Florida Power and Light sent multipage objections to the first set of interrogatories in a dispute with BellSouth through a filing posted Wednesday in proceeding 19-187. AT&T Florida had filed the pole attachment rates complaint (see 1907150017).

CGM told the FCC claims by BTI Communications, dba Telzeq, that the companies agreed CGM would enter customer information into the national Lifeline accountability database are "wholly inaccurate," posted Wednesday to docket 11-42. Telzeq sought a waiver in July for a fine for a Lifeline overpayment, claiming consultant error (see 1907050043).

Crown Castle Fiber and Commonwealth Edison couldn't resolve a pole rate dispute, said a joint statement updating the FCC on proceeding 19-170, posted Wednesday. Crown Castle filed the complaint. Last month, the FCC denied the utility company's motion to dismiss (see 1907150016).

FCC use of census block and Form 477 data designating which households are served "misses many unserved tribal homes in its calculation of broadband support needed," said Sacred Wind Communications, posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. "A major part of the undercounting of tribal homes is the failure to recognize certain structures as domiciles, inhabitable by Western standards." Tuesday, a participant in a USTelecom location fabric broadband mapping pilot recommended the FCC better define serviceable locations for broadband mapping (see 1908200055). Sacred Wind identified all structures within a service area eligible for alternative Connect America cost model (A-CAM) support "and found that the FCC undercounted the locations in those census blocks by over 4,000 locations." It said undercounting those homes would have meant "a loss of nearly $4 million annually in funding needed to provide broadband to those locations" if Sacred Wind had accepted A-CAM support: Undercounted households are rendered "invisible to the Commission for purposes of bridging the digital divide in rural and Tribal areas." Comments on broadband mapping are due to FCC Sept. 23 (see 1908210008).

Comments are due Sept. 20, replies Oct. 21, on an FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund proposed rulemaking, in docket 19-126 and for Wednesday's Federal Register. RDOF would allot at least $20.4 billion in USF subsidies to expand high-speed broadband access to unserved and underserved rural areas (see 1907230061).

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended temporary waivers of telecom relay service mandatory minimum standards for Sprint and Hamilton Relay, said an order released Tuesday in docket 03-123. The extension is until “the earlier of August 24, 2020, or the effective date of a Commission decision as to the continuing application of the waived standards to the affected relay services,” the order said. The standards require state-program TRS providers to offer consumers their choice of long distance carrier and alternative billing options for TRS calls. The waivers were extended once, and were to expire Saturday.

The FCC Wireline Bureau will delay the start of its Connect America Fund phase II post-auction process to adjust the deployment obligations and support of authorized winners when the total number of locations in eligible areas is less than the number of funded locations, it said Monday in a public notice in docket 10-90.

Comments or oppositions are due Sept. 16, replies Oct. 1 to a Network Communications International petition for forbearance from USF contributions for its interstate and international inmate calling services (see 1908140055), said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 19-232.

Not even those with concerns about Frontier Communications challenge benefits of its selling wireline, video and long-distance operations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington to Northwest Fiber, Frontier replied. No one petitioned to deny the deal, and only MontanaSky Networks/MontanaSky West and state Rep. Steve Gunderson (R) commented (here and here), Frontier told the FCC. "Neither Commenter denies or even attempts to refute that the Transaction will result in significant public interest benefits nor claims that the Transaction will harm the public interest." OK the deal promptly, and "non-transaction-specific and industry-wide policy issues raised by the Commenters should not be addressed" here, it asked, posted Friday to docket 19-188. The two concerned filers raised issues about Frontier's service quality (see 1908090024). They didn't comment to us. The company agreed to sell its wireline operations in the northwest U.S. for $1.35 billion to investment firms, including cable entrepreneur Steve Weed's (see 1905290042).

Lack of rural broadband access extends beyond communities focused on farming, the American Action Forum reported. AAF found 21 percent of people in rural farming counties lacked broadband, compared with 13 percent in rural counties that claimed recreation a key employer. Regions immediately surrounding "micropolitan" cores are among the most likely to struggle with broadband access, the group said Wednesday. AAF said it was challenged getting data because different groups define broadband differently (see 1707210036). It said recent FCC reports define broadband as fixed terrestrial services 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, excluding satellite that's "advanced in recent years." It said that when satellite is considered, "official statistics jump up," and then just 14 million Americans lack access: "If the FCC were to shift the broadband speed threshold slightly" to 24/2 Mbps up instead of 25/3, "then nearly 1.5 million more people would have access." Some policymakers want minimum performance standards raised (see 1908090012).