The FCC wants comments on a notice of inquiry on potential methods to modify the USF's high cost program, said a notice in Wednesday's Federal Register. Comments are due Oct. 23, replies Nov. 21, in docket 10-90. Commissioners adopted the item in July (see 2307240064).
T-Mobile’s MetroPCS asked to dismiss a California Public Utilities Commission investigation into a dispute over USF surcharges due to completion of a related court case at the U.S. District Court for Northern California. MetroPCS won judgment against the CPUC earlier this month (see 2308040071). The federal court decided the resolutions the agency was trying to enforce against MetroPCS “are unlawful (because they are preempted by federal law) and enjoined the Commission from enforcing the Resolutions against MetroPCS,” T-Mobile said in Thursday’s motion.
The FCC unanimously approved an FY 2023 regulatory fee order last week that closely resembles the NPRM issued in May.
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska unanimously voted at a hybrid meeting Wednesday to make permanent an emergency extension of the state’s universal service program. The Alaska USF sunset date is now June 30, 2026. The emergency regulations otherwise would have ended Oct. 28.
DENVER -- The state with the biggest allocation from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) will probably need more money to connect everyone, a Texas broadband official said on a Wednesday panel at Mountain Connect here. Other states also said they don’t have enough money to connect everyone, though some said alternative technologies like fixed wireless could be used.
Free market-oriented groups filed an amicus brief in support of Consumers' Research's challenge of the FCC's method for funding the USF, the subject of an upcoming en banc rehearing of the group’s challenge of the USF and how it’s funded by the FCC (see 2306290074). “Only Congress has the power to lay and to collect taxes for the universal welfare of all Americans. Regardless of the public policy that it seeks to advance, Congress cannot delegate this power to the FCC or any other executive branch agency,” said an amicus brief by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Free State Foundation and former Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, among others. Consumers’ Research argued the statutory framework for the fund unconstitutionally delegates legislative or taxing authority, and the FCC’s use of the Universal Service Administrative Co. is an impermissible delegation of regulatory authority to a private company. A three-judge panel ruled against Consumers' Research in March (see 2303240049). Said the filing Friday in case 22-60008: “The Constitution does not permit Congress to circumvent the legislative process by allowing an independent agency (guided by a private company owned by an industry trade group) to raise and to spend however much money it wants every quarter for ‘universal service’ at the expense of every American who pays a monthly phone bill. Elected representatives of the people, not the [FCC], must be responsible for making the difficult decisions to raise the revenue that funds this program.”
Consumers' Research filed an objection against the FCC's proposed Q4 2023 USF contribution factor and asked the Office of Managing Director to set the factor at zero. The USF "has been established and operates in excess of statutory authority and the commission ... should not permit further collections," the group said in comments posted Friday in docket 96-45, citing the nondelegation doctrine.
T-Mobile’s MetroPCS won judgment Friday against the California Public Utilities Commission in a dispute about USF surcharges (case 3:17-cv-05959-JD). "The Court concludes that the CPUC’s 2017 and 2018 resolutions are preempted as applied to MetroPCS because they would impose surcharges on revenues from services that are not subject to surcharge, in violation of federal law,” Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for Northern California wrote.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh granted a Consumers Research request to extend until Oct. 27 the deadline to file a petition for writ of certiorari Tuesday (see 2307310061). The group sought the extension for its challenge of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the FCC's USF 2021 Q4 contribution factor. Kavanaugh is the justice assigned to the 6th Circuit.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission indefinitely delayed considering an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) on amending state USF rules. The PUC was scheduled to hear the item in docket L-2023-3040646 at its July 13 meeting but postponed it to Aug. 3 (see 2307130020). But the ANOPR isn't on an agenda released Wednesday. It’s unclear when the item will return. The Pennsylvania PUC doesn’t speculate about agenda items, a spokesperson said.