Apollo's buying Lumen ILEC assets got cable and state advocate attention. Charter Communications asked to intervene Friday in docket S-36166 at the Louisiana Public Service Commission. The proposed transfer of control may have a “significant effect" on "rates, terms and conditions that apply to wholesale services and facilities provided by Lumen to competitive carriers,” said Charter. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission last week posted protests by the Office of Consumer Advocate and Office of Small Business Advocate in docket A-2021-3028668. OK the application only if the PUC finds it’s in the public interest, “it provides substantial, affirmative benefits” to customers and it follows the public utility code, OCA asked: The application as filed “may not support a conclusion that the merger will provide substantial, affirmative benefits to the public and will affirmatively promote the service, accommodation, convenience or safety of the public in some substantial way.” OSBA sought commission hearings. The Illinois Commerce Commission will collect staff testimony on Apollo/Lumen in December (see 2110260054).

State rules for a federally funded $2 billion last-mile account should encourage municipal broadband, consumer and local advocates told the California Public Utilities Commission in comments posted through Monday in docket R.20-09-001. The CPUC aims to release a proposed decision between December and March on rules for the last-mile program required in a broadband law (see 2110270063). "Price regulation and subsidies can and should co-exist” to make broadband affordable, said AARP: It suggested prioritizing noncommercial providers. Next Century Cities agreed muni broadband would trim prices. Let communities develop broadband networks through local or tribal governments, community-based organizations or private/public partnerships, said Rural County Representatives of California. Communications Workers of America said industry providers are better equipped to build broadband networks. Meanwhile, telecom and cable companies bristled at CPUC staff-proposed rules straying from California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) infrastructure program rules. If the CPUC wants to meet federal deadlines for distributing federal money, rules should closely track CASF, commented Frontier Communications. The California Cable and Telecommunications Association raised concerns that the staff plan is “markedly different” from CASF rules and shows bias toward overbuilding. Focus on serving the worst first with a “fair and transparent” objection process that isn’t “muddled by unnecessary and irrelevant requirements like infrastructure photographs” and that protects confidential data submitted by companies to object to projects in their areas, said CCTA. Rules that are more onerous than the older CASF program could discourage participation, said Comcast. The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California cautioned that staff-proposed application and compliance rules may be too burdensome for tribes and smaller organizations. Encourage such applicants by reimbursing winners’ grant development costs, CENIC said.

The California Public Utilities Commission seeks comment by Nov. 30 on a staff recommendation to switch to connections-based state USF contribution, Administrative Law Judge Hazlyn Fortune ruled Friday in docket R.21-03-002. Fortune's schedule includes replies due Dec. 15, a hearing Feb. 7-11 and a proposed decision in April. "Staff recommends that a flat, single-end user surcharge be adopted,” which would be more equitable and stable than the existing revenue-based approach, the report said. This would combine a multitude of public purpose program (PPP) charges into one per-access line surcharge that would be applied equally to all customer classes and service types, it said. Staff estimated the surcharge would be $1.11 monthly for all customers, based on a forecast $738 million budget for the state's PPPs in FY 2022-23. It proposed declaring an access line "means a 'telephone line' as defined in Public Utilities Code section 233 and is associated with one assigned California phone number, and shall include, but is not limited to, a 'wireline communications service line,' a 'wireless communications service line,” and a 'Voice over Internet Protocol service line.'" Staff doesn't object to giving carriers six months to implement the mechanism, it said. Big wireless carriers raised concerns in April about a connections method (see 2104060029).

An Ohio anti-robocalls bill will go to the House floor, after Wednesday clearing by 13-0 the House Criminal Justice Committee. SB-54, a bill to allow attorney general action against misleading caller ID, passed the Senate in May.

