Partial pre-emption of San Francisco Police Code Article 52 may not be necessary, with Incompas unaware of any provider that shares in-use wiring, it told aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Geoffrey Starks, said a docket 17-142 ex parte posting Tuesday. It said the partial pre-emption declaratory ruling on July 10's agenda (see 1906190067) could deter other cities and local governments from mandatory access laws, and the FCC shouldn't expand the scope of the draft declaratory ruling to pre-empt other aspects of Article 52 such as mandatory access provisions. It said incumbent service providers and landlords have used revenue sharing and wiring and rooftop exclusivity arrangements as end runs around access rules and to keep competitive providers out of multiple tenant environments.

Comments are due July 12, replies July 19, on a request to transfer control of Accipiter Communications (dba Zona) from Pinpoint Holdings to Wyyerd Group under Section 214 of the Communications Act, the FCC said Friday on docket 19-178. Zona provides incumbent LEC service in the Phoenix area.

The FCC Wireline Bureau should make clear that any fiber deemed competitive within a half mile of an incumbent LEC's wire center should exclude fiber now owned by an ILEC's own competitive LEC affiliate within the ILEC's region, in its draft forbearance order, Incompas said, posted Monday in docket 18-141. The fiber network data referenced in the draft was from 2013, but some competitive LECs have since consolidated with incumbent LECs in the same regions, the group said. Incompas representatives spoke with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Mike O'Rielly, Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, plus Terri Natoli, associate chief of the Wireline Bureau. Commissioners are to consider the draft order on forbearance at their July 10 open meeting (see 1906190044).

The FCC should grant, through a declaratory ruling, approval for investors in Canada, Germany and the Cayman Islands to take equity and voting control of certain common-carrier radio licenses held by Frontier Communications, said a petition from Frontier, Citizens Telecommunications Co. of Montana and Northwest Fiber, posted Monday without a docket. In a deal valued at $1.35 billion announced May 28 (see 1905290042), Northwest Fiber would acquire 56 fixed point-to-point microwave licenses subject to FCC Communications Act Section 310(b)(4) foreign ownership restrictions. The deal would result in aggregate foreign ownership of roughly 90 percent voting and 85 percent equity of Northwest Fiber and its licenses. The petition said the identified foreign owners involved in the deal "are well known to the FCC and national security agencies." Northwest said the declaratory ruling would be in the public interest because the company plans to complete any buildout obligations the licensees hold under the Connect America Fund Phase II program, and it plans additional investments that would bring 1 Gbps service to some markets.

CTIA and several advocacy groups asked the FCC Wireline Bureau to pause changes to Lifeline minimum service standards until the agency reviews a marketplace study due in two years, they said in a joint petition Thursday in docket 11-42. Two changes in question would otherwise take effect on Dec. 1 (see 1809170036). The Lifeline program would impose a fivefold increase in the minimum required broadband data usage allowance, "upsetting the balance the Commission intended to strike in 2016 between affordability and reasonable comparability." The second change would phase down Lifeline support for voice services. The petition notes "upwards of 40 percent of current Lifeline subscribers" still rely on the program for voice service plans. "Given the current mobile wireless market, allowing the two changes to go into effect would restrict eligible low-income consumers' access to, and undermine the affordability of, Lifeline broadband and voice service offerings to the detriment of those the program is designed to help and before the Commission has the benefit of a marketplace analysis," the petition said. The National Consumer Law Center, National Hispanic Media Coalition, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication co-signed the petition.

Comcast wants the FCC to adopt a shapefile approach to updating its Form 477 data collection to inform future broadband maps backed by NCTA, it said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-10. "The submission of polygon shapefiles would significantly increase the accuracy of the reported data because polygon shapefiles are more closely tied to a provider's actual service area than census blocks," it said. Comcast executives told the FCC in a meeting last July that "a mapping approach based on polygons or service availability can be implemented more quickly than an address-based approach" (see 1807160061). USTelecom supports an address-based location fabric approach to broadband mapping (see 1903220036). Comcast said broadband maps based on polygon shapefiles could be "created in time to determine the areas eligible for the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund." The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC Thursday to re-evaluate Form 477 data collection requirements for wireless broadband coverage to standardize strength measurements, utilize a cell edge probability of 90 percent or higher, adopt a cell loading factor of at least 5 percent on the downlink, and ensure clutter factors match local environments, CCA said in a news release.

Rural telecom providers are raising privacy concerns about the Universal Service Administrative Company, NTCA told the FCC, according to a document posted Wednesday to docket 17-287. USAC wants to compel providers' employees to share personally identifiable information (PII) if they interact with a Lifeline representative accountability database. Recently USAC said it will require date of birth, last four digits of a Social Security number, home address and email address from employees who perform Lifeline accountability verification efforts on behalf of their companies. NTCA is concerned USAC hasn't given telecom providers assurances about what measures it's taking to secure the PII. NTCA supports FCC efforts to curb fraud and abuse, but it believes those concerns should be addressed to independent sales agents and contractors rather than employees of service providers, the group said. ITTA raised similar concerns earlier this month (see 1906140022).

Frontier Communications' outlook was downgraded to negative by Moody's Investors Service Wednesday, reflecting what analysts said was the provider's "difficult and protracted path to improving weak fundamentals in advance of sizable debt maturities beginning in 2022" (see 1904300217). Moody's predicted "more pronounced potential for distressed debt exchanges in the next year or so." It expects the company to focus on "capital structure optimization efforts" and sees "limited evidence of sustainable progress from ongoing operational improvement initiatives." The telco declined to comment.

USTelecom and member companies presented ideas on the format and timing of the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund, in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireline Bureau and the Rural Broadband Auction Task Force, said a filing posted Tuesday to docket 19-126. Executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, Consolidated, Frontier, Verizon and Windstream attended. They shared estimates on unserved housing units in rural census blocks and the importance of better broadband maps. Industry wants the FCC to wait to implement a proposed $20 billion, 10-year broadband funding program until there's a new system to better report locations that have and lack access to broadband. Among the FCC officials present were Chelsea Fallon, director of the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, and Sue McNeil, associate chief of the Wireline Bureau.

Universal Service Administrative Co. restored connectivity to the national verifier and national Lifeline accountability database, USAC said Tuesday afternoon, after earlier in the day reporting “intermittent connectivity issues” affecting users ability to complete transactions. “We have been monitoring the issue closely and were able to stabilize the systems,” USAC said. “Users should now be able to perform all transactions successfully.”