The proposed agreement between AT&T Michigan and Sprint to resolve their IP interconnection dispute was rejected by the Michigan Public Service Commission (http://tinyurl.com/nmuglcw) Tuesday. Sprint had sought a ruling saying AT&T was obligated under the 1996 Telecommunications Act to interconnect to them. AT&T had argued it was under no such requirement for IP interconnections. Under the proposed agreement filed Feb 25 (CD Feb 27 p16), the sides agreed all traffic Sprint exchanges with AT&T would be delivered in TDM format. They left the IP dispute in the air, saying should they not be able to resolve the issue, they may, on or around July 15, amend the agreement to include IP interconnection. The PSC ruled Tuesday that the sides have to file any contingency agreement they might have, should they not reach an agreement with the commission. The PSC said other providers have a right to see it to make sure their agreements with AT&T are fair. The agreement has to be filed by April 1. AT&T and Sprint had no comment.

Removal of the Alabama Public Services Commission’s authority to investigate customer complaints against phone companies (CD March 13 p14) “was not as big a deal as it seems,” said the author of the measure that removed the power, State Rep. Mike Hill, a Republican (http://bit.ly/PucWgY). The APSC had no regulatory authority over the companies, Hill wrote in an email Saturday in response to our inquiry the previous week. “The only thing the PSC was doing was acting as an answering service. They received the complaint, sent it to the phone company, and reported back to the resident when the phone company replied to them.” Customers who aren’t able to get satisfaction with their company can go to another provider, he said. The APSC was neutral on the bill. A spokeswoman said in an email that the agency handled 750 complaints last year. In most cases, customers complained to the APSC after being unable to resolve problems with their provider, the spokeswoman said.

A bill approved by the Missouri House of Representatives Thursday would change the state’s distinction as the only one in the nation that doesn’t charge wireless customers a 911 fee. HB-1573 (http://tinyurl.com/qj5fk43), sponsored by Rep. Jeanie Lauer (R), moves to the Senate where Lauer expects approval. The measure wouldn’t impose a statewide requirement. It authorizes local governments to impose a monthly fee of up to $1.50 on “any communications service capable of contacting 911” solely for funding 911 service in the jurisdiction, if approved by voters. The state now has a fee and sales tax on landlines to fund 911 services. As the number of customers who use that technology has dropped, it has caused a funding shortfall for 911 services, Lauer said.

Residents in the Missouri communities of south Kansas City, Kansas City north, Grandview, Raytown and Gladstone are able to begin signing up to try to get Google Fiber. Google Fiber said on its blog (http://bit.ly/1gldDCz) that it’s deciding where to bring the high-speed Internet service next. A certain number of households in a “fiberhood” designated by the company need to sign up for the area to qualify for service. The company plans to bring Google Fiber to communities that meet the goal by the end of the year. The 21 fiberhoods in the Kansas City metropolitan area that didn’t meet the threshold in 2012 also have an opportunity to try again.

The first discounted wireless plan for California’s LifeLine program was approved Tuesday by the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC selected Telscape Communications as the first authorized wireless provider for the state-funded LifeLine project, said a news release (http://bit.ly/1nhvOP9). Discounted wireless plans have been offered in the state under the federal Lifeline program. Telscape will offer three discounted plans, ranging from 1,000 voice minutes and 200 text messages for free to unlimited voice, text and data for $33.10 a month. LifeLine subsidies will allow Telscape to waive activation fees. The CPUC said it expects other wireless providers to be authorized in the future.

