Lawyers for Chattanooga and Wilson, North Carolina filed a joint motion with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to consolidate the municipal broadband cases and modify the briefing schedule, said a filing Tuesday. The cases petition for review of a single FCC Order which pre-empted laws in both Tennessee and North Carolina, which is why the lawyers said it makes sense to combine the cases. For the same reason, the briefing schedule should be modified, as well, the filing said (see 1507210034).
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives plans a public hearing at 1 p.m. on Aug. 24 for HB-1417, which creates a freestanding act maintaining the state's Universal Service Fund. The Rural Telephone Access and Availability Act would extend the life of the Pennsylvania USF until 2022.
Frontier Communications and the Communications Workers of America District 9 signed an agreement bringing them one step closer to completing Frontier’s planned acquisition of Verizon’s wireline business assets in California, said a news release from Frontier. CWA, representing about 3,400 Verizon employees in California, supports the proposed acquisition and believes approval of the transaction is in the public's and employees’ interests, the release said. Under the agreement, after the transaction closes in the first half of 2016, Frontier will increase its workforce in California with at least 150 new, union-represented positions, the release said.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tentatively set Oct. 27-29 for the argument session for Montgomery County, Maryland, v. U.S. in docket 15-1240, said a notice from the court. Notice of motions or conflicts with this date are due July 27. The case is about tower siting.
Most Minnesota customers will have a choice of how their telecom service provider delivers white pages directory information beginning Monday, said a news release from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Thursday. An amendment adopted by the PUC lets the service providers choose to provide the white pages electronically, if a customer wants, it said. The amendment doesn't make the choice a requirement, nor does it phase out the printed copy of the directory, the PUC said.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to accept Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks' motion to withdraw their application to transfer control, closing the proceeding officially in the state. Other potential courses of action that were on the agenda were officially withdrawn. Another option was to approve the transfer of control subject to conditions, which would also close the proceeding but would require Comcast to provide enhanced service and information to VoIP users about safe operation during power outages and 911 calls. The other proposal on the agenda was to deny the application in the state and close the proceeding, which would maintain the current ownership structure of all involved parties.
Connecticut joined the other New England states and New York in creating a special agency to promote access to broadband, said a news release from Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz. The Connecticut State Broadband Office will be a part of the Office of Consumer Counsel, it said. The broadband office will facilitate the availability of broadband access and increase adoption of ultra-high-speed gigabit capable broadband networks, it said.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission plans four hearings about whether effective competition for phone services exists, said the PUC in a news release Thursday. The hearings will begin at 4 p.m. and end by 7 p.m. on Aug. 3 in Fort Morgan, Aug. 4 in Denver, Aug. 5 in Colorado Springs and Aug. 6 in Delta. The PUC said it's looking at relaxing regulation and eliminating high-cost funding in 104 wire centers, owned by CenturyLink and subsidiaries. Last year, the PUC did the same for 56 CenturyLink wire centers that were determined to offer multiple providers for basic local phone service, it said.
The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to discuss Thursday how it will proceed with the now-dead Comcast purchase of Time Warner Cable and resulting divestitures to Charter Communications, and if it needs to investigate the condition of the state’s aging copper phone networks, said a Tellus Venture Associates blog post by Steve Blum. Blum is president of Tellus, which consults on developing community broadband systems. The commission can wrap up the Comcast deal in three ways: Approve it to establish a precedent for review of future transactions, deny it or allow Comcast to withdraw the application, Blum said. The CPUC previously approved a study of the aging copper networks, but the new agency President Michael Picker wants to scrap that and rely on the telcos to repair and maintain the networks, Blum said. Other commissioners are interested in going through with the study, he said. CPUC didn't comment.
The New York State Public Service Commission added a hearing Aug. 6 in Syracuse to its schedule for a telecom study (see 1506240034), it said in a news release. The commission is seeking public comment on the assessment report and on the questions posed in the original public notice, it said. Comments received in response to the notice will be used to develop recommendations for further regulatory changes, the PSC said. The hearing is at Syracuse City Hall, with an information session at 6 p.m. and the hearing at 7 p.m. There's also a hearing at the Poughkeepsie Town Hall, with information sessions at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and hearings at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Aug. 11. The final scheduled hearing is in Albany at the Bethlehem Town Hall, with an information session at 6 p.m. and the hearing at 7 p.m. Aug. 13.