A New Jersey lawmaker wants to require pay-TV providers to include all fees in the advertised price. A-5825 by Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D)would ban MVPDs and virtual ones from marketing prices other than "the total billable amount that the company will charge to a consumer for the provision of television service based on the minimum equipment necessary per television set to receive and operate the television service."

The Department of Agriculture tagged $23.6 million for a broadband project by Star Telephone Membership covering about 8,750 rural homes in North Carolina as part of a USDA ReConnect pilot, Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development DJ LaVoy said Wednesday.

The California Public Utilities Commission should compel Dish Network to respond to data requests by the CPUC Public Advocates Office about T-Mobile's buy of Sprint, the office said in a Tuesday motion. “DISH is a party to the proceeding and a key player in the DOJ and FCC commitments made by Sprint and T-Mobile.” PAO seeks “supplemental and clarifying information regarding the DOJ and FCC commitments entered into by Sprint, T-Mobile, and DISH, in order to evaluate whether there is a negative impact on the originally proposed transaction.” Dish opposed PAO’s requests in Sept. 20 and Oct. 31 filings, arguing they exceed jurisdiction. PAO asked CPUC require Dish to respond by Friday, shorter than the typical 15 days. Dish can respond by Nov. 13, but not sooner, because it's focused on preparing testimony due Thursday, and responding by Friday to a separate PAO data request, the company wrote Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer Wednesday.

A Florida Lifeline provider must show cause why its eligible telecom carrier status shouldn’t be revoked for providing wireless service without authorization, the Florida Public Service Commission said Tuesday. The PSC separately asked the company why its CLEC certificate shouldn’t be revoked due to insufficient managerial capability. Florida designates only wireline carriers as ETCs, though the FCC can designate wireless providers there. Tele Circuit offered customers a “wireless home phone-hub” service, violating PSC rules, the state agency said. Florida's seniors and low-income residents rely on landline service "as a safe link to their communities,” said PSC Chairman Art Graham. “These vulnerable customers don’t deserve to be misled or defrauded.” Tele Circuit didn’t comment.

NARUC plans to weigh proposed resolutions urging FCC caution on the 6 GHz band and IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS), at its annual meeting Nov. 17-20 in San Antonio. A resolution before the Telecom, Water and Critical Infrastructure committees asks the FCC to “modify its proposal to not allow unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band unless and until such time that it has tested and proven that its [automated frequency coordination (AFC)] system works as intended to protect utility and other [critical infrastructure industry] systems, and that the FCC require AFC for all unlicensed operations.” It would be “premature if not irresponsible” for the FCC not to rigorously test for possible interference, it said. “The 6 GHz band satisfies the unique needs of utilities due to its ability to transmit data quickly over long distances,” the notes the draft. “If forced out of the band, utilities and other CII licensees have few, if any, reasonable alternatives. Meanwhile, there are other spectrum bands that are currently available or that could be made available that would more efficiently serve the needs for unlicensed operations and more efficiently than the 6 GHz.” Commissioners Robert Pickett of Alaska, Sarah Freeman of Indiana and Mary-Anna Holden of New Jersey jointly sponsored the resolution. The IP-CTS draft resolution by Nebraska Commissioner Tim Schram asks the FCC to adopt service quality standards for all IP-CTS providers before migrating to exclusively automated speech recognition (ASR) services. ASR-only IP CTS providers should "be required to demonstrate that their services can perform in 911 and other emergency and public safety scenarios by, for example, ensuring that a [communications assistant] can help with the call until ASR-only services have a proven track record to handle emergency, life-threatening situations,” it says. And to be functionally equivalent with CA-based IP CTS, "a user’s privacy and confidentiality should be protected by an ASR-only IP CTS provider as well as its third-party ASR partners or underlying providers.”

The Department of Agriculture will invest $3.8 million to support broadband deployment in rural Virginia as part of its first round of ReConnect pilot programs, it said Monday (see 1812130064). Recipient Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative will use the funds to deliver fiber to more than 1,250 homes, plus schools and volunteer departments.

