Comments on proposed USF overhauls are due Aug. 8, replies Sept. 8, in FCC dockets including 14-58, said the agency in a Federal Register notice Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1oJT46i). The NPRM seeks to adapt its universal service reforms to ensure those living in high-cost areas have access to services that are reasonably comparable to services offered in urban areas (CD April 24 p2).

The FCC should adopt as soon as possible a “carefully constructed” transition from legacy support mechanisms to a new mechanism focused on supporting broadband-capable networks, as it considers updates to the existing high-cost rules for areas served by rural rate-of-return-regulated LECs, NTCA and several other organizations told Wireline Bureau staff Tuesday, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1r9iEm3) posted to docket 10-90 Wednesday. Also attending the meeting were representatives from the National Exchange Carrier Association, TDS Telecom, Totah Communications, USTelecom and WTA, as well as Jeff Smith of GVNW and Paul Cooper of Fred Williamson & Associates.

Further lowering inmate calling rates or eliminating commissions paid to governments by phone providers “could have a detrimental impact on both ICS [inmate calling service] providers and the jails and prisons that rely on these revenue sources to provide inmate phone services,” Network Communications International Corp. (NCIC) President William Pope said July 7 during separate meetings with staff for the FCC Wireline Bureau and Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, according to an ex parte notice (http://bit.ly/1syGYxF) posted Wednesday in docket 12-375. Pope also said the data collection requirement in this proceeding is burdensome because NCIC does not maintain its data on a facility-by-facility basis and he encouraged approval of a 60-day extension sought by NCIC. The FCC should model any change to rates and fees on a recent order approved by the Alabama Public Utilities Commission. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision meanwhile outlined the steps it took in eliminating the commissions in 2007, in a letter (http://bit.ly/1mgWEVR) to the Wireless Bureau posted in the docket on Tuesday. Wednesday, an FCC workshop heard from ICS providers, commissioners and others on inmate call reform, which Chairman Tom Wheeler called a priority (CD July 10 p4).

A Verizon network operations team review of a Los Angeles customer’s complaint about buffering on Netflix while using a 75 Mbps FiOS connection “confirmed again” Verizon’s contention that Netflix’s buffering issues are occurring because of congestion at Netflix’s interconnection with Verizon’s border router, said David Young, Verizon vice president-federal regulatory affairs, in a blog post Thursday (http://vz.to/1mDnTcy). Netflix and Verizon have repeatedly sparred over the causes of Netflix’s latency issues, most recently due to messages Netflix was displaying in late spring for users on Verizon and some other ISPs blaming congestion on the ISPs’ networks for the problem. Netflix ended those messages June 16 after Verizon sent it a cease-and-desist letter (CD June 18 p7). The network operations team found that Netflix’s links to the Verizon network were congested while links carrying non-Netflix traffic “did not experience congestion and were performing fine,” Young said. Non-Netflix networks were using a maximum of 10-80 percent of capacity on their connections, he said. Verizon is “working aggressively with Netflix to establish new, direct connections from Netflix” that would fix the latency issues, Young said. A Netflix spokeswoman said in an email that “congestion at the interconnection point is controlled by ISPs like Verizon. When Verizon fails to upgrade those interconnections, consumers get a lousy experience despite paying for more than enough bandwidth to enjoy high-quality Netflix video. That’s why Netflix is calling for strong net neutrality that covers the interconnection needed for consumers to get the quality of INTER-net (cq) they pay for.” A Verizon spokesman said the telco had no additional comment.

Small, independent telcos are deploying some form of broadband services to 96 percent of K-12 schools in their service areas and 98 percent of public libraries, an NTCA survey found. About 75 percent of schools receive fiber to the premises, 17 percent use copper, 5 percent receive fiber to the node and less than 1 percent use fixed wireless, said the association in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1sxQWzu). Nearly 47 percent of public libraries are connected via FTTP, 38 percent use copper, and 13 percent receive FTTN, it said. NTCA members offer an average maximum speed of 435 Mbps down and 62 Mbps up to schools, and an average of 296 Mbps down and 47 Mbps up to public libraries. Schools on average buy 65 Mbps down and 13 Mbps up, while libraries take 17 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up, said NTCA. “The results of this survey are a clear indication that NTCA members and other small, rural providers understand the importance of these anchor institutions having high-quality broadband service,” NTCA Economist Rick Schadelbauer. The FCC considers an E-rate order Friday, and it may be a party-line vote (CD July 9 p1) (See related story above.)

