Dominion Virginia Power asked the FCC for more time to respond to Verizon's 700-page pole-attachment complaint filed Aug. 3. Saying parties have 30 days to respond to such complaints, Dominion (also known as Virginia Electric and Power Co.) asked for a 60-day extension to Nov. 2. Dominion said the request was "reasonable in consideration of the enormous volume of materials to which Dominion must respond, and the substantial damages that Verizon claims it has suffered" under joint-use agreements of the power company's poles. The utility said Verizon wants to be refunded up to $16.8 million for pole attachments made since 2011. Verizon agreed to a 30-day extension, but Dominion said it needs more time prepare its response, particularly since under the rules it will be the company's "one chance to defend itself" against the claims. The telco asked the FCC to block Dominion efforts to collect "excessive and increasing" charges, ensure the telco pays the same rate as comparable providers under 2011 rules and refund the amounts it had overpaid (see 1508040029).

Windstream is partnering with Infinera to extend 100 Gbps "Wave transport service" across the country, the companies said in a news release Wednesday. Deploying Infinera's Intelligent Transport Network, Windstream this year has brought 100 Gbps service to 12 new markets -- including Buffalo, Denver, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Tulsa -- and has added Infinera's 500 Gbps "super-channel technology" to 3,900 miles of fiber, they said. Windstream plans to expand 100 Gbps service to another seven markets by year-end, including Minneapolis and Louisville in September. In total, Windstream plans by year-end to have 1 Gbps-100 Gbps service on 121,000 miles of fiber with 100 Gbps service in 44 markets.

Sorenson Communications and CaptionCall urged the FCC to deny IDT Telecom's request for review of a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order setting the telecom relay service (TRS) fund's 2015-16 budget and industry contribution factor. IDT, which pays into the fund, petitioned the full commission to review the bureau order because it partially funded intrastate and other domestic IP-based relay services from the interstate and international jurisdictions, which the company said violated the Communications Act (see 1507290024). In a Tuesday filing in docket 10-51, Sorenson and CaptionCall called IDT's arguments "meritless." As an initial matter, they said, IDT's request was outside the scope of a bureau-level proceeding, challenging a rate methodology set by the full commission; if IDT wanted to change the rules, they said it should have filed a petition for rulemaking. They said IDT was also wrong on the policy merits: "The Communications Act gives the Commission wide discretion over the funding of the TRS program, and the Commission has reasonably exercised that discretion."

Verizon successfully tested a technology offering businesses and consumers 10 Gbps speeds for uploads and downloads over its fiber-to-the-premises network, with the potential for 40-80 Gbps, the company said Tuesday in a news release. Network upgrades will begin when commercial equipment is available to support business/ethernet services, and could also target FiOS customers as the market demands and technology matures, Verizon said. The new technology, known as next-generation passive optical network, was first tested at a Verizon lab, then to a FiOS customer's home from a central office three miles away and also from that office to a business near the home. “The advantage of our FiOS network is that it can be upgraded easily by adding electronics onto the fiber network that is already in place," said Lee Hicks, Verizon vice president-network technology.

Rural telco groups presented FCC officials with a bevy of potential "technical assumptions" for implementing an overhaul of rate-of-return carrier USF support mechanisms. Representatives of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA said that none of their associations were ready to endorse the assumptions they outlined to the FCC in a document, but they were submitting them to help in the identification and discussion of issues that may need further examination and resolution. "This approach has not been fully defined or modeled, and thus does not represent a fully-formed proposal that has been vetted by or is necessarily supported by industry representatives; some of the associations also have continuing questions and some concerns about issues that may arise in connection with such an approach," the groups said in a USTelecom filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. Derrick Owens, WTA vice president of government affairs, told us that the assumptions incorporated feedback from FCC officials, and are to be used to generate projections for rural telco funding under proposed USF changes. "The idea is to see what the effects are for the companies and the fund in general, and to see what other issues will pop up that need to be addressed," he said. The groups in May proposed a two-track overhaul of rate-of-return USF that would create a voluntary model-based approach and revise existing USF mechanisms to support stand-alone broadband, but many details remain in play (see 1506030052 and 1506040028).

