The FCC Wireline Bureau authorized Montana’s SiyCom to receive alternative Connect America cost model II-based support for an eight-year period starting Jan. 1, subject to its designation as an eligible telecom carrier. The authorized support is $1.5 million per year, said a Friday order in docket 10-90.
The tariff rates the FCC set for Aureon Network Services in its rate dispute with AT&T are a form of rate regulation "not found anywhere within the Communications Act or the FCC’s legislative rules," upending the law's goals of "predictability, stability, and balanced interests." That's according to petitioner Aureon in an opening brief Friday (docket 18-1258, in Pacer) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Aureon and AT&T are challenging the FCC's 2019 order eliminating access arbitrage (see 1909300023). The FCC had a much simpler option of setting rates that covered Aureon's regulated costs and earning the agency-prescribed rate of return, and the agency never explained why rate-of-return regulation wasn't sufficient by itself, the brief said. The FCC didn't comment.
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee meets virtually Dec. 17 at 11 a.m. EST, the FCC said Thursday. The BDAC “will consider and vote on a report and recommendation from the Increasing Broadband Investment in Low-Income Communities working group,” it said. It last month couldn't finalize a report from that WG (see 2010290057).
Private equity investor GI Partners' buy of Clarity Telecom (dba Vast Broadband) from the Python Holdings investment fund will give Vast access to GI's financial resources and managerial experts, they said in an FCC International Bureau application Tuesday. They sought approval for transfer of Vast's Communications Act Section 214 authorizations.
Cameron, Maryville and St. Joseph, Missouri, ordinances can't require Bluebird Network pay rights-of-way fees when it's leasing the network owned by LMW, which also is paying ROW fees, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a declaratory ruling Monday. It granted a Bluebird and LMW petition and preempted the cities' fee requirements when they demand ROW fees from LMW duplicative of those Bluebird pays. Outside counsel for the cities didn't comment.
Comments are due Nov. 20 on an application by interconnected-VoIP provider MultiTEL for authorization to obtain North American numbering plan numbers directly from the numbering administrators, said a Thursday FCC notice in docket 20-335.
The FCC can't “lawfully” act on an iconectiv petition seeking a competitive bidding process for selecting a toll-free numbering administrator (see 2006300003) without first issuing an NPRM, Somos said. Somos representatives spoke with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and staffers from the Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel, said a Tuesday posting in docket 20-174. “Neither the NPRM issued in 2017 (which primarily dealt with a prospective Toll-Free Number auction) nor the comments filed in response to that earlier NPRM addressed the issues that the iconectiv petition seeks to raise,” Somos said. “The current mechanisms for promoting competition in the Toll-Free Number ecosystem and for ensuring just and reasonable rates for the tariffed services that Somos provides have been effective.” Somos is "attempting to divert the Commission's attention from the foundation of iconectiv’s petition," a spokesperson for iconectiv emailed Wednesday: "Eliminating the existing tariff would lead to significant cost-savings for the telecommunications industry and consumers in that it will reduce the rate burden on the entire toll-free ecosystem and add critical transparency around service quality, transition preparedness, system security and similar issues, all of which are hallmarks of modern government contracts."
As part of its purchase of Uniti Fiber and its fiber and microwave assets, Midwest Fiber Holdings' Everstream Solutions seeks FCC approval to take over the related common carrier fixed point-to-point licenses. In an International Bureau filing Monday, Everstream requested a declaratory ruling OK'ing indirect foreign ownership that exceeds the 25% benchmark as Midwest Fiber is owned by limited partnerships organized in Luxembourg.
The FCC proposed a $75,000 fine for U.S. South Communications for allegedly failing repeatedly to respond to Universal Service Administrative Co. demands for records used in USF verification, the Enforcement Bureau said Monday. It said U.S. South hadn't turned over records justifying what was reported in its 2018 and 2019 telecom reporting worksheets. The company didn't comment.
Comments are due Dec. 2, replies Dec. 17 on a Global VRS petition seeking further clarification of the FCC rule prohibiting video relay service providers from incentivizing registration for or use of their service, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Monday.