Petitions Seek Reconsideration of E-rate Order Provisions
The FCC should add “additional safeguards” on provisions in the December E-rate order (see 1412110049) that allows schools and libraries to spend the program’s funds on using dark fiber to create connections and to build their own broadband facilities, Cox…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Communications said in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 13-184. Funding for such uses should be limited to cases in which other services are not available and be capped at $200 million annually, the filing said. E-rate funding also should not be used to match state funding, Cox said, because it could eliminate contributions from schools and libraries applying for funds. The agency also should reconsider its requirement in the order requiring high-cost support recipients to bid on E-rate projects at as-yet-undeveloped benchmarks, WTA-Advocates for Rural Broadband, NTCA and the National Exchange Carriers Association said in a separate petition for reconsideration posted Friday. Proper notice and comment procedures were not followed, the rural associations said. If the petition for reconsideration is denied, the agency should clarify the process and say when the new requirement will take effect, the associations said.