The FCC is seeking input on a Hawaiian Telecom cost-assignment compliance plan, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday in docket 12-61, with initial comments due Oct. 30, replies Nov. 16. The bureau noted the compliance plan must be approved by the commission under its May 17, 2013, decision giving price-cap telcos conditional forbearance relief from rules that required them to assign telecom network costs and service revenue to specific categories.

The FCC is "poised to make some real lasting reforms" on inmate calling services, said Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero, speaking at an FCBA event Wednesday shortly before the agency announced it circulated a draft order and Further NPRM in that proceeding (see 1509300067). He credited Commissioner Mignon Clyburn with spearheading the effort and said the bureau was excited by the opportunity to make a “real difference” in the lives of inmates and their relatives. DelNero said a special access rulemaking is another top priority for the bureau and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. He said the commission’s previous tests for providing telcos pricing flexibility “simply weren’t doing the job" and staff was eagerly awaiting feedback from stakeholders on industry data the commission has collected to assist in its review. DelNero also said the bureau was "looking forward to digging in" on comments being filed in its Lifeline USF rulemaking (replies were due Wednesday) and then making recommendations to commissioners for changes to cover broadband and promote administrative efficiency. He noted the FCC had circulated a draft order to create a framework for a high-cost USF reverse auction in some price-cap territories that would "unleash the power of market competition." The draft would build on the lessons the agency has learned in overseeing rural broadband experiments, DelNero said, but he wouldn't say what those lessons were. He also said the bureau was focused on overhauling high-cost USF for rate-of-return carriers and said Wheeler's recent NTCA speech provided a good outline of the commission's direction (see 1509210029). He noted the FCC was following up its recent IP/tech transition order with a Further NPRM that aims to establish standardized discontinuance "metrics" that would provide greater predictability to stakeholders. He said the FCC anticipated a flurry of telco discontinuance applications affecting large numbers of consumers as part of the transition from copper-based networks and services to fiber networks and IP-based services. He also noted bureau efforts to assess the pace of broadband deployment under a Section 706 mandate, implement recent changes to the USF E-rate program, and oversee the local number portability administration shift from Neustar to Telcordia.

The FCC is ready to authorize more than $2.8 million for rural broadband experiments by Northeast Rural Services and BARC Electric Cooperative, a Wireline Bureau public notice said Tuesday in docket 14-259. NRS would receive almost $2.6 million for two experiments in Oklahoma covering 228 census blocks, and BARC Electric would receive about $239,918 for one experiment in Virginia covering 64 census blocks. To be authorized, the entities must submit "at least one acceptable irrevocable stand-by letter of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter from their legal counsel" by Oct. 14, the bureau said. BARC Electric subsidiary BARConnects was recently designated as an eligible telecom carrier able to receive funding support (see 1509280042).

The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Sprint's application to discontinue certain domestic wireline long-distance services. In an order issued Tuesday, the bureau said there were 11 objections filed to Sprint's proposed discontinuance of service, including from the Oglala Sioux Tribe Utility Commission (see 1509140033), and Sprint responded to the OSTUC and provided updates on its efforts to help individual customers find alternative services (see 1509210020). "The record supports granting Sprint’s request to discontinue the Affected Services," the order said, noting the limited number of customer concerns "have been sufficiently addressed through Sprint’s direct efforts to assist these customers" locate service alternatives. "We find that the issues raised by the OSTUC do not bear directly on the criteria by which we typically evaluate discontinuance applications," the bureau said. "Nothing in the OSTUC’s comments indicates that the notice required under our rules was not provided, nor is there any indication that customers will be left without alternative service on the [Pine Ridge Indian Reservation]."

AT&T dismissed CLEC claims that the FCC has wide leeway to regulate special-access rates of both traditional TDM business services and newer IP-based services, regardless of what industry data collected by the agency show. CLEC arguments are “baseless,” both procedurally and substantively, AT&T said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 05-25, responding to a recent filing from Birch Communications, BT Americas and Level 3 (see 1509100050). Any reversal of eight-year-old ILEC forbearance relief on IP-based services would require an NPRM proposing such reregulation, and that hasn’t occurred, AT&T said: “The Commission has not sought comment on ‘unforbearance,’ much less set forth for comment a new regulatory regime for packet-based Ethernet services.” CLEC proposals for “short-cut benchmarks” wouldn’t suffice, because forbearance “is not an ‘on/off’ switch that may be flipped willy-nilly,” AT&T said, citing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler as conceding as much in March Senate testimony when he said “realistically there’s a lot that you have to go through” to undo a forbearance decision (see webcast at 2:00:27-2:02:25). AT&T further said the FCC has no substantive basis to reimpose rate regulation on ILEC special-access services in a business market that has grown even more competitive in recent years. No ethernet provider has a port share that exceeds one-fifth of the market, and eight have port shares over 5 percent, five of which are non-ILECs, the incumbent telco said. “The enormous success in the U.S. of IP-based services -- with providers investing billions of dollars deploying fiber throughout the U.S. -- is due in large part to the historically light regulatory touch government agencies have exerted,” AT&T said. "To reverse those policies now would be directly contrary to the Commission’s broadband goals.” USTelecom also disputed the CLEC arguments recently (see 1509250043). AT&T posted a blog Tuesday urging the FCC to adhere to Wheeler's mantra of "competition, competition, competition" and his belief that regulation can be low when competition is high. It noted specific competitive moves by Comcast and other cable companies to serve the business services market, including for large enterprise customers.

