The FCC plans an NPRM early next year to take recommendations on a 10-year, $9 billion rural 5G Fund proposed Wednesday by Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1912040037). It would replace the Mobility Fund Phase II auction for which the FCC had planned $4.53 billion in USF spending over 10 years. Staff recommended the proposal because of mapping problems, and now seeks an audit of some carriers. One of those companies, Verizon, turned the focus back to the regulator.
South Carolina's Public Service Commission gave staff another week to complete an initial assessment to show state USF funds should continue to be withheld from Frontier Communications in response to a 24-day outage in Georgetown County. At livestreamed oral argument Tuesday in Columbia, PSC members supported by voice a motion by Commissioner Tom Ervin. The nonpartisan commission last week held November’s monthly USF payment to Frontier in response to an Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) petition seeking suspension of USF money so it can audit whether the carrier is appropriately using the support (see 1911260023). Tuesday, Ervin said his motion would shift the burden of proof to ORS: “This is a drastic remedy to take such a large source of funds away from a struggling company.” Commissioners are concerned about maintaining residential landline service and fixing outages quickly, but the telco took remedial steps and provided information, he said. ORS should work overtime to expedite its audit, and share more evidence supporting its request at a follow-up meeting Tuesday, Ervin said. Frontier attorney Chris Terreni said the commission shouldn't continue holding funds in the meantime, and Commissioner John Howard also questioned why the payment can’t be released now. Ervin responded that the company is welcome to request mandamus if it wants funds now. “Frontier has taken measures … to change the way it responds to an outage of the duration and size of what occurred in St. Luke's,” Terreni told commissioners. Its workers "tried their best" but "needed more resources and they waited too long to bring them in.” Frontier apologized to customers affected by the outage and provided three-month bill credits, the lawyer said. The carrier can’t promise there won’t be future outages, “but our response is going to be better,” he said. No evidence shows Frontier isn’t using USF money appropriately, and suspending that “is not logical or consistent with due process,” he said. Commissioner Florence Belser asked if anything in statute, PSC guidelines or precedent supports ORS’ request. ORS lawyer Chris Huber agreed the request is unusual but said the office can seek it as the fund’s administrator. Belser later asked, "If there is a problem with their response and their procedures, is that sufficient to warrant yanking USF funds?" Outages worry Commissioner Swain Whitfield. "One of the biggest concerns of the commission," he said, "is basic landline services being interrupted to the point where emergency services are compromised.”
The Q1 USF contribution factor will drop to 21.2 percent from its current 25 percent, consultant Billy Gregg emailed Tuesday. That's after Universal Service Administrative Co. filed projections, in docket 06-122 Monday.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants to spend some $9 billion from the USF over about 10 years for fifth-generation wireless services. At least $1 billion would be for precision agriculture, the agency announced this afternoon.
As libraries, schools and nonprofits step up efforts to loan mobile wireless hot spots to those without residential broadband, demand is rising. Long-term, sustainable funding remains a challenge, said those interviewed last week. Anchor institutions offer free hot spot devices and accompanying wireless broadband access for checkouts that can range from a week or two up to a typical school year.
NARUC is forming a task force to find answers to close the broadband gap between rural and urban areas, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in an interview this week. Broadband's “one of the biggest challenges in rural America today” and will be a major focus of NARUC's “Bridging the Divide” theme over the next year, said Presley, elected president this month (see 1911210039). The Democratic chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission also seeks to tighten the working relationship between state and FCC officials, he said.
Don’t release state USF support to Frontier Communications until oral argument over last month's 24-day outage, the South Carolina Public Service Commission directed the Office of Regulatory Staff. Commissioners voted 5-1 Monday for the directive. The PSC clerk and parties should coordinate to schedule argument, it said. Frontier has used state USF money “for the purpose intended by law -- making affordable telephone service available to our South Carolina customers," and the company will cooperate with any audit, a spokesperson emailed Tuesday.
The FCC proposes precluding anyone or entity debarred or suspended from a government funding program such as the USF from serving on an FCC advisory committee "or comparable Commission groups or task forces," said the final NPRM on docket 19-309 and in Tuesday's Daily Digest. That's an addition from the initial draft.
Report ISPs are deploying broadband to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion," industry told the FCC in comments posted through Monday in docket 19-285 on a notice of inquiry for the 15th annual Communications Act Section 706 report (see 1910230065). Critics said the last report overstated broadband deployment (see 1905290017).
The FCC approved national security supply chain rules Friday, barring equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from networks funded by the USF and establishing rules that could block other providers (see 1910290054). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted yes, with reservations. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC needs to do more and should have acted more quickly. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said smaller carriers using USF should be reimbursed for ripping Chinese gear out of their networks. Officials acknowledged the item got late changes sought by commissioners (see 1911200030).