The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission said CenturyLink didn’t submit enough evidence for its petition for deregulation. The ILEC asked the PUC June 30 to be regulated instead as a CLEC, but the Minnesota Attorney General and the state Department of Commerce said the company’s petition wasn’t complete (see 1608300025). The PUC agreed in an order Wednesday in docket 16-496. The commission directed CenturyLink to submit number-porting records to show loss of local voice customers to competitors, plus evidence “it serves fewer than 50 percent of the households in each exchange service area, and that at least 60 percent of households in each exchange service area can choose voice service from at least one additional unaffiliated competitive service provider.” The 180-day statutory shot clock to review the petition will start on the day CenturyLink completes the petition, the PUC said. A CenturyLink spokeswoman said, "We plan to refile the petition with the additional information the commission requested soon."

A federal court denied motions for judgment by all parties in a dispute over whether a state commission may disclose confidential subscriber data to third parties. AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to stop the California Public Utilities Commission from enforcing a May 3 ruling compelling ISPs to disclose subscriber data to The Utility Reform Network (TURN) or other third parties as part of a state investigation of market competition (see 1610240017). The CPUC’s decision to disclose data to third parties under a protective order “does not, in itself, conflict with federal policy,” Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in the Thursday order (in Pacer). But the protective order must be strong, and the CPUC and TURN “have not yet demonstrated that the protective order adequately guards against public disclosure of commercially sensitive data that would cause competitive harm to the companies,” he said. “If it does not adequately guard against this type of disclosure, there is at least a possibility it could be preempted.” The judge scheduled a telephonic case management conference for Nov. 22 at 2:30 p.m. to discuss how to adjudicate that remaining issue and asked parties to submit statements on the issue by Nov. 15. TURN supports the ruling because it "should help the CPUC and other state commissions conduct meaningful investigations to ensure its telecom customers have fair and meaningful access to high quality telecom services," emailed TURN Staff Attorney Christine Mailloux. "We take confidentiality seriously and are confident that the CPUC's process more than adequately protects carrier data." The California commission "will respond to the court as requested," a CPUC spokeswoman said.

AT&T supported consolidating its lawsuit against Nashville with Comcast’s suit against the city on the Nashville one-touch, make-ready ordinance. The city Friday filed a motion (in Pacer) to combine the cases. AT&T responded (in Pacer) Wednesday that it doesn’t oppose consolidation as long as it doesn’t cause a delay in the case. The judge in the Comcast suit, Jeffery Frensley, took a step toward consolidation Tuesday, reassigning his case to the judges in the AT&T suit. “It appears that this action is related to another action,” Frensley wrote in an order (in Pacer) Tuesday. Monday, the FCC supported a one-touch, make ready policy in Louisville, Kentucky, which is fighting separate cases by AT&T and Charter Communications (see 1610310053).

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission directed Lifeline eligible telecom carriers to recertify customer bases to align with updated eligibility rules in the FCC order that added broadband as a supported service. ETCs should amend tariffs no later than Dec. 1, the PUC said in a Thursday order. ETCs should amend marketing material to reflect the revised eligibility programs and income levels, it said. USTelecom and some states sought waivers to postpone the December deadline for aligning state rules with the federal changes (see 1611020045).

The California Public Utilities Commission pitched a citation program for communications providers for safety violations. The draft resolution, set for a possible Dec. 1 commission vote, would allow CPUC Safety and Enforcement Division staff to assess penalties for safety violations committed by the providers. The division can do that already for other industries, but lengthy formal proceedings are currently required for communications providers, CPUC said. “A citation program for communications providers would encourage companies to proactively identify and repair violations to communication facilities to avoid penalties, and to self-report potential violations to potentially reduce or avoid penalties,” CPUC said in a news release. Facilities include any equipment attached to a pole or other support structure shared by utilities. The proposal would cap fines at $8 million. Comments are due Nov. 17, replies Nov. 22. CPUC President Michael Picker hinted at the proposal at the commission’s Oct. 13 meeting (see 1610130059).

