Pennsylvania shouldn't delay its Verizon copper probe, the Communications Workers of America said in a letter Monday to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. But the state's Office of Consumer Advocate said it took no position on Verizon’s request to pause the proceeding until after resolution of the East Coast strike (see 1605090045). Verizon asked May 6 to delay current dates for the prehearing memorandum deadline (May 20) and the prehearing conference itself (May 26) until 30 days and 45 days after union workers return to work. “CWA initiated this proceeding more than seven months ago, raising serious matters that affect public and employee safety,” the union said. “It is long past time for Verizon to be required to respond to CWA's discovery requests and for this matter to move forward through the filing of testimony, hearings, and decision.” The New York Public Service Commission granted a similar Verizon request for delay of the PSC’s own copper probe (see 1605120048). Verizon, CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers negotiators met for the second time Tuesday in a sesion convened by the Department of Labor (see 1605160002).

Community broadband supporters rejoiced after the Missouri General Assembly stripped municipal broadband restrictions from an unrelated traffic citations bill before passing SB-765 late last week. A House amendment to SB-765, removed in a conference between the House and Senate before final passage, would have prohibited local governments from providing a communications service that competes with one or more service providers in the jurisdiction. CenturyLink and AT&T had supported the plan, but it was opposed by a coalition of community broadband supporters including Google, NATOA, Netflix and the Telecommunications Industry Association. “This was one of the toughest state battles that we’ve fought in years,” said Jim Baller, attorney for the joint opposition. “It took months of constant vigilance, quick and effective reactions to ever-changing language, and hard daily work with key members of the legislature. The most important part was getting across the message that this is not a matter of the public sector competing with the private sector, but of communities retaining the ability to work with willing incumbents, create public-private partnerships, develop their own networks, or do whatever else they believe necessary to acquire affordable access to the advanced broadband networks on which their futures will depend.” State Rep. Lyndall Fraker, who proposed the muni broadband limits in his bill HB-2078, has no “future plans for this bill at this time,” the Republican told us in a Facebook message. “We will just keep monitoring the audits from the state auditors office concerning the cross [subsidization] of municipal utilities.”

With the New York Public Service Commission set to decide by May 20 on the Altice buy of Cablevision, the companies urged the PSC to reject a late motion by Entravision to intervene against the deal. The Latino media company asked Tuesday for an OK to file late comments, saying it just noticed that the concerns of minority and independent programmers hadn’t been raised (see 1605100038), and that the deal would hurt Latino programmers and consumers. “The Commission should reject Entravision’s Request due to the unfairness and prejudice that would result if it were entertained at this very late stage in the proceeding,” Altice and Cablevision said in opposition filed Friday. “This proceeding has been ongoing for six months and has included the active participation of many parties who timely requested party status. The procedural schedule has been well-established and was widely advertised, and the extensive record has long been complete.” Other commenters already have represented Latino consumers and programmers, they said. The PSC has until Friday to issue a final order on the deal (see 1604050059). Altice/Cablevision recently received a green light from both New York City (see 1605110055) and the FCC (see 1605040010). Altice has said the deal will enhance competition, promote network improvements and bridge the digital divide for low-income households.

Frontier Communications pledged to resolve issues of transitioning customers in the state from Verizon to it, in a meeting Wednesday with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Bondi office said in a news release Thursday. “After a lengthy, productive meeting with Frontier executives, I am cautiously optimistic that Frontier disruptions in services will be quickly resolved,” Bondi said. “My office will continue to work with the company on each consumer complaint until they are all appropriately addressed.” Frontier detailed the pledge in a letter to Bondi dated Wednesday. The company promised to prioritize complaints by seniors and the medically disadvantaged, set up a Florida-based customer service number and live chat platform, establish a “SWAT Team” to coordinate rapid response to customer escalations and service outages, and provide credits to every customer who reported any out-of-service issue. The credit amount will be based on the extent of the outage and will appear on the customer’s bill by the end of June with no contact with the company necessary to receive it, Frontier said. The AG’s office said it received 721 complaints about Frontier between March 29 and May 12. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, plus regulators in Texas and California, have also received an uptick in complaints since Frontier completed its $10.5 billion buy of Verizon wireline operations in the three states April 1 (see 1605090043). The California Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee plans a hearing on the Frontier problems Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. PDT, and the California Public Utilities Commission said it plans to hold a workshop on the subject.

FirstNet completed 12 governance body consultation meetings with states preparing for the national public safety wireless network, FirstNet said Friday on its blog. That includes several in the past two weeks with officials of Alaska, California, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont, wrote FirstNet Consultation Director Dave Buchanan. “These meetings have been valuable to FirstNet, allowing us to connect with the states on important issues like the State Plan and the Governor’s decision, and to have a dialog about the key influencers and key issues that the state and FirstNet need to consider over the next year,” he said. “In Massachusetts, for example, we had terrific discussions with [Single Point of Contact] Curt Wood and his team about the State Plan and Governor’s decision process, and learned more about the network topics important to Massachusetts public safety.”