The FCC released an order to help ensure the continuity of 911 communications as telcos move from traditional line-powered copper networks to fiber-based systems without independent power -- an item that was unanimously adopted by commissioners Thursday (see 1508060044). The 62-page text requires facilities-based providers of wireline phone service to notify consumers of the electrical power limitations of any new systems they install and offer them backup power options. Providers must give new customers options to buy and have installed at least eight hours of standby backup power capability, with the mandate taking effect for large companies 120 days after the order appears in the Federal Register. Providers with fewer than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines will have an additional 180 days to comply. Within three years of the effective date, all the providers will have to offer customers at least 24 hours of backup power, the order said. The FCC said its focus was to help ensure 911 calls can still be made during power outages, but it provided a general voice backup power mandate because there was no practical way to provide power just for 911 calls. There's no obligation for providers to retrofit existing systems with backup power, but they must annually notify consumers of their power limitations and options for installing backup power. The order released Friday clarified that the eight-hour (and eventually, 24-hour) duty covered the amount of time a backup solution had to be “in standby mode, i.e., able to provide a dial tone and to initiate and receive voice calls, but not necessarily continuously.” The FCC recognized the actual backup power duration would vary with calling uses, but it said it wasn’t practical to have a variable-usage rule. The requirements will sunset on Sept. 1, 2025.

CenturyLink -- one of three ISPs Cogent has named as a possible litigation target -- is in talks "to explore how we can further improve our peering relationship," CenturyLink said Friday. Cogent said Thursday that it had increased legal spending as it looks at going to the FCC to tackle interconnection problems with CenturyLink, Deutsche Telekom and Time Warner Cable (see 1508060048) -- interconnection problems that perhaps violate the net neutrality order. In a statement to us Friday, CenturyLink said it believes "current market-based agreements are fair to all parties and working well." The company said it "acknowledges that increasing data-driven network demands will require providers to continue to seek and maintain balanced peering arrangements. Our goal is to ensure that all network customers enjoy a consistent Internet experience. Policymakers should allow the market to continue to evolve to meet the needs of Internet users and content and service providers alike.” Neither TWC nor Deutsche Telekom commented.

Comment deadlines in the Lifeline USF Further NPRM were extended a couple of weeks, said an order issued by the FCC Wireline Bureau Wednesday in docket 11-42. Initial comments had been due Aug. 17, replies Sept. 15, but telecom trade groups and state parties asked for 30-day extensions (see 1507310061, 1508030067 and 1508040031). Bureau Chief Matthew DelNero said an extension was warranted, given the requests and the "breadth and complexity" of the second Further NPRM aimed at revamping the Lifeline program for broadband coverage and administrative restructuring. But he said the bureau was granting just a 14-day extension for initial comments until Aug. 31 and a 15-day extension until Sept. 30 for replies because it was committed to acting "in a timely manner." The "limited" extensions "will allow for more thoughtful consideration of the issues raised in the Second FNPRM, while at the same time not unduly delaying the resolution of these issues," he said.

The Communications Workers of America urged the FCC to expedite the approval process for Frontier Communications' pending buy of Verizon wireline services in California, Florida and Texas (see 1502050059). CWA's filing, posted Wednesday in docket 15-44, detailed the union's recent agreements with Frontier (see 1507310059) on conditions for if the transaction with Verizon receives commission approval. CWA said its deal with Frontier provides for the addition of 150 jobs in California and 60 jobs in Texas, plus a two-year collective bargaining agreement extension. CWA supported Frontier's plans to expand broadband to unserved and underserved areas and to extend existing fiber networks.

Windstream will accept $174.9 million in annual USF support to provide broadband speeds of at least 10/1 Mbps to more than 400,000 rural locations in 17 states utilizing the FCC's new Connect America Fund, the commission and company announced (here and here) Wednesday. Windstream was eligible to receive $178.8 million in annual support. “Windstream’s decision to accept support from the Connect America Fund will greatly benefit its rural customers by expanding robust broadband in their communities,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The FCC offered price-cap telcos a total of $1.675 billion in annual Phase II CAF support over six calendar years (2015-2020). Frontier previously said it would accept its entire $283.4 million share. Other carriers have until Aug. 27 to make their decisions. Carriers receiving CAF support must build out 10/1 Mbps broadband to 40 percent of funded locations by the end of 2017, 60 percent by the end of 2018, and 100 percent by the end of 2020, the FCC said.