NTIA will attempt to resolve issues raised in draft language of voluntary best practices for drone use (see 1512240007) -- developed through an ongoing multistakeholder process -- during a meeting later this month. The drone multistakeholder meeting will take place Feb. 24, 1 to 5 p.m. EST, and discussion will focus on identifying "a path toward consensus on any remaining issues," John Verdi, NTIA privacy initiatives director, said in an email to stakeholders Friday. The meeting will be held at the American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave. NW.

Three small video relay service providers pushed the FCC to raise and freeze their VRS compensation rate, which would otherwise drop further from its current $4.82 per minute under ongoing agency rate cuts. ASL Services Holdings, Convo Communications and Hancock Jahn asked for the relief in recent meetings or calls with commission officials, according to filings they posted Thursday in docket 10-51. In a Further NPRM, the FCC proposed a 16-month freeze, partially retroactive, from July 1, 2015, to Oct. 31, 2016, at a previous $5.29 per minute rate for small (“Tier I,” with fewer than 500,000 calling minutes per month) VRS providers (see 1511030064). The small VRS providers said the relief was justified by their costs, and the matter was urgent. Smaller providers face various financial and operational challenges that prevent them from gaining market share, much less becoming profitable, and don't have the same economies of scale as larger incumbents, ASL Services said. Its officials "concluded that unless the Commission can affirmatively compensate smaller providers in accordance with their service costs and implement other needed reforms to enable smaller providers to meaningfully compete, that the smaller providers will be forced to exit the provision of VRS, resulting in a severe limitation on consumer choice and services to underserved communities." The FCC should immediately "stabilize Tier I Providers and move toward a more appropriate rate-setting and transparency methodology," Hancock Jahn said. Convo believes the FCC has all the information it needs to freeze the Tier I rate, including that the company "began and ended 2015 with a total allowable costs per-minute which was higher than the applicable compensation rate." The commission should act "in the next few days," given the providers' need for lead time in planning operations, particularly given the "significant differential" between their allowable costs and the lower rate that took effect on Jan. 1, Convo said.

Great Lakes Comnet told a federal court it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief, which it said triggered an automatic stay of separate judicial proceedings and other actions against the company, absent approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan (Great Lakes Comnet, Inc. et al, No. 16-00290). The automatic stay covers the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's review of GLC’s challenge to an FCC order siding with AT&T on an intercarrier compensation dispute, GLC said in a notice filed Thursday in that court (Great Lakes Comnet v. FCC, No. 15-1064). Neither the bankruptcy court nor the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan has issued an order lifting the stay that would allow the FCC case to proceed, said GLC, which was joined in the case by its subsidiary Westphalia Telephone Co. (WTC). GLC said it wouldn't take part in any proceedings on its FCC case while the stay is in effect but reserved the right to move to vacate any related judgments that violate the stay. In a recent sworn declaration in support of its Chapter 11 petition, GLC CEO John Summersett said AT&T “resorted to self-help to collect on the judgment it hopes to attain in the future” even though the FCC hadn't resolved damages issues. “To date, GLC estimates that AT&T has taken by way of setoff or withheld payment on invoices totaling over $24,000,000,” he said. “Some of this was billed under the disputed tariff, but AT&T continues, without explanation, to withhold amounts billed by GLC and WTC under the new, undisputed tariff.” AT&T and the FCC had no comment. In briefs to the D.C. Circuit last year, GLC said the FCC erred in finding the company was a CLEC, among other arguments (see 1508190065 and 1511050035). In response, the commission said it reasonably determined that GLC met the definition of a CLEC and that its tariffed rates violated a CLEC benchmark rule (see 1510060033).

Verizon asked the FCC for "prompt assistance" after Florida Power & Light threatened to disrupt service to Verizon's customers by terminating its pole-attachment rights over a payment dispute, the telco said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-73 that included a Jan. 29 letter from FPL. Verizon said FPL also notified Frontier Communications of its "service disruption plan in yet another transparent attempt to use the pending transaction as leverage in this ongoing rate dispute." (Frontier's buy of Verizon's wireline systems in Florida and two other states awaits final approval.) In its letter, FPL said Verizon has been paying the electric utility only 25 percent of a rate agreed upon in a contract. "If Verizon wishes to continue to enjoy the benefits of access to FPL's poles, Verizon must comply with the contract," FPL said. Unless Verizon makes full payment within 60 days, it will be in default and FPL will terminate the telco's "rights to attach to any of its poles," the utility said. Verizon said it was not in default because it's appealing a Florida state court order on the contract dispute. "Verizon cannot be in default until this proceeding is resolved," it said. Verizon said FPL is trying to delay FCC action on a Verizon pole-attachment complaint, and it urged the commission to resolve the matter as soon as possible. FPL didn't comment.