The Vermont Public Utility Commission should require Consolidated Communications to pay customers an automatic enhanced bill credit of $5 daily for troubles not cleared in 24 hours, the Vermont Department of Public Service said Friday in docket 18-3231-PET. That will “appropriately press Consolidated to stanch many of the service quality and performance problems that have plagued the company since merging with FairPoint in 2017,” it said. “Although the Department appreciates that Consolidated has to compete at a statewide level, with many of its landline customers, Consolidated is the only game in town where adequate service quality is vital.” The incumbent’s “lackluster performance reflects a much larger trend that has existed since Consolidated and its predecessors entered the competitive telecommunications market in Vermont 20 years ago: a chronic failure … to maintain adequate service quality in areas of the state with no competitive voice alternative,” the department said. “This failure has been met with complacency and no effective approach to improving service quality in the last mile where Consolidated has no competition and therefore no incentive to maintain adequate service quality for some of its most vulnerable customers.” In a separate brief Friday, Consolidated argued that it has improved significantly. “Consolidated does not dispute that it faced particular challenges in the second half of 2018 meeting the cleared in 24 hours metric and that its repair times and customer complaint levels were unsatisfactory,” but the carrier “has undertaken considerable and comprehensive efforts to improve its service quality by making improvements in every aspect of its business,” it said. Improvements include “adding technicians in Vermont, hiring more outside contractors, improving its dispatch system, cross training employees, adding tools for technicians, adding processes to ensure accountability throughout the organization, better tracking and monitoring trouble tickets, and investing in upgrades to the outside plant,” it said. Consolidated officials defended recent problems at a hearing last month (see 1910170052).

CTIA urged the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to wait to recommend state USF changes to the legislature. The commission adopted rules implementing a state USF broadband program in December 2017, "less than two years ago," and applications for first broadband projects were filed "only last year,” CTIA commented Thursday in case 19-00046-UT. “Any suggestions made now would be based on mere opinions, not objective data drawn from completed projects.” Tap the state’s general fund rather than increase the size of state USF, which would “disproportionately and adversely” affect wireless customers who contribute most, CTIA said. No legislative changes are needed, commented the New Mexico Exchange Carrier Group. The state fund “is providing a reliable mechanism for supporting universal service availability at affordable rates in rural areas and, at the same time, promoting the expansion of broadband internet access service to unserved and underserved areas.” The PRC could draw more broadband funding from state USF without changing the fund or statute, CTIA suggested. "The Commission can ensure that more money is committed to broadband deployment in New Mexico by requiring carriers receiving access replacement or need-based subsidies to spend more than the statutory minimum” of 60 percent of those subsidies, it said. The exchange carriers disagreed: The current 60 percent threshold isn't "unreasonably burdensome" for recipients, but if it's increased, some “may find it difficult or impossible to meet a higher threshold for broadband expenditures and still be able to cover their non-broadband expenses without raising local rates.”

Maine commissioners plan to vote Tuesday on new pole-attachment rates based on the FCC cable rate formula, said an agenda posted Thursday. Cable, wireless and competitive carriers that attach to poles ask the Public Utilities Commission for a prescriptive, not presumptive, approach to the rates. Pole owner Consolidated Communications opposes replacing Maine’s Chapter 880 rate formula (see 1907120047).

California cellsite outages declined to 0.9 percent, the FCC Public Safety Bureau said in Thursday’s disaster information reporting system report on public safety power shutoffs. It was 1.8 percent Wednesday, though Thursday’s report included five additional counties. Cable and wireline companies reported about 117,500 subscriber outages, down about 55,500 from the day before. Two TV stations reported being out of service but sending programming to other stations. Eight FM radio stations were out, down from 13 on Wednesday. California county officials want telecom carriers to improve backup systems (see 1910300013).