A federal court hinted it may side with ISPs in a case about whether a state commission can compel disclosure of subscriber data to a third party. In a Friday order (in Pacer), the U.S. District Court in San Francisco temporarily banned the California Public Utilities Commission from enforcing a May 3 ruling compelling top ISPs to disclose subscription data to The Utilities Reform Network (TURN) as part of a state investigation of market competition (see 1605130025). The data involves carrier market share and includes Form 477 data that carriers report to the FCC. In their complaint (in Pacer), AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs said the data is confidential. Friday, the court granted the telecom companies a preliminary injunction. Judge Vince Chhabria said the ISPs don’t have to provide the data “until cross-motions for summary judgment are adjudicated,” and set a hearing on the cross-motions for Aug. 4 at 10 a.m., with a ruling to follow shortly thereafter. “The plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success,” Chhabria wrote. “Although the FCC materials cited by the plaintiffs are not crystal clear on whether federal law allows a state commission to disclose this kind of data to a third party pursuant to a protective order, those materials suggest the answer is ‘no.’” The judge sympathized with the CPUC’s desire for the data. “Nobody disputes that the state commissions themselves need this kind of data,” he said. “The issue presented by this preliminary injunction motion is whether the state commissions may require the data to be disclosed to third parties.” The CPUC didn’t comment Tuesday.

Frontier Communications should disclose complete Connecticut network modernization plans to the state’s Office of Consumer Counsel, the OCC head told the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. OCC has access to that information under the 2014 PURA order approving Frontier’s acquisition of AT&T wireline customers, said Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz in PURA oral argument on the access live-streamed Tuesday. The information will assist PURA in an investigation of whether Frontier is meeting transaction commitments on network upgrades. But Frontier has objected to sharing confidential parts of its business strategy with OCC because of the office’s role in municipal broadband procurement processes. A division called the Office of State Broadband (OSB) advises municipalities on broadband procurement, and if it knew Frontier's confidential business strategy -- but not that of other companies submitting proposals to municipalities -- it could advantage the other companies, testified Frontier outside counsel Daniel Venora. “It would be like giving our information to Cablevision or Comcast.” Frontier supports a May 12 ruling by PURA to restrict access to the confidential Frontier material only to OCC staffers who don't perform any OSB duties, he said. But the OCC believes the plan isn't practical, said Katz. The OCC has 12 staff members, and soon will have only 10 due to two planned retirements, she said. “Because of the size of our office, everyone works on everything,” including OSB matters, she said. “To wall off staff isn’t possible even if I were amenable to it.” Legally, the OCC head can’t delegate her authority to selected staff members and remove herself from the process, added OCC principal attorney Joseph Rosenthal. Katz said she felt personally offended by Frontier. “A new duty should not be interpreted to limit our rights,” said Katz. “This is nothing less than a personal attack on my integrity," she said: "This is saying I can't be trusted to handle confidential information, which is frankly offensive and unwarranted given OCC’s unblemished record in handling confidential information,” including major infrastructure plans and energy procurements. It “absolutely, 100 percent, is not” a personal attack on the OCC, said Venora. Since closing the AT&T deal in 2014, Frontier had major problems migrating customers from AT&T, an experience that Frontier CEO Daniel McCarthy described Monday as far worse than the transition issues in California, Florida and Texas (see 1605230046).

Verizon fought a Communications Workers of America challenge to an extension granted by the New York Public Service Commission in the state’s probe of copper service quality. The PSC secretary last week granted Verizon’s request to extend its deadline for filing testimony until 45 days after the end of the East Coast strike (see 1605120048). But CWA said the PSC acted too quickly to grant the request for more time (see 1605180042). The PSC didn’t take more time because the telco’s request was reasonable, Verizon said in a filing Monday. Meanwhile, Verizon and the CWA continued federal mediation to resolve the six-week-old East Coast strike, which analysts say has dented the company's wireline revenue (see 1605200060).

With the 360 area code nearing phone-number exhaustion, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved a plan to make available a new area code, 564, to the western part of the state starting in fall 2017, the commission said in a news release Thursday. The WUTC also OK'd mandatory 10-digit dialing for western Washington area codes by fall 2017. It said the North American Numbering Plan Administrator projects the 360 area code will be out of numbers by early 2018.

Charter Communications urged a federal court to allow its IP transition case against the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to proceed. The company supported an April 21 magistrate judge report recommending that the U.S. District Court in Minnesota deny the PUC’s motion to dismiss Charter’s complaint challenging state authority over interconnected VoIP services. The PUC objected to that recommendation on May 5 (see 1605060027). Charter’s complaint alleged the PUC overstepped its authority by imposing state regulations for traditional phone services on VoIP services. The case began in March 2013, when Charter transferred overnight 100,000 Minnesota customers to an affiliate that provided VoIP phone service that wasn't certified by the PUC. The agency has argued that interconnected VoIP is a telecom service subject to state regulation, but Charter and intervenor the VON Coalition have said it’s an information service and subject only to FCC regulation. “It is well-established that federal law preempts state public utility regulation of services classified as ‘information services’ under the Communications Act,” Charter said Thursday in a formal response (in Pacer) to the PUC’s objections. The FCC hasn't resolved the classification of interconnected VoIP, it said. The court’s decision on the motion won't be a ruling whether states can regulate interconnected VoIP, but will commence the trial phase of the case.

