USTelecom warned that changes to pole attachment rules could harm broadband deployment under the BEAD program. In a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-84, USTelecom cited recent filings by ACA Connects (see 2503110021), electric utilities and others. USTelecom members “are working to deploy broadband as quickly as possible and support Commission efforts to speed such deployments, including those funded through BEAD and other government programs,” the group said. “However, departing from the negotiated timelines required under the Commission’s current rules and adopting one-size-fits-all make-ready timelines for large make-ready orders will not speed deployment in BEAD or otherwise.”
The FCC should reform and refocus its annual reports on broadband availability required by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, the Phoenix Center said in an analysis released Wednesday. Historically, the FCC’s Section 706 reports “have been plagued by partisan interpretations and have failed to address the core issues behind broadband deployment gaps,” the center said in a separate news release. The FCC hasn’t created consistent definitions of when a deployment timeline is “reasonable” and “timely,” as required by the statute, and what actions should be taken when deployment doesn’t meet those requirements, the Phoenix Center said.
Global Cloud Xchange is rebranding its subsea cable and data center operations as FLAG -- Fibre Links Around the Globe -- it said Wednesday. A subsidiary of British venture capital and private equity firm 3i, it said its managed services division will continue to operate as GCX Managed Services.
The world's submarine cable infrastructure needs proactive monitoring or sensing tools, consultant Kim Kyllesbech Larsen wrote Tuesday. More than 95% of international internet and data traffic crosses subsea cables, "but these critical assets lie largely unguarded on the ocean floor," Larsen said. Sensing technologies could help detect and characterize disturbances to cables, as well as real-time threat classification, he said. Those sensing capabilities "can serve as a digital tripwire along the seabed, transforming our ability to monitor and defend strategic infrastructure."
Free State Foundation President Randolph May said Wednesday that Verizon is correct and the FCC should ignore the Coalition for IP Transition's arguments urging conditions on Verizon’s buy of Frontier (see 2504010070). “The Coalition doesn't identify any specific harms arising from the merger,” May blogged: “Under prevailing agency precedents (even if sometimes breached to achieve pro-regulatory ends), merger conditions may only be imposed to remedy transaction-specific harms.” May noted that “on its face,” the coalition’s filing “is addressed to matters pertaining to the entire voice services market.”
Sytel, which sells dialer and contact center products, updated FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on its proposal (see 2502100021) that the agency rethink Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules to focus on “dialing outcomes” rather than the dialing method used. Automated dialing can be deployed without harming consumers, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 02-278.
Verizon representatives urged the FCC to ignore the Coalition for IP Transition's March filing, which raised concerns about Verizon’s proposed acquisition of Frontier. The coalition complained that Verizon and other local exchange carriers “refuse to interconnect on an IP-basis, despite offering IP services to other customers.” The coalition said the transaction “would not yield direct benefits for access customers.”
TDS Telecom asked the FCC to waive a requirement that it file data as part of the Connect America Fund program by July 1. In a Monday filing, TDS blamed the Universal Service Administrative Co. for a delay in submitting the Q4 2023 performance testing data covering Tennessee. It said it attempted to file the data in January 2024, “nearly six months prior to the due date,” but USAC’s performance measures module “prevented the company from doing so (by ‘locking’ the Tennessee fields) apparently because previously submitted quarterly data for Tennessee was undergoing a routine verification review.” TDS said it “uploaded and certified” the data “immediately upon receiving notice from USAC that it could and should do so” on Nov. 7. Absent a waiver, TDS said it stands to lose $3 million in support “all on account of a systems issue” that wasn’t the carrier’s fault.
CEO Dave Abel and others from Aventiv Technologies met with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on the July order reducing call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). Aventiv is the parent of incarcerated people’s communication services (IPCS) provider Securus, which “anticipates resuming offering subscription plans, but will first need to evaluate call rates and call volumes under the new rate caps in order to structure and price these offerings,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 12-375. “We also relayed our experience with customers with implementing the Order and the effect of the Order on the state of the IPCS marketplace and our expectations,” Aventiv said.
Bharat Ramamurti, National Economic Council deputy director during part of the Biden administration, criticized X owner Elon Musk on Friday for “amplifying” a “deeply misleading clip” of New York Times' Ezra Klein blaming Democrats for NTIA’s evaluation process for state-level applicants to the $42.5 billion BEAD program. Congress mandated the BEAD process in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration are determining how to revamp BEAD after consistently criticizing how the Biden-era NTIA administered the program. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats raised concerns about GOP BEAD plans during a Thursday confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2503270065).