Monica Hogan

The FCC is expected to make changes to a draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order, responding to industry concerns that USF recipients could have trouble meeting financial requirements under the version that circulated earlier this month, agency officials told us Wednesday. They and stakeholders expect changes to address industry concerns about RDOF letter of credit (LOC) requirements (see 2001230005). Changes to allow New York state providers to bid in the program's phase one auctions (see 2001280039) aren't expected.

An advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing "very much" supports a draft item up for an FCC vote Thursday that would make permanent a pilot allowing at-home call handling for video relay services (see 2001090025). Claude Stout, executive director for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, told us the trial went well, and the FCC had the needed safeguards. TDI isn't seeking changes to the item's language: "We think it's fine as written," Stout said. The draft order in dockets 03-123 and 10-51 simplifies safeguards, but Stout said it retains important ones, such as requirements that home workstations have locked doors so children can't interrupt a call. Proposed requirements also include sound proofing to protect callers' confidentiality, and a virtual private network connection to a provider's system. Proposed rules don't require a separate home broadband connection dedicated solely to VRS call handling. Home communications assistants would be subject to unannounced home inspections, the draft said. The pilot began in 2017 (see 1711010015), and participants ZVRS and Purple Communications received extensions (see 1910310034). Stout said he expects additional VRS providers to participate in the at-home calling program. The program benefits all, Stout suggested: The FCC's telecommunication relay services fund should have reduced outlays because interpreters would spend less time at call centers and thus be subject to less reimbursement; VRS providers wouldn't need to expand call center operations as often if more employees worked from home; and part-time workers experienced in American Sign Language wouldn't need to commute to call centers, freeing up time to use their signing skills elsewhere in the community such as at schools or churches. Allowing VRS calling assistants to work from home also offers much-needed network redundancy during power outages or other emergencies at a VRS call center, Stout said. Workers at home could take overflow calls if events caused unexpected demand for VRS calls, he added. The program also allows VRS providers to attract skilled interpreters for whom working at a call center isn't a practical option, Stout said.

Foster participation rather than create new obstacles to adoption for the USF Lifeline program that subsidizes low-income telecom users, industry, public interest and consumer groups pressed the FCC in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 17-287. The FCC is considering sweeping changes in attempts to curb waste, fraud and abuse, but stakeholders fear the agency is overstepping (see 1911210035).

Cincinnati Bell got an offer Wednesday from an infrastructure fund that it didn't identify to buy it for $12 a share in cash, the telco said Friday. The stock rose above that offer price, indicating investors expect a richer deal. Last month, the ILEC got a buy-out bid from Brookfield Infrastructure at $10.50 (see 1912230014). Cincinnati Bell said there are no assurances that discussions with the infrastructure fund will result in a binding proposal or that such a transaction would be approved, but discussions have begun. The Brookfield deal remains and Cincinnati Bell's board "reaffirms its existing recommendation in support of the transaction with Brookfield at this time." Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche said the recent bids "should shine the light on the value of the [rural LEC] space." The analyst favors RLECs and ILECs that "continue to invest more capital in fiber," such as Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated Communications and CenturyLink. Cincinnati Bell closed up 22 percent at $13.75, while Consolidated gained 17 percent to $5. Cincinnati Bell reports Q4 results Feb. 13 but won't have a call. A spokesperson declined additional comment.

Petitioners didn't demonstrate "certain, impending harm" to show standing in Greenlining v. FCC, said a decision (in Pacer) memo by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday. Judges probed standing during oral argument (see 1908270026) and allowed petitioners to make a new attempt at proving independent standing (see 1909060038). The case involved potential consumer harms in the move from plain-old-telephone service to VoIP and addressed an FCC move striking down the functional test standard in service discontinuances (see 1908230003). "We are deeply disappointed with the Court's decision," wrote Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, one of the joint petitioners. "As the California wildfires demonstrated, the deregulation of our telephone network can have devastating consequences. We will confer with our co-petitioners and consider what other avenues to pursue to ensure that all Americans have affordable, reliable access to critical communications infrastructure." Chairman Ajit Pai is "pleased that the Ninth Circuit has rejected this challenge to the FCC’s efforts to expedite the transition from the networks of yesterday to the networks of tomorrow." Co-petitioner The Utility Reform Network is "very disappointed that the court dismissed the case based on standing," said Telecom Director Regina Costa. Telecom deregulation overall has made service less reliable, she added. She expects TURN to discuss with fellow petitioners next steps, including possible actions in states and Congress. NASUCA is "disappointed with the decision," emailed Executive Director David Springe. USTelecom backed the FCC and didn't comment now. Hearing August argument in Seattle were Margaret McKeown, Jay Bybee and Fernando Gaitan. The order wasn't signed by a single judge to indicate who wrote it.

There's much attention to an FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund vote Jan. 30 (see 2001230005). Speakers at a Next Century Cities conference Thursday urged policymakers not to neglect low-income urban and minority communities to address the digital divide. The event was closed to the media in-person, so we heard the webcast.

ISPs, states and others looking for changes to a draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order up for a vote Thursday make their last requests to FCC officials this week. Sunshine rules govern industry ex parte on matters before the commission a week before the Jan. 30 meeting. Commissioners and aides said the RDOF item is dominating their time on the agency's top, eighth floor. They said it has been a big focus this week.

"Categorical exclusion of all New York areas" from the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is "premature and imprudent given that certain areas of the state still lack broadband services," the New York State Broadband Program Office said in a phone call last week with Preston Wise, rural broadband adviser to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The state said FCC delays approving program awardees and complications arising from such conditions slowed deployment. Exclusion of New York from RDOF "could preclude the deployment of much-needed broadband services in the state, which would be especially inequitable given that New York has dedicated more funding than any other state in an effort to achieve universal availability," it said. The New York State Telecommunications Association said "citizens should not effectively be penalized due to the state's efforts to support broadband deployment," also posted in docket 19-126 Wednesday. It supported a Friday letter to Pai from 22 New York members of the U.S. House and a letter from the state's U.S. senators. Hudson Valley Wireless asked the FCC "to remove categorical exclusions and allow providers in New York to participate" in RDOF. New York and Alaska are excluded from the first phase of the $20 billion program, said the draft order up for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001140028). Broadband funding in New York comes from the New NY Broadband Program (see 1908120013), and in Alaska from the Alaska Plan (see 1912130039). The FCC voted to provide up to $170 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband deployment in unserved rural areas of New York in the first item the commission adopted under Pai’s leadership, a spokesperson emailed now: The state "combined this money with state funding and private investment to jump-start broadband deployment and close the digital divide across New York more quickly." The commission's "current estimate is that no areas in New York would be eligible for Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund," the spokesperson said. Phase 1 eligibility is limited to census block groups unserved by broadband.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an item on the Connect America Fund Alaska Plan last week, the agency posted Friday. Commissioners are expected to vote on an order about an April 1 application for review by GCI Communications of an FCC waiver denial order in broadband network mapping reporting deemed insufficient (see 1904170058), agency officials told us. GCI argued in the application "no valid purpose has ever been presented for a location accuracy standard as strict as 7.6 meters." The Alaska Plan directs USF dollars for broadband networks.

Telecom experts asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District to clarify state utility commissioners have jurisdiction of intrastate telecom cost allocation (see 1907220051) got their day in court Friday. One judge had questions for both sides. Oral argument left one member of the "Irregulators" hopeful states may get some authority returned, he told us later. Irregulators v. FCC, is case 19-1085 (on Pacer).