NTCA urged the FCC to approve Siskiyou Telephone's request for a two-year waiver of agency rules imposing a $200 per-line monthly limit on high-cost universal service support. The California-based provider noted in a November filing it sought the waiver to address the loss in support as customers were disconnected during wildfires in 2020 and 2022. The waiver “will allow adequate time for the lines lost to the fires to be replaced,” it said. “Siskiyou operates in some of the most difficult-to-serve rural (indeed frontier) areas of the nation,” NTCA said in a filing this week in docket 10-90. “Much of Siskiyou’s service area is in mountainous (elevations up to 8,200 feet) and granite-laden terrain, the latter requiring hard rock directional boring and rock saws to install network infrastructure,” NTCA said: In addition, “the company’s service area is vulnerable to the wildfires that have devastated California over the past several years.” WTA also supported the request. The waiver “will allow Siskiyou to continue to provide its valuable services to its remaining customers while the residents who lost their homes rebuild, thus well serving the public interest,” the group said: “Without such relief, Siskiyou may be unable to offer service to residents that lost their homes, thus compounding their suffering.”

The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on the latest National Exchange Carrier Association proposal to modify interstate average schedule formulas, said a public notice Monday. “NECA proposes formula changes that would result in a 6.92% overall increase in settlements at constant demand” said the Dec. 19 NECA proposal. Such modifications are historically proposed by NECA and granted by the bureau each year. FCC rules require NECA to annually propose modifications or certify that no revisions are necessary. The latest proposed modifications would be effective July 1, 2025, until June 30, 2026. Comments are due in docket 24-685 on Feb. 5, replies Feb. 20.

Some FCC proposals for improving the Robocall Mitigation Database won’t address bad actors, Incompas said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 24-213. For example, the agency shouldn’t assess a base $10,000 fine when telephone providers submit inaccurate but “readily curable” information to the Robocall Mitigation Database, Incompas said. “Providers should not be assessed a base forfeiture unless they have either failed to respond to the Commission requests to update information in their RMD filing or ‘knowingly’ submitted inaccurate data,” Incompas said. In addition, the FCC shouldn’t require a $100 filing fee for RMD filings. An FCC proposal requiring multifactor authentication to access the database is also “unlikely to produce benefits that justify the additional burden,” Incompas added. “Placing an additional layer of security on the RMD will further burden voice service providers that conduct robocall mitigation on a team-wide basis and may make it harder to update the RMD if the multi-factor authentication point of contact is not available.” Accordingly, Incompas “urges the Commission to ensure that the administrative changes it is pursuing are warranted and will have the desired impact of addressing and removing bad actors engaged in illegal activity.”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Friday approved the applications of Applied Development and Sorenson for access to the telecommunications relay services numbering directory as qualified direct video entities. The agency allows TRS direct video providers to seek access to the directory “to enable more effective direct video communication using American Sign Language between consumers with hearing or speech disabilities and customer support call centers,” said the notice about Sorenson. Qualified providers must demonstrate “a legitimate need for such access and an awareness of its regulatory obligations,” it added: “These obligations include compliance with the rules and regulations governing [video relay services] providers’ access to and use of the Directory, the instructions of the TRS Numbering administrator, and the applicable standards pertaining to privacy, security, reliability, and interoperability.” The Applied Development notice has the same language.

Solen Ventures and IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS) provider NexTalk want the FCC to grant conditional certification, allowing NexTalk to remain eligible for compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay service fund (TRS) fund following Solen's purchase of the company, said an application posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. That deal closed Dec. 13. Under acquisition terms, NexTalk will be dissolved and a new entity, NexTalk Software, will control its assets. The conditional certification would allow NexTalk Software “to remain eligible to receive compensation from the TRS Fund for providing its IP CTS under new ownership for an additional two years” while the FCC assesses its eligibility for full certification. FCC rules don’t allow certifications to provide internet-based TRS to be transferred to entities that don’t already hold it, and require such certifications as a condition for payment from the TRS fund. “Despite having received conditional authority in January 2024, NexTalk has yet to actually seek TRS funding, and will not do so unless and until the Commission approves this conditional application,” the filing said. “There have been no changes in NexTalk’s operations and the ways in which it will comply with TRS obligations. The only change is the new ownership and name change.”

