The FCC OK'd Hilliary Acquisition's planned buy of Tatum Telephone and Electra Telephone, subject to a USF condition to address cost-shifting concerns. The combining Texas companies receive high-cost support from different mechanisms: cost-based and model-based. "We grant the Applications subject to the condition adopted in the Hargray/ComSouth Order" (see 1805110048), said a Wireline Bureau public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest and docket 18-301. "The combined operating expense of Tatum, Electra, Medicine Park, and any other rate-of-return affiliates shall be capped at the averaged combined operating expense of the three calendar years preceding the transactions’ closing date for which the operating expense data are available." The cap will last seven years or less, if the combined entity converts all support to one mechanism. The bureau cleared Tofane Global SAS/iBasis, conditioned on compliance with commitments and undertakings they agreed to with DOJ, said a PN in docket 18-136.

Alaska Communications asked the FCC to increase a USF rural healthcare budget to between $800 million and $1 billion for funding year 2019 (up from $581 million), with inflation increases thereafter. "Uncertainty of support under the Telecom Program in [FY] 2016, 2017, and now 2018, has driven healthcare providers out of the program, and wreaked havoc on service providers, all to the detriment of Americans that rely on the program in rural areas," the company told Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Tuesday in docket 17-310. "Demand will soon outstrip the current budget."

TracFone got support both from industry and public interest groups for the FCC to address "serious shortcomings" in the Lifeline national verifier (see 1812030053) being deployed by Universal Service Administrative Co. FCC and industry officials said it’s not clear whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will press for further action, especially since the commission is reining in the program as part of a broader series of changes to the USF (see 1806060031). Without FCC action, mass de-enrollments will start Jan. 2, commented the National Lifeline Association in docket 17-287.

Widespread doubts about the likelihood of Senate confirmation this year of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to a full five-year term and Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks remained Wednesday, despite the likely impending end of one of two holds on Carr. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he's close to lifting his hold. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he was still maintaining his hold. Senate leaders intend to move Carr and Starks as a pair.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is lifting his hold on Senate confirmation of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, an aide told us Thursday. The end of Sullivan's hold, in combination with the end of a separate hold on Carr by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., could clear the way for the Senate to approve Carr and Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks in an end-of-the-year package that may come as soon as Thursday afternoon. Senate leaders have been working since June to advance the nominees as a pair.

The FCC could soon address intercarrier compensation "arbitrage," said two FCBA panelists Tuesday. The commission is taking the issues seriously in a proceeding "ripe" for action, said Matthew Nodine, AT&T assistant vice president-federal regulatory. He's hopeful the commission acts in a "very quick time frame" to curb arbitrage "schemes" that generate carrier payments. Moderator Philip Macres of Klein Law suggested the agency could look to act in Q1. The FCC didn't comment.

A second hold placed last week on Senate confirmation of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to a full five-year term has at least considerably hindered the prospects for the chamber to approve him and Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks this year, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., placed a hold on Carr because of the FCC's decision to suspend the window for responding to Mobility Fund Phase II challenges (see 1812140047). Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, placed an ongoing hold on Carr earlier this year over concerns about FCC handling of the USF Rural Health Care Program (see 1809130059). Senate leaders intend to move the nominees as a pair.

Sprint Spectrum asked the FCC to reverse Universal Service Administrative Co. findings in an audit of the company's 2016 Form 499-A filing used to calculate USF contributions. Sprint challenged USAC's use of a "100 percent telecommunications safe harbor method" to penalize the carrier's "alleged failure to retain documentation" on a revenue allocation. "Despite Sprint’s presentation of evidence supporting the reasonableness of its allocation of bundled revenue, USAC improperly concluded that Sprint’s reported allocation was unreasonable," said the company's request for Wireline Bureau review posted Monday in docket 06-122. "It compounded that error by treating all revenue from the relevant bundle as assessable rather than applying other, more reasonable approaches." Sprint also challenged USAC "retroactively" finding "a carrier’s traffic studies are insufficient to justify the carrier’s reported revenues where the carrier had consistently filed and relied upon such traffic studies without objection from USAC." The FCC and USAC didn't comment.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and wireless carriers cheered after an FCC order persuaded the California Public Utilities Commission not to move ahead on a Jan. 10 vote on a proposal to affirm text messaging is subject to state USF and other “public purpose program” surcharges. Last week’s FCC order classifying wireless texting as an information service (see 1812120043), plus negative public attention in the media, contributed to the state agency scuttling the item, observers said. The CPUC could legally revive the plan, said NARUC and California consumer groups.

AT&T urged the FCC to modify and adopt proposed Stage 2 USF support for mobile providers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, without waiting to resolve "more complex policy issues" on Stage 2 fixed service funding. "Allocate funding between the territories based on the latest Census Bureau population figures and not based on the legacy amounts each territory received pre-hurricanes," it recommended to Wireline Bureau staffers, posted Friday in docket 18-143. Focus Stage 2 obligations on "restoration and hardening efforts and ensuring that 4G LTE is deployed throughout the mobile carrier’s pre-hurricane coverage area," it advised, asking the FCC to back off proposed service obligations. AT&T said the Stage 2 fixed fund should emulate the mobility fund and disburse support "for 2-3 years" to existing facilities-based providers to restore and harden networks. A "competitively awarded Stage 3 Fixed Fund" could then "provide funding to expand broadband service to eligible areas" unserved by an unsubsidized competitor, the company said.