Minnesota should increase funding for its Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant program, said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Thursday on its blog, as it released a policy brief. The state also should modify the program's rules and criteria, which in their current state may harm cities, it said. The Minnesota program distributed $30 million to 31 rural communities in its first two years, but the state needs to put more money into the program, said the institute, citing an estimate by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s Broadband Task Force that the state’s unmet broadband need is $900 million to $3.2 billion. “This funding is essential to greater Minnesota communities that are being left behind,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute’s Community Broadband Initiative. “The current disbursement is only meeting a fraction of the state’s high-speed Internet needs as it is. The program’s rules must be reconsidered to meet economic development goals for the state.”

Verizon got more time to file testimony in the New York Public Service Commission investigation of the telco’s copper service quality. In a letter to Verizon dated Thursday, PSC Secretary Kathleen Burgess said the commission granted Verizon’s request to extend the deadline to 45 days after the end of the strike (see 1605100042). “This extension has been granted in order to promote the fair, orderly and efficient conduct of this proceeding,” she wrote. The telco also has requested more time to respond to a similar probe by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (see 1605090045).

New York City signed off on the Altice buy of Cablevision, leaving New York state's Public Service Commission as the last regulatory approval needed to close the deal. The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee voted Wednesday to approve the draft resolution with conditions proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio's office (see 1605060038). The Democratic mayor had proposed requirements that Altice give the Bronx and Brooklyn priority for infrastructure upgrades, and that it reach an agreement with the state PSC -- acceptable to the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications -- that maintains “levels of customer-facing employees for an appropriate time period.” The mayor’s office applauded Wednesday’s vote. “We are pleased that the FCRC has voted to allow this transaction to proceed with conditional approval,” mayor’s counsel Maya Wiley said in a statement. “The City worked hard to make sure Altice’s acquisition of Cablevision would ensure fairness for all New Yorkers -- particularly residents of Brooklyn and the Bronx -- so we applaud a deal that accomplishes that goal.” The need for a New York City review had been debated. The city said its franchise agreement with Cablevision includes authority to review transfers of control, but Altice and Cablevision contested that right (see 1604050059). The last remaining regulatory hurdle is the New York PSC, which is expected to decide Friday next week. The FCC OK'd Altice/Cablevision without conditions other than for national security (see 1605040010). Altice didn’t comment.

The New York State Department of Public Service said it's investigating the cause of a fiber outage that wiped out telephone service for 750,000 customers in the New York City area Monday afternoon. Internet backbone provider Level 3 suffered the outage, affecting Verizon and other customers, DPS CEO and Public Service Commission Chair Audrey Zibelman said in a statement. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) directed DPS and the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to investigate the outage to ensure there was no impact on 911 calls, Zibelman said. "Service is being restored, and DPS will continue to investigate the incident to determine the cause.” Level 3 said in a statement the outage was "due to a fiber cut caused by third-party construction" and it has restored service.

Dozens of Verizon union workers plan to protest Wednesday outside a quarterly meeting of the New York State Procurement Council, the Communications Workers of America said Tuesday. As the strike enters its fourth week (see 1605050047), union protesters will urge council members not to grant any new contracts to Verizon during the strike, CWA said. The council issues guidelines and recommendations on public contracts; members include the state comptroller and the director of budget. New York has $311 million in existing contracts with Verizon, CWA said. “Taxpayers should not fund Verizon contracts during the strike since the company cannot deliver proper service,” CWA said. “Its experienced workforce has been replaced with inexperienced, poorly-trained replacement workers and managers who cannot properly service and maintain Verizon’s networks.” A Verizon spokesman responded: “Union leaders like [CWA President] Chris Shelton are too shortsighted to realize that when revenues decline because of adverse union involvement or activities, these actions potentially lead to reduced revenues and a smaller workforce.” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli voiced concerns about the strike in an April 21 letter to Verizon Chairman Lowell McAdam. “I am concerned that this impasse, coupled with the negative media attention that resulted in 2011 from tense contract negotiations between CWA and Verizon, may create a risk that Verizon will be perceived as ‘anti-labor,’” he wrote. “A protracted workforce strike of this magnitude would undoubtedly affect the morale and productivity of Verizon’s employees. I am concerned that a disenfranchised workforce and the associated negative publicity may ultimately impact Verizon’s profitability.” The Wednesday protest is scheduled for 11 a.m. outside Empire State Plaza, Meeting Room 6, in Albany.