Consolidated Communications is planning to end legacy voice service for more than 36,000 subscribers in six states as soon as Jan. 27. In a series of FCC applications posted Thursday, Consolidated said that in each case, it has overbuilt its copper network with fiber and will transition residential subscribers of its basic local exchange services to a VoIP replacement. To be transitioned are 4,176 subscribers in six exchanges in Pennsylvania, 13,624 subscribers in 11 exchanges in Texas, 4,701 subscribers in five exchanges in Illinois, 8,490 subscribers in 38 New England exchanges in Maine and New Hampshire, and 5,147 subscribers in 17 Vermont exchanges, Consolidated said.

Alphabet's Starfish Infrastructure is planning a private, non-common carrier subsea fiber-optic cable system connecting the U.S. to Bermuda, the Azores and Spain. Sol would be the first cable system connecting Florida to Southern Europe and the second directly connecting the U.S. to the Azores, Starfish told the FCC in an application Wednesday. It said demand for additional capacity between the U.S. and Southern Europe "continues to increase substantially each year."

Top NTCA officials met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty on the group’s regulatory agenda, said a filing Thursday in 13-5 and other dockets. “NTCA highlighted association priorities … including the importance of effective universal service programs and regulatory certainty in serving rural America and the need for further enhancements and refinements to the National Broadband Map,” it said.

Comments are due Sept. 25 in docket 25-264 on AT&T's proposal to stop accepting applications for optical carrier network point-to-point and LightGate special access services everywhere they’re still available across the company’s 21-state legacy wireline footprint (see 2509030009), said a Wireline Bureau notice Wednesday. The bureau also sought comment by Sept. 25 in docket 25-265 on a similar proposal by GCI on local exchange service, “marketed as Basic Phone Service, Business Voice, No Limits Home Calling” serving Cordova, Alaska. “GCI is a nondominant provider in Cordova with respect to the services to be discontinued, and local telephone exchange services and voice calling are available from other carriers,” the provider said in a filing earlier this month.

The FCC Wireline Bureau has ordered seven phone companies to repay a total of over $9 million to the USF after audits showed insufficient recordkeeping and noncompliance with accounting requirements related to the companies' efforts to fulfill their USF obligations, according to orders and a news release Wednesday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in the release that the agency needs “to closely scrutinize USF support payments” to “ensure funding is used to efficiently connect rural households and businesses.”

NCTA is urging the FCC to consider mandatory deadlines for review of rights-of-way permits related to broadband deployments. In a recap of its meeting with staffers of Chairman Brendan Carr, posted Tuesday (docket 17-84), NCTA also endorsed prohibiting moratoriums on rights-of-way access and not allowing "onerous requirements or conditions" to get right-of-way permits.

Comments are due Sept. 22, replies Sept. 29, on Spectrotel’s proposed purchase of Mosaic NetworX, said a public notice Monday in docket 25-244. Mosaic NetworX offers telecom services in 15 states, including Virginia, Illinois, Michigan and California. Spectrotel is a competitive local exchange carrier that provides resold voice and IP-based data services across the U.S., the notice said.

Comments are due Oct. 6, replies Oct. 20, on the business data services NPRM that FCC commissioners approved 3-0 last month (see 2508110054), said a Wireline Bureau notice Friday in dockets 21-17 and 17-144.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has given ClearCaptions the go-ahead to forgo the volume-control reset requirement for wireline phones. People with hearing loss won't have to turn the volume back up on ClearCaptions phones covered by the waiver before using them again, said the order (docket 18-307).

Fiber is available to more than half of all broadband serviceable locations (BSL) in the U.S., CostQuest Associates said in a report Thursday. Each release of the FCC's broadband coverage map sees a drop in the number of locations without fiber coverage, it noted, adding that between the first version, released in June 2022, and the most recent one, 35.7% more BSLs have fiber. There was a 6.9% increase in the past six months, between Versions 5 and 6 of the map. AT&T is the single largest fiber provider in the U.S., reaching 15% of BSLs, CostQuest said.