Industry supports FCC goals to protect USF from waste, fraud and abuse but wants clearer standards and sufficient due process procedures in proposed suspension and debarment rules, said comments posted through Friday in docket 19-309. "The proposed rules reach a far broader range of conduct than contemplated by the OMB guidelines, potentially punishing many good actors for the sake of expediting penalties against a few bad ones," said CTIA and USTelecom. "Consider alternative measures before initiating suspension or debarment procedures," said America's Communications Association, Incompas and NTCA. Encourage self-governance and consider mitigating factors, they said. Bureaus "should be given delegated authority to grant exceptions" when it serves the public interest, said the Wireless ISP Association. USF participants should be allowed to continue receiving services from a suspended provider for the duration of a contract that existed before the FCC acts, said the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance. Don't apply new rules retroactively, said NCTA. "Grounds for suspension or debarment should only include egregious offenses," said Cellular South. E-Rate Central said the NPRM doesn't discuss "the necessity of coordinating any planned enforcement action, if only on an advisory basis, with appropriate state agencies."
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The FCC Wireless Bureau is meeting with industry on what to ask in an NPRM for its rural 5G fund, according to interviews this week and recent filings. The agency announced the $9 billion USF program in December to replace its Mobility Fund Phase II (see 1912040027).
Seven defendants pled guilty to defrauding the USF E-rate program, said Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, on Wednesday (see 1808300030). Sentencing is scheduled for May and June. As part of their plea agreements, defendants will forfeit millions of dollars in overpayments and restitution. The defendants were Peretz Klein, Susan Klein, Simon Goldbrener, Moshe Schwartz, Ben Klein, Sholem Steinberg and Aron Melber. Each pled guilty to one count of conspiring to steal E-rate funds intended for underprivileged schools in Rockland County, New York.
Amend proposed instructions to line 308 of FCC form 499-A on USF contribution methodology, NCTA asked, posted Wednesday to docket 06-122: Providers shouldn't have to report USF revenue directed to schools, libraries or rural healthcare providers. In its filing, Comcast also supported recent comments by USTelecom.
With impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump completed, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker hopes to move bipartisan bills on broadband mapping, net neutrality and Huawei, the Mississippi Republican said in a Monday keynote speech at the NARUC Winter Policy Summit. NARUC President Brandon Presley announced members of a freshly minted broadband task force (see 1911270024).
PASADENA, Calif. -- A federal judge appeared skeptical Monday of an FCC safe harbor threshold that lets communities charge wireless carriers up to only $270 yearly for each small-cell facility. Municipalities and others are challenging FCC wireless infrastructure orders in a consolidated case at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges’ decision about whether the commission legally pre-empted local authority in the right of way could have broader impact for local authority in telecom (see 2002060056).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposes holding Phase I auctions for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund on Oct. 22. Pai circulated a public notice among commissioners Thursday proposing procedures for the Phase I auctions, which would allot up to $16 billion of the $20.4 billion USF rural broadband program, he blogged, outlining his agenda for the Feb. 28 meeting. The RDOF auction procedural PN is one of eight items for what Pai is calling "spectrum month." Drafts are expected to be released Friday. Pai's proposal Thursday to pay up to $9.7 billion to C-band incumbents to free the spectrum for a Dec. 8 auction (see 2002060057) will lead the February meeting.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed accelerated relocation payments of up to $9.7 billion for C-band incumbents to clear the band quickly for an auction to start Dec. 8, in a speech (see 2002060031) Thursday at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Those would be above compensation for relocation costs, estimated to be between $3 billion and $5 billion, he said. Pai has the three votes he needs for approval at the commissioners' Feb. 28 meeting (see 2002060048) with quick endorsements of Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr.
The FCC will take $31 million from TeleQuality Communications in repayments and forfeitures of USF payment claims to settle violations of competitive bidding and rate rules and for overbilling the rural healthcare program, the agency said Wednesday. Education Networks of America acquired the company in 2018. The Enforcement Bureau consent decree requires TeleQuality designate a compliance officer and file regular compliance reports for five years: The company admitted to giving improper incentives to healthcare providers to encourage them to award contracts to TeleQuality. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks called this "one of the most egregious" violations of USF he can recall. He said the FCC should have taken stronger enforcement action because "the company will simply repay a portion of its ill-gotten gains. In cases of fraud on the Universal Service Fund, it is imperative that the fund be made whole." He suggested the company should be debarred from further RHC participation. "According to the FCC, there were activities from 2015-2017 that were in non-compliance with rules," a TeleQuality spokesperson emailed. "TeleQuality was acquired in January 2018. The new ownership and management ran an internal review and found non-compliance in procedures, which were proactively reported to the FCC. The matter has been settled with the FCC through a consent decree, and TeleQuality looks forward to providing excellent customer service under new ownership."
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said one 2020 priority is looking at ways the agency can try to ensure artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies respect privacy and aren't discriminatory in application. At a Congressional Tech Staff Association/Congressional Black Associates event Wednesday, Starks said it's "a moral imperative" to look at broadband connectivity beyond just the existence of infrastructure but also as an affordability and digital literacy issue. He said his criticisms of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund -- as reflected in his partial dissent (see 2001300001) -- included it not prioritizing "future-proof" connections at speeds that will be relevant a decade from now. The approved RDOF order hasn't been released; Starks said some issues are "still getting tweaked." He said the agency has to put more priority on holding connectivity providers accountable when they decide not to build out networks after all, pointing to more than 10 percent of Connect America Fund Phase II auction winners defaulting. He said federal dollars for rural broadband providers should come with requirements for offering low-income service options. Starks said the FCC "has done good work" tackling supply chain vulnerability with its USF supply chain rules adopted last fall (see 1911220033), but there also needs to be attention paid to Huawei and ZTE technology already in U.S. telecom networks. He said forthcoming enforcement actions announced by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for carriers seemingly disclosing consumers’ real-time location data (see 2001310058) are "long overdue." Starks again supported the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act (HR-3957) sponsored by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., which would restore the minority tax certificate. He called the nearly nonexistent full-power TV station ownership by women and minorities "a shame."