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).
A Lumen spokesperson said Friday that the company isn’t commenting on reports of the possible sale of its consumer fiber business to AT&T (see 2503260069). Lumen has “changed some of our programs, policies, initiatives, and communications to align with the changing environment and will continue to do so as [needed].”
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday approved a fiber deal proposed last year by T-Mobile, a venture with private equity firm EQT to buy fiber-to-the-home provider Lumos (see 2404250047). T-Mobile said it would invest $950 million for a 50% stake in the joint venture. “We find, upon consideration of the record, that a grant of the Application will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” the bureau said. “The proposed transaction will not result in a reduction of competition.” Lumos provides telecom and other services to “more than 300,000 homes and businesses across Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina,” the order said.
Comments are due April 10, replies April 17, on transfers related to the proposed purchase of Kansas telecommunication services provider IdeaTek Telecom by private equity funds Oak Hill Capital Management and Pamlico Capital Management, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Thursday (docket 25-129).
The FCC asked for comment by April 9 on an application by AM Communications Labs for authorization to obtain North American Numbering Plan phone numbers directly from the Numbering Administrator. The company is an interconnected VoIP provider and “indicates that it intends to initially request numbers in the States of Texas, Georgia, and Florida,” the Wireline Bureau said in a Tuesday notice. Comments should be filed in docket 24-628. The bureau also sought comment by April 9 in docket 24-135 on a similar application by Allo Communications, which plans to request numbers for Nebraska.
The FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program helped expand telehealth-based treatments related to the COVID-19 pandemic for health care providers, said a final report Tuesday on the program from the Wireline Bureau. The program operated from 2020 until 2023 and provided reimbursements to heath care providers to aid in the delivery of telehealth services to patients in their homes and mobile locations.