxes sent with the recipients' prior express invitation or permission, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278. The claims administration services provider said it's a similarly situated party to the petitioners that have been granted relief in the waiver order and should therefore be granted a retroactive waiver. It said it requests the waiver because it may have sent fax ads before April 30 without the "specific compliant opt-out notices required by that rule to recipients that had provided prior express invitation or permission."

The FCC Wireline Bureau extended comments and reply deadlines to July 1 and July 22, respectively, on the special access Further NPRM in docket 05-25, it said in a notice in Monday's Federal Register.

St. Anthony School in the Bronx is seeking reconsideration of the FCC Wireline Bureau's denial of its request for review or waiver involving decisions of the Universal Service Administrator to rescind/recover certain funding for FY 2012, it said in a filing with the FCC relating to docket 02-6. The reconsideration is warranted because the FCC's adoption of a streamlined process for disposing of E-rate appeals was improper, the filing said. It also said there's no indication in the notice that the commission ever considered the request for waiver that was included in the school's appeal, which is also procedurally improper. The school is now closed for financial and other reasons, the petition said.

Representatives of Alaska-based telcos explained the “Alaska Plan” with recommendations for future universal service support for Alaska’s rate of return and competitive providers, in a meeting with FCC officials, including an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler. “We discussed the challenge Chairman Wheeler made to the Alaska carriers during his visit to the state late last year to work to see if a plan could be developed to meet the needs of Alaska’s telecom providers,” a filing about the meeting said. “We described how the Alaska Plan was developed to meet the Chairman’s challenge and noted that a model-based approach was evaluated but ultimately rejected because it is extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible to adapt a model to Alaska’s unique conditions.” The Alaska Telephone Association made the ex parte filing Thursday in docket 10-90.

Rate cuts and the adoption of speed-of-answer requirements have demoralized video relay service (VRS) interpreters and made it a less attractive setting for them, Sorenson Communications said in an FCC filing posted Thursday related to docket 10-51. Sorenson Communications is a provider of communications products and services for the deaf and hard of hearing. Sorenson said the 2010 rate cuts and attendant closing of several interpreting centers also contributed to the problem. It said the small stream of new graduates in the field is not enough to fill the VRS openings. Also, further scheduled rate cuts will perpetuate the downward spiral, threatening the ability of VRS providers to provide functionally equivalent service, Sorenson said in the filing.