Broadband services should be required to begin contributing to the USF, a NARUC official told the FCC. Vermont Commissioner and past NARUC Telecom Committee Chairman John Burke told aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel that a NARUC resolution (http://bit.ly/1hTQPNr) passed at its winter meetings calls for expanding the USF contribution base (CD Feb 12 p9). The expansion would include “all communications services, including services such as broadband that are required to be offered in order to receive federal support,” wrote Burke in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday to docket 09-191 (http://bit.ly/1lm0U6j). NARUC didn’t take a position on whether the size of the fund should be increased.

The FCC should ensure no barriers exist in states’ ability to acquire data to investigate rural call completion issues, and there should be no obstacles to the ability of states to coordinate investigations with other states, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) said in a reply (http://bit.ly/MYEx8C) to a Nov. 8 FCC Further NPRM (http://bit.ly/1k7cjXc) on rural call completion. NASUCA echoed comments by NARUC (http://bit.ly/1jxcecz) that the FCC should codify prohibitions on blocking, choking or restricting traffic, even as appeals of the USF reform order are pending at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NASUCA also said intermediate providers should register and certify they will follow industry standards, as well as state and FCC rules, and that no additional safe harbors reducing obligations to collect and retain data should be created. NASUCA objected to Verizon’s reply (http://bit.ly/1mF9j68), which backed adjusting safe-harbor reporting requirements to exempt minimal volumes of traffic for overflow purposes, and to increase the number of intermediate carriers allowed to be used under the safe-harbor provision from one to two. “Verizon’s complaints about ’the already high burdens of complying with the Order’ overlook the tremendous burdens placed on consumers by call completion failures,” NASUCA said. “Requirements that ease consumers’ burdens by preventing call completion failures are reasonable solutions to this industry-created problem.” The FCC November order applied recording, retention, and reporting requirements to large long-distance voice providers, defined as those that make the initial long-distance call path choice for more than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines.

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) said Monday it backs Senate efforts to pass legislation aimed at curbing abusive patent litigation, but told the leaders of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees that it has some concerns with language in the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720). In the letter, co-signed by 42 state and territorial attorneys general, NAAG urged the Senate to pass patent legislation that confirms the authority of state attorneys general to bring enforcement actions concurrently with the Federal Trade Commission on “bad-faith” demand letters. The group also urged the Senate to clarify state courts’ jurisdiction over demand letters and asked the Senate to require patent ownership disclosures when an entity sends a demand letter, rather than only when an entity files a lawsuit (http://bit.ly/1fnIwYe). Senate consideration of patent legislation follows the House’s passage of the Innovation Act (HR-3309).

Residential white page listings provided by AT&T will be removed from future YP Real Yellow Pages and YP Real White Pages in select communities in California, Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana. YP, AT&T’s official white pages publisher, said in news releases Monday that a number of free options exist for accessing free YP Real White Pages. They include using RealPagesLive.com, ordering a free version of the YP Real White Pages directory on CD-ROM, or accessing and searching residential listings on YP.com. The free directories can be obtained by calling 866-329-7118 or going to MyDirectories.YP.com. In California (http://bit.ly/MoNqaA), the listings will be removed in communities including Bakersfield, Butte, Culver City, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Stockton. In Texas (http://bit.ly/1hq2n6g), affected communities include Amarillo, Rio Grande Valley and Temple. South Carolina (http://bit.ly/1c1F1pY) markets include Anderson. In Louisiana (http://bit.ly/1cIcMuo), the impacted communities include Lake Charles, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish. YP said that in all states, the decision reflects recent usage feedback and research from consumers.

It would be helpful to eligible telecom carriers to be able to retain proof of eligibility documents ETCs collect when signing up Lifeline subscribers, Oklahoma Corporation Commission officials told the FCC. The FCC doesn’t now let ETCs retain the records, but carriers want to keep them in case issues arise. An ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1fnixyA) filed Thursday said OCC Telcom Policy Director Maribeth Snapp and Regulatory Manager Jim Jones met with Wireline Bureau staff Feb. 7. The OCC officials explained the steps being taken to ensure that ETCs providing Lifeline service are complying with federal and state rules. OCC staff also suggested that enhanced Lifeline support on tribal lands be limited to those carriers that are building out infrastructure on such lands.