U.S. District Court in Austin rescheduled argument on the Texas social media law to Nov. 29 at 9 a.m. CST. A change from Dec. 10 for hearing on preliminary injunction was expected (see 2110270031). The law takes effect Dec. 2.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should deny reconsideration sought by Frontier Communications of an order setting the scope of a probe into how the company’s investment plans and “virtual separation” could affect service quality, the Minnesota Commerce Department said Wednesday in docket 21-150. Frontier argued last week the state lacked internet jurisdiction (see 2110190053). The telco "merely restates prior arguments about the scope of Commission authority,” the department said: That argument is "unfounded" and Frontier’s “unwillingness to cooperate in this proceeding is inconsistent with its conduct in similar proceedings in other states.”

Lumen and AT&T officials cited concerns about draft pole attachment rules being considered at the Florida Public Service Commission. The PSC is to start regulating attachments next year due to a law enacted this summer (see 2109010053). Written comments are due Nov. 15 on draft rules for pole inspections, repair and replacement, vegetation management and monetary penalties, PSC Senior Attorney Adria Harper said at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. Staff tried to minimally hit each point of the statute, she said. The agency should revise vegetation management rules that would kick costs from electric to telecom companies, said Lumen Director-Government Affairs Christie Mason. Overgrown plants are a bigger concern for electric companies because contact with power lines could cause a fire; it affects telecom companies only because they share the poles, she said. Lumen will contribute to management costs, but requiring telecoms to pay in full would be an unlawful “regulatory taking,” she said. Lumen seeks flexibility for companies’ pole inspection intervals, said Mason, noting the telco reviews about 2.2 million U.S. poles every 10 years, with about 10% in each jurisdiction inspected annually. AT&T Senior Counsel Tracy Hatch agreed with Lumen concerns on vegetation management, saying the PSC proposal raises technical and logistical issues. Hatch doesn’t see how it helps the commission to require companies to report on how companies trim plants or on how many poles they relocate, he said. PSC Engineering Director Tom Ballinger said the agency isn’t making standards, and information can be useful.

NARUC would support energy utilities expanding broadband, under a proposed resolution for the Nov. 7-10 partially virtual meeting in Louisville. The Telecom Committee’s sole proposal, released Tuesday, would encourage “regulators and industry to support and facilitate the deployment by utilities of wired and wireless secure, reliable broadband networks for critical grid communications.” Energy companies planning networks should consider sharing wired and wireless middle-mile communications infrastructure to support expanding consumer broadband, the draft said. If feasible and in customers’ best interest during wireless planning, energy companies should “coordinate to reduce equipment costs and enable provision of network services to other utilities with overlapping service territories,” it said: “To the extent permissible,” state legislatures and commissions should reduce burdensome rules or laws.

Congress didn’t intend for VoIP customers to pay more for 911 than landline users, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The court denied Autauga County and other Alabama 911 districts’ challenge to an FCC order restricting state, local and tribal governments in Alabama from charging higher 911 calling fees for VoIP than traditional telecom services (see 1910250063). The 911 districts argued Congress’ 911 fee parity rule allowed them to charge VoIP and non-VoIP providers using a different unit of measure for each if they applied the same base fee for each unit. “We independently arrive at the same conclusion as the FCC,” wrote Judge Robin Rosenbaum (in Pacer). “We base our determination on congressional intent as expressed in the statutory text, structure, and purpose of the NET 911 Act.” Congress’ 911 fee parity rule “precludes any unit of measurement that results in higher total fees for VoIP subscribers than for non-VoIP subscribers with the same outbound concurrent call capacity,” said Rosenbaum: The point “is to ensure that VoIP and non-VoIP subscribers financially support 911 facilities to the same extent that they burden the hotline service.” The Alabama group’s reading “would create a financial disincentive to potential VoIP providers and subscribers alike to invest in VoIP services,” contrary to Congress’ desire to encourage a rapid VoIP transition, she said. Judges Robert Luck and Lanier Anderson joined the opinion. The Alabama districts, FCC and intervenors USTelecom, NCTA and AT&T didn’t comment by our deadline.

The FCC announced an online workshop Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. EST to provide technical assistance to tribal governments on broadband data collection, said a public notice Monday.