A measure that would make it easier for Michigan telecom companies to stop providing landline service (CD Feb 19 p11) passed the state House Tuesday. A leading critic said the measure is likely to survive a conference committee with the Senate and be enacted. SB-636 (http://1.usa.gov/1feaIv2) would allow ILECs including AT&T to stop providing landline service as of Jan. 1, 2017, without approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission. Under an amendment added to the bill, companies that drop landline service would be required to follow any guidelines, rules or regulations set out in the FCC IP transition trials. “AARP remains concerned that some people could be left without affordable, reliable phone service when this bill takes effect. Also, it does not provide the consumer protections that are in current telecommunications law,” said the critic, Melissa Seifert, AARP Michigan associate state director-governmental affairs, in a statement. Jim Murray, president of AT&T Michigan, said in a statement that the bill, if signed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R), would “update Michigan regulations to make it easier for phone companies like AT&T to invest in new, more efficient communications services.” Under the bill, ending landline service would still require FCC approval, but not from the MPSC. If a customer filed a complaint after the discontinuation of service, the MPSC would investigate whether the area still has comparable voice service, including VoIP and wireless, with reliable access to emergency service. If not, the MPSC could declare an emergency in the area, saying it’s not served by at least one voice service provider offering comparable voice service with reliable access to 911 and other emergency services. The MPSC could then ask other providers to voluntarily provide the service, including through VoIP or wireless, but it couldn’t force the current provider to do so. If there’s no willing provider, the provider that ended the service would be required to step back in. If VoIP, wireless or another technology were able to provide the service, the provider would not have to continue traditional landline service.

The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communication System Authority awarded a $175 million contract to Motorola Solutions to develop a wireless public safety broadband network based on 4G LTE. The LA-RICS network will provide data communications to more than 34,000 law enforcement, fire service and health service workers and more than 80 public safety agencies, said the company in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1gfdj4D). The contract follows June’s agreement where FirstNet allowed LA-RICS to lease access to FirstNet’s spectrum (CD June 20 p3). If all options are exercised, the contract calls for a five-phase project to design, construct, implement and maintain the LTE network. LA-RICS is funding the 231-site project primarily with federal grants from NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

The FCC should use required call completion reports as the basis for enforcement action, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUCO) said in a filing (http://bit.ly/NV2Ynx) posted online Wednesday. The Nebraska Public Service Commission in its own filing (http://bit.ly/1q7NmMm), also posted Wednesday, agreed. Both opposed a petition (http://bit.ly/1cvh2jf) by Sprint to reconsider using the completion reports in enforcement actions aimed at improving rural call completion. The PUCO said “call completion reports, by themselves, are not the basis for subsequent enforcement action. The reports contain specific measurements that allow the FCC to observe general call completion activity. If one or more reports contain measurement results that vary significantly from the results of all other reports, the FCC can review the underlying data and open an investigation if warranted. Reviews and investigations are not enforcement actions."

Seattle may be seen as a center for high-technology, but don’t expect Google Fiber to come there anytime soon because of its regulatory environment and penchant for public process, said the city’s former chief technology officer, Bill Schrier. Kansas City, Mo.’s City Council approved a contract with Google the day after the city was disclosed as Google Fiber’s launch city, he wrote in an opinion piece Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fXQLJg) on the Seattle website Crosscut. Seattle would “need to have endless community meetings and hearings and public floggings of Google Executives” before Google Fiber could come, wrote Schrier. “Every citizen in a tinfoil hat who thinks fiber is just another cereal ingredient would have their three minutes in front of the Council.” Also discouraging Google Fiber is a requirement that companies pay for replacing light poles if necessary to serve the project, and a rule that restricts the size of cabinets on city rights-of-way that house fiber, wrote the ex-CTO. Google said last month it may expand its high-speed broadband product to as many as 34 cities beyond where it is now (CD Feb 20 p14).

A New York appellate court denied Sprint’s request to throw out state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s $400 million lawsuit against the company for allegedly undercollecting and underpaying state and local sales taxes. Brought under the New York False Claims Act, Schneiderman’s suit would require Sprint to pay three times its approximately $130 million underpayment, said the AG’s office in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1hCjeF2). Sprint had sought a dismissal of the suit, saying the AG hadn’t adequately shown that the carrier knowingly violated the tax law and that the company could not be held liable for conduct before the 2010 passage of the False Claims Act. Thursday’s decision by a five-judge panel in a New York appellate court upheld state Supreme Court Justice Peter Sherwood’s July decision to deny Sprint’s petition.