The FCC Wireline Bureau has ordered seven phone companies to repay a total of over $9 million to the USF after audits showed insufficient recordkeeping and noncompliance with accounting requirements related to the companies' efforts to fulfill their USF obligations, according to orders and a news release Wednesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in the release that the agency needs “to closely scrutinize USF support payments” to “ensure funding is used to efficiently connect rural households and businesses.”

NCTA is urging the FCC to consider mandatory deadlines for review of rights-of-way permits related to broadband deployments. In a recap of its meeting with staffers of Chairman Brendan Carr, posted Tuesday (docket 17-84), NCTA also endorsed prohibiting moratoriums on rights-of-way access and not allowing "onerous requirements or conditions" to get right-of-way permits.

Comments are due Sept. 22, replies Sept. 29, on Spectrotel’s proposed purchase of Mosaic NetworX, said a public notice Monday in docket 25-244. Mosaic NetworX offers telecom services in 15 states, including Virginia, Illinois, Michigan and California. Spectrotel is a competitive local exchange carrier that provides resold voice and IP-based data services across the U.S., the notice said.

Comments are due Oct. 6, replies Oct. 20, on the business data services NPRM that FCC commissioners approved 3-0 last month (see 2508110054), said a Wireline Bureau notice Friday in dockets 21-17 and 17-144.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has given ClearCaptions the go-ahead to forgo the volume-control reset requirement for wireline phones. People with hearing loss won't have to turn the volume back up on ClearCaptions phones covered by the waiver before using them again, said the order (docket 18-307).

Fiber is available to more than half of all broadband serviceable locations (BSL) in the U.S., CostQuest Associates said in a report Thursday. Each release of the FCC's broadband coverage map sees a drop in the number of locations without fiber coverage, it noted, adding that between the first version, released in June 2022, and the most recent one, 35.7% more BSLs have fiber. There was a 6.9% increase in the past six months, between Versions 5 and 6 of the map. AT&T is the single largest fiber provider in the U.S., reaching 15% of BSLs, CostQuest said.

NTCA filed in support of UP Fiber’s proposed acquisition of 40 wire centers in 42 exchanges and the associated customers from AT&T’s Michigan Bell (see 2507310023). Its comments, the only ones filed so far on the transaction, address a requested waiver to allow the creation of a study area for UP Fiber. “The transaction … will enable the provision of robust and reliable voice and broadband services to the areas that are the subject of the waiver without affecting existing” USF distributions, the group said this week in docket 25-281. UP Fiber's name is tied to its proposed service to the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Members of the ACAM Broadband Coalition spoke with FCC staffers about continuing concerns about the enhanced alternative Connect America cost model (E-ACAM), said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90. Coalition members said it was critical that the agency release “a complete and proper adjudication of all locations, service availability, and enforceable commitment issues before the eligible locations list to be used in the adjustment process is finalized.”

AT&T sought permission Tuesday from the FCC to stop accepting applications for optical carrier network point-to-point and LightGate special access services everywhere they’re still available across the company’s 21-state legacy wireline footprint. Last month, AT&T made a similar request on DS3 services (see 2508180039).

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners spoke with FCC staff about the group's opposition to a NumberBarn application for authorization to obtain numbering resources (see 2412090055). Association representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Olivia Trusty, Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione and other bureau staff, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-99.