The FCC should minimize foreign ownership reporting burdens on regulatees without reportable foreign ownership, said USTelecom in a reply comment filing posted Wednesday in docket 25-166. “To the extent the Commission can streamline the certification process for entities with multiple licenses, such as allowing bulk submissions, it should do so.”
Transaction Network Services (TNS) told the FCC that publishing call identification information in a public call placement service (CPS) raises the risk that it will be “intercepted and abused by bad actors.” TNS weighed in this week in the FCC proceeding closing a “gap” in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules (see 2508180029).
The FCC Wireline Bureau Tuesday rejected a petition by Mercury Broadband seeking a waiver of Rural Deployment Opportunity Fund rules. Mercury said in May (see 2505200063) a potential $25.1 million in fines for the surrender of multiple RDOF census block groups was "neither reasonable nor proportionate.”
Northstar has agreed to pay $15,000 and implement a compliance plan as part of a settlement with the FCC Enforcement Bureau over allowing its license to operate a submarine cable system to expire and failing to maintain current information in the FCC’s records, said a consent decree Monday. Northstar’s license expired Oct. 1, and the company continued to operate it without FCC authorization before requesting at the end of that month special temporary authority to operate without a license. Northstar’s STA grant expires Aug. 25. Under the compliance plan, Northstar has to create a compliance manual and training program and file compliance reports with the FCC for three years.
AT&T sought permission from the FCC to stop accepting applications for special access DS3 services wherever they’re still offered to new customers throughout the company’s 21-state legacy wireline footprint. AT&T “previously applied for and received authority to grandfather the Affected Services in certain wire centers within its footprint,” said a filing posted by the FCC Monday.
An NTIA policy change to make it easier for internet service providers to obtain bank letters of credit so they can participate in the BEAD program will take effect Aug. 24, mimicking a similar policy change at the FCC. The FCC adopted an order in December (see 2412110050) dropping the requirement that banks qualified to issue such letters of credit have a minimum safety rating under the Weiss rating system, requiring only that they be “well capitalized.” An NTIA waiver update released late last month mirrors the FCC policy for the BEAD program, and takes effect at the same time as the FCC rule change. In addition, NTIA will allow financial institutions rated as safe by ratings organizations recognized by the SEC to issue letters of credit for the BEAD program, the update said.
The subsea cable license order adopted at the FCC's August meeting (see 2508070037) differs materially from the draft order regarding presumptions that disqualify an applicant from receiving a license. The 214-page, finalized version of the order was released Wednesday.
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."