New York state officials pressed the FCC to keep Connect America Fund auction support in New York and other states where price-cap ILECs declined commission offers of Phase II broadband-oriented support. Reallocating the declined support to other states "would not ensure the deployment of broadband services in those New York communities the FCC previously had identified as unserved or underserved by broadband," said representatives of Empire State Development and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a filing in docket 10-90 about a call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel before lobbying restrictions took effect a week ahead of Wednesday's planned CAF II auction vote. In other recent auction filings: the Massachusetts Broadband Institute asked the FCC to consider favoring bids that leverage other state investments and build off of successful projects under the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP); Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable also urged the FCC to give special consideration to eligible recipients of BTOP funding and other state-funded broadband projects; and ViaSat opposed "self-serving" proposals from electric utility interests under which the FCC would "abandon the use of market-based mechanisms that would efficiently allocate limited [CAF] support to the most cost-effective service providers in favor of a complex 'points' scheme that would favor comparably inefficient fiber-based providers, delay the initial selection of winning bidders and invite numerous post-selection challenges, dramatically increase funding requirements, and consequently give rise to a 'funding gap' that would leave hundreds of thousands of households without access to critical broadband services."

North Carolina’s new law on transgender use of public restrooms “has positioned the state as a leader against LGBT rights,” CTA wrote Gov. Pat McCrory (R), urging him to “revisit” the recently passed legislation. The Wednesday letter was co-signed by 13 other trade groups, including CompTIA, the National Association of Manufacturers and the tech group Tech Titans. The groups’ member companies “thrive by attracting the best and brightest employees,” the letter said. “The potential talent pool of employees not only includes LGBT employees, but a younger generation of Americans who believe all Americans should be allowed to marry, adopt and use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. With the obvious anti-equality tone and impact of this law, millions of existing and potential employees are less likely to want to live or work in North Carolina. Thus, while this law stands, our members are less likely to want to invest or locate in North Carolina.” The governor’s office didn’t comment. Various tech and telecom interests have been opposing legislation like North Carolina's (see 1604140016).

The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals withdrew its original April 8 opinion (see 1604110058) vacating a 2015 lower court injunction that barred state Attorney General Jim Hood from enforcing his subpoena looking at Google's search practices. The 5th Circuit replaced it Wednesday with a revised opinion that also vacates the injunction. The 5th Circuit also denied Google's petition for a rehearing on the injunction. Google petitioned for a rehearing last month after Hood withdrew his subpoena (see 1604280046). Hood opposed Google's petition, saying Google was seeking declaratory relief that would have “virtually the same effect” as the injunction issued by District Judge Henry Wingate (see 1605090051). “We cannot say at this early stage of a state investigation that any suit that could follow would necessarily violate the Constitution,” the 5th Circuit said in its revised opinion. “As underscored by Hood’s apparent need to gather considerable information before he can determine whether an enforcement action is warranted, the prospect of one is not sufficiently imminent or defined to justify an injunction.” The court said it has “no opinion on the reasonableness of the subpoena or on whether the conduct discussed in the parties’ briefs could be held actionable consistent with federal law.” The 5th Circuit's revised opinion is "substantially the same" as its previous ruling, Hood said Thursday in a statement. "At that time, [the 5th Circuit] lifted the injunction against the state and rejected Google’s misguided attempts to use the federal courts to derail an investigation into potential violations of Mississippi state law. We look forward to presenting our case for dismissal of Google’s remaining claim in district court, and we will continue working to protect Mississippi children and families."

It could be another month before a final regulatory decision on the Altice buy of Cablevision. The companies and the New York Public Service Commission agreed to extend the deadline for the PSC’s final order until June 16, Altice counsel Allen Zoracki wrote in a letter Wednesday. The deadline was May 20. “Joint Petitioners would appreciate the Commission’s consideration of acting as soon as practicable in advance of the Commission’s next regularly scheduled session,” Zoracki said. It’s the second straight month that the NYPSC review has been delayed (see 1604050059). The New York City Franchise and Concession Review Committee conditionally OK’d the deal last week (see 1605110055). The FCC OK'd Altice/Cablevision without conditions other than for national security (see 1605040010). “Altice remains actively engaged in the regulatory process, which is well underway in all regions, and the transaction is expected to close on track in the second quarter of this year," an Altice spokeswoman said.

Reverse a decision to give Verizon more time in the New York Public Service Commission probe of the telco’s copper service quality, the Communications Workers of America said. The secretary for the New York PSC last week granted Verizon’s request to extend its deadline for filing testimony until 45 days after the end of the current East Coast strike (see 1605120048). But in an appeal to the full PSC Wednesday, CWA sought a reversal of that decision, saying the PSC unfairly gave CWA too little time to respond to Verizon's request. “The Secretary has indefinitely mothballed a proceeding essential to the [public] interest, on scant evidence, no inquiry, without affording parties an opportunity to oppose, with no examination of reasonable alternatives that would keep the process going, and with unseemly haste.” Verizon had said it needed the extension because it redeployed the employees who would prepare testimony to filling in for union workers in the East Coast strike. But CWA said Verizon must support its claim. “The Ruling is unsupported by evidence of actual hardship and inability to comply with the original deadlines in the Order,” it said. “Mere assertions by Verizon are legally insufficient to justify an indefinite suspension of the proceedings.” Earlier this week, CWA opposed an extension requested by Verizon in a similar probe in Pennsylvania (see 1605170020).