Seven telecom groups asked for changes to FCC letter of credit requirements in its draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order, they wrote Thursday in docket 19-126. USTelecom, NCTA, NTCA, Incompas, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, WTA and the Wireless ISP Association said LOC burdens unite them. They asked for revisions so obligations correspond more closely to risks. "Encouraging robust participation and prudentially managing risks to the fund are both important goals, but should not, and need not, be mutually exclusive," the groups said. The agency declined to comment. USTelecom separately asked the FCC to revise the RDOF item, due for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001150005). Otherwise, current letter of credit requirements "will prevent USTelecom members (and in our view the entire pool of potential bidders) from participating meaningfully in the RDOF auction," USTelecom said in filings posted Thursday in docket 19-126. Under the current draft, letter of credit requirements "scale dramatically and unsustainably," USTelecom said. "Critically, the compounding nature of the requirements would force participants -- ranging from small independent providers to large, publicly-traded companies -- to access more credit than they are capable of accessing." Industry had asked for changes (see 1912190073). USTelecom said the modifications made "are grossly insufficient to match the business reality that potential bidders face." USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and CEOs including Consolidated Communications' Bob Udell and Windstream' Tony Thomas had meetings Monday with officials including Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, plus Wireline Chief Kris Monteith and other bureau officials. The Wireless ISP Association said the "modest change does not go far enough" and would preclude participation for many small ISPs. WISPA said letters of credit are treated as debt that harm RDOF recipients' ability to borrow.

Seven telecom groups asked for changes to FCC letter of credit requirements in its draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order, they wrote Thursday in docket 19-126. USTelecom, NCTA, NTCA, Incompas, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, WTA and the Wireless ISP Association said LOC burdens unite them. They asked for revisions so obligations correspond more closely to risks. "Encouraging robust participation and prudentially managing risks to the fund are both important goals, but should not, and need not, be mutually exclusive," the groups said. The agency declined to comment. USTelecom separately asked the FCC to revise the RDOF item, due for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001150005). Otherwise, current letter of credit requirements "will prevent USTelecom members (and in our view the entire pool of potential bidders) from participating meaningfully in the RDOF auction," USTelecom said in filings posted Thursday in docket 19-126. Under the current draft, letter of credit requirements "scale dramatically and unsustainably," USTelecom said. "Critically, the compounding nature of the requirements would force participants -- ranging from small independent providers to large, publicly-traded companies -- to access more credit than they are capable of accessing." Industry had asked for changes (see 1912190073). USTelecom said the modifications made "are grossly insufficient to match the business reality that potential bidders face." USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and CEOs including Consolidated Communications' Bob Udell and Windstream' Tony Thomas had meetings Monday with officials including Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, plus Wireline Chief Kris Monteith and other bureau officials. The Wireless ISP Association said the "modest change does not go far enough" and would preclude participation for many small ISPs. WISPA said letters of credit are treated as debt that harm RDOF recipients' ability to borrow.

Incompas opposes an AT&T FCC application to discontinue providing certain Ethernet services on a common carriage basis and reoffer them as private carriage. It asked to remove the application from streamlined processing because "AT&T fails to provide information necessary for the commission to assess the impact on the public convenience and necessity." Incompas said, posted Friday in docket 19-323, FCC's business data services order requires service reclassification decisions reflect "nuanced analysis."

Revisit the latest net neutrality ruling, industry and other stakeholders asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Friday petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc in Mozilla v FCC, No. 18-1051. In October, the court upheld much of a 2018 FCC net neutrality partial rollback (see 1910010018). Mozilla filed (in Pacer) with Etsy, Incompas, Vimeo and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee. "Mozilla's petition focuses on the FCC's reclassification of broadband as an information service and on the FCC's failure to properly address competition and market harm," the company blogged Friday. It said "the court should have done more than simply criticize the FCC's assertion that existing antitrust and consumer protection laws are sufficient to address concerns about market harm without engaging in further analysis." The National Hispanic Media Coalition asked (in Pacer) the D.C. Circuit uphold judicial precedent by properly reviewing procedural rulings and agencies' obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act. Exclusion of consumer complaints from the public record and the FCC denying the ability to review them "requires the commission's reclassification ruling to be vacated," NHMC said. The group requested tens of thousands of consumer complaints in 2017 under the Freedom of Information Act (see 1709150031). New America's Open Technology Institute, Free Press, Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy & Society, Computer & Communications Industry Association and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said an NPRM failed to propose Communications Act Section 257 legal authority the agency used to justify deregulation. “We were pleased with the D.C. Circuit’s decision upholding our return to a light-touch approach to regulating broadband," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "We are confident that decision will stand and that we will continue to have a free and open Internet.”

Incompas opposes an AT&T FCC application to discontinue providing certain Ethernet services on a common carriage basis and reoffer them as private carriage. It asked to remove the application from streamlined processing because "AT&T fails to provide information necessary for the commission to assess the impact on the public convenience and necessity." Incompas said, posted Friday in docket 19-323, FCC's business data services order requires service reclassification decisions reflect "nuanced analysis."

Revisit the latest net neutrality ruling, industry and other stakeholders asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Friday petitions for rehearing and rehearing en banc in Mozilla v FCC, No. 18-1051. In October, the court upheld much of a 2018 FCC net neutrality partial rollback (see 1910010018). Mozilla filed (in Pacer) with Etsy, Incompas, Vimeo and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee. "Mozilla's petition focuses on the FCC's reclassification of broadband as an information service and on the FCC's failure to properly address competition and market harm," the company blogged Friday. It said "the court should have done more than simply criticize the FCC's assertion that existing antitrust and consumer protection laws are sufficient to address concerns about market harm without engaging in further analysis." The National Hispanic Media Coalition asked (in Pacer) the D.C. Circuit uphold judicial precedent by properly reviewing procedural rulings and agencies' obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act. Exclusion of consumer complaints from the public record and the FCC denying the ability to review them "requires the commission's reclassification ruling to be vacated," NHMC said. The group requested tens of thousands of consumer complaints in 2017 under the Freedom of Information Act (see 1709150031). New America's Open Technology Institute, Free Press, Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy & Society, Computer & Communications Industry Association and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said an NPRM failed to propose Communications Act Section 257 legal authority the agency used to justify deregulation. “We were pleased with the D.C. Circuit’s decision upholding our return to a light-touch approach to regulating broadband," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "We are confident that decision will stand and that we will continue to have a free and open Internet.”

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp, described by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai as an “FCC institution” who has “delivered incalculable value for American consumers over the years,” retiring Jan. 3 after 45 years at the commission (see 1911270046).

Report ISPs are deploying broadband to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion," industry told the FCC in comments posted through Monday in docket 19-285 on a notice of inquiry for the 15th annual Communications Act Section 706 report (see 1910230065). Critics said the last report overstated broadband deployment (see 1905290017).

Report ISPs are deploying broadband to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion," industry told the FCC in comments posted through Monday in docket 19-285 on a notice of inquiry for the 15th annual Communications Act Section 706 report (see 1910230065). Critics said the last report overstated broadband deployment (see 1905290017).

Delay plans to remove CLECs' access to an ILEC's unbundled network elements (UNEs) at regulated prices until more-accurate broadband maps can pinpoint where broadband competition actually exists, a group representing CLECs told the FCC. "You need new maps before you can have new rules,” Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told us. He visited with FCC officials in recent weeks to ask them to withdraw the draft NPRM in docket 19-308 that commissioners are expected to vote on Friday (see 1911150016).