Telecom companies urged the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to reject the defense of the California Public Utilities Commission in a dispute over whether a CPUC division violated the court’s preliminary injunction banning disclosure of FCC Form 477 and other data to third parties. The form includes information about phone and broadband deployment that AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs say is confidential. Last week, the CPUC said it didn’t violate the ban because its Office of Ratepayer Advocates disclosed to an agent of the ORA, and did so before the May 20 injunction (see 1607130019). But the telecom companies rejected the argument in a reply (in Pacer) Tuesday. “None of the CPUC’s arguments in response has merit,” the companies said. CPUC disclosed to a third party, not an employee, and the court has “ample authority” to enforce its ban, they said. “The Eleventh Amendment, in particular, poses no barrier to an order enforcing (or clarifying) the preliminary injunction as Plaintiffs have requested.”

The FCC should clarify state enforcement powers in its Lifeline order, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said in a petition posted in the federal agency's docket 10-90 Wednesday. The FCC should clarify (1) states’ role in enforcement and consumer protection pertaining to Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs), (2) notice requirements and (3) outstanding compliance plans filed with the FCC pursuant to the 2012 Lifeline and Link-Up reform order, it said. The FCC should recognize state authority to enforce federal and state law and may engage in ordinary enforcement activities and consumer protections even if the eligible telecom companies are FCC-designated LBPs, the PUC said. Alternatively, the FCC should at least require LBPs to provide notification and register with the appropriate state agency, it said. Notice requirements could be written like those for VoIP providers seeking direct access to numbering resources, it said. FCC action on outstanding compliance plans will assist the Pennsylvania commission in its monitoring of voice-only and mixed voice and broadband service providers, it said.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said states should find answers to cyberthreats, as he took the chair of the National Governors Association for the 2016-17 year. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) will be vice chairman, the association said in a news release Saturday. “Cyber crime is a growing threat to our states, territories and our nation,” McAuliffe said. “As governors, we must be prepared to combat this threat in order to protect the welfare of our citizens.” Under the initiative, states will develop strategies to strengthen cybersecurity practices, NGA said. Over the next year, McAuliffe plans to host several regional summits on the subject with state policy leaders, industry officials and federal partners, concluding with the National Summit on State Cybersecurity in Virginia, it said. McAuliffe hosted his first cyber roundtable Tuesday in Fairfax, Virginia, with a panel of CEOs discussing the intersection of cybersecurity and healthcare, the NGA said.

One out of 8 Tennesseans doesn’t have access to high-speed broadband, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development said in an announcement Tuesday. The department released a study that found 13 percent of the state, or 834,545 people, lack access to broadband at the FCC standard of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds. The report estimated it would cost nearly $1.2 billion to build fiber-to-the-premise to that 13 percent. A less expensive technology approach using a combination of fiber and fixed wireless would cost about $491.7 million, it said. The department sent the report to Gov. Bill Haslam (R), the General Assembly, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the telecom industry and others, it said. “The information in this report is a starting point to advance the conversation about broadband access in our state,” Haslam said. “An internal working group will review the report and have discussions with stakeholders to develop potential solutions to close the gap on broadband access in Tennessee.” In commissioning the report, the state government sought to “establish benchmarks on broadband access in Tennessee,” the department’s Commissioner Randy Boyd said. “We need to evaluate these options and begin a meaningful dialogue.” The state department commissioned Strategic Networks Group and NEO Connect to do the survey of more than 23,000 Tennessee residents and businesses between January and March. Tennessee and North Carolina have a lawsuit against the FCC for pre-empting state restrictions on municipal broadband (see 1606210036). North Carolina released a broadband study last month (see 1606220032).

The California Public Utilities Commission extended by two months the deadline for a rulemaking to revamp the California High Cost Fund-A program, which provides subsidies to 13 small rural LECs for basic phone service. The public utility code requires quasi-legislative cases to be resolved with 18 months but allows the CPUC to extend it by 60 days at most. The new deadline is Oct. 7. The CPUC seeks to update the program in response to market, regulatory and technological changes since the fund was established in 1987, it said in an order issued Friday. “Due to the complexity of this proceeding, a second phase will be required.” Second-phase topics include the applicability of rate of return as a regulatory framework for RLECs, alternative forms of regulation including one based on incentives, whether competition tests should include all technologies and a review of the commission’s preliminary conclusion not to open areas served by the small RLECs to competition, the state commission said.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans to probe Verizon in Feb. 6-8 hearings for the state’s investigation of the company’s copper service quality (see 1606160054), the commission said last week. The public hearings start at 10 a.m. each day at PUC headquarters, with Administrative Law Judge Joel Cheskis presiding.

Indiana plans to invest $1 billion over 10 years to spur innovation and entrepreneurship, said a state news release. Before he was announced Friday as the running mate to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Gov. Mike Pence outlined the state innovation plan Thursday at the Innovation Showcase in Indianapolis. The plan focuses on collaboration among government, communities, the private sector and education and research institutions, and includes matching funds and tax credits for early-stage and mid-market startups, the state said.

With its universal service fund quickly depleting, the Utah Public Service Commission tentatively decided to increase its USF surcharge to 1.65 percent from 1 percent of billed intrastate retail rates, said a notice in Friday's Utah State Bulletin. The rule change may become effective Aug. 22, though the PSC could change its decision after comments are filed Aug. 15. If no change is made, the rate would increase Oct. 1, the Bulletin said. The new rate is “intended to function as an interim solution to address the current funding deficiency in the least disruptive way possible, and to allow time for the Utah Legislature to consider other changes to the fund,” it said. The Utah Division of Public Utilities last month urged a revamp of the state USF contribution method, saying without a change, the fund balance could dip $3 million this year and run out completely by early 2017 (see 1606210035). The DPU had recommended moving to a charge of 32 cents per line. But a Legislature committee “expressed interested in more fundamental changes to the Utah Universal Service Fund,” the State Bulletin said. Revenue from contributions to state USFs has declined in multiple jurisdictions, our survey has found (see 1607010010).

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-1 to provide a $1.49 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund to Inyo Networks for a fiber-to-the-premises last-mile network in the underserved Nicasio area of western Marin County, California. Also at the commission’s Thursday meeting, CPUC unanimously approved an environmental review that authorized the release of a $2 million CASF grant funding to TDS Telecom for a project that will extend fiber internet to 15 square miles covering the Winterhaven community and other areas of unincorporated Imperial County, including the Quechan Indian Reservation. The commission also signed off on staff comments to be submitted to the FCC docket 16-145 on the transition from text telephone (TTY) technology to real-time text (see 1607110058).

Facing phone number exhaustion in the 323 area code by Q2, the California Public Utilities Commission signed off Thursday on a plan to remove a boundary between two area codes in Los Angeles. By allowing 213 and 323 to be used in the same geographic region, the CPUC took a different approach to traditional area code overlays where a new code is added to an existing geographic area, it said in a news release. Customers will retain existing phone numbers, but starting July 2017 will be required to dial 1 plus the three-digit area code for all calls to and from 213 and 323 area codes, CPUC said. The North American Numbering Plan Administrator came up with the plan “because of the unique geography of the 323 area code,” CPUC said. “Alternatives, such as an overlay for just the 323 or a further split of the 323 area code, were not considered as both would require the introduction of a third area code in Los Angeles.” CPUC ordered a public education plan to explain the overlay to users.