NTIA released a new online tool and two reports highlighting federal investments in broadband programs Monday. The reports, mandated by the Access Broadband Act, include a description of the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth's work, how many households were served by universal service programs or federal broadband support, and a "framework to guide future estimates of the economic impact of broadband deployment efforts," said a news release. The reports "show how federal agencies across the Biden-Harris Administration are working together to target funding through the Internet for All initiative and close the digital divide,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: “We will provide high-speed internet service to everyone by focusing on access, affordability and equity.” The report's findings included a substantial increase of $11.8 billion in investments from FY 2020 to FY 2021. More funding also went to digital inclusion or adoption efforts compared to infrastructure deployment and mapping. "This Broadband shift in outlays represents a change in priorities to connect underserved communities but also part of the maturation cycle as broadband investments begin to impact communities and economic activity," per the report. The dashboard includes spending data from 13 agencies and funding by program at the state level. It also reports tribal broadband funding for the first time. The dashboard showed tribal entities residing in Oklahoma received a "significant concentration" of funding, about 59.3% of total tribal broadband funding.

Policymakers should "take prompt steps to close loopholes that permit duplicate grants targeting a single area," wrote Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Andrew Long in a blog Monday. Long noted the FCC has until May 15 to release a broadband funding map highlighting areas where federal subsidies have been allocated for infrastructure deployment, saying "effective interagency coordination is essential" to ensuring funds are "used wisely." The broadband funding map and oversight efforts "will be hamstrung" until the Biden administration, Congress and agencies responsible for distributing federal subsidies act "to align program eligibility requirements so as to prevent overlapping grants targeting a single location due to technical variations buried in the fine print," Long said. A "key fact that many do not appreciate" is that "inconsistent eligibility requirements adopted by different programs" will open the door to "a single location receiving funding from multiple sources," he said.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wants comments by June 5, replies by June 20, on the Communication Service for the Deaf's petition for declaratory ruling that direct video calling services are eligible for Telecom Relay Service Fund support, said a public notice Friday in docket 03-123.

NTIA is "eager" to get its funding through the broadband, equity, access and deployment program out the door and has been working closely with stakeholders to ensure the FCC's broadband map "includes the most high-quality data as possible," the agency said Thursday. NTIA still anticipates making its allocation announcements by June 30. The agency noted the current map shows 8 million of the 113 million broadband serviceable locations as unserved: "Due to the size of the data set, it would take an outsized increase or decrease in the number of unserved locations within an eligible entity relative to the national total to have a significant impact on the final BEAD allocations."

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Consumers' Research's challenge of the FCC's USF 2021 Q4 contribution factor, in an opinion published Thursday in case 21-3886. A three-judge panel heard oral argument in March and is the second court to deny a challenge from the group (see 2303240049). "Congress provided the FCC with a detailed statutory framework regarding universal service," wrote Judge Karen Nelson Moore, saying Section 254 of the Communications Act "does not violate the nondelegation doctrine." The opinion also cited the Universal Service Administrative Co.'s "subordination to the FCC and its assistance with fact gathering and ministerial support" wasn't a "private-nondelegation doctrine violation." Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA and USTelecom welcomed the ruling in a joint statement: "We believe that other courts considering similar challenges should come to the same conclusion.” Consumers' Research didn't comment.

Consumers' Research asked the FCC to set the Q3 USF contribution factor to zero, saying in comments posted Wednesday in docket 96-45 that the Office of Managing Director should "do the same for all future proposed universal service contribution factors due to the illegality of this entire scheme and process." The group has several pending legal challenges of prior quarterly USF contribution factors (see 2304060042).

Ericsson announced Tuesday it joined the Mission Critical Alliance, a strategic partner program for technology providers established by L3Harris Technologies in 2019.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society launched an online tool Tuesday showing the actual and expected number of households enrolled in the FCC's affordable connectivity program. The tool will "enable communities to better understand where ACP enrollment exceeds expectations and where it does not" to "help decision makers target outreach more precisely in areas with the greatest need," said Senior Fellow John Horrigan. The tool will make people aware of ACP and "help communities target efforts to increase enrollment," said Executive Director Adrianne Furniss. The tool allows users to view the actual level of enrollment, predicted level of enrollment, and how an area is performing at the five-digit ZIP code-level.

Lukas LaFuria’s David LaFuria, who represents smaller carriers, raised process concerns on the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (SCRP) in a call with FCC staff. The process is improving, but concerns remain, said a filing Tuesday in docket 21-232. “When a reimbursement request does not precisely match the original application, a carrier must amend its application,” LaFuria said: This “freezes the processing of the entire application, and it threatens the congressionally mandated timeline for completing the SCRP. The amendment process is also time-consuming for applicants, as it requires creating and updating a detailed and highly particular macro-enabled Excel spreadsheet each time.” He also urged the FCC to “develop a means for applicants to process a single invoice multiple times when the purchased goods are used in multiple projects.” The agency “could allow items purchased in bulk to be put into an ‘inventory’ category and removed in increments as needed on a site based on average unit cost,” he said.

The USF contribution factor will likely increase to 30.3% during Q3 2023 from 29.0% during Q2, emailed analyst Billy Jack Gregg Tuesday. Gregg noted the increase in overall USF demand will result from the "demand for three of the constituent funds of the USF" and decrease in the E-rate program.