Consumer advocacy groups praised Google for saying Wednesday it’s considering installing Google Fiber in as many as 34 more cities (CD Feb 20 p14). It will mean “more communities across the country may soon have increased options for home fiber Internet access,” said Sarah Morris, senior policy counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute, in a statement Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fCqQD2). “While no single series of deployments can solve the major broadband competition problem that we face in the U.S. -- particularly in light of the announced intended consolidation of the two largest cable broadband providers -- this is a positive step for a handful of communities across the country.” Comcast agreed last week to buy Time Warner Cable for about $45 billion. “There’s still much work to be done in fixing the digital divide that continues to thwart ubiquitous communications access in low-income and rural communities,” said Morris. “Any time there’s a prospect that Internet users anywhere might have better service, it’s good news,” said Public Knowledge senior staff attorney John Bergmayer http://bit.ly/OeFCdo). “Google’s announcement puts lie to the often-repeated claim that Americans somehow simply don’t want or don’t need better broadband service. ... When incumbents fail to invest in their networks and opt instead for a strategy of ‘harvesting’ their existing networks and collecting high bills for bad service, new entrants like Google have a chance to come in and replace them. This is especially true as newer network technologies, like fiber to the home, mature and show they are able to provide better service than copper-based service.” Bergmayer said Google should be pushed to provide service to low-income communities.

AT&T and Sprint got an extension to Tuesday to come up with an interconnection agreement, said the Michigan Public Service Commission (http://bit.ly/1h1Ss81) Thursday. The PSC had given the companies til Jan. 21 to come up with the agreement, after ordering AT&T Dec. 6 to provide Sprint IP interconnection. The companies have since twice requested and got extensions. The PSC said no more extensions will be given after Tuesday’s deadline.

The local number portability administration selection process “could cause substantial damage to the industry and consumers,” Michigan Internet & Telecommunications Alliance Executive Director John Liskey wrote the FCC Monday (http://bit.ly/NbQdoa). Citing a recent Standish Group report, Liskey said switching number portability vendors would cost the industry between $300 million and $600 million. “The report suggests the industry will not be able to recoup the costs within the five-year contract period, and the switch will increase costs and stifle innovation,” wrote Liskey. The selection process has not adequately considered the impact switching number portability vendors would have on small- and medium-sized vendors, he wrote. He worried the portability process has been a “closed one involving only a handful of carriers.” Other CLECs have expressed concern about the process. Comptel, Cbeyond, HyperCube and TDS Metrocom forwarded a letter to the FCC (http://bit.ly/1fPTdkN) that they had sent to North American Portability Management in November (CD Feb 10 p13).

Google Fiber invited 34 cities in nine metropolitan areas to explore the feasibility of bringing high-speed fiber service there, the company said on its blog (bit.ly/1e7MJZS). The company has been in touch with the mayors of the cities and will be working with them over the next few months, said a spokeswoman in an email to us. The metro areas are Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Nashville, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, San Antonio and San Jose, the company said. It didn’t say how many cities may get the service, saying it will provide an update by the end of the year. It would be an expansion over Google Fiber projects underway in the Kansas City area, (CD Mar 21 p6), Austin, Texas (CD Apr 10 p10) and Provo, Utah (CD Aug 19 p5). The announcement was heralded by municipal broadband advocates, including the University Community Next Generation Innovation Project. It’s “a big, bold step forward to accelerate the deployment of next generation networks,” said Gig U. Executive Director Blair Levin in a statement. Google said it has asked the cities to provide a checklist of existing infrastructure, including maps of poles, conduits, and existing water, gas, and electricity lines to speed planning and construction. It also asked the cities to streamline permitting procedures. Google said it will begin studying factors that affect construction plans, including the cities’ topography, housing density and infrastructure, to scope out the costs and timelines for building a new fiber network. The announcement was also lauded by Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association. “This follows a recent announcement that C Spire has its own plans for gigabit Internet access in three Mississippi communities that demonstrated the strongest interest,” he said. “As a raft of recent economic studies have illustrated, these new networks will be a boon not only to the cities served by these high-speed offerings but also the public at large who will benefit from new pockets of digital innovation and creativity."

Three Mississippi communities pre-registered enough homeowners to qualify for C Spire’s 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home broadband service. The company will now start engineering and construction of the service in parts of Horn Lake and Starkville, and the entire town of Quitman, said C Spire in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1oNq0uY). The three communities had been among nine selected by C Spire as finalists for the service, spurring drives by local government, community and business leaders to get people to pre-register with a $10 refundable deposit. The six other communities will continue their pre-registration drives, the company said. The cost to C Spire customers will be $70 a month for Internet access, $90 a month for combined Internet and home phone, $130 a month for Internet and digital TV, and $150 a month all three services. The company plans to begin the service by summer.