Further extension of Lumen’s Oregon price plan is likely, said Oregon Public Utility Commission Administrative Law Judge Sarah Spruce Tuesday (docket UM 1908). The plan currently expires Sept. 28 (see 2307280037). Spruce said parties should file their next status report on settlement talks Sept. 1 and propose a new expiration date. If no settlement is reached by Sept. 1, the PUC will have a prehearing conference Sept. 12 to set a schedule to resume the contested case process, she said.

Florida’s landline count dipped below 1 million in 2022, the Florida Public Service Commission said Tuesday. The PSC said its annual telecom competition report found 900,000 total landlines in the state last year, down from 1.2 million reported by carriers last year (see 2208020019). Business landlines exceeded residential ones for the 12th year, though counts of each tanked last year. Residential landlines declined by 16.5%, and business landlines declined 21.3%, it said. Lumen’s CenturyLink had a 17.8% decline in residential lines during 2022, and AT&T had a 17.4% drop and Frontier 23.7%.

California Privacy Protection Agency enforcers will review connected vehicles and related technologies, the CPPA said Monday. The Enforcement Division will consider data privacy practices for cars’ cameras, location sharing, web-based entertainment and smartphone integration, the agency said. “Modern vehicles are effectively connected computers on wheels,” said CPPA Executive Director Ashkan Soltani. “They’re able to collect a wealth of information via built-in apps, sensors, and cameras, which can monitor people both inside and near the vehicle. Our Enforcement Division is making inquiries into the connected vehicle space to understand how these companies are complying with California law when they collect and use consumers’ data.” The agency is conducting the review under 2018’s California Consumer Privacy Act. A court recently delayed CPPA enforcement under the more recent California Privacy Rights Act (see 2307030025). California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) last month announced an "investigative sweep" into how employers are handling CCPA compliance (see 2307140051).

Consolidated Communications wants 18 more months to provide pole attachment data required by a 2021 California Public Utilities Commission decision (D.21-10-019), the telco said in a Friday letter to CPUC Executive Director Rachel Peterson. “Validating many of Consolidated’s data point responses will require an exact understanding where each pole is located, and Consolidated relies upon the pole owner to make available that specific pole location information in the form of a database,” it said. “Databases are not yet fully available for pole location information.” Validation will require “a comprehensive field inspection of each of the approximately 30,000 poles Consolidated is attached to,” said the telco: Consolidated will have to bring in outside contractors to do inspections and collect data but lacks resources in this year’s budget “to absorb what amounts to a seven figure expense,” it said. Consolidated will budget the expense for next year, it said. An 18-month extension would give the company until March 3, 2025, to provide the data.

The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Aug. 31 on a proposal to deny a California Broadband and Video Association petition to modify a resolution on public housing, the CPUC said Friday. The state cable association raised concerns in March with a December CPUC resolution awarding $1.4 million in California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband public housing account (BPHA) grants to 19 projects. While not seeking to overturn the award, CalBroadband asked the CPUC to remove language saying broadband services that are free due to ACP or other subsidies don't count as free services for purposes of determining if an application is eligible for funding (See 2303220053). The CPUC’s proposed resolution T-17796 would deny the CalBroadband petition since it “raises no new or changed facts,” and the commission addressed its issues in previous decisions, the CPUC said. “To the extent CalBroadband raises a new policy argument, a petition for modification is not the proper vehicle to raise it,” it said. “The Commission has consistently held that a petition for modification is not a second bite at the apple: it will not consider issues which are simply re-litigation of issues that it has already considered.” Consumer advocates urged CPUC denial. CalBroadband didn’t comment Monday.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill Thursday to regulate data brokers. HB-2052 passed the legislature June 22 (see 2306230026).

Parties want until Sept. 1 to file another status report on negotiations to reach agreement on a successor price plan for Lumen’s CenturyLink, Oregon DOJ said Thursday (docket UM 1908). An Oregon PUC administrative law judge sought an update by July’s end (see 2307120013). “The parties have been working together in good faith to resolve the issues in this docket and have made meaningful progress towards settlement,” wrote Oregon Assistant Attorney General Natascha Smith: Parties aim to reach agreement without a hearing before the Sept. 28 expiration of the current price plan.

AT&T's apparent view that "the mere presence of an uncommitted 'voice alternative' makes” carrier-of-last-resort obligations obsolete is contradictory to California universal service rules, the California Public Utilities Commission’s independent Public Advocates Office said Thursday. PAO pressed the commission to reject AT&T opposition to PAO’s motion to dismiss AT&T’s application to shed COLR obligations in most of California. “AT&T asks the Commission to allow it to withdraw as the COLR for millions of Californians even though there is currently no other provider that is obligated to serve all customers in AT&T’s vast service area,” the advocates said in docket A.23-03-003. The CPUC plans a prehearing conference Thursday on AT&T’s application (see 2307190047).

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted 2-1 to increase the state USF’s per-connection surcharge, at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. The flat fee will increase to $2.02 monthly per connection in September, from $1.85, under the commission’s second interim order in case OSF2022-000045. Before voting no, Commissioner Bob Anthony noted the draft order was distributed late afternoon Wednesday. In a written dissent, the Republican noted Oklahoma USF (OUSF) collected about $7 million two decades ago, yet Thursday’s order says the fund requires $110 million in fiscal year 2023. “That’s more than 15 times higher than 20 years ago, and the statute still provides no cap.” The government program is opaque, complained Anthony. “Basic transparency and disclosure about this program should enable the public to know: Where do these OUSF monies actually go? To network improvements, infrastructure buildout, and modernization? Or to better salaries, higher profits and larger dividends for a few dozen independent telephone companies and/or their owners?” At the commission’s July 11 meeting, OUSF Administrator Mark Argenbright said the increased surcharge should put the commission on track to eliminating a current USF deficit in September 2024. Argenbright disagreed with CTIA, which said the increasing surcharge shows Oklahoma’s connections-based contribution method isn’t working (see 2307110078).

The Wireless ISP Association urged California Senate appropriators Wednesday to advance an Assembly-passed bill that would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) federal funding account (FFA) grants. AB-1065 cleared the Senate Communications Committee last month (see 2306200053) and is in the Appropriations Committee’s suspense file, a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly. The California Public Utilities Commission “has only funded fiber projects through the FFA, which has led to many California residents lagging woefully behind the state in accessing high-quality internet service,” said WISPA’s letter to Appropriations Committee Chair Anthony Portantino (D). The industry group said fixed wireless “can quickly and efficiently step into this gap.”