The White House's Friday push to highlight FCC actions to improve 5G deployments and rural broadband connectivity was more notable for giving President Donald Trump an opportunity to go on record as opposing 5G nationalization, industry officials and lobbyists told us. Concerns about the Trump administration's direction on 5G policy have continued for more than a year, including on Capitol Hill (see 1903050069).
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., filed their Internet Exchange Act Thursday, to improve broadband access for rural and underserved areas. S-1166 would authorize NTIA-administered matching grants to establish internet exchange (IX) facilities or expand an IX facility if it's the only one in a core-based statistical area. It would permit USF E-rate and telehealth program recipients to use their funding to contract with an ISP to connect to an IX facility or pay the costs of maintaining a point of presence at a facility. Blackburn said S-1166 “will make big strides in closing the digital divide in Tennessee by providing internet access to areas with the highest degree of need.” Congress needs “to strengthen our internet infrastructure to better serve Middle America and rural communities, and improve the online experience for people in all parts of our country,” Baldwin said.
The FCC intends to begin its auction of spectrum in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands Dec. 10 and plans to begin work on a fund targeting broadband deployment in unserved rural areas, Chairman Ajit Pai told reporters Friday morning. The announcements came ahead of Pai's planned participation in an afternoon event with President Donald Trump aimed at clarifying that the U.S. isn't headed toward a nationalized 5G network, as we reported Thursday. That event is set to begin just before 2:30 p.m., the White House said.
Free Press spoke with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to oppose a draft USF budget NPRM (see 1904030026). “Not only would the proposed changes to Lifeline … severely frustrate the Commission’s goal of bringing affordable broadband to all Americans, the very existence of this long, drawn-out proceeding has loomed like a dark cloud over the program,” said a Tuesday filing in docket 17-287 on a phone call including Free Press CEO Craig Aaron. “It likely has caused reduced Lifeline provider participation in the program, and fewer choices for Lifeline users.”
Huawei and other Chinese companies pose a major challenge for the U.S. and other nations, said Jamil Jaffer, executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University's law school, during a Technology Policy Institute panel Tuesday. “The risk is real.” A Trump administration supply chain security executive order apparently is off the table (see 1903250055).
National wireless resellers “want the additional revenues, but not all the additional obligations” that come with providing low-income services in Texas, said the Texas Telephone Association. TTA replied Monday to National Lifeline Association comments in docket 48979 urging the Texas Public Utility Commission to review a state Lifeline requirement it said is keeping non-facilities-based providers from participating (see 1903250043). Resellers “have not been able to demonstrate that they meet the statutory requirement of providing all elements of [basic local telecommunications service] and have instead sought waivers from these requirements or have simply argued that these requirements should not apply to them,” the association said. “If the Commission decides to shift its policies and allow companies that do not invest in network facilities in Texas to become [eligible telecom providers] for the limited purpose of receiving low-income support, the Texas low-income support program could grow by nearly $16 million annually,” possibly increasing the Texas USF surcharge, TTA said. The FCC in 2017 proposed banning resellers from Lifeline, it noted.
Comments are due May 3, replies May 20, on Tata Communications' petition seeking waiver to continue contributing to the USF based solely on its interstate end-user telecom, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a docket 06-122 public notice Wednesday. The petition said its limited international revenue exemption is in jeopardy because of changes in the jurisdictional mix of its telecom revenue, leaving it facing a "draconian penalty" in the form of its USF contribution burden going up.
Stakeholder frustration at the FCC not releasing a draft FCC USF NPRM on setting a budget for the fund mounted after Tuesday's blog post by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly defending the rulemaking against criticism of its reported substance (see 1904020022). That evening, 16 groups wrote him to request he release "the text of the item prior to any consideration or approval of it on circulation." The office of O'Rielly, the FCC point person on the draft, didn't comment Wednesday. The groups "appreciate your recent attempts to clarify a few points regarding the item, but we need to know more," wrote the Benton Foundation, Common Cause, Common Sense Media, Communications Workers of America, Free Press, NAACP, New America Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, United Church of Christ and others. "You have suggested in the past that items on circulation should be made public." On the substance of the item, the groups wrote, "Reforms to the funding structure of USF cannot tilt so far as to undermine the core purpose of these programs: to connect all people in the United States to reasonably comparable, robust communications services." The FCC declined to comment Wednesday. Also at a congressional hearing that day, the USF budget came up (see 1904030082).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai repeatedly avoided commenting Wednesday on whether the agency, to do its job, needs more money than it sought in its $335.6 million budget request to Congress. “I want you to tell me, do you need more money?” interrupted Rep. Sanford Bishop. D-Ga., during a House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the FCC budget after Pai had several times started to say the agency would use the current request wisely. After much back and forth, Pai said the FCC could discharge its functions with the current request or additional funds.
The House Commerce Committee continued considering the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) through Wednesday afternoon, after spending hours debating and voting on a litany of Republican-led amendments that Democrats claimed were mainly aimed at stonewalling advancement of the measure. The committee was expected to have ultimately advanced HR-1644 on a party-line vote. It still needed to handle many amendments and the measure's underlying text. HR-1644 and Senate companion S-682 would add a new title to the Communications Act that reverses the FCC order, rescinding its 2015 rules. The bill would restore reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1903060077).