Equipment capable of using alternative technologies like TV white spaces that can provide reliable broadband service to schools and libraries should qualify for E-rate funding, even if provisioned by schools and libraries and not by a broadband service provider, Microsoft said in a letter (http://bit.ly/1md8LD9) posted as an ex parte filing Tuesday in docket 13-184. School districts in urban areas or near major universities frequently have 1 Gbps connectivity, but more than half of U.S. students are in rural school districts, said the company. Employing alternative technologies “should increase the likelihood and reduce the expense of reaching that broadband threshold in rural areas,” it said. Exempting schools and libraries from competitive bidding procedures when purchasing commercially available Internet connections “creates a poor precedent within the E-rate program and could adversely impact the applicants, the Fund and the competitive providers that are currently active in the program,” a Comptel official told a Wireline Bureau official, said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/TQXOeX). Splits are emerging at the commission on E-rate, with a Friday vote on an order nearing. (See separate report above in this issue.)

USTelecom opposed an American Cable Association FCC application for review of a Wireline Bureau April decision on the Connect America Fund cost model order that calculated costs of serving census blocks in price-cap telco areas. “USTelecom stands by its cost of capital calculation which resulted in a zone of reasonableness above 8.48% and below 9.52%, resulting in a point estimate of 9.00%” and other figures, said that association in an opposition filing to ACA’s request posted Monday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/U1g5GM). “ACA presents no new information to contradict it. Yet ACA rejects the Bureau’s considered conclusion which adopted a cost of capital 50 basis points below the recommendation of the ABC Coalition.” The association said an FCC model used data from the coalition, a USF reform group of telcos that has included USTelecom members (http://bit.ly/1pXdWuo). ACA’s June 20 application for review said the bureau’s model, “for the key input of the cost of money ... adopted a cost significantly in excess of forward-looking market rates” and would mean price-cap LECs get more support than required (http://bit.ly/1vWPFSK). ACA plans to respond to USTelecom’s opposition, in reply comments, said ACA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. He declined further comment.

The FCC should reverse a Wireline Bureau order denying Securus the same waiver from interim inmate calling service rate caps as Pay Tel (CD Feb 12 p12), Securus said in an application for review posted in docket 12-375 Monday. The bureau “failed to give appropriate consideration to the extensive cost data that Securus provided, but “simply repeated the Commission’s unreasonable interpretation -- manipulation -- of that data to grossly understate Securus’s costs,” said the filing (http://bit.ly/1oeZl6J).

Reductions in intercarrier compensation rates for originating intrastate toll VoIP traffic should be paused, effective June 30, 2014, until full implementation of the Phase II Connect America Fund, in the case of price-cap telcos, said NTCA and several other groups in an emergency petition for a waiver of FCC rules (http://bit.ly/1mvpDo8) posted Monday in docket 10-90. For rural, rate of return-regulated carriers, the waiver was sought until the implementation of a tailored CAF mechanism for the rural LECs. The reductions would cost Frontier Communications and Windstream $14.5 million total annually, the petition said. The Eastern Rural Telecom Association, Frontier, IITA, National Exchange Carrier Association, WTA and Windstream joined in the waiver request.

Transcom Enhanced Services Monday petitioned for a rehearing en banc on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold the FCC 2011 USF/intercarrier compensation order (http://1.usa.gov/1r18uaa) (CD May 27 p1). While acknowledging such rehearings involving an entire court are rarely granted, Transcom attorney Scott McCollough said he was “hopeful.” The petition asks for rehearing on three points, including a panel ruling that “calls do not terminate with Transcom for purposes of the ‘intraMTA rule,'” the petition said. “The panel did not address this issue in the context of ‘wireline,'” the petition said.