Virgin Island Telephone, formerly known as Viya, asked the FCC to act on the company's request to extend transitional high-cost support that's set to expire at the end of the year under a 2023 order.
Subsea cables face a growing challenge of finding space on the seafloor for new systems while still ensuring the safety and reliability of existing infrastructure, TeleGeography's Greg Bryan wrote Thursday. The International Cable Protection Committee recommends that new cables are separated from parallel existing cables by a distance of three times the water depth as protection from the grapnel hooks used to recover cables from the ocean bed, Bryan said. But that separation requirement becomes a problem in deep waters, and when dozens of cables cross the same region, "the mathematical reality quickly eliminates available routing options." Compounding the problem is a lack of information sharing in the subsea cable industry, Bryan added, suggesting that better data sharing could be achieved through nondisclosure agreements and coordinated working groups.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday reminded incarcerated people’s communications service providers that they must file annual reports by Nov. 3. The FCC has delayed the reporting deadline three times. It was originally April 1.
Consolidated Communications is putting all its residential, business and wholesale lines under its Fidium brand, which launched in 2021 for its home and small business operations, the company said Monday. Consolidated has spent about $1.7 billion in fiber infrastructure since 2020 and expects to reach more than 80% of its footprint with fiber in the next few years, it said.
Cloud communications company Bandwidth opposed AT&T’s petition at 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 (see 2508180039). Bandwidth said that if the service ends, there’s “no reasonable substitute available” for time-division multiplexing, particularly for 911 call centers. Comments on the application were due Friday, and Bandwidth was the only company to file.
WTA representatives met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to discuss various concerns, including the USF and the agency's notice of inquiry on the future of Telecom Act Section 706 reports (see 2509090010), said a filing posted Friday in docket 25-233. The group also met with aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez.
Comments are due Oct. 16, replies Oct. 31, on Tin Can’s petition for a declaratory ruling that its services don’t constitute interconnected VoIP under Title II of the Communications Act, said a public notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. Tin Can provides “restricted access to whitelisted contacts through the Public Switched Telephone Network.” If the FCC instead determines that the VoIP rules apply to Tin Can’s service, the company wants the FCC to waive its VoIP regulatory requirements, the notice said.
The FCC continues to hear from people with family members in prison as they challenge a Wireline Bureau order delaying some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2507310049). “Contrary to the baseless claims made by the opposition, which is dominated by the predatory correctional telecom industry itself, the delay will significantly harm families impacted by incarceration,” said a comment by Karen Christenson this week in docket 23-62.
A second amended class-action complaint about AT&T ownership of legacy telecom cables laden with toxic lead (see 2311270004) still hasn't alleged enough facts to show that the company knowingly acted wrongly or with an intent to deceive, according to the company. In a motion to dismiss filed with the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas (docket 3:24-cv-01196), AT&T said the plaintiffs ignore the fact that more than two years after Wall Street Journal articles about the old telecom infrastructure and its environmental risks, which prompted the litigation, "none of those purported risks has come to fruition." The plaintiffs also haven't adequately pleaded actionable falsity for any alleged misstatement or omission, AT&T added.
California, New York and other “blue” states supported an application for review asking the FCC to rescind a Wireline Bureau order delaying some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2507310049). Other groups also supported the review in filings posted Tuesday in docket 23-62.