An appeals court rejected Blanca Telephone’s second petition seeking review of FCC orders that the company repay $6.75 million in USF subsidies the agency says the telco had received in error. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2017 rejected on procedural grounds Blanca’s pursuit of a stay of repayment (see 1712290036). The telco petitioned the court for a second review. The 10th Circuit's March 12 order, posted by the FCC Friday, said because “motion for agency reconsideration remains pending,” the court “is without jurisdiction over the petition for review.”

The FCC terminated "dormant" proceedings, such as AT&T's failed buy of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, the Sirius/XM satellite radio combination and a few begun under bureaus that no longer exist in name after restructuring. "We received no responsive comments" to a seventh dormant proceedings termination public notice Sept. 12, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order in Thursday's Daily Digest and docket 18-272 (there were two short "express" comments). "CGB finds no justification for keeping open any of the dockets" listed in an attachment, totaling over 380, by our count. Several Common Carrier Bureau (now the Wireline Bureau) proceedings date to 1991 and 1992, including on competitive service and facility rates under a "3rd Computer Inquiry," local multipoint distribution service rules at 27.5-29.5 GHz, and applying open network architecture and nondiscrimination safeguards to GTE companies. A Cable Bureau (now part of the Media Bureau) proceeding on carriage of broadcast DTV signals began in 1998. A proceeding on changes to Comsat's corporate structure and operations hadn't had a "standard filing" since Nov. 28, 2000, the longest-dormant one. The proceedings with the most standard filings were AT&T/T-Mobile with 4,557; Sirius/XM, 3,147; DTV carriage,1,989; and the Broadband Data Improvement Act's international comparison and consumer survey requirements,1,919. The order terminates an Office of Engineering and Technology probe from 2010 of the 1675-1710 MHz band (see 1006070094) and a request for plans to create a spectrum test city launched in 2014 (see 1407140052). The FCC ultimately sold off unpaired 1695-1710 MHZ spectrum in the AWS-3 auction. Also terminated is the Wireless Bureau’s docket on a 2005 petition for declaratory ruling filed by CTIA on whether early termination fees are rates charged for commercial mobile services under the Communications Act and FCC precedent (see 0503240118). Dead proceedings included numerous applications for transfers of control, other licensing matters and telecom service discontinuances; notifications of telecom network changes; and petitions of all sorts, including for waivers.

The FCC's proposed USF contribution factor for Q2 is 18.8 percent of carriers' U.S. interstate and international telecom end-user revenue (see 1903010024), said an Office of Managing Director public notice Wednesday in docket 96-45. That would be down from Q1's 20 percent. The proposal will take effect if the commission takes no further action within 14 days.

A December order stipulating the FCC is no longer accounting authority of last resort for customers in maritime mobile and maritime mobile-satellite radio services who haven't otherwise designated one (see 1812210015) is effective April 12. The order, approved 4-0 by commissioners, is to be published in Wednesday's Federal Register.

Corning will canvass “key industry experts and influencers” in the coming weeks to “better understand our reputation” in the markets it operates in, emailed Director-Corporate Communications Elizabeth Dann to would-be survey participants Monday. The results “will help inform the way Corning positions itself to better serve and build stronger relationships with influencer groups across various industries,” she said: It’s “partnering” on the project with the Reputation Institute, which bills itself as a “pioneer in the science of reputation measurement.” Questionnaires will ask respondents about their “overall perceptions of the company, as well as the issues you feel are most important to you, the industry, and the public,” Dann said. Corning will donate $50 on each respondent’s behalf to For Inspiration of Science and Technology, she said. It's a nonprofit that runs programs to encourage children to pursue training and careers in math, engineering and other high-skilled fields.

An IP captioned telephone service provider objected to the FCC’s scheduled 10 percent cut in a compensation rate July 1, saying an initial 10 percent cut last July “created substantial hardship” for the company. MezmoCorp (dba InnoCaption) urged the FCC to retain an interim $1.75 per minute compensation rate at least through June 30, 2020, said a filing posted Monday in docket 03-123 on meeting Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Managing Director staff. InnoCaption recently joined with other providers seeking to keep the $1.75 rate (see 1903010005). Longer term, InnoCaption proposed a tiered rate structure that would save “over $170 million based on 2018/2019 call volume projections and would help drive efficiency gains" industrywide.

Herring Networks favors T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, it said in docket 18-197. A “combined T-Mobile and Sprint will implement both video services faster and deploy 5G more expeditiously,” Herring President Charles Herring told FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, said the filing posted Thursday. Herring does business as One America News Network and AWE.

The deadline is April 1 for advanced communications service providers and equipment manufacturers subject to sections 255, 716 and 718 of the Communications Act to file their annual recordkeeping compliance certifications and contact information, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. Those filings are to be done via the online recordkeeping compliance certification and contact information registry, it said.

Comments are due April 8, replies April 23 on Akin Gump's request the FCC clarify the definition of fax “sender” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said a Thursday public notice on dockets including 02-278. The law firm Feb. 26 petitioned that “a fax broadcaster [be] the sole liable ‘sender,’ when it both commits TCPA violations and engages in deception or fraud against the advertiser (or blatantly violates its contract with the advertiser) such that the advertiser cannot control the fax campaign or prevent TCPA violations,” the PN noted. The firm said those whose goods and services are advertised in an unsolicited fax aren't always the TCPA-liable senders since they didn't know about the junk-fax campaign: Advertisers nationwide "have fallen victim to unscrupulous, dishonest or rogue fax broadcasters, and have been left open to liability."

The FCC wants nominations by March 19 for a Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee new working group on increasing broadband investment in low-income communities, said a public notice Thursday in docket 17-83. Nominees for BDAC membership need not reapply.