By the time the dust settled Friday, at least 500 “expressions of interest” were submitted by rural telecom providers eager to expand broadband service. That was the date when rural ISPs, telcos and others could respond to the FCC’s open-ended call for expressions of interest to get funding money to be used for experiments. The filings were still trickling into FCC docket 10-90 Tuesday, as companies and associations asked for anywhere from a few tens of thousands of dollars, to several tens of millions of dollars. “Comlink LLC. requests $240 M in funding from the Connect America Fund in payments over four years at 25% of the total amount per year,” said a typical filing (http://bit.ly/1giAcrN). The FCC has contemplated a total funding amount of $50 million-$100 million for rural broadband experiments (CD March 7 p2).

The “dynamic of serially escalating rates for local telephone services that reach far fewer consumers than in urban areas will, if anything, almost certainly prompt more consumers in rural areas to seek in the near term to ‘cut the cord’ and obtain only fixed broadband service,” NTCA told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1cuWHdp). This development “underscores the need to solve once and for all” the increased broadband costs for consumers who choose to end voice service in high-cost areas served by smaller rate-of-return regulated LECs, NTCA said.

The FCC should consider “immediately” referring several issues to the appropriate federal-state Joint Board, NARUC told an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1cuZqUi). USF contribution reform and a replacement model for implementation of Connect America Phase II should be sent to the joint board, NARUC said. The FCC’s “reluctance, through multiple administrations,” to classify VoIP service as either a telecom service or “something else,” has caused “significant costs to industry and rate payers,” NARUC said.

Neustar initiated a “formal dispute” Friday before the North American Numbering Council (NANC) regarding the Local Number Portability Administrator request for proposal and selection process (http://bit.ly/PkXEen). Neustar challenged the acceptance of “at least one untimely initial proposal” and the “failure to call for an additional round of proposals,” said the letter sent to NANC Chairman Betty Ann Kane. The parties that failed to submit proposals in compliance with applicable deadlines “should be disqualified” and another round of proposals should be solicited, Neustar said. “Failure to seek additional proposals in response to Neustar’s request is contrary to the interests of consumers and the industry at large. Such a decision deprives the Commission of a complete record and full evaluation of all qualified proposals.”

The FCC International Bureau granted AT&T’s unopposed petition requesting enforcement of the benchmark rate of 19 cents per minute for international traffic on the U.S.-Fiji route terminated with Fiji’s ILEC Fintel. A Friday bureau order found AT&T had been unable to negotiate benchmark-compliant rates with Fintel on the route since November 2011.

The National Exchange Carrier Association filed its revised cost allocation manual reflecting changes that occurred during 2013, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Monday (http://bit.ly/1isq4vn). NECA said it made these changes to improve reporting accountability and more accurately reflect cost pools, the notice said. Comments in docket 14-01 are due April 9, replies April 24.

Cisco WebEx made a “good faith effort to report the revenue derived from WebEx sessions conducted entirely by phone as telecommunications revenue,” Cisco told FCC Wireline Bureau officials, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/MUPw27). Cisco has challenged a Universal Service Administrative Co. ruling that audio communication portions of the WebEx conferencing service should be considered a telecom service (CD May 20 p6). Because WebEx is a “tightly integrated information service,” Cisco could not “simply identify audio-only WebEx usage” and therefore “could only devise an over-inclusive proxy” that reported minutes from WebEx sessions initiated by telephone, and minutes from “call legs that joined a WebEx session before an online meeting has started,” it said. “This proxy illustrates the tightly-integrated nature of WebEx service."

The public notice Thursday seeking “focused comment” on E-rate modernization (CD Mar 7 p16) “bodes poorly for real reform,” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Friday: “Reform should mean eliminating the priority system that arbitrarily favors some technologies over others. Yet the Public Notice doubles down on it. Reform should mean abolishing the discount matrix that encourages wasteful spending by well-funded districts and consistently underfunds small, rural schools and libraries. Yet the Public Notice builds on it. And although the Public Notice mentions streamlining the administrative process, the proposals to do so (such as making ’simple changes’ to the existing forms or changing ‘invoicing deadlines') are overwhelmed by proposals that would saddle our nation’s teachers and librarians with more paperwork.” Pai suggested the FCC advance a “concrete proposal” in a further notice of proposed rulemaking. “If the Commission needs to focus comment on an issue,” it should do so in a way that complies with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, he said: “The Wireline Competition Bureau cannot propose new rules."

Verizon Business is seeking permission to “grandfather DS0 private line service” so that no new customers can purchase the service, it told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1g6Kpaz). DS0 service offers speeds of 64 kbps or less. Pan Am Railways and National Fuel Gas Co., which have raised concerns about the loss of that service, “would be able to retain their DS0 private line service in accordance with their contractual terms and conditions,” Verizon said. “Granting Verizon Business’s application to grandfather DS0 private line service is in the public interest,” it said. “Existing customers can continue to purchase the service, but no new customers for this outdated legacy service will be accepted."

"Functional equivalency should be the filter” through which all telecom relay service program actions are assessed, several deaf and hard-of-hearing associations told FCC officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1cIAfIP). Workshops and summits on topics such as deaf-blind and deaf and mobile-disabled matters could help increase functional equivalency, said the groups including Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, American Association of the Deaf-Blind and the Hearing Loss Association of America. Review panels on technology and service issues could also help, they said.