The Maine Public Utilities Commission relieved the former FairPoint Communications of provider-of-last-resort obligations in five more municipalities, said a Thursday order in case 2017-00185. The legislature last year ordered the company’s phased deregulation (see 1708020049).

The Connecticut State Broadband Office won’t lose statutory authority. A budget proposal would have shuttered the office (see 1709250054), but the state budget signed this week by Gov. Dan Malloy (D) eliminated only the office’s funding, said the office’s broadband policy coordinator, Bill Vallee: “We're in business and roaring around.” The broadband office is part of the larger state Consumer Counsel operation.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission released an app to fight telemarketers, said a Wednesday news release. The free app for Apple and Android smartphones lets state residents register landline and mobile numbers on the Mississippi No Call List and file complaints against illegal callers. “We want to empower people by placing a tool literally in their hands to help us get at these predatory telemarketers,” said Chairman Brandon Presley.

Verizon can provide more detailed outage data in the District of Columbia, said the D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel. The Public Service Commission should reject Verizon assertions to the contrary (see 1710170049), OPC replied, posted Tuesday in RM27-2017-01. A proposed requirement for telecom service providers to include information about “geographic area affected by the outage” in reports “could indeed be met by the Company and is in-line with several existing similar federal and state reporting requirements,” including FCC Network Outage Reporting System rules, OPC said. District rules already require cable companies to provide such information, OPC added. “More granular service outage information including, at a minimum, geographic area information, could identify systemic issues in specific geographic areas in the District and thereby, facilitate necessary improvements.” Verizon stood by its claim it can’t provide more detailed information: “Verizon DC is unable to provide specific streets, blocks, or neighborhoods impacted by an outage caused by damage to its outside plant facilities, particularly in the first hour.”

A court order barred CenturyLink from making false statements to Minnesota residents about product prices and terms, and from charging more than disclosed at the time of sale, said Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (D) in a Tuesday news release. Swanson had sued in Anoka County District Court to stop CenturyLink from allegedly overcharging some consumers for internet and cable-TV service (see 1707130024). “Consumers deserve clear and accurate pricing information so they can effectively shop for internet and TV service at the lowest price,” said Swanson. CenturyLink agreed to an interim, stipulated order after working with Swanson's office, but many of the enhanced customer disclosures were already in the works, a CenturyLink spokesman said. The company and the AG continue to work through issues in the complaint, he said.

Two NARUC draft telecom resolutions disagree on whether Lifeline should support reseller services. Tuesday, NARUC revealed three draft telecom resolutions on Lifeline and E-911 for its annual meeting Nov. 12-15 in Baltimore. One by Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Crystal Rhoades would urge the FCC to keep providing Lifeline funds to non-facilities-based carriers “because they have been crucial in ensuring that low-income households are connected to telecommunication services.” The FCC sought comment on discontinuing that support in a draft NPRM released as part of a Lifeline package that’s scheduled for vote at commissioners’ Nov. 16 meeting (see 1710270013). The Rhoades draft said such an action would “disconnect millions of low-income households.” Another draft by District of Columbia Public Service Commission Chairman Betty Ann Kane takes the other side. Not requiring federal Lifeline participants to use their own facilities “removes any incentive for companies to invest in and to build voice-only or voice and broadband-capable facilities and, thereby, subverts the Act’s principle of promoting access to advanced telecommunications services as set forth in section 254(b),” it said. The Kane resolution also would support several other FCC tentative decisions from the Lifeline proposal, including to (1) eliminate the stand-alone Lifeline Broadband Provider designation, (2) reverse the agency’s pre-emption of State regulatory authority to designate eligible telecommunications carriers and (3) require that Lifeline broadband service providers must also provide voice services. A third draft resolution, by Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Wendy Moser, would support federal and state actions to require enterprise communications systems (ECS) “manufacturers, installers, and operators to design and configure ECS to allow direct dialing of 9-1-1, route 9-1-1 calls to the proper PSAP [public service answering point] regardless of the particular location of the extension used to call 9-1-1, provide the PSAP with location information accurate enough for first responders to locate the caller, and to support on-site notification.” Federal requirements shouldn’t preclude state from adding nonconflicting requirements, the draft said.

The New York Public Service Commission sought more time to align state Lifeline eligibility requirements with the FCC program. The FCC earlier extended the deadline to Oct. 31, but the state commission now needs until June 29 to overcome “unforeseen challenges” modifying New York’s Lifeline verification systems and to consider changes to the state’s support system for Lifeline customers, the PSC said in a motion in docket 11-42. The FCC last week granted a similar request by California to extend that state’s deadline to April 23 (see 1710260025).

Charter Communication's buy of Time Warner Cable “brought substantial benefits to New York and over the next few years will provide far more than the two billion dollars in net benefits required in the Merger Order,” Charter said in a Friday letter to New York Public Service Commission Chairman John Rhodes. The company responded to concerns raised by a Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) counsel (see 1710030046) and relayed by Rhodes to Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge in an Oct. 12 letter. “Charter has already expended hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and operating expenditures and on internal resources to comply” with merger conditions, Charter replied in Case 15-M-0388. The company redacted many supporting numbers. Rhodes sought “further investigation” into Charter compliance with the PSC order approving the buy of TWC. Rhodes said he shared Cuomo’s concerns about a diminishing workforce and a current labor dispute. Also, Rhodes said Department of Public Service staff received “numerous customer service complaints” about broadband and cable services and staff couldn't independently verify Charter still sells TWC’s “Everyday Low Price” service to new customers.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ought to rebuff Minnesota's "power grab" of trying to regulate Charter Communications' Spectrum Voice VoIP service, Free State Foundation blogged Friday. Being an information service, as the lower court ruled, largely pre-empts Spectrum Voice from state regulation, FSF said, saying previous court decisions support treating VoIP as a Title I information service. It said transitions to next-generation technology have been boosted by "the overwhelming movement in the states toward non-regulation of VoIP." The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission didn't comment, but has argued there's no substantive difference between Charter's traditional and IP-based voice offerings (see 1708290028).

With the states and territories weighing whether to opt in to FirstNet, the authority remains very focused on outreach, CEO Mike Poth said in a Friday blog post, “Given where we are today in the process -- with 27 states and territories having opted in and two months still remaining for the others to make their decision -- FirstNet is coordinating with the states and territories to ensure they have all the information they need to make the best decision for their public safety professionals and the residents who rely on them,” Poth wrote. “We are also actively consulting with public safety agencies in opt-in states to implement their plans.”