Network failures in Ind. and Me. earlier this week left thousands of Verizon customers without normal phone service. In Ind., 20,000 Verizon customers in Richmond, Randolph County and parts of Wayne and Jay Counties lost service, including 911, for about 6 hours Wed. afternoon when a contractor working on a water line along a highway severed a Verizon underground cable. Verizon said the cable had been marked but there were no flags where the contractor was digging. In Me., an electronics failure late Tues. afternoon killed several thousand Verizon customers’ interexchange service for about 5 hours in parts of Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin counties. The outage, which affected 911, long- distance voice and Internet access, activated a backup system that routed all 911 calls from local switches to the state police.

A gas utility repair crew working on a gas line near Hartford, Wis., severed an underground Verizon fiber cable, knocking out long distance service Fri. in the eastern Wis. counties of Sheboygan, Dodge, Minitowoc, Ozaukee and Washington. The 9 a.m. mishap was repaired by 2 p.m. The cable cut affected long distance voice and Internet access, but local service and 911 systems weren’t affected.

Verizon in N.Y. and Qwest in Ia. suffered service outages hitting thousands after outside crews accidentally cut buried cables. Starting Mon. up to 5,000 Verizon customers in the eastern part of Watertown, N.Y., and adjacent Rutland and Tylerville lost phone service for up to 3 days. The snafu was the work of city contractors breaking pavement to rebuild Watertown’s public square. They cut 2 Verizon copper cables. Service was fully restored by Wed. night. Outlying areas were restored by Tues., but it took most of Wed. to restore service inside the city. Affected customers couldn’t make any calls, including to 911, but the 911 system itself wasn’t impaired and 911 calls placed from cellphones went through. In Ia., crews laying underground cable to connect OmniTel cellular towers Mon. afternoon sliced a Qwest fiber cable, knocking out interexchange service in Charles City, Nashua and most of Floyd County. The cable cut caused loss of all long distance connections, plus spotty local and cellular service outages. The cut disrupted 911 service across Floyd County and impaired Internet access, but most local emergency numbers still worked. OmniTel blamed the mishap on Qwest agents who erred in making the line’s location. Service was restored by Tues. afternoon.

Cal. PUC Comr. Geoffrey Brown, presiding over a 911 complaint case, said AT&T and Cox Telecom may have conducted improper ex-parte communications with personal advisors to PUC members regarding motions to stay the complaint proceeding. At issue is a complaint by consumer group UCAN alleging AT&T and Cox violated PUC requirements that all phone connections be able to connect 911 calls, regardless of whether there is an active customer account for that line. According to Brown, on June 15 a meeting occurred between AT&T and Cox officials and a PUC member’s advisors at which the companies allegedly discussed a motion to stay this complaint case until it was determined if the PUC would address the companies’ joint motion, in the PUC’s general local competition rulemaking, to address all local providers’ 911 “warm line” obligations. Brown gave the companies until Fri. to report all direct or indirect contacts with any PUC decision-maker in connection with the complaint case, and told UCAN to file any information it has about the alleged improper ex-parte contacts. He set a July 7 hearing on the ex-parte filings. The complaint case itself is set for hearings July 31.

Senate Commerce Committee negotiations on a hefty manager’s amendment to pending telecom reform legislation were expected to continue “well into the night and tomorrow,” a committee spokesman told us Wed. The committee is scheduled to markup Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) 3rd draft of the bill today (Thurs.). Some Hill watchers said the marathon meeting could spill into next week. The broad draft contains hot topics like net neutrality and preemption of state wireless regulation (CD June 21 p1), as well as issues like video franchising and Universal Service Fund (USF) reform.

The FCC Wed. placed universal service obligations on VoIP providers, setting a “safe harbor” of 64.9% of interstate revenue for their payments -- a figure based on the percentage of interstate revenue wireline toll providers report. The FCC also raised the wireless safe harbor from 28.5% to 37.1%. As wireless carriers already can, VoIP operators will be able to submit traffic study data to show they should pay less than the safe harbor percentages. FCC officials declined to comment on whether they will impose new rules on how such studies should be done.

Decades of the Universal Service Fund contributed to 98% of U.S. households having phone service. This includes 88% of low-income households. But that feat hasn’t come cheaply, especially with the addition of the costly E-rate program that connects schools and libraries to the Internet. During 1998-2005, the USF spent $37.8 billion, according to the National Regulatory Research Institute, which pegs fiscal 2006 USF outlays at $7.3 billion. In fiscal 2006, requests for school and library funding alone will total $3.55 billion to be disbursed among 39,416 applicants, the Universal Service Administration Co. reported (CD March 22 p11).

E-911 officials in Polk County, Fla., an Orlando suburb, blamed Verizon for delaying county efforts to be the metro area’s first local govt. to replace Verizon’s E-911 database management with county management. Verizon says it has good reason to delay. Polk officials said the change will lop about $500,000 off the annual 911 budget and improve database accuracy. But Verizon has balked at supplying number and address data they need because the change would cut the county payment to Verizon to $252,000 a year from $732,000, they said. Verizon, which claims the issue is liability, not money, said it wants to address “irregular” numbers such as numbers in Polk County exchanges serving buildings in adjacent counties. Verizon said it doesn’t want to be liable if a 911 call goes to the wrong county. Verizon said it needs to know how the Polk-run database will route irregular numbers before it delivers the data. County officials said they are studying the abnormal numbers and will meet with Verizon next month to discuss options.

An La. House committee advanced a Senate-passed 911 bill that would allow Orleans Parish to collect an extra 911 fee of up to $1 per residential line and $2 per business line to fund the rebuilding of metro New Orleans 911 facilities devastated by last year’s hurricanes. The extra fee in SB- 747 would be in force through 2009, but after that the 911 service board would have to vote on whether to return the levy to the current level.

More than 75% of U.S. residents have “phase 2” wireless E-911 service, up 8% from Dec., the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said Tues. Phase 2 E-911 service sends caller telephone numbers and locations to appropriate Public Safety Answering Points. This is a “certainly welcome,” but many people, mostly in rural areas, still don’t get this critical service, said NENA Pres. David Jones. Funding is the problem, which is why a grant program legislated in the 2004 Enhance 911 Act should be implemented, NENA said.