The FCC's Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics on Friday released the 2026 “reasonable comparability benchmarks” for fixed voice and broadband services for eligible telecommunications carriers subject to broadband public interest obligations. ETCs must certify by July 1 that the pricing of monthly basic residential voice services isn't more than $61.29, two standard deviations above the average rate of $33.99. The survey includes broadband rates, which run from a U.S. monthly low of $98.33 ($127.58 in Alaska) for 4 Mbps service to a high of $143.93 ($175.28 in Alaska) for 2 Gbps service.

MetComm.Net is suing the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims seeking reimbursement for price-discounted IT services it provided to schools under the E-rate program. The complaint cited more than $1.5 million in services that MetComm.Net provided to dozens of schools.

The FCC should more closely scrutinize and apply tougher controls to current and future programs that reimburse telecom providers for the costs of equipment and services in schools and libraries, the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) said Wednesday in a report on lessons learned from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). The FCC will take the report’s recommendations “under consideration” when it modifies its universal service programs or implements appropriated funding programs, said Managing Director Mark Stephens and Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione in a response letter included with the report.

Network automation takes a long time to get right, but it's necessary in order to meet the needs of customers today, said Swisscom’s Francesco Pellegrini during a TelecomTV webinar Tuesday. Providers need to embrace change and not just move to updated technology, he added.

The FCC Wireline Bureau said Tuesday that after further study, the agency has again continued the two remaining Stir/Shaken implementation extensions. They cover providers that can't obtain the service provider code token necessary to participate in the Stir/Shaken framework and small voice service providers that originate calls via satellite using North American Numbering Plan numbers, the bureau said.

The nonprofit Pennsylvania Prison Society (PPS) is challenging the FCC's November prison calling reconsideration order before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 2-1 FCC decision increased rates for incarcerated people’s communications services on an interim basis (see 2512040036). In a petition for review filed last week with the 3rd Circuit (docket 25-3431), PPS said the reconsideration order also denied a PPS application for review, delaying implementation of parts of the FCC's 2024 IPCS order.

“Clear and understandable data” from an upcoming data collection on incarcerated peoples calling services is required for “just, reasonable and fairly compensatory” rate caps, said representatives from Aventiv and Securus in a Dec. 10 meeting with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 23-62 Friday. The companies also discussed the necessity of “a stable regulatory environment, coupled with consistent enforcement of rules and requirements,” the filing said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has canceled one notice of apparent liability and reached settlements with nine companies related to violations of the agency’s Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) rules, said several orders Monday. The nine settlements all involved companies that failed to provide timely information to the RND administrator on disconnected phone numbers, the orders said. Under the terms of the settlements, Claro Puerto Rico will pay $32,000, and Stratford Mutual, FiberHawk and Integrated Path will each pay $30,000. Point Broadband will pay a $27,000 settlement, while Data Network Solutions will pay $15,000, Salsgiver Telecom will pay $14,000, Palo Communications will pay $12,000 and Fort Mojave Telecommunications will pay $9,000. The bureau canceled a similar NAL against Communications Plus after finding that the company reported the disconnections, but through an affiliate.

Comments are due Jan. 5, replies Feb. 3, on the FCC’s NPRM on call branding (docket 17-59), said a public notice Monday. The NPRM, approved in October, seeks comment on proposed rules on caller ID and on requiring labels for calls that originate outside the United States (see 2510280024).

AT&T, Verizon and AST SpaceMobile haven’t provided enough information on their supplemental coverage from space (SCS) partnership to be granted waivers, and the proposed arrangement could lead to interference for other carriers, said T-Mobile, wireless groups and the Competitive Carriers Association in reply filings posted Monday in docket 25-201. “Commenters in this proceeding have expressed grave concerns about the missing information and significant flaws in AST’s application to provide SCS,” said T-Mobile. “Yet AST has either ignored those concerns or made merely performative attempts to convince the Bureaus to dismiss them.”