State regulatory commissioners reiterated concerns about quantile regression analysis -- currently used to calculate high-cost USF funding but expected to be phased out over time -- with FCC Wireline Bureau officials during a conference call last week, according to a NARUC ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1jQYTfw). “Several commissioners did express strong support for elimination of the QRA, as well as specifically endorsing the release of the data underlying the average urban rate calculation, and not allowing the new benchmark calculation to go into effect this year,” the ex parte filing said. The conference call included Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey along with NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Chris Nelson, committee co-vice chairs Paul Kjellander and Catherine Sandoval, ex-NARUC President Philip Jones, Universal Service Joint Board State Chair Jim Cawley, Joint Board on Separations State Chair John Burke and other state commissioners. “There was also a brief discussion of closer collaboration on pending ETC [eligible telecom carrier] designations involving carriers seeking State designations that are under investigation by the FCC for non-compliance with the FCC’s rules,” the filing said.

Portland, Ore., reached a franchise agreement with Google Fiber, in which the company will have use of the city’s public right of way, a Google spokeswoman said. Under the agreement, Google agreed to pay the city the standard 5 percent franchise fee that other utilities pay (http://bit.ly/1jOurTw). The City Commission must approve the measure. “This franchise agreement is an important step along the path to Fiber. It gives us permission to build here, and it also outlines the ways that we'll partner with the city to invest in local infrastructure and give back to the community. There’s still a lot of work to do beyond this one agreement, but we hope to provide an update about whether we can bring Fiber here later this year,” Google said in a statement.

Iowa broadband adoption rose from 66 percent in 2010 to 76 percent of households in 2103, and now surpasses the national average, according to figures released by Connect Iowa Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1hO3GyZ). The non-profit was commissioned by the state to work with broadband providers to create detailed maps of coverage and develop a statewide plan for broadband deployment and adoption. Mobile broadband usage among Iowa adults has also grown from 22 percent in 2010 to 53 percent in 2013, a Connect Iowa press release said. But the survey found more than 113,000 school-age children in Iowa still don’t have broadband access at home. Nearly 650,000 working-age adults in Iowa would need assistance with tasks that are often required by employers, such as creating a spreadsheet, going online from a mobile device, using a word processor, or sending an e-mail. Two out of three non-adopters in Iowa said it would be easier for them to shop, seek out healthcare information or interact with government offices if they had Internet access at home. “A ten percentage point increase in adoption since 2010 shows that the efforts of Connect Iowa and our partners to bridge the digital divide are paying dividends,” said Connect Iowa Program Manager Amy Kuhlers. “Still, much work remains to be done to connect people to the empowering technology of broadband."

A three hour-long E911 outage in Washington state April 10 will be investigated by the state Utilities and Transportation Commission, the UTC said. “We recognize this outage could have had serious implications for people and emergency responders across the state,” said David Danner, UTC chairman, in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1tfu755). “Our investigation will look into the cause of the outage, (CenturyLink’s) emergency preparedness and response, restoration efforts, and communication with the public.” Enhanced 911 services began experiencing interruptions in Washington around 1 a.m. Thursday, April 10. CenturyLink said that E911 service was been fully restored statewide later that morning, the ETC said. CenturyLink said in a statement that about 4,500 911 calls failed during the outage between 12:36 a.m and 6:26 a.m. “The outage was due to a technical error in a third-party vendor’s call router, which prevented the system from properly processing calls,” the carrier said. “CenturyLink and its vendor partner have taken steps to implement an enhanced monitoring process and have addressed the router issue.” The outage occurred across 127 public safety answering points. “CenturyLink’s top priority is customer safety and reliable communications,” said Brian Stading, Northwest Region president. “We are working closely with our vendor partner to fully to understand this outage. At this time, we are confident that the 9-1-1 system is fully operational and stable."

FirstNet recognizes the support of the public safety community is needed to make the network work, said FirstNet Director-Government Affairs Edward Parkinson in a FirstNet blog post (http://bit.ly/1tbeUlH) Tuesday. Parkinson said he told the Minnesota Public Safety Interoperable Communications Conference that “planning and partnering will be especially critical for Minnesota, which has a number of coverage factors to consider given the state’s geography is a mix of rural, urban, and wilderness terrain. Minnesota also shares a border with Canada, which is another important consideration for emergency communications planning purposes."

