The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, this week opposed several proposed changes to pole attachment rules. The FCC shouldn’t create a requirement that pole owners notify attachers “whether they will be able to meet the Commission’s pole access timelines within fifteen days of receiving a complete application,” EEI said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-84: “A pole owner needs to complete a survey to know with confidence what the scope and complexity will be of any make-ready work required to accommodate a specific attachment.” Reject proposals to prohibit prepayments for surveys and make-ready work, the group said. “Such proposals would enable attachers to use these fees to punish utilities for delays in the pole access process due to factors beyond their control.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau announced possible action against more than 2,400 voice service providers because they did not file properly in the Robocall Mitigation Database. In addition, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a further tightening of the database’s filing rules, said an order and news release Tuesday. The 2,411 providers must correct their filings or show why they shouldn’t be removed from the database, the order said. The filings are incorrect because companies didn’t submit updated certifications and robocall mitigation plans. “Removal of a Company’s certification from the RMD would require all intermediate providers and voice service providers to cease accepting all calls directly from the Company,” the EB order said. The Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force also announced Tuesday that it resolved investigations of several voice service providers over transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks. “The Task Force issued notices to these providers informing them that the Task Force has shared the results of its investigations with the FCC,” the release said. “A number of the providers on notice from the Task Force are included in today’s FCC enforcement action.” In the release, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said phone providers "can’t put their profits first and turn a blind eye to the illegal robocallers they allow on our phone networks." Stein added, "I’m pleased that the states and the FCC are working together to confront these companies that are frustrating Americans with millions of scam calls.” The report and order circulated to the 10th floor Tuesday would require “timely updates to company information,” and institute base fines of $10,000 for false or inaccurate submissions, and $1,000 for failing to keep information current, said the release. The circulated order would also require companies to certify their submission's accuracy, institute a $100 filing fee, and direct that the Wireline Bureau establish a dedicated reporting mechanism. A draft version of the order was not released. Providers “must be active partners in the fight against unwanted and illegal robocalls,” said Rosenworcel. “If they are not, they should not be allowed to participate in our phone networks. Full stop.”

Consolidated Communications' purchase by Searchlight Capital Partners and British Columbia Investment Management has a green light from the FCC. The deal will serve the public interest, the FCC Wireline and Wireless Bureaus and Office of International Relations said in an order Monday as they also waived agency rules governing foreign equity and voting interests for entities holding common carrier wireless licenses. The roughly $3.1 billion deal was announced in October 2023 (see 2310160065).

NTIA approved more than $9.5 million in additional Digital Equity Act funding for Maine and Washington, D.C., the agency said Friday (see 2412050031). Maine received in excess of $5.7 million and D.C. more than $3.8 million to implement their digital equity plans.

The National Science Foundation has issued a request for information seeking comment on a subsea cable to Antarctica, said a Friday release. “The cable concept proposes to connect the largest research facility in Antarctica, the U.S. McMurdo Station, with either Invercargill, New Zealand, or Sydney, Australia, with the global telecommunications infrastructure,” the NSF said: “The cable would incorporate scientific sensors to provide an enduring observational instrumentation platform for the sparsely observed Southern Ocean.”

Voice-intelligence platform Hiya said Thursday it flagged more than 9.7 billion calls worldwide as suspected spam in Q3. Bank and credit card fraud is the top threat worldwide, Hiya said. “In almost every country, people are now being subjected to spam calls of this nature,” the company said: “The fraudsters’ aim is clear: convincingly impersonate banks or credit card companies enough to get their victims to reveal account information and passwords in order to gain access to bank accounts and remove funds.” Fraudsters impersonating Amazon, seeking personal information from victims, was the second-biggest global threat, the company said. Hiya detected regional differences. In the U.S. “Medicare scams continue to dominate and are likely to increase in Q4 during its open enrollment period,” the report said. “Scammers' tactics here are different, rather than entice victims to hand over financial information, it’s personal information such as their Medicare number that’s deemed more valuable, so they can falsely bill the US government.”

Quote Velocity reported on a series of meetings this week at the FCC raising concerns about the agency’s December 2023 robocall and robotext order, which clamps down on the lead generator loophole (see 2312130019). The company filed a petition seeking clarity last month. “We urged the Commission to clarify uncertainty arising” from the order “and its applicability to Quote Velocity’s business model,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-402. The order “expressly concludes that where a third-party agent is added to a live call with a customer (i.e., rather than a robocall or robotext)” the restriction “is not relevant to the transaction,” the filing said. But Quote Velocity said it’s fielding numerous questions about the order and its implications: “Quote Velocity is seeking clarification from the Commission given the company’s concern that, absent such a clarification, its business model will be threatened at the time the revised rules go into effect.” CEO Manny Zuccarelli met with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez.

NTIA approved more than $61.2 million in Digital Equity Act funding for three states and two territories, the agency said Thursday. Florida received $41.7 million, Iowa $8.4 million, Montana $6.9 million, the Northern Mariana Islands $2.1 million and Guam $2.1 million. The states and territories will use the funding to implement their digital equity plans.

Representatives of the Insurance Marketing Coalition spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington about the group’s opposition to the agency’s December 2023 robocall and robotext order, which clamps down on the lead generator loophole (see 2312130019). Simington was the sole dissenter. “We discussed the adverse consequences the Commission’s ‘one-to-one’ and ‘logically and topically associated’ consent requirements will have on small businesses,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-402. The 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court will hear a challenge of the order Dec. 18 in Atlanta (see 2410100011).

AT&T has plans for expanding its fiber network to cover more than 50 million total locations by the end of 2029, the carrier said as part of its investor day presentations Tuesday. Over the past four-plus years, AT&T “streamlined its operations and centered its business around the customer as it enhanced and simplified their experiences," it said in a news release: “The Company has also greatly expanded its 5G and fiber services to more people and places and is the largest capital investor in U.S. connectivity infrastructure since 2019.” AT&T also announced it’s working with Fujitsu and Mavenir on radios targeted to crowded urban areas as part of its open radio access network program. The C-band and dual-band radios “can be attached to existing utility and light poles,” AT&T said: “They can often be hidden, making them virtually unseen from street level. We are continuing to look for opportunities to bring additional third-party radios into the network when needed.” AT&T is working with Ericsson on its broader ORAN efforts. Plans are to complete the “modernization” of its wireless network using open technology by the end of 2027, the carrier said. “This network will support super-fast download speeds and serve as a platform for new product and [generative AI] innovation.”