Comments are due Sept. 12, replies Oct. 14, on an Intrepid petition asking the FCC to preempt a contract that Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has with another provider for deployment of fiber optic infrastructure there, an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice said in Thursday's Daily Digest. The docket is 25-248. In its petition earlier this month, Intrepid said the city had granted another provider exclusive access to the city's right of way (ROW) and was denying Intrepid's pending applications. It said the city had argued Intrepid is a broadband internet service provider and not entitled to use the public ROW under the Communications Act or state law.

Spirent Communications, which offers testing and assurance solutions, announced a partnership Wednesday with Telescent, which builds optical circuit switches and automated fiber patch panels for network and data center operators.

The FCC's new submarine cable rules, adopted earlier this month (see 2508070037), ostensibly are about national security but really carry a "distinct scent of economic opportunism," Satmarin Exoflux's Michael de Coninck wrote Tuesday. "The official pitch is simple: stop China, Russia, and other uninvited guests from sneaking into U.S.-connected infrastructure," the maritime connectivity expert said. But "the unofficial pitch" is giving U.S. firms an easier route to contracts "without having to suffer the indignity of competing with cheaper foreign bids."

The FCC Wireline Bureau delayed the filing deadline for 2025 incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) annual reports and certifications from Sept. 15 to Nov. 3. The requirements were broadly laid out in last July’s IPCS order (see 2407180039). The bureau has already delayed some IPCS compliance deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2507310049). The bureau said it was acting on its own motion.

Comments are due Aug. 25, replies Sept. 1., on Declaration Networks Group's proposed purchase of Procom, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Monday. Procom offers competitive local exchange, interexchange and other communications services in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio, while DNG provides competitive communications services in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Washington state, it said.

GCI agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for having an expired submarine cable landing license for its Alaska United East subsea cable system, according to an FCC Enforcement Bureau order in Monday's Daily Digest.

In a potential win for prisoners and their families, the FCC Wireline Bureau on Monday asked for comment on an application for review of a bureau order delaying some incarcerated people’s communications service deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2507310049). Supporters of the application said when they filed it that the bureau wasn't required by law to seek comment. Oppositions are due Aug. 29, replies Sept.15. All filings must refer to dockets 23-62 and 12-375, the bureau said.

The FCC Office of International Affairs has approved licenses for Google's Starfish to construct and operate a pair of Pacific submarine cable systems. Its Proa cable system will connect Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to Japan, the agency said in a public notice Friday, while the Taihei cable system will link Hawaii and Japan.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau said Wednesday that it removed 185 noncompliant voice service providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database. That follows warnings issued to 2,411 providers in December ordering them to show why they shouldn’t be removed (see 2412180015). “This will prevent those providers from connecting to U.S. networks until they comply with FCC regulations,” the agency said. “All removed providers violated Commission rules by maintaining deficient certifications after repeated warnings and apparently participating in illegal robocall campaigns or failing to support official efforts to investigate such campaigns.” Those removed will need express approval from the FCC’s Enforcement and Wireline bureaus to rejoin the database.

Representatives of the National Sheriffs’ Association met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty about the group’s concerns over last year’s rules on incarcerated people’s communications services (see 2501280053). The group “summarized the major arguments in its past filings, with particular emphasis on the role of safety and security measures in enabling access to IPCS,” said a filing this week in docket 23-62. It also “discussed the role tablets play in the carceral setting.”