Cox Communications Hampton Roads and Dominion Virginia Power asked the FCC to dismiss Cox's pole-attachment complaint against Dominion. In a joint dismissal motion posted Monday in proceeding No. 15-22, Cox and Dominion said they resolved their dispute through a "confidential mediation settlement" after participating "in mediation with FCC staff."

Integra Telecom's proposed buy of opticAccess was approved by an FCC Wireline Bureau order Monday after no opposition was filed to the transaction in docket 15-202. Integra provides telecom services to about 50,000 customers primarily in 11 states in the western and central U.S., said the companies' FCC application to transfer licenses under Section 214 of the Communications Act, while opticAccess is authorized to provide resold and facilities-based local exchange service in parts of California, and intraexchange service in certain local exchanges and interexchange service statewide in Oregon. "The proposed transaction will make Integra a more financially secure, competitive alternative to the incumbents, and further enable Integra to enter additional markets, thus expanding competitive choices for customers," the application said. "As operator of a fiber, facilities-based network, opticAccess focuses on delivering reliable metro and regional high-capacity fiber-based connectivity solutions to its customers."

The FCC Wireline Bureau granted BARConnects eligible telecom carrier (ETC) status in 64 Census blocks in Virginia, clearing a hurdle to the company's participation in a rural broadband experiment funded by USF support. In an order released Friday, the bureau said it would "shortly release a public notice announcing its readiness to authorize rural broadband experiment support for BARConnects as a provisionally selected bidder." The bureau also granted BARConnects a waiver and request for extension of time to file proof of its ETC designation. BARConnects committed to deploying a fiber broadband network with voice service and data speeds of up to 100/25 Mbps, including at least one service plan that offers 25/5 Mbps to all eligible locations, the order said. Monday, the bureau issued an order giving Northeast Rural Services an extension to submit as timely filed a letter-of-credit commitment letter after a May 4 deadline. Due to banking complexities, CoBank didn't issue the commitment letter until June 12, the bureau indicated. The bureau recently authorized NRS to receive about $884,000 to carry out four rural broadband experiments reaching 335 "covered locations" in Oklahoma.

Comments are due Oct. 26, replies Nov. 24, in the FCC's latest IP transition rulemaking, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice posted Friday in docket 13-5. The Federal Register published a summary of the agency's Further NPRM Friday, triggering 30-day and 60-day comment and reply deadlines. The commission adopted the further notice and an accompanying IP/fiber transition order Aug. 6, and it released the 179-page text of the item Aug. 7 in which it proposed to codify general telecom service discontinuance standards under Section 214 of the Communications Act (see 1508060044 and 1508100019). The FCC specifically sought comment on its tentative conclusions that the criteria should include, among other things: “(1) network capacity and reliability; (2) service quality; (3) device and service interoperability, including interoperability with vital third-party services (through existing or new devices); (4) service for individuals with disabilities, including compatibility with assistive technologies; (5) PSAP and 9-1-1 service; (6) cybersecurity; (7) service functionality; and (8) coverage.”

Rural telco groups offered feedback on, without endorsing, a possible "bifurcated approach" to ILEC cost recovery as part of a potential FCC overhaul of rate-of-return USF support mechanisms. In a letter posted Monday in docket 10-90, USTelecom joined by ITTA, NTCA and WTA said the FCC raised the possibility of a bifurcated approach in its June 2014 Further NPRM under which USF support for investments prior to a selected date would be based on old rules and USF support for investments after that date would be based on new rules. "Over time as companies depreciate and retire assets in the old mechanisms and invest in new assets, costs would organically shift from the old to the new mechanism," the groups said. "Companies who have more recently completed construction initiatives with greater debt obligations will transition more slowly than companies who have not made those investments since new assets will have longer remaining lives and the need for subsequent investment is lower." The groups said none of them was yet ready to endorse such an approach generally, or the specific ideas in their submission, but were submitting the comments to further discussion and analysis.