CenturyLink pulled a request that the FCC suspend and investigate Iowa Network Services’ annual access charge tariff filing (CD June 26 p17). The voluntary withdrawal is without prejudice to CenturyLink’s right to pursue “any and all legal remedies” of issues raised in its petition for an investigation, said the telco Wednesday in docket 14-48 (http://bit.ly/1m0gZiZ). Iowa Network Services, in a reply posted the next day in the docket (http://bit.ly/1lsa1BW), said CenturyLink’s original petition should be denied.

CenturyLink asked the FCC to suspend and investigate Iowa Network Services’s annual access charge tariff filing. In reforming intercarrier compensation, an FCC order “unambiguously capped all interstate switched access charges at the rates in place on the effective date of the” 2011 order, said the telco in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-48 (http://bit.ly/1ryrgSS). “Yet in its instant filing, INS proposes to maintain a switched transport rate above that cap.” Iowa Network Services declined to comment.

The Telecommunications Industry Association joined all other recent commenters (CD June 25 p16) in backing a Voice Communication Exchange Committee request that the FCC issue a notice of inquiry on migrating to HD voice as part of the IP transition. As that committee noted, migrating to HD voice “would accomplish many of the same benefits -- and poses many of the same challenges” -- “as the migration to HDTV overseen effectively by the Commission,” said a TIA comment posted Tuesday in docket 13-5 (http://bit.ly/1jOg3Is). “Using the HDTV transition as a model the Commission could include the migration to HD voice as a part of the IP transition, which would allow the Commission to address the collective technical challenges confronting the industry, while leveraging the extensive public awareness of the transition to HDTV."

The rate-of-return regulated rural ILEC group with an FCC plan for broadband USF (CD June 25 p17, June 25 p14) includes about a dozen such companies with fewer than 10,000 access lines each, said industry officials involved with the Small Company Coalition in emails to us Tuesday and Wednesday. Some previous filings by the group hadn’t identified members of the coalition, which seeks among other things broadband access for rural and urban areas on similar conditions, rates and terms within USF budget parameters. ILEC members include Citizens Telephone of Kecksburg in Pennsylvania and Sacred Wind Communications in New Mexico. Associate coalition members include Alexicon Telecommunications Consulting, where Principal Doug Kitsch is involved with the effort, the Blooston Mordkofsky law firm and Calix Networks, which makes broadband systems, said the materials provided by Kitsch, a consultant to the group, and Jim Kail, on the coalition’s executive committee and the CEO of Pennsylvania ILECs including the Laurel Highland telco.

The FCC should revise its protective order in the local number portability administrator (LNPA] proceeding to give small carriers access to the proposal, said a letter (http://bit.ly/1jOQyXx) submitted Monday by associations representing the carriers. The carriers also responded to CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom filings that urged a quick selection of the LNPA vendor (CD June 24 p11), saying, “While we are not opposed to the Commission moving quickly, we believe that the Commission should only act after all entities that depend on the LNP, not just the largest carriers, have an opportunity to review and understand the implications of the LNP selection and provide comments to the Commission.” The letter, posted Tuesday in docket 09-109, came from FISPA, Michigan Internet & Telecommunications Alliance, North West Telecommunications Association and Texaltel. The FCC’s definition of information considered to be ‘highly confidential’ in the protective order is overly broad, Neustar told agency general counsel’s staff June 20, an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/TxjFYM) posted Wednesday. “Neustar expressed further that the FCC’s default position for information submitted by vendors in this proceeding should be to favor disclosure rather than restricting disclosure.” A unit of Ericsson, which an FCC committee recommended get the LNPA job now held by Neustar, recently sought other changes to the protective order (CD June 24 p12).

Correction: The FCC docket where an American Library Association ex parte filing was made, on ALA’s discussion of E-rate with a Wireline Bureau official, was 13-184 (http://bit.ly/1iQzJLM) (CD June 23 p12).

