House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai seeking a committee staff briefing on USTelecom's petition for incumbent telco relief from mandatory wholesale unbundling discounts, resale and other duties. Telco rivals, state regulators and consumer advocates say it would undermine competition (see 1808070024). Walden and Blackburn told Pai they also want the FCC to brief the committee on the agency's Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction. An FCC spokesman said the agency is working to set the briefing.

Comments are due Nov. 28, replies Dec. 13 "on expanding a list of key applications and functionalities for which a carrier must demonstrate interoperability when requesting to discontinue a legacy voice service pursuant to the adequate replacement test," said an FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 13-5. The test allows a telecom carrier "to discontinue voice service as part of a technology transition if the carrier can establish, among other things, that the available replacement service satisfies a three-prong test to ensure that it constitutes an adequate replacement for the service that the carrier is seeking authority to discontinue," the PN said.

The National Tribal Telecommunications Association recommended changes to USF support mechanisms for carriers serving predominantly rural tribal areas, in a report filed Thursday at the FCC in docket 10-90. NTTA "proposes a Tribal Area Solution to revise current federal universal service programs for [rate-of-return] carriers. These revisions, proposed for the High Cost Loop Support, Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support, and Alternative Connect America Cost Model support programs, recognize the unique challenges faced by carriers serving rural Tribal areas of the lower 48 states in the country.” Efforts to help tribal areas appear on paper to be “fairly substantial,” the group said: “However, the facts are clear -- Tribal areas, especially rural Tribal areas in the lower 48 states, lag significantly behind the rest of the country in regards to broadband availability.”

The FCC needs to revise the USF in way that's “sufficient and predictable,” said NTCA and Golden West Telecommunications CEO Denny Law in meetings with aides to all four FCC commissioners and staff from the Wireline Bureau, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90. Stakeholders have shown “overwhelming support” for “longer-term funding to promote universal service in rural areas,” the filing said. The agency also needs to “ensure the sustainability of any budgets adopted” to provide incentives to invest in broadband “for the benefit of rural consumers,” the filing said.

FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith said staff is examining USF contribution issues. "I think you'll see us acting" on USF contributions in the relatively near future, she said Thursday at an FCBA event. "It is being worked on." She said Chairman Ajit Pai is focused on all USF programs and mechanisms and "how we can do better." Asked about a Lifeline rulemaking and possible action, Monteith "would expect you'd see something in the near term." Deputy Bureau Chief Lisa Hone said staff is particularly focused on matters that have deadlines, such as disputes over Aureon Network Services and South Dakota Network tariff filings and on a possible extension of a jurisdictional separations freeze that expires at year-end. Bureau officials noted Pai's goal of acting by year's end to firm up rural telco USF support mechanisms. Among the lobbying tips officials offered attorneys: when scheduling ex parte meetings, let the bureau know with some specificity the topic to be discussed so the appropriate staffers can attend; let staff know upfront if parties need action by a date certain; if parties have complaints about bureau actions, let the bureau know before going to commissioner offices; and make ex parte filings as complete as possible, because sometimes valuable input is provided in meetings but not cited in filings, meaning the FCC can't officially rely on it in making decisions.

Windstream said the FCC shouldn't move 8YY toll-free originating access fees to a bill-and-keep, no-payment regime over three years. That would be "a radical step" that provides a "windfall to large 8YY providers and shift costs to consumers," said the telco, noting "widespread existence of 8YY abuse" hasn't been demonstrated. The agency should either let 8YY revenue "decline on their own over time" or consider "a longer transition period," filed the carrier, on meetings CEO Tony Thomas had with Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly, and aides to all four commissioners, posted Tuesday in docket 18-156. On the recent Connect America Fund Phase II auction, "Windstream highlighted its concerns around the ability of some of the winning bidders to fulfill their deployment obligations," saying "the weighting methodology applied to latency did not adequately reflect consumer differentiation between high-latency and low-latency services." It noted its continued support for the deal it reached with other USTelecom members on a proposal to delay ILEC forbearance relief from mandatory wholesale network unbundling discounts until February 2021.

The Office of Management and Budget cleared FCC rural call completion reporting duties associated with "covered carrier" points of contact through Oct. 31, 2021, said a commission rule regarding docket 13-39 for Wednesday's Federal Register. Replies are due Nov. 19 on petitions to reconsider an FCC staff order setting a framework for measuring broadband performance of fixed service provider recipients of high-cost USF support (see 1810220023), said Tuesday's FR.

The FCC should reject a ZVRS Holding request to extend authorizations of its CSDVRS and Purple Communications for at-home interpreting in video relay service through December 31, 2020, "while prohibiting every other provider" from doing so, filed Sorenson Communications, posted Monday in docket 10-51. It would be "discriminatory" and an "an extraordinarily unfair competitive advantage." ZVRS and Purple seek to extend a one-year at-home interpreting trial by two years "while denying other providers the ability to participate," Sorenson said, citing a Wednesday letter from ZVRS. "Rather than simply assigning existing interpreters to work from home, ZVRS has attempted to use the pilot program as a recruiting tool for new interpreters." ZVRS didn't comment.

Free Conferencing asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit a 2-1 panel ruling that the company intentionally interfered with a Qwest (CenturyLink) tariff contract with local carrier Tekstar (see 1809250012). "The split panel decision here conflicts with this Court’s decision in Qwest Communications Corp. v. Free Conferencing Corp., 837 F.3d 889 (8th Cir. 2016) (Qwest I)," said Free Conferencing's petition (in Pacer) for en banc and panel rehearing in Qwest v. Free Conferencing, No. 17-2412.

Rural telco groups urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and aides to bolster USF support mechanisms for high-cost rural areas. NTCA, ITTA, USTelecom and WTA officials asked the commission to address USF "sufficiency and predictability" concerns by year-end, including by adopting their proposals to increase funding for rate-of-return carriers (see 1810010045), said a filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90 on meeting Pai aides. "NTCA noted the overwhelming support from stakeholders ... and among policymakers generally for longer-term funding to promote universal service in rural areas," in a meeting CEO Shirley Bloomfield and Senior Vice President Mike Romano had with Pai and an aide. "Adopt and implement a straightforward set of reforms ... for each of the already-existing USF mechanisms," NTCA recommended. It sought action on an "outdated rate floor policy."