The Phoenix Center said ithe FCC has consistently reverse or threatened to reverse “the most significant bi-partisan deregulatory achievements of the past two decades” in the past few years, in a study released Tuesday. Recent examples of reversal include the commission’s current consideration of municipal broadband preemption petitions from the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the city of Wilson, North Carolina, as well as special access and forbearance, the Phoenix Center said. That “lack of stability in the FCC's policies combined with a pro-regulatory bias at the agency creates an uncertainty that is especially insidious” to incent broadband investment, the Phoenix Center said (http://bit.ly/1z8m7Zh).

XO Communications sought FCC authorization to discontinue services that provide narrowband, dial-up Internet access, due to “a limited number of customers,” in a Section 63.71 application (http://bit.ly/1uRQ77J) posted in docket 14-168 Friday. Affected are consumer dial, corporate dial, wholesale dial, enterprise dial and managed modem services, the company said. The services are expected to be discontinued Nov. 24. They are offered in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and the state of Washington, the application said.

CenturyLink is having conversations with several CLECs about conducting an IP trial, a company spokeswoman told us. No other details were disclosed. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had mentioned during an Oct. 6 speech at the Comptel meeting in Grapevine, Texas, that trials, in addition to AT&T’s IP one, could be announced later this month (CD Oct 7 p4). The agency also had no further information.

The FCC will consider the Further NPRM to reform inmate calling services at its Oct. 17 meeting, a revised agenda (http://fcc.us/1C2IQ4W) released Friday said. The FNRPM on circulation had considered making interim interstate rate caps permanent and imposing new interstate caps (CD Sept. 25 p1).

The waiting period for Level 3/tw telecom (CD Sept 4 p5) was terminated early by the FTC and the Department of Justice’s assistant antitrust division attorney general, said a notice Thursday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1s0tHyH). The companies did not comment. The waiting period was terminated as of Sept. 5, said the notice.

Pay-Tel Communications submitted an “Ethical Proposal for Reform of Inmate Calling Rates and Fees” to the FCC calling for lower interstate and intrastate calling rates for state and federal prisons than the proposal submitted by Global Tel*Link, Securus Technologies and Telmate, but higher rates for local, county and regional jail calls, according to a comparison of the proposals posted as an ex parte notice Wednesday in docket 12-375 (http://bit.ly/1nd1aXJ). Pay-Tel would cap prison calls at 8 cents per minute, compared with 20 cents per minute under the proposal from other ICS providers, the filing said. The two ICS proposals were submitted as a Further NPRM circulates at the FCC (CD Sept 26 p10). Rates would be capped at 26 cents per minute for jails with an average population of less than 350 inmates, and 22 cents/minute for larger jails, Pay-Tel said. The proposal from the other ICS providers had the same 20 cents/minute cap for jails as prisons. While the Global Tel*Link, Securus and Telmate’s proposed rate caps and ban on commission payments to facilities would take effect 90 days after adoption by the FCC, Pay-Tel would grandfather contract rates and commissions for a minimum of 18 months, the filing said. Among other differences, Pay-Tel called for lower caps on transaction, money transfer and validation fees, said the comparison. Prisons and jails have different costs, so “it doesn’t make sense to have a single cap that applies without regard to the type of facility,” said Brooks Pierce attorney Marcus Trathen, representing Pay-Tel. Grandfathering current contracts would allow facilities to “get beyond the current budget before they are impacted by the new rules,” Trathen said. Securus is evaluating the proposal, said Stephanie Joyce, an Arent Fox communications lawyer representing the company.

The FTC extended by a month the deadline for consumers to comment on its telemarketing sales rule (TSR) to Nov. 13, the FTC said Tuesday. The commission said in late July that it was reviewing the TSR as part of its systematic review of all of its rules and regulations. The review is focusing on the TSR’s efficacy in the market and whether the commission should retain the rule, modify it or rescind it. The FTC also seeks comment on more specific issues like whether to modify the TSR’s pre-acquired account information provisions to reflect the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. Updates to the TSR have included the 2003 creation of the Do Not Call Registry and more-recent updates in 2008 and 2010 to address pre-recorded calls and debt relief services (http://1.usa.gov/1vPQXQ5).

The FCC Wireline Bureau said it’s making changes to the FCC Form 477 filing interface, and as a result it remains closed Tuesday. The form is used for local phone competition and broadband reporting. The bureau said it closed the interface Sept. 26 (CD Oct 1 p14) “out of an abundance of caution,” but the closure presented an opportunity. “With access to the site suspended, we believe this is an opportune time to deploy newly-developed technical improvements to the interface that should significantly enhance its overall performance,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1vKRdBg). “We expect improvements in the stability and processing times of large file uploads.” The FCC Technological Advisory Council Working Group on Form 477 recommended the changes, the bureau said. It said it will offer an update on the site’s status in about two weeks, along with a new deadline for making Form 477 filings.

The FCC rejected “in its entirety” a petition for reconsideration filed by Saturn Telecommunication Services (STS) seeking to overturn an Enforcement Bureau order on an interconnection complaint the CLEC filed against AT&T. The recon order was released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1y1KB4X). STS alleged AT&T “unlawfully failed to negotiate the parties’ interconnection agreement in good faith, refused to provide STS access to certain unbundled network elements (UNEs), and failed to migrate STS’s customers to a special access facility in an appropriate manner,” the FCC said. The bureau “correctly concluded that STS released all of the statutory claims raised in its Complaint” in an earlier settlement agreement with AT&T, the FCC said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau refused to reinstate E-rate funding for Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Hawaii, after the school canceled a funding request number (FRN) for services to be provided by SystemMetrics. The school canceled the FRN in September 2012 and appealed two months later, the bureau said in an order released Monday (http://bit.ly/1ElHExr). “Previously, we have found that good cause exists to grant requests to reinstate funding requests in situations where the record demonstrates that an applicant inadvertently canceled its FRN,” the bureau said. “By contrast, in this case, Le Jardin voluntarily and intentionally cancelled [sic] one of its FRNs.”