A group of rate-of-return regulated rural local exchange carriers wants broadband access for rural and urban areas on similar conditions, rates and terms within USF budget parameters, it told the FCC. The Small Company Coalition, which has described itself as a national group of rural telecom and broadband providers (http://bit.ly/1nC5EkH), asked the agency to avoid unfunded mandates or retroactive rulemaking. It said “voice traffic will never go away completely,” as it declines at a 5-15 percent rate annually and “networks are not being used less, but instead are being used more than ever,” in an attachment (http://bit.ly/1jLisUo) to a coalition letter to the commission posted Monday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/1o08FxY). “IP and bandwidth is replacing TDM and voice traffic at an alarming rate.” The coalition said its proposal would work with one from ITTA, a group of mid-sized telcos, and rate-of-return companies could choose which model works best. The coalition said it has “refined and improved” its plan after getting feedback from industry stakeholders and to reflect issues raised in the FCC Connect America Fund order (CD June 12 p7). The materials didn’t identify the members of the coalition.

A decision by the Universal Service Administrative Co. against the Peerless Network was reversed by an FCC Wireline Bureau order (http://bit.ly/1pKgF7M) released in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. USAC had rejected Peerless’ revised May 2013 FCC Form 499-Q because it was filed outside the 45-day deadline for filing revisions, the order said. A request meanwhile by American Cyber Corp., Coleman Enterprises, Inmark, Lotel and Protel Advantage for reconsideration of a 2007 bureau order was granted by the bureau in an order (http://bit.ly/1q5mmPA). The bureau had found the companies were resellers of telecom services, and were obligated to contribute to the USF, but the bureau overlooked facts that showed the companies were telemarketers, not resellers, the order said.

All initial comments appeared to support a Voice Communication Exchange Committee request that the FCC issue a notice of inquiry on migrating to HD voice as part of technology transitions the agency is considering, based on filings in docket 13-5 as of Tuesday afternoon. Among NOI backers were Zula co-founder Jeff Pulver (http://bit.ly/1l7mczq), the VoIP pioneer and founder of Vonage; Vonage filing separately (http://bit.ly/1mbbDLX); the Voice on the Net Coalition, which was also founded by Pulver (http://bit.ly/1sC1kdk); and Dialogic, a maker of codecs, including for HD voice (http://bit.ly/Tclfit). The Voice on the Net Coalition said HD voice implementation can give consumers enhanced voice quality, “rejuvenate user interest in voice calls, and improve competitiveness of global communications infrastructure,” all within the IP transition. Vonage called an NOI an “incremental step” and said the FCC should promote the IP transition: An “NOI exploring the standards development -- and related IP transition issues” -- would “smooth the transition to HD voice.” Monday was the deadline for comments on a Wireline Bureau public notice seeking feedback on the committee’s request (http://bit.ly/1nCdE4Z). It noted the request was for the agency to “investigate the benefits of a common HD voice implementation to replace standard definition voice services historically associated with the Public Switched Telephone Network.”

National hotel chains have made real progress enabling guests to dial 911 directly, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1v24oLt). Pai said in January he would contact major hotel chains to ensure 911 works wherever it’s dialed (CD Jan 14 p14). He raised a December incident in which a child tried to dial 911 when her mother was being strangled by her estranged husband. The child “tried to call 911 four times but never reached emergency personnel” because the hotel required her to first dial 9 to get an outside line, Pai said then. The Wyndham Hotel Group reported earlier this year that only 80 percent of its owned and managed properties allowed direct dialing to 911, but now all its properties do so, Pai said. Hyatt initially reported that 75 percent of its managed properties allowed direct 911 access, but it now provides this functionality at 99 percent of its properties, he said. The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) is “continuing to play an important role in solving this problem,” Pai said. “AH&LA has now issued an industry-wide recommendation that encourages all of its members to move to direct 911 dialing.” AH&LA is hosting a members-only webinar on the issue Thursday (http://bit.ly/1v28wLs).