Three states asked the FCC to revise the draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order to ease letter of credit requirements for ISPs before it came up for a vote. Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas sent letters in late January, posted Monday to docket 19-126. Commissioners Thursday approved less stringent LOC obligations (see 2001300001).
Seven new markets are deemed competitive pursuant to market tests adopted in a price cap business data service order, said an FCC public notice Friday for docket 17-144: Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Laurel and Magoffin counties in Kentucky; Curry County, New Mexico; and White County, Tennessee. The Wireline Bureau said it wants to give the markets enough time before a July 1 deadline to consider converting to incentive regulation for their BDS offerings.
Nova Academy CEO Donna Woods was sentenced to seven-plus years in federal prison and ordered to repay the FCC nearly $338,000 for her role in approving the Dallas charter school's improper E-rate contract for which she received kickbacks, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas said. Woods was convicted last fall (see 1910080005).
Telcos gave the FCC additional information as requested on access arbitrage disputes with ILECs, after a Jan. 21 meeting, they said Friday in docket 18-55. Included were representatives from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Pricing Policy Division Chief Gil Strobel, other division officials, and staff from the Wireline Bureau and Office of General Counsel attended. The carriers said a Northern Valley Communications tariff investigation "provided another vehicle for addressing the justness and reasonableness of access stimulating LEC efforts to designate new, remote tandems for the delivery of that traffic."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a motion for stay from CarrierX in consolidated case no. 19-1233 (on Pacer), Great Lakes Communication v. FCC (see 2001130007). "CarrierX has not satisfied the stringent requirements for the requested stay," the court said. The case deals with interexchange carrier compensation rules and access stimulation (see 1911200061). "We have a real call completion crisis," CarrierX Counsel Lauren Coppola told us Wednesday. The Robins Kaplan lawyer said long-distance carriers, AT&T in particular, refuse to properly complete calls. She said the FCC, for the purposes of this filing, "has turned a blind eye" on the call completion problem. The company will continue to pursue other ways of addressing the problem, including with the FCC, with long-distance companies, or other legal channels, she said.
America's Communications Association supports Virgin Islands Telephone, doing business as Viya, asking the FCC to clarify or reconsider how it will score buried coaxial cable in evaluating fixed network support under the Uniendo a Puerto Rico and Connect USVI funds, said reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 18-143. ACA shares Viya's concern that the proposed scoring framework "could be implemented in a manner that downplays the resiliency of buried coaxial cable relative to other deployment types." Viya wants buried fiber and buried coax cable scored equally (see 1912100043).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is circulating a second order in Blanca Telephone v. FCC, according to a list posted Friday, involving ongoing disputes on USF overpayments to the provider (see 1803070031). Also new on circulation is an application for review of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (see 1703310018) on policy on opt-out notices for solicited faxes (see 1812170045).
A TeleQuality Communications petition for reconsideration in the USF Rural Health Care program, on behalf of Gonzales Community Health Center, is dismissed, ordered the FCC Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Friday. The division also denied additional requests by TeleQuality on behalf of New River Valley Community Health Services, Timber Hills Mental Health Services and Family Healing Center.
Cincinnati Bell got an offer Wednesday from an infrastructure fund that it didn't identify to buy it for $12 a share in cash, the telco said Friday. The stock rose above that offer price, indicating investors expect a richer deal. Last month, the ILEC got a buy-out bid from Brookfield Infrastructure at $10.50 (see 1912230014). Cincinnati Bell said there are no assurances that discussions with the infrastructure fund will result in a binding proposal or that such a transaction would be approved, but discussions have begun. The Brookfield deal remains and Cincinnati Bell's board "reaffirms its existing recommendation in support of the transaction with Brookfield at this time." Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche said the recent bids "should shine the light on the value of the [rural LEC] space." The analyst favors RLECs and ILECs that "continue to invest more capital in fiber," such as Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications and CenturyLink. Cincinnati Bell closed up 22 percent at $13.75, while Consolidated gained 17 percent to $5. Cincinnati Bell reports Q4 results Feb. 13 but won't have a call. A spokesperson declined additional comment.
Clarity Products seeks exclusion from tariffs it pays on the amplified cordless phones imported from China under the 8517.11.00.00 subheading, posted the Tennessee vendor Thursday in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative docket. The phones’ audio systems also have “frequency adjustment, noise suppression and multiband compression to help those with hearing loss,” said Clarity. Chinese manufacturers of “regular” cordless phones could do “small production runs” for Clarity at “economical prices,” it said. Clarity is “researching moving production to Malaysia and Vietnam, but this is unviable at this time given the company’s small volumes,” it said. It “explored” making amplified phones in a production facility it runs in Chattanooga, “but it is not economical,” it said. If Clarity lands the exemption, it would be entitled to refunds of the 15 percent tariffs retroactive to Sept. 1 when List 4A took effect. USTR is scheduled to roll back List 4A to 7.5 percent Feb. 14 (see 2001160022).