Broadband VI (BBVI) has received a limited waiver of the FCC's Connect USVI Fund deployment milestone rules for U.S. Virgin Islands service areas. BBVI now has until March 31 to meet the 40% deployment milestone, said a notice in Monday's Daily Digest. The FCC Wireline Bureau in its order said BBVI couldn't meet the Dec. 31 milestone deadline due to unforeseen circumstances obtaining permits for deployment. The bureau also said it was seeking comment on BBVI's waiver request, with comments due Jan. 13, replies Jan. 21, in docket 18-143.
Jessica Rosenworcel’s last open meeting as FCC chair Jan. 15 will feature a series of staff presentations about accomplishments, but no votes or orders are expected, according to a tentative agenda released Monday. Rosenworcel last month announced she plans to step down Jan. 20 (see (2411210028). “Senior Bureau, Office, and Task Force staff will lead a series of presentations” on topics that include “the agency’s work on making communications more just for more people in more places,” and “the agency’s work on national security, public safety, and protecting consumers,” the release said. Other presentations will focus on the FCC’s work expanding access to modern communications and the future of communications, the release said.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) reappoints Public Utilities Commission Chair Eric Blank to a second four-year term, effective Jan.12 … Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announces state Bureau of Audits’ Kelly Monaghan as deputy executive director … Ballard Partners hires Patrick Kilcur, ex-Motion Picture Association, as executive vice president-U.S. government affairs.
The Media Bureau has granted NAB’s request for an expedited retroactive extension of the audible crawl waiver, said an order Friday. The waiver applies from Nov. 26, 2024 -- the date of the last waiver’s expiration – until May 27, 2025, or until the FCC rules on NAB’s separate petition for a longer term waiver. Broadcasters have said that the expiration of the waiver, which had been continuously in effect since 2015, caused stations to pull radar maps from their severe weather coverage (see 2412170056). “We note that this action will maintain the status quo that existed prior to the expiration of the waiver on November 26, 2024, while the underlying petition is considered and this action does not prejudge the issues pending in that underlying petition,” the order said. Because the waiver would maintain the status quo from before it expired and no one has opposed NAB’s request, “we conclude that special circumstances warrant a further temporary waiver from this aspect of the Audible Crawl Rule for a brief period,” the order said. Though NAB asked for the temporary waiver until the FCC rules on the longer term request, the order limited it to six months because “grant of a temporary waiver that does not include a specific time period would be inconsistent with our prior actions in this area,” the order said. “Consistent with prior waivers, we continue to strongly encourage broadcasters to provide the critical details of graphically displayed emergency information in an accessible manner whenever possible during the pendency of this waiver.”
Comments are due Jan. 3, replies Jan. 10 on an application from Fiberlight of Virginia and Central Virginia Services (CVSI) to transfer RDOF support and obligations for Census Block Group No. 511139301001 from Fiberlight to CVSI, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday. CVSI maintains that it's “well-positioned to complete the required buildout for the provision of RDOF-supported broadband and voice services in advance of the deadlines established in the Commission’s RDOF rules” because the transferring census block is close to its broadband service area, the PN said. In a separate PN, the bureau is seeking comment on a related CVSI petition expanding its Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) designated service area in Virginia to include the transferring census block. “Accordingly, the expansion of CVSI’s ETC designated service area to include the Assigned CBG will be conditioned upon approval of its 214 Transfer Application,” the PN said. Comments on the ETC expansion are due Jan. 20, replies Feb. 4.
The FCC Wireline Bureau approved a limited waiver for Virginia’s RiverStreet Communications of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund milestone and noncompliance rules, relieving it of RDOF obligations to serve all eligible census blocks within the census block groups (CBGs) covered by RiverStreet’s winning bids, said an order in Friday’s Daily Digest. The order relieves RiverStreet of the obligation to serve all census blocks in New Kent County, Virginia. The relief will “prevent duplication” with buildout commitments made by Cox Communications to serve all the locations within those CBGs, the order said. The waiver “will further our interagency coordination efforts by avoiding duplication of public funding and maximizing the use of public funds to support high-speed broadband service to as many unserved consumers as possible,” it added.
Comments are due Jan. 3, replies Jan. 10 on the proposed sale by California-based Varcomm Holdings of Halsey, Oregon, local exchange carrier Roome Telecommunications to Oregon’s Alyrica Networks, said a public notice Friday. Alyrica serves 10,541 residential and business subscribers in the Philomath, Oregon, area. After the transfer, Roome would continue to exist under the same name and provide rural LEC service in the same area, the PN said. The proposed deal will be “seamless and virtually transparent to consumers of Roome” and won’t involve changes to the rates, terms and conditions of Roome’s services, Alyrica told the bureau.
Providers with more than 100,000 voice service subscriber lines must comply with FCC rules protecting the privacy of calls and texts to domestic violence hotlines by Aug. 20, 2025, said the Wireline Bureau in a public notice Friday. The PN includes database specifications that service providers will use to identify calls and text messages that are bound for domestic violence hotlines -- the November 2023 order implementing the 2022 Safe Connections Act (see 2311150042) pegged the implementation deadline to the release of the database. Smaller providers have a later deadline, defined as 14 months from publication of Friday’s PN. The bureau will later release one or more additional public notices announcing the download file naming convention for the database, the means by which Service Providers can arrange secure access to the download file, and the availability of the initial database download file for testing, the PN said.
Securus Technologies received a waiver until Sept. 1 of the incarcerated people's communications service per-minute pricing rules, according to an order in Friday's Daily Digest. The FCC Wireline Bureau said in the order it's waiving the rules while Securus completes development of a video IPCS platform that can bill on a per-minute basis.
Small and mid-sized cable operators are largely bullish about President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration and his choice of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to head the agency, expecting aggressive deregulation, ACA Connects President Grant Spellmeyer said during an interview with Communications Daily. Spellmeyer discussed the industry group's 2025 priorities, growing questions surrounding BEAD, and what one does during the lame-duck weeks before inauguration and a new administration. The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.