Greenway Health sought retroactive waiver of FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules for faxes, arguing it was "similarly situated" to other companies that received waivers. The FCC last year reaffirmed the notice requirement of its 2006 junk fax order, but acknowledging confusion by companies, granted several of them retroactive waivers (see 1410300047). The petition from the healthcare systems IT provider was posted Thursday in docket 02-278.
The FCC Wireline Bureau accepted modification of average schedule formulas for interstate settlements as proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association in December. NECA calculates that as a result of the changes, 274 companies are expected to see increases in settlement rates and 48 study areas are expected to see decreases, at constant demand, the bureau said Wednesday. The NECA changes would increase settlement rates by 6.6 percent overall, at constant demand, it said. “We have reviewed the unopposed NECA filing and find that its proposed formulas are reasonable,” the bureau said. “NECA revised the average schedule formulas using procedures consistent with those used in previous filings.”
AT&T Assistant Vice President-Federal Regulatory Frank Simone and other telco staff briefed FCC Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Matthew DelNero and other bureau officials April 3 on AT&T's IP transition wire center trials in Carbon Hill, Alabama, and West Delray Beach, Florida, the telco said in an ex parte filing released Wednesday. AT&T began marketing the transition from TDM to IP in the Carbon Hill and West Delray Beach markets in September, the telco said in the filing in docket 12-353. IP accounts increased by 5 percent in Carbon Hill and by 12 percent in West Delray Beach in Q4 after the marketing push, AT&T said. The telco said its other community outreach efforts in the communities have included special training events for seniors and outreach to disability organizations in the communities.
CenturyLink, while contending the FCC lacks authority over intrastate inmate calling services, said it could back an ICS overhaul that lowers calling costs without reducing service availability. A Further NPRM asked about establishing intrastate caps (see 1501280036). For CenturyLink to back intrastate ICS reforms, it said the FCC should adopt permanent unitary caps for ICS calls near interstate call levels, eliminate most ancillary fees and cap those it allows, let correctional facilities require commissions on ICS services, and grandfather existing contracts or provide a transition period to new rules for at least a budget cycle. The telco also wants the commission to "exclude particularly high-cost facilities such as juvenile detention centers and secure mental health facilities from any rate caps it adopts but make them subject to the same restrictions on ancillary fees," it said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. Or the agency could have an expedited waiver process to review the rates for calls from high-cost facilities, CenturyLink representatives told Wireline Bureau Pricing Policy Division officials.
Customers he sees want high-capacity wireline broadband service but “are far less interested in retaining their traditional wired voice service,” said Jimmy Todd, CEO of Nex-Tech of Lenora, Kansas, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The absence of a data connection service plan mechanism “imposes a substantial hardship upon customers who want to take broadband service, but want to use wireless or voice over Internet Protocol technology for their voice service,” Todd said. “The current universal service rules preclude support for the same facilities that were serving the customer before he or she terminated voice service.” The filing in docket 01-92 was made by WTA, Advocates for Rural Broadband, which also sent representatives to the meeting with O'Rielly.
EarthLink asked the FCC Enforcement Bureau to resolve a Communications Act sections 201 and 202 complaint the company filed in 2004 against SBC Communications and SBC Advanced Solutions, saying in a letter posted Tuesday that “the delay has been extraordinary.” EarthLink had brought a complaint against the SBC entities over practices related to SBC's wholesale asynchronous digital subscriber line service that EarthLink said violated sections 201(b) and 202(a). EarthLink said it attempted to address the violations directly with SBC before filing the complaint and followed prescribed complaint rules. The bureau did a full investigation, collecting information on the complaint through January 2005, EarthLink said. The company said it never received an explanation of the delay, saying federal courts have ordered the FCC “to act on matters that were pending for significantly less time.”
The FCC sought comment on Frontier Communications’ compliance plan for forbearance relief from the agency's cost-assignment rules. Comments are due May 28, replies June 12. In May 2013, the FCC conditionally gave price-cap carriers forbearance from rules that generally require carriers to assign costs to build and maintain the network, and revenue from services provided, to specific categories, said the Tuesday order on dockets including 12-61.
CCI filed a petition for a retroactive waiver of FCC Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules for advertising faxes sent with the recipients' prior express invitation or permission, said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-278. The claims administration services provider said it's a similarly situated party to the petitioners that have been granted relief in the waiver order and should therefore be granted a retroactive waiver. It said it requests the waiver because it may have sent fax ads before April 30 without the "specific compliant opt-out notices required by that rule to recipients that had provided prior express invitation or permission."
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended comments and reply deadlines to July 1 and July 22, respectively, on the special access Further NPRM in docket 05-25, it said in a notice in Monday's Federal Register.
St. Anthony School in the Bronx is seeking reconsideration of the FCC Wireline Bureau's denial of its request for review or waiver involving decisions of the Universal Service Administrator to rescind/recover certain funding for FY 2012, it said in a filing with the FCC relating to docket 02-6. The reconsideration is warranted because the FCC's adoption of a streamlined process for disposing of E-rate appeals was improper, the filing said. It also said there's no indication in the notice that the commission ever considered the request for waiver that was included in the school's appeal, which is also procedurally improper. The school is now closed for financial and other reasons, the petition said.