NCTA said on its policy blog it's “particularly puzzled” by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s comments to congressional committees that cable companies are blocking access to utility poles by competitors. “For starters, cable operators are not denying access to poles" and often "do not even own poles,” the post said Thursday. “Rather, like other competitors, they attach their facilities to poles owned by electric utilities and telephone companies. We are unaware of any case where a cable operator has denied pole access to another company and it is unfortunate that the Chairman continues to suggest otherwise.” NCTA said also the net neutrality order would allow pole owners to “demand higher pole rental fees from cable broadband providers.” The agency didn't comment.

Comments are due April 24, replies May 11 on The Compliance Group’s Jan. 27 petition for a declaratory ruling to clarify the exemption for systems integrators from USF contribution obligations, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday. It said Compliance wants a clarification on whether the exemption applies to the resale or provision of interconnected VoIP when resold or provisioned by a systems integrator.

It’s “vital” that the FCC clearly state its decision on commissions paid by inmate calling service providers to correctional facilities in the ongoing ICS rulemaking (see 1410230026), Securus Technologies CEO Richard Smith and Vice President Dennis Reinhold told Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her aide Rebekah Goodheart; Daniel Alvarez, an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler; and Lynne Engledow, deputy chief of the Wireline Bureau Pricing Division, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-375. ICS providers are required to pay the commission in most of its contracts, and to be able to renegotiate the contracts, “the law must be clear,” the Securus officials said at the March 19 meeting. They made the same argument to Travis Litman, an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a separate meeting the same day, said another filing.

Investors “under-appreciate” the FCC’s “broad and vague authority” created by the net neutrality order, Capital Alpha Partners said in a note to investors Sunday. In the short term, the order is a “status quo outcome” because carriers don't engage in blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, the note said. That the order contains broad forbearance and doesn't regulate retail rates are positives, CAP said. But the no unreasonable interference or disadvantage standards in the Internet conduct rule is a “catch-all vehicle that invites an unlimited number of complaints to be filed by political critics of the cable and telecom companies,” the note said. The rule is also “a vehicle for the potential arbitrary exercise of the FCC's regulatory discretion in [its] own proactive industry monitoring and investigations,” the note said. The added commission authority “complicates the business of broadband, which itself is becoming increasingly amorphous with new non-traditional entrants and products,” said the note.

FCC letter of credit requirements for recipients of rural broadband experiment (RBE) funding are "inconsistent with commercially prudent lending practices,” CoBank said in a letter to the agency posted Friday in docket 10-90. RBE recipients need to obtain a letter of credit when they are selected for funding and then renew and increase the letter of credit each year to reflect the amount of funding they will receive over the next year, the rural lender noted. If a recipient can't obtain a letter in any year, it would be considered in default by the commission, which would be able to demand repayment of the funds, the filing said. The bank that initially approved the letter of credit would effectively be in the position of having to renew the letter of credit each year or having the borrower face default, CoBank said. The lenders’ exposure would increase over time “as it is impossible to assess the various risks facing operators in the rapidly changing telecommunications industry over a 10-year horizon,” the filing said. The amount required to be covered by a letter of credit should increase only through the build-out period and then be reduced or eliminated, CoBank said. The commission’s ability to change performance requirements for carriers also “adds an element of regulatory and political risk,” and is also “inconsistent with commercially prudent lending practices,” CoBank said. The agency should clarify that award recipients are responsible only for meeting the performance standards that exist when the awards are granted, the filing said.

The FCC’s net neutrality order will hurt small edge providers despite the agency’s contention otherwise in a footnote in the order, NERA Economic Consulting said in a paper Wednesday. CALinnovates commissioned NERA to do a paper on the economic ramification of classifying broadband under Communications Act Title II and submitted it as part of the group’s comments in the net neutrality proceeding, the statement said. The agency said it disagreed with the initial paper’s findings, saying it didn't take into account forbearances in the order. “Simply forbearing from selected sections of Title II does not reverse our findings, nor does the FCC provide any evidence that it should,” NERA said in Wednesday's paper. “If anything, we understated the effects this Order has on innovation as it inserts regulatory uncertainty well beyond [that] already contained in Title II.” The order “implements a far-reaching regulatory scheme that is beyond (in many ways) what we envisioned,” the firm said. Among other things, the scope of the order is unclear, because the meaning of terms “broadband Internet access service” and “reasonable network management” will be up for debate, bringing regulatory uncertainty.

