The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau this week released the telecom relay service (TRS) funding and payment formulas for the program year beginning July 1. The report is based on numbers calculated by TRS administrator Rolka Loube Associates. The rates listed for the next program year are $6.1229 per minute for traditional TRS (TTY), $7.2539 for speech-to-speech service, and $2.7867 for captioned telephone service. All the rates have increased sharply since the 2020-21 program year, led by TTY, which is up 63.2%, the report said.
USTelecom urged the FCC to reject an April filing that sought an “immediate halt” of four Wireline Bureau orders released in March whose goal was to quicken copper retirements (see 2503200056). Filing as the Irregulators, LTC Consulting and X-labs said the bureau shouldn’t be allowed to issue the order on delegated authority without commission debate or public comment.
Projected USF demand for Q3 is $2.114 billion, which is $72.4 million less than Q2, a 3.3% drop, said a recent filing by the Universal Service Administrative Co. “The decrease in overall USF demand is caused by decreases in demand for three of the constituent funds of the USF, offset by an increase in the Rural Health Fund,” USAC said.
Mountain Communications will pay a $12,000 civil penalty after reaching a settlement with the FCC Enforcement Bureau over unauthorized transfers of control, said a consent decree released Tuesday. Mountain self-reported four prior transactions that resulted in a minority owner, Larry Sisler, acquiring 100% ownership in the company. Mountain didn’t get FCC approval for the transfers, the consent decree said. Along with the monetary penalty, Mountain has agreed to create a compliance plan and file compliance reports with the FCC for three years.
Representatives of Alaska Communications spoke with FCC Wireline Bureau staff about the status of the carrier’s participation in the Alaska Connect Fund. “We stated that the company expects to meet its final deployment obligations under ACF Phase I by December 31” and “also provided an update on the status of Alaska’s participation in the BEAD Program,” said a filing posted Monday (docket 23-328).
The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry protested Talton’s failure to provide data the ministry needs to comment on a Talton petition seeking a waiver of the commission’s rules capping rates for audio and video for incarcerated people provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The FCC Wireline Bureau recently reopened the comment cycle on the petition, with initial comments now due Thursday (see 2504240026).
Alaska's Matanuska Telecom Association has used Alaska Plan funds over the past eight years to improve broadband speeds at roughly 31,000 locations and has increasingly focused on fiber to the home, according to a filing Friday (docket 23-328). It recapped a meeting of MTA and Alaska Telecom Association representatives with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's office. MTA said its fiber focus has led to the upgrade of 9,465 units to 100/20 Mbps, 236% of its original 4,000-unit commitment. It plans to upgrade an additional 3,653 locations this year, it said.
MDC Data Centers plans to make two additional fiber routes connecting Texas and Mexico operational this year, it said this week. The Laredo-Nuevo Laredo crossing should be operational in Q2, with the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez crossing to follow in Q4.
States that support the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053) defended it in a brief at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Amici States operate correctional facilities covered by the Order and seek to maintain security within those facilities while enhancing broader public safety,” said the brief filed this week in docket 24-8028. It was signed by the District of Columbia, New York, California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced Tuesday that one of his former aides, Joseph Calascione, is returning to the FCC as chief of the Wireline Bureau. The announcement comes the day after Carr said acting Chief Trent Harkrader is leaving the agency after 26 years (see 2504280019). Calascione joined Akin Gump in early 2022. He previously served for 20 months as an acting legal adviser to Carr. “His legal and policy expertise on wireline and other communications issues will enable the FCC to modernize its regulatory frameworks” and “unleash economic opportunity,” Carr said.