Keppel Infrastructure Fund has purchased subsea telecommunications maintenance and installation services company Global Marine Group from private equity owner J.F. Lehman & Co., Keppel said Monday. Financial terms were not disclosed. Keppel said the deal builds on its digital infrastructure strategy.
Representatives from Bandwidth met with FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Trent Harkrader and others from the bureau on interconnection problems that the company is experiencing. The cloud communications company “provided marketplace perspectives about how [public switched telephone network] interconnection is breaking in various ways as ILECs [incumbent local exchange carriers] and others are decommissioning facilities or pricing services to make them prohibitive for remaining customers to sustain,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-479. “Bandwidth explained that it would prefer to interconnect via IP, but there is no regulatory framework for such interconnection at this time.” The company said its efforts to move time-division multiplexing (TDM) to its commercial IP interconnection agreements “have so far been rebuffed and ILECs have not made IP interconnection available to Bandwidth for the exchange of voice calls with the ILECs’ customers who remain on TDM services or delivery of calls to a selective router.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday sought comment on a plan to transfer control of Mountain Communications from Telemax to Larry Sisler. Currently, Telemax owns 43% of the provider, Sisler 42%. Mountain Communications is certified to provide local exchange and interexchange services in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio, the bureau said. Comments are due March 21, replies March 28, in docket 24-610.
USTelecom representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington on the importance of changes to FCC rules to accelerate wireline deployment. The representatives discussed USTelecom members’ “efforts as pole owners and attachers to efficiently manage the pole attachment application and make-ready processes while accounting for site-specific and often unpredictable circumstances that can delay a deployment project,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 17-84. The group “expressed its continued support for the Commission’s current pole attachment application and make-ready rules, which ensure collaboration among pole owners and attachers, provide needed flexibility, promote competition, and advance broadband.”
Representatives of Public Knowledge and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance met with aides to three of the FCC commissioners on the importance of making low-cost broadband available for those who can’t afford current offerings. They discussed with aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez support for a “reformed” USF “that creates a pathway to support a permanent broadband subsidy that mirrors the incredibly successful Affordable Connectivity Program.” They also discussed “affordability and reliability challenges in remote communities that depend on satellite broadband,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90. Affordability remains an issue even as new satellite and fixed wireless options “put competitive, downward pressure on pricing,” the filing said.
The FCC’s July order reducing call rates for people in prison while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039) is effectively the law of the land, and prisons must follow it, said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, which represents the interests of prisoners. Tylek noted Thursday at a press conference that the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing challenges to the order (see 2407180039), hasn’t granted a stay. “It is very normal for an industry to litigate and sue a federal agency when it gets regulated,” she said. “That happens in every single industry … The rules are in effect right now.”
The Fiber Broadband Association on Wednesday released an “Introduction to Passive Optical Network Splitter Architectures,” which was developed by the FBA Technology Committee. “The purpose of the guide is to demystify the terminology, configurations, and best practices associated with PON splitter deployment,” the group said. The report “explores how splitter architecture choices impact fiber counts, splicing, and customer connections while setting the stage for a more detailed follow-up analysis of centralized versus distributed splitting architectures.”
Velocity Communications has requested a three-month extension of its rip-and-replace deadlines under the Secure and Trusted Networks Reimbursement Program, said a filing Wednesday. The program’s funding shortfall “has prevented Velocity from deploying a replacement network with a footprint and network capabilities comparable to its original network,” it said (see 2412240036). "What started as a 1-year project timeline to complete the network overhaul has turned into a multi-year effort to save the business from becoming insolvent.” The company used nearly identical language in a January request for a six-month extension (see 2501170052).
Telnyx is pushing back on the FCC's proposed $4.5 million fine for allegedly not doing enough to verify the identity of a supposed robocall scammer (see 2502040065). A source familiar with the issue said CEO David Casem met with agency staffers this week. In a statement emailed to us Wednesday, Casem said the FCC enforcement action "must have snuck past the new FCC leadership, but sunlight is the best disinfectant." The statement continued: "We are optimistic that as more people understand how a Biden-era 'regulation by enforcement' approach managed to sneak through the cracks, the agency will reverse course." In a letter last week to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Telnyx said it "consistently used industry best practices to deter often sophisticated bad actors who seek to engage in illegal calls" and often went beyond what was required. It said the agency's decision to punish it "for properly and quickly responding to a sophisticated bad actor’s brief, single-instance evasion of Telnyx’s controls" is unprecedented. The notice of apparent liability doesn't jibe with FCC statements that it doesn't expect perfection or that telecom service providers' measures must be 100% effective, the company said. "Enforcement of the rule to now require perfection is the sort of 'unfair surprise'" to which the White House has voiced opposition as a regulatory approach.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday approved the proposed transfer of New York-based local exchange carrier Crown Point Telco and its subsidiary Bridge Point to Atlas Connectivity. The bureau noted that it sought comment (see 2501290045) but received no comments or petitions in opposition, said a notice in docket 24-354.