The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Communications Bureau (WCB) has released a Public Notice seeking comment on a Petition for Declaratory Ruling filed by Midcontinent Communications (Midco). The Petition asks the FCC to rule that “state regulators may not require a telecommunications carrier that wishes to offer wholesale interconnection services to obtain state authority to provide local exchange service (or any other service) prior to interconnecting with an incumbent local exchange carrier pursuant to Section 251(a) of the Communications Act.” Midco is authorized to provide telecommunications service in the state of South Dakota, but it does not have authority to provide local exchange services in the service area of James Valley Telephone Cooperative Company, with which it is seeking to interconnect. Comments are due August 19, 2022, and Reply Comments are due September 9, 2022 in WC Docket No. 22-277.