The proposed interconnection agreement between Michigan Bell and Sprint Spectrum was approved Tuesday by the Michigan Public Service Commission (http://1.usa.gov/1m7BVUP). The agreement filed with the PSC on April 1 (CD April 3 p18) called for AT&T to allow IP-to-IP interconnection between the companies. But while making the agreement, AT&T Michigan said in the filing it “continues to object to the contract provisions proposed by Sprint (http://bit.ly/PjAmEY). .... The provisions are contrary to the requirements of Section 251 [of the Telecommunications Act] and therefore must be rejected.” Tuesday’s ruling ends a long back and forth, in which the PSC ruled Dec. 6 (http://bit.ly/1k7xkBc) (CD Dec 10 p12) that AT&T has to reach an IP interconnection agreement with Sprint. Under a proposed agreement filed Feb. 25 (CD Feb 27 p16), the sides agreed all traffic Sprint exchanges with AT&T would be delivered in TDM format. They left the IP dispute in the air, saying if they can’t resolve the issue, they may amend the agreement in July to include IP interconnection. The PSC rejected the Feb. 25 agreement on March 18 (http://tinyurl.com/nmuglcw) (CD March 19 p19), saying the sides have to file any contingency agreement they might have with the commission. AT&T’s April 1 filing said it was only submitting the agreement because the PSC was requiring one be filed.

South Dakota’s PUC lowered the tax rate on in-state gross receipts of utilities and telecommunications companies (http://1.usa.gov/1md1p0L) Tuesday. The levy for fiscal year 2015, beginning July 1, will be 0.14 percent, down from the 0.15 percent maximum allowed by state law. “I'm pretty excited we can decrease a tax rate,” said Commissioner Chris Nelson, at the PUC meeting. Nelson noted the rate had been at 0.15 for a number of years. The rate is capped at what’s needed to fund PUC operations for two years. The rates were able to be lowered because the PUC has managed costs, and there have been an increase in requests to raise electric rates, Nelson said in an interview, noting that the cost of considering the rate cases are charged to the requesting utilities.

Frontier’s purchase of AT&T’s wireline assets in Connecticut (CD Feb 24 p21) would “generate significant, tangible and timely benefits for end users,” Frontier told the FCC in a filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1m8ceDv). Responding to several questions raised by FCC staff April 1, Frontier said it emphasizes customer service and network quality in all of its territories, but would have “laser-like focus on providing outstanding service” in its home state of Connecticut. Frontier said it would improve service beyond what AT&T had been able to offer by locating a dispatch operation in Connecticut, adding jobs to the state and being able to “address service and operational issues in a timely manner,” the filing said. Frontier also said it would expand broadband beyond AT&T’s investment level trends.

The possible inclusion of wireless carriers in the FCC’s definition of unsubsidized competitors would contradict the public interest, the Alaska Rural Coalition told aides to FCC commissioners April 8 and April 9, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1qWQfNE) posted by the FCC Monday. ARC members said during the meetings that wireless carriers do not have the same regulatory obligations as wireline carriers, “and can therefore cherry-pick the most profitable areas to serve, leaving less densely populated areas out in the cold,” the filing said. A carrier should only be considered unsubsidized “if it receives no support from any federal programs,” including E-rate and Rural Health, the ARC members said. Discussing broadband expansion, the ARC members also said rural carriers are precluded from participation in mobility auctions because of the commission’s requirement that bidders obtain irrevocable letters of credit, which are unavailable from the Rural Utilities Service, the primary lender to small rural carriers, the filing said.

AT&T said it’s “in advanced discussions” with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN) to bring AT&T U-verse with GigaPower Internet service to North Carolina’s Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions. NCNGN is a regional initiative to encourage next-generation network deployment in North Carolina. AT&T is proposing to deploy U-verse fiber in Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. Those areas have sufficient demand for U-verse’s 1 Gbps speeds and local policies that “support broadband network investment,” AT&T said Thursday. The plan would include options for public Wi-Fi hotspots, free U-verse with GigaPower service at up to 100 public sites and fiber connections to up to 100 business buildings, AT&T said. The telco would make free 3 Mbps U-verse High Speed Internet service available at 10 affordable housing complexes for a total of 3,000 homes. The local governments in the six cities will need to ratify the agreement. Venessa Harrison, AT&T-North Carolina president, said in a news release that the telco is “encouraged” by its conversations with NCNGN and believes the negotiations show “how dedicated its policymakers and university and business leaders are to bringing the latest technology to the state.” NCNGN participants “are encouraged by AT&T’s interest to deliver ultra-fast bandwidth to the Research Triangle and Piedmont regions,” said NCNGN Steering Committee Chair Tracy Futhey in the AT&T news release (http://soc.att.com/1kNqsFS).