In a very inside-baseball proceeding  (the Jurisdictional Separations and Referral to the Federal-State Joint Board)  that has not gotten any attention, the FCC has requested an 18 month extension  to examine the cost allocation rules that are applied to revenues and expenses  of AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink’s state utilities, which they control.

The problem is that the FCC has been taking extensions in the same, exact  proceeding for 16 years (which we will discuss). This takes the phrase “kicking  the bucket down the road” to a whole new level of government cover-up.

And this proceeding is critical. In a meeting scheduled for April 20th, 2017,  the FCC is steam-rollering and doing a hatchet job on upcoming proposals that  will be discussed. From Broadband Data Services, (BDS), to the shutting off the  copper networks, or the IP Transition, the FCC plans to gut all customer  protections, block competition, and harm all businesses that rely on these data  services, (formerly called “Special Access”).

So, how can the agency, then, attempt to shut down and delay examination of the  accounting rules that are directly tied to these other items?

On April 17th, 2017 we filed comments  with the FCC to start immediate audits and investigations of the cross-subsidies  of the incumbent phone companies, AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink. As we document, Verizon’s own financial accounting revealed massive manipulations of the  financial books created by the FCC’s “Big Freeze” and negligence. But this is  happening in every state because the FCC rules are federal, not state-based.