Consolidated Communications notified the FCC on Monday that the transfer of indirect ownership and control of its local subsidiaries to Condor Holdings is complete. Consolidated also delisted on NASDAQ and is now privately held. Affiliates of Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management acquired its assets, Consolidated noted. The deal faced scrutiny from state regulators, including those in Maine (see 2407110027) and New Hampshire (see 2406210040).

Meta's Edge Cable Holdings hopes to start commercial operation of its planned Orca subsea cable system linking Taiwan and California in Q1 2027, it told the FCC in an application posted Thursday. It said the fiber-optic submarine cable network would connect Toucheng, Taiwan, and Hermosa Beach and Manchester, California. Edge said it would use Orca capacity for Meta affiliates' services or to provide bulk capacity to wholesale and enterprise customers. Edge said Orca will provide facilities-based competition with the existing Faster, New Cross-Pacific, Pacific Light Cable and Trans-Pacific Express systems and the planned Taiwan-Philippines-U.S. cable system under construction. Edge said it hoped for an FCC cable landing license by the end of 2025, which would allow construction activities to keep on schedule.

Incompas and its members “generally support” Verizon’s proposed acquisition of Frontier, but with conditions, the group said in a reply comment posted Thursday in docket 24-445. Verizon and Frontier this week urged approval without conditions (see 2412240028). Incompas members are concerned about ensuring that business data services (BDS) the applicants offered “are provided to competitors at just, reasonable and not unreasonably discriminatory rates, terms, and conditions,” the filing said. Incompas also supports a request by the Coalition for IP Network Transition, which said the FCC should approve the deal only if the companies agree that they will “interconnect with all other carriers” on an IP basis (see 2412100021). Incompas is “unwilling to concede to the Applicants’ assertions that the transaction will not result in competitive harms, particularly with respect to the impact pricing decisions associated with business data services and more traditional time division multiplexing services, such as DS1s and DS3s, will have on competitive providers,” the filing said: “According to our members, Frontier currently charges significantly more for its high-capacity BDS connections, including DS1, DS3, and 10-mile circuits.” A competitive LEC, Teliax stressed the importance of an IP connection requirement. “Pre-merger, the Applicants have extended IP interconnection to some but not all interconnecting carriers,” Teliax said: “Should the FCC approve the proposed combination, the FCC should expect that the combined company will continue to use its newfound scale to delay the full transition to IP interconnection, thereby extending intercarrier compensation revenues tied to TDM networks.”

Verizon and Frontier urged the FCC to move forward on their $20 billion all-cash deal announced in September (see 2409050010). Verizon is buying the smaller provider. “No parties have opposed the Transaction, identified any public interest harms, or otherwise contested whether it will bring myriad benefits to consumers across the country,” the companies said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-445. They called on the FCC to reject proposed conditions that the Communications Workers of America, Intrado Life & Safety and the Coalition for IP Network Transition requested (see 2412100021). The proposed conditions are “unfounded and contrary to law,” the filing said. None are “'transaction-specific’ but instead merely consist of the ‘wish lists’ of parties who seek industry-wide reforms that are more appropriately pursued in separate rulemaking proceedings.” The requests “fly in the face” of precedent for both the FCC and U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The companies’ October public interest statement (see 2410160049) “explained how the Transaction will increase the reliability of Frontier’s network, improve the customer experience, and bring enhanced benefits to local communities within the Frontier footprint,” they added: “No commenter disputes these benefits.” The filing sought quick FCC action, citing the FCC’s 2017 approval of CenturyLink's buy of Level 3. The filing cited the comments of Commissioner Brendan Carr, tapped as the next FCC chair. “I am … glad that the standard of review and public interest framework in today’s decision make it clear that this Commission will be adhering to the Communications Act and longstanding FCC precedent as it reviews proposed transactions.” In addition, Carr said transaction approvals shouldn’t “extract extraneous concessions from parties.”

Broadband VI (BBVI) has received a limited waiver of the FCC's Connect USVI Fund deployment milestone rules for U.S. Virgin Islands service areas. BBVI now has until March 31 to meet the 40% deployment milestone, said a notice in Monday's Daily Digest. The FCC Wireline Bureau in its order said BBVI couldn't meet the Dec. 31 milestone deadline due to unforeseen circumstances obtaining permits for deployment. The bureau also said it was seeking comment on BBVI's waiver request, with comments due Jan. 13, replies Jan. 21, in docket 18-143.