New York state officials cited wide support for the state's request for expedited waiver of Connect America Fund requirements that Phase II broadband subsidy support in New York be awarded through competitive bidding. But some in the industry said in replies posted in FCC docket 10-90 that legal issues remain. Empire State Development Corp. is seeking a waiver that would allow it to tap federal CAF II support, declined by Verizon in New York, to help fund the state's own reverse auction of broadband subsidies for the same areas targeted by the FCC auction (see 1610260057). “The minimal opposition to the Petition was based on inaccurate factual and legal assertions of the waiver request and the many public interest benefits it would bring,” New York said. ViaSat said the record confirms legal barriers to granting the request. The waiver sought by New York is inconsistent with federal universal service policy and the statute governing federal USF distribution, the company said. The American Cable Association said the petition has “many potential benefits” for spreading broadband, but opposed it as “legally infirm” and suggested New York reconsider. USTelecom cautioned the FCC not to lose a national focus. It said the agency "must ensure that it balances any equitable allocation of CAF funds among the states, with the need to ensure the overall integrity of the CAF fund.”

Harris Corp. got a $700 million, seven-year contract in Florida to provide a state communications network connecting public safety, law enforcement, public schools and other state and local government agencies, Harris said in a news release Monday. The contract includes seven one-year options, Harris said. MyFloridaNet-2 will link more than 4,000 sites and provide about 4,700 connections through a secure statewide communications infrastructure, Harris said. The company's "teammates" on MFN-2 program include FPL FiberNet, CenturyLink, Level 3, Southern Light and Verizon. CenturyLink is buying Level 3 (see 1610310033).

California wants another year to align its state LifeLine program with the updated federal low-income program, the California Public Utilities Commission said Friday. In a petition in docket 11-42, the CPUC said California, like some other states, won’t make the FCC’s Dec. 2 deadline for implementing parts of its order adding broadband internet access service as a supported service in the program (see 1610210046). The CPUC asked for a temporary waiver to implement rules and processes by Oct. 31, 2017. The California LifeLine administrator and providers “have informed the CPUC that they need 11 to 18 months to make these changes to their systems,” the CPUC said: “Because so many California Lifeline subscribers will be affected by the changes to the federal rules, the CPUC, the Administrator, and service providers must carefully plan, implement, and test the changes before rolling them out.” Cox Communications supported the CPUC petition last week (see 1610240024). Some states have sued the FCC over the Lifeline order (see 1610120050). Earlier last week, the CPUC OK’d an order allowing uncertified fixed VoIP carriers to voluntarily participate in California LifeLine. The companies will be able to participate even if they don’t have a certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate in California, the CPUC said in the proposal (see 1609280017). “By adding fixed-VoIP services to the LifeLine Program, we are furthering our goal of achieving technological neutrality across platforms and providing more choices for consumers,” CPUC President Michael Picker said in a news release Thursday. “We also adopted service elements that will preserve essential consumer protections and ensure that minimum voice communication needs are met, regardless of income.” Meanwhile, the Arizona Corporation Commission OK’d three wireless companies to receive federal funds for providing or expanding Lifeline service for low-income residents, the ACC said in a Friday news release. Under its authority to designate eligible telecom carriers, the state commission signed off on an application by Tag Mobile to be designated as an ETC for mostly rural areas of Arizona, and applications by i-Wireless and Telrite to expand services deeper into rural areas, the ACC said.

AT&T warned about possibly long implementation for some universal service fund contribution reform options, in a phone call with a state member of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. AT&T Executive Director-State and Legislative Affairs Jolynn Butler Friday phoned Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman Sally Talberg, said an AT&T ex parte letter posted Wednesday in docket 06-122. “The Joint Board should be mindful of the relative administrative ease and costs associated with the various options for contribution methodology reform,” AT&T said. “Some changes to the contribution methodology would entail longer implementation periods than others.”

Recent FCC edits to procedures for accessing nonpublic Form 477 subscription data don’t change that the agency “has exclusive authority over all decision-making regarding the dissemination of Form 477 data,” Comcast told a federal court. What states may do with carriers’ Form 477 data has been central to a dispute between telecom companies and the California Public Utilities Commission and The Utility Reform Network in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. A TURN attorney said the FCC modifications supported its side (see 1610130061), but Comcast disagreed Friday in a letter (in Pacer) to U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. “Federal law bars the CPUC from unilaterally ordering Plaintiffs to share their Form 477 data with third parties (regardless of the terms of any protective order that the CPUC fashions to govern this forced disclosure),” Comcast wrote.