The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee is to hear from Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn at a Friday meeting of the committee, according to an agenda. Other scheduled speakers include Alison Kutler, acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and three of her deputy chiefs. Among the topics of later staff presentations are "Robocalls and Federal Debt Collection: New TCPA Amendment," a "CGB Outreach and Consumer Update," an "Incentive Auction Update," and sessions on a Lifeline USF recommendation and the new fcc.gov site.

FCC pole-attachment rules to cut telco rates and restrain cable rates take effect April 1 after being published in Wednesday's Federal Register. The commission issued the rules in November in an order in docket 07-245 that was approved unanimously (see 1511240071). In response to an NCTA petition for reconsideration of a 2011 order, the FCC adjusted cost allocators for telecom carriers covering "poles with 2 attaching entities (0.31 percent of costs) and 4 attaching entities (0.56 percent of cost)," the order said: "When the average number of attaching entities is a fraction, the percentage cost allocator will be located between the whole numbers at the point where it most closely approximates the cost used in the cable rate formula." The FCC said the flexible cost allocators should more fully realize its intent in 2011 to bring parity to pole-attachment rates at the cable rate formula level. "The Commission also adopts this definition of cost to prevent pole owners from charging cable operators that also provide telecommunications service (including broadband Internet access service) pole attachment rental rates that can be approximately 70 percent higher than the cable rate under its existing rules," the order said.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau indefinitely extended a waiver for “a narrow class of e-readers” of accessibility rules for advanced communications services (ACS), said an order released Monday and included in the next day's Daily Digest. “We conclude that this narrow class of e-readers, while capable of accessing ACS, continues to be designed primarily for reading text-based digital works, not for ACS.” The waiver was originally granted in 2014, and extended in 2015. “Commencing three years from the release date of this Order, we will conduct a review of the status and accessibility of ACS provided on the class of e-readers subject to the waiver,” the order said.

Correction: Mutually exclusive FM translator applications filed during the FCC AM-only window will be decided through an agreement between the parties, not an auction (see 1602010059).

While a recent FCC report indicating broadband isn't being rolled out broadly enough or quickly enough to meet a statutory deployment mandate (see 1601280064) got much attention, another recent FCC report comparing U.S. broadband rollout with other parts of the world (see 1602010071) deserves more, NCTA said in a blog post Tuesday. "The FCC’s international report demonstrates that American broadband performance is well ahead of our friends in Europe," NCTA said. "So notwithstanding the doom and gloom that was on display at the FCC’s meeting last week ... the state of U.S. broadband continues to be extremely strong." Given that, NCTA said, "The FCC’s conclusion that deployment in the U.S. is not reasonable and timely is hard to fathom. It does not seem too much to ask that the FCC take its own factual findings seriously rather than continuing to perpetuate the fiction that American broadband is languishing." The FCC didn't comment.

The USF contribution factor for carriers could drop in Q2 to 17.6 percent of interstate and international telecom revenue, but it could be higher if industry revenue declines continue, said industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg in an email update Monday. The Q1 factor is 18.2 percent (see 1512110040), which Gregg accurately estimated once Universal Service Administrative Co. came out with revenue projections (see 1512040003). USAC Monday projected USF demand for Q2 would be $2.211 billion, down $65.5 million, Gregg said. "Out of period adjustments ... accounted for almost all" of the demand decrease, he said. Revenue in the contribution base last year totaled $60.5 billion, "the lowest annual revenues" in USF history, and Q1 revenue was $14.929 billion, "the lowest quarterly revenues" in USF history, he said. "If revenues for the second quarter of 2016 are the same as revenues for the first quarter, the USF assessment factor will decrease to 17.6%. However, if the trend of declining quarterly revenues continues, the USF assessment factor for the second quarter will be higher than 17.6%." He said USAC revenue projections for Q2 are due in early March.