California’s tribal land transfer policy (TLTP) doesn’t apply to wireless companies, CTIA said in Friday reply comments at the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC is considering updates to the 2019 policy, which directs investor-owned utilities to give tribes notice and a right of first refusal in property sales, in docket 22-02-002. “Applying the TLTP to wireless providers could hinder investment and rapid deployment of 5G networks, and would advance none of the core goals of this proceeding,” wrote CTIA: And it’s unlawful. Extending the TLTP to all telecom carriers would conflict with previous CPUC decisions that exempted certain carriers, agreed Verizon.

Gunshots damaged Frontier Communications fiber and caused an Arizona outage June 11, the company told the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) in a Friday letter in docket T-02115A-21-0198. “The incident that impacted Frontier's Internet and Verizon's wireless service in Navajo and Apache Counties on June 11 was the direct result of an intentional criminal attack on Frontier's fiber optic facilities executed in a manner to cause an extended disruption to services," the carrier said. “The perpetrator or perpetrators must be brought to justice.” Frontier disagreed with the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, which filed a June 20 letter that referred to the outage as a network failure. “Gunshot blasts damaged Frontier's fiber cable on a route between Holbrook and Snowflake, Arizona, in multiple locations, over a three-mile area. The pattern of damage indicates that this was neither a network ‘failure’ nor a foolish incident of vandalism.” Frontier urged the commission to consider increasing the state 911 surcharge or repurpose state USF for increasing network redundancy in rural areas. The ACC plans to consider the Frontier outage docket and possible state USF changes at its Tuesday meeting, said an agenda.

The California Public Utilities Commission is meeting with ISPs that didn’t provide all broadband data requested for a state map (see 2206170059 and 2206160065), a CPUC spokesperson emailed Monday. “We are meeting with the non-compliant providers with a goal of addressing their concerns so the data collection can be completed.” Cox, Comcast, Charter, Verizon and AT&T in separate June 17 responses to the CPUC’s June 10 noncompliance letters offered to meet with the agency. “The addresses of our customers and services they purchase cannot be made publicly available without causing serious harm,” said AT&T. “Customers also expect their information about the services they purchase will not be made publicly available.” Comcast worries that giving address-level data would violate customers’ “privacy rights in contravention of state and federal law,” it said. Others raised similar privacy concerns.

The Illinois chapters of the National Emergency Number Association and APCO asked the FCC to issue a formal opinion on whether the use of 911 fees to build and support 988 constitutes fee diversion, said a letter posted Tuesday in docket 20-291. The groups said the state was authorized July 1 to transfer $5 million in 911 fees to 988 but was told transferring the fees to a 988 trust fund "would constitute a diversion of fees" and could disqualify the state from future federal grants. "As funding continues to be an issue for 911 systems nationally, the diversion of 911 fees to support another program directly impacts the ability to build a sustainable National Next Generation 911 network," the groups said, saying it's "likely that a systemic diversion of 911 fees will be used to build and support 988 operations nationally" without clarification.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is seeking comments by July 18 on trench and pole attachment proposed rules, the PSC said in a Thursday order in docket GO 264. Replies are due Aug. 1. The state’s April 2021 dig-once law required the PSC to adjudicate trench-sharing disputes between telecom carriers and make rules to address abandoned cable, conductor and related facilities attached to utility poles. The law requires the PSC to make rules “to govern the timely transfer of facilities from an old pole to a new pole and the removal of utility poles that have had electric facilities moved to new poles but continue to have other facilities attached in the telecommunications space on the old existing poles,” the PSC said.

The Texas Public Utility Commission wants comments by June 28 on a May 16 petition by Lumen’s CenturyLink to deregulate 20 exchanges, Administrative Law Judge Susan Goodson ordered Thursday. The carrier said it has two voice competitors in each exchange, which is a state requirement for deregulating markets with fewer than 100,000 people. Staff should request a hearing or recommend a decision by July 11, the ALJ said.

The Supreme Court could soon be asked to review Florida’s social media law. In a joint motion Thursday at U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, plaintiffs NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) asked the district court to stay further proceedings until SCOTUS disposes with "forthcoming petition(s) for a writ of certiorari.” Parties agreed on a June 13 telephone conference that the "case warrants further review" in the Supreme Court and that they would file a joint motion at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals “to stay issuance of the mandate by that Court pending Supreme Court review,” they said. The 11th Circuit ruled last month that Florida may not restrict content moderation by social media platforms, while lifting a temporary injunction on most of the state law’s disclosure rules (see 2205230049). The Supreme Court on May 31 narrowly stopped a similar Texas law from being enforced (see 2206010060).

New Jersey senators voted 38-0 Thursday for a 988 bill (S-311). The amended bill, now in the Assembly, orders the state’s human services commissioner to report by April 1 whether a monthly fee on phone bills is necessary to support the hotline and, if so, what the amount should be and how it will be collected. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) had included funding for the hotline in his budget (see 2204010032).

California Assemblymember Jim Wood (D) is troubled by big ISPs not providing all broadband deployment data sought by the California Public Utilities Commission, he said at a partially virtual California Middle Mile Committee hearing Friday. Seeking address-level data for a state map required for California’s $6 billion broadband effort, the CPUC is considering actions against eight ISPs including AT&T, Verizon and top cable companies, which raised privacy and confidentiality concerns with providing certain information (see 2206160065). “It is important for us to know that these areas that the carriers are saying are served are truly served,” said Wood, characterizing ISPs’ defense as “privacy, blah, blah, blah.” If the big companies’ insufficient response “imperils this project ... and doesn’t get coverage to people who need it, it's a huge disservice and we need to hang that around their necks because it is not appropriate.” CPUC President Alice Reynolds agreed with Wood. “We do understand confidentiality is a concern but the CPUC is very experienced protecting confidential information,” she said. "This data is very essential for the state” and “really critical to our success here.” The California Technology Department agrees, said Mark Monroe, Broadband Middle-Mile Initiative deputy director. "We definitely need to have that data to make sure we're targeting all of the right areas.” Cable companies “hear you,” California Cable and Telecommunications Association General Counsel Jacqueline Kinney responded during a public comments round. CCTA members will work to provide data “consistent with both state and federal law related to broadband mapping” and state and federal consumer privacy laws, said Kinney, noting this year’s data request was different from what the CPUC previously sought. ISPs significantly overstate their coverage, said Patrick Messac, project manager for OaklandUndivided, a partnership that includes the mayor’s education office. “I do struggle with the argument that the ISPs are concerned with consumer data.”

New York state is 97.4% served by broadband, but some counties face larger gaps than others, said a New York Public Service Commission report released Thursday. The PSC also released an interactive map. “Although there are 15 counties with 99% broadband coverage, 26 of New York’s 62 counties have served percentages less than 95%, and of that 26, 11 have served percentages less than 90%. In three of New York’s counties, more than 20% of the address points do not have high-speed broadband service available.” In a cover letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), PSC Chair Rory Christian wrote, “Mapping broadband is an iterative process, and we intend to regularly refine the map as updated information is obtained and verified.” Thursday’s report was the New York PSC’s first; the state plans to release follow-ups annually. The map will help New York direct state and federal funding to unserved and underserved areas, said Hochul. "This address-specific tool is one we can wield to provide a more accurate depiction of connectivity needs in areas that have been disconnected for far too long."