Approval of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal and the transfer of licenses between Comcast and Charter Communication, would “severely harm competition” and slow the growth of new technologies and networks, representatives of Comptel, NTCA and the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance told FCC officials, including General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, in a March 12 meeting, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-57 Tuesday. Restricting innovation and competition “could impact job creation, consumer prices, and economic growth,” the filing said. Among those attending the meeting were Comptel Chief Advocate Angie Kronenberg and Assistant General Counsel Mary Albert; NTCA Vice President-Legal and Industry Jill Canfield; ITTA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Micah Caldwell; Global Economics Group Principals Richard Schmalensee and Howard Chang; and Markham Erickson and Andrew Guhr of Steptoe & Johnson. On the claims about competition, the filing pointed to a separate Steptoe & Johnson filing the same day, which said Comcast/TWC would give Comcast "unprecedented market power" over video distribution, "both as an owner and/or controller of content and as a buyer with tremendous leverage to extract even lower prices for unaffiliated content." The deal would also harm innovation in the set-top box market, the filing said. TWC before the deal had been trying to enable third parties to develop innovative devices for its cable system, the filing said. Comcast, rather than encouraging third-party innovation, "has spent significant resources" developing its own proprietary, closed platform," the Steptoe filing said. "The immediate result of this transaction would be to limit, rather than expand, consumer access to competitive set-top boxes. The demise of FanTV immediately upon the announcement of Comcast’s announced purchase of TWC, suggests that the transaction has already had a chilling effect on innovation." Comcast didn't comment.

Frontier Communications said it continues to strongly support the Connect America Fund, saying its use of CAF Phase I funds in rural areas has connected 164,000 unserved and underserved households to broadband services. Frontier said it has invested $94 million in CAF funds in its infrastructure. The company accepted $72 million in CAF funding in 2012 and $61.3 million in 2013. “There is ample evidence that providing connectivity to rural America brings solid, lasting results,” said Frontier Executive Vice President-External Affairs Kathleen Abernathy in a Monday news release. “CAF Phase II is expected to enable even more rural Americans to connect to the Internet, and Frontier is looking forward to learning further details in the coming weeks regarding CAF Phase II support.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Market Disputes Resolution Division granted a stay request Monday from Duke Energy, which had asked the commission to pause its proceeding between Frontier Communications and Duke until both companies can complete arbitration in their dispute over the amount of money Frontier owes Duke as part of their joint use of each other’s utility poles in North Carolina. Frontier had filed a complaint with the FCC in January 2014 seeking a reduction in the rates included in its joint use agreement with Duke pursuant to the FCC’s 2011 pole attachment order. Duke had previously filed an arbitration demand in October 2013 over what it claims are unpaid invoice amounts. Frontier had sought a ruling from the U.S. District Court in Raleigh in November 2013 that the FCC had primary jurisdiction over the dispute; the court dismissed Frontier’s complaint in August and compelled the parties to arbitrate. The Raleigh District Court has scheduled a hearing on the arbitration for the week of June 15, the FCC said. The ongoing arbitration process means a stay in the FCC’s proceeding is necessary, because it will “preserve the time and resources of the Commission and the parties by preventing duplicative proceedings addressing the same issues,” the FCC said. “Moreover, Frontier's Complaint is governed by the Arbitration Clause, which applies to ‘disputes aris[ing] between the parties concerning matters pertaining to [the Agreements].’ The parties' dispute as to whether the Agreements' rates are unlawful is a dispute ‘pertaining to’ the Agreements.”

Comments are due April 13 on applications from Frontier Communications and Verizon seeking FCC approval of the transfer to Frontier of licenses and authorizations held by several Verizon subsidiaries, said an agency public notice released Thursday. The transfers include assets in California, Florida and Texas. Reply comments are due April 28, according to the notice in docket 15-44. Frontier would pick up some 3.7 million voice connections, 2.2 million broadband connections and 1.2 million FiOS video connections, the bureau said.