AT&T denied Mississippi Public Service Commission claims the carrier sent false information to Universal Service Administrative Co. Commissioners asked the FCC last week to audit AT&T on its use of more than $283 million in Connect America Fund support to expand broadband to 133,000 Mississippi locations (see 2009300023). USAC earlier this year upgraded its portal to allow bulk corrections to data, and AT&T hasn’t revised the data because it first wanted to review and validate geocoding of its entire CAF II locations inventory, the carrier said in a Wednesday letter to FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and Inspector General David Hunt. AT&T isn’t deceiving by advertising internet as available at a location but then finding it’s unable to install service after the company’s technician measures signal strength, it said. The telco said it will comply with interim buildout milestones and exceed the 100% requirement by year-end in Mississippi and all 17 other CAF II states. Mississippi PSC Commissioner Brandon Presley tweeted Thursday that he asked commission staff to investigate reports that AT&T will stop expanding DSL. “While DSL is not an optimal choice for internet service, it’s all that many have and is better than other services.” AT&T provided us a statement in response (see 2010080066).

Revised low-income subsidy amounts and standards adopted unanimously by the California Public Utilities Commission will increase free and low-cost mobile broadband for state LifeLine participants, the CPUC said Thursday. The proposal in docket R.20-02-008 adds options for higher mobile data buckets and subsidies for VoIP bundled with fixed broadband. The commission estimated the decision will reduce LifeLine costs by up to $9.2 million yearly by cutting subsidies for wireline measured rate plans. The order requires providers to change to flat rate plans. President Marybel Batjer urged the state’s five largest broadband companies to participate “so all low-income Californians have improved -- if not free -- affordable, high speed connections.” The decision “brings broadband service for the first time into our LifeLine proceeding as the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of broadband access for all Californians,” said Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma. Carriers resisted CPUC changes as the FCC mulls federal Lifeline minimum increases (see 2009250043).

The Oregon Public Utility Commission will weigh reducing the state USF surcharge to 5%, at its Oct. 20 meeting, said a staff memo released Tuesday. Staff will answer questions by conference call Monday. The current surcharge is 8.5%, a PUC spokesperson said.

The Louisiana House supported creating a state broadband office, voting 94-0 Tuesday to send HB-74 by Rep. Daryl Deshotel (R) to the Senate. The Louisiana Senate Commerce Committee unanimously cleared companion SB-61 by Sen. Beth Mizell (R) Wednesday with amendments to more closely align it with HB-74 and make technical edits. “Currently, there is no mechanism in the state to receive money or to disseminate money,” Mizell said at the livestreamed hearing. The office will be “proactive,” not “regulatory,” and Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) plans to reshuffle existing resources to pay for it, she said. Commerce Committee Chairman Ronnie Johns (R) said he understands: “I have kids at home right now ... trying to go to school virtually and cannot.” Governors and legislatures are increasingly showing frustration with broadband gaps and taking action (see our report here).

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has “currently no plans to call a special session,” a spokesperson emailed Tuesday in response to calls by Next Century Cities, Electronic Frontier Foundation and local officials to reconvene the legislature to address the digital divide (see 2010060059). The groups support SB-1130 to increase the state internet speed standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical from 6/1 Mbps. The Senate passed the bill; the Assembly didn’t put it up for a floor vote.

Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization must not be “status quo for customers” but instead become “the moment when they started getting the service they deserved and are paying for,” California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves said Wednesday at a livestreamed virtual workshop. The telco’s CPUC application in docket A.20-05-010 “can only be approved if the commission can ensure -- not just aspire to or hope for, but ensures -- that a reorganized Frontier provides the best service to everyone in its service territories,” she said. California law requires the commission to determine if the deal will maintain or improve service quality, but Guzman Aceves is “disappointed that Frontier seems to be focusing on maintenance rather than improvement,” she said. “I’m deeply concerned that Frontier intends to prioritize fiber investments ... in those parts of its service territory that are already highly profitable” and not in more expensive areas. “If that happens, the digital divide will get wider.” Frontier is the only provider in large portions of rural, low-income areas and had service-quality problems, Guzman Aceves said. Since 2014, Frontier met the state’s metric to repair 90% of outages within 24 hours in only a few months, she said: “I am very concerned that Frontier is not providing high-quality, reliable and reasonably priced service to many of its customers, and that many of those customers have no other options.” Frontier Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Allison Ellis agreed the 24-hour metric is a challenge but noted the company followed rules to invest twice the amount of applicable fines for failing to meet that standard and is on track to spend $6.8 million once the CPUC approves its proposed resolution to 2019 failures. Frontier General Counsel Kevin Saville reminded the commission that restructuring lets Frontier “remain viable and continue to operate communications services as an alternative option to California consumers,” as well as help the company better respond to “unanticipated economic events such as COVID-19.” Denial or delay will reduce competition and hurt the public interest, he said. The CPUC shouldn’t treat Frontier’s application like other transaction reviews, where regulators can weigh the existing entity against the proposed new company, said the carrier’s outside attorney Patrick Rosvall of Cooper White. “In this situation, Frontier has an opportunity to shed a level of debt that would be crippling going forward.” Frontier earlier got OK from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, plus several states. Reorg remains under review by others and federally (see 2009210055).

The FCC blocking state 911 fee diverters from 4.9 GHz spectrum is “just another example of Washington using the levers of government to punish New York,” one of five states implicated by a major addition to the agency's initial draft order (see 2010050038), a New York State Budget Division spokesperson emailed Monday. “This valuable spectrum is currently in use by public safety entities in New York State.” New York uses 911 fee revenue “to upgrade public safety communication systems and support emergency services operations, statewide, including through the provision of interoperable communications grants,” the spokesperson said. “These programs are providing critical funding to help first responders at all levels of government communicate faster and respond sooner.” By diverting 40% of 911 fee revenue to the general fund, New York "is perpetrating fraud ... and compromising public safety," an FCC spokesperson emailed Tuesday. "This is unacceptable, and it needs to stop."

The Supreme Court won’t hear a Pennsylvania cellphone privacy case (docket 19-1254) on when it’s permissible for police to require someone to unlock an encrypted device. The court denied cert Monday to the state seeking review of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that individuals may refuse to unlock their phones for law enforcement to avoid self-incrimination. “Great news” that the Pennsylvania court's decision stays in effect, but varying decisions on similar cases in several other state supreme courts (see 2009160058) could still go to SCOTUS, emailed Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Attorney Andrew Crocker. “We'll have to see if the Court decides to take any of those or waits for the issue to develop further.” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s (D) office didn’t comment.

Computer matching programs to verify the eligibility of applicants to and subscribers of the USF Lifeline program that the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. will conduct with Florida and Minnesota will start Nov. 4 and conclude May 5, 2022, says Monday's Federal Register. The verification is to see that applicants or subscribers in Florida and Minnesota are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and/or Medicaid programs, it said. Comments are due Nov. 4.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed the 30th state small-cells bill into law Tuesday. CTIA applauded Wednesday. The legislature passed the bill last week, with municipal support (see 2009240054).