More parties opposed an FCC plan to exclude resellers from Lifeline USF participation and voiced a mix of concerns and some support for other proposals, as dozens of additional comments posted in docket 17-287 Wednesday and Thursday. Major industry players joined consumer advocates, state regulators and others in objecting to an FCC proposal to shift Lifeline low-income support to facilities-based service. CTIA, ITTA, Mobile Future, Sprint, USTelecom and Verizon voiced resistance to the proposed exclusion of resellers. The commission should "reject proposals to condition receipt of federal Lifeline support on network build-out," said Sprint: "The modest per-subscriber subsidy, whose receipt is not guaranteed, makes the Lifeline program ill-suited as a direct mechanism to spur capital-intensive broadband deployment." USTelecom "strongly supports policies that encourage investment in broadband-capable networks," saying "the Commission should not utilize the Lifeline program to achieve a goal for which it is not designed. Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on ensuring the successful implementation of the National Verifier, which will cure the clear majority of the issues raised in the Notice." Among others objecting to the facilities-based proposal were: NARUC; some state regulatory commissions; National Grange; NATOA and National League of Cities (here); National Urban League and others (here); New York City; Boston, Los Angeles and other cities (here); the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and others (here); Rainbow Push Coalition's Jesse Jackson Sr. and former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. ATN International backed the FCC proposal to dedicate support to facilities-based carriers, as did District of Columbia Public Service Commission Chairman Betty Ann Kane, with a caveat. Various parties opposed capping the Lifeline budget and argued for continuing to support voice-only services. There were mixed views on whether a federal Lifeline broadband provider designation should be eliminated.
The FCC approved a notice proposing rules implementing Section 7 of the Communications Act, designed to speed review of “innovative” technologies and services, over objections by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn Thursday. Chairman Ajit Pai said the goal is simple -- get out of the way of innovation. “Bureaucratic inertia” is a common barrier, he said. The agency has been taking steps on his watch to promote innovation, from approving the first LTE-unlicensed devices to approving ATSC 3.0 standards to greenlighting a power-at-a-distance wireless transmitter, Pai said: “We have stood on the side of innovation, but these are ad hoc measures.”
California may assess USF and other surcharges on text messaging, said Public Utilities Commission staff. In a Wednesday joint ruling in docket 17-06-023, Commissioner Carla Peterman and Administrative Law Judge Zita Kline sought comments on the staff determination. “The Commission has not expressly or implicitly exempted text messaging, any like service, or any cellular service provider type from the assessment of surcharges,” staff said in the attached paper. “The Commission has not, as an intrastate service, exempted texting. Neither has the California State legislature limited the Commission’s authority over this service as it did with directory listings” and VoIP providers, staff said. “No federal authority, including Congress, has classified texting as an information service or interstate only service or otherwise exempted it from the imposition of surcharges or taxes.” Text messaging is an intrastate and interstate service subject to separations, staff said. “That process necessarily includes a portion of revenue being assigned to the intrastate jurisdictions and subsequently the resulting percentage of revenues derived from it being assessed surcharges.” Comments on the staff paper are due March 23, replies March 30, Peterman and Kline said. Opening briefs for the rulemaking will be due April 13, with replies April 27, they said. Industry and consumer groups clashed on classification of text messaging -- telecom or information service -- in comments last year (see 1708220037).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai touted a draft order to give rural telcos more than $500 million in new USF support, "including those participating in the Alternative Connect America Model (A-CAM) plan" (see 1801170048). He responded similarly this month to over 20 lawmakers who urged him to consider additional A-CAM funding, in numerous exchanges posted in docket 18-5. The draft, which includes an NPRM, "seeks public input on both further increasing support to current A-CAM recipients and on giving legacy rate-of-return carriers a new chance to elect model-based support," Pai wrote. The draft would provide about $180 million in high-cost funding to rate-of-return carriers by June 30, and up to $360 million over the next decade to A-CAM recipients (see 1801160040). Pai also cited the rural USF proposal in responding (here) to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and (here) to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. They had voiced concern about a Telecom Act Section 706 FCC inquiry; Pai noted the agency kept a 25/3 fixed broadband benchmark and found mobile wasn't a full substitute for fixed service. Pai cited his efforts to "shut the door on waste, fraud, and abuse" in USF programs, in an exchange with Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking Commerce Committee member who expressed concern about high-cost abuses. Pai also cited the backing of some Native American groups for his efforts to target higher per-subscriber tribal Lifeline support to "incentivize providers to deploy networks on rural Tribal lands and direct support to areas where it is needed most," in an exchange with Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., who objected to a November order "taken without any consultation with the affected tribes." Responding to other USF queries, Pai added handwritten notes to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, saying, "I love your Twitter feed! Even with the stiff competition from Senator [Orrin] Hatch [R-Utah], you're holding your own," and sending Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., his "condolences in advance on the [Kentucky] Wildcats impending loss to the Kansas Jayhawks during March Madness!"
The FCC E-rate USF annual budget cap will be $4.06 billion for funding year 2018 starting July 1, a 1.8 percent inflation-based increase over the $3.99 billion FY 2017 cap, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 02-6. It said the school and library discount program has been indexed for inflation since 2010. A bureau PN in docket 11-42 provided guidance on three new "universal forms" to be used for verifying and recertifying consumer eligibility for the Lifeline low-income subsidy program. The forms are intended to be used in all states and territories regardless of whether a national verifier, which is being rolled out in phases, is operational in a particular state or territory, the PN said, but if state law requires carriers to use pre-existing forms, they may use those instead of the new FCC universal forms. TracFone Wireless criticized Universal Service Administrative Co.'s updated Lifeline national verifier plan (see 1802010033) as including "processes that are unnecessarily inefficient and burdensome and that contradict" FCC goals. The plan "fails to require the use of an Automated Programming Interface to facilitate the efficient delivery of Lifeline applicant eligibility information from Lifeline service providers to the National Verifier," TracFone said. "Certain aspects of the application process ... will limit the channels through which consumers can apply for Lifeline service."
Parties opposed an FCC plan to retarget Lifeline USF to facilities-based providers and impose certain other funding restrictions, in comments being posted this week in docket 17-287 on an NPRM and notice of inquiry (see 1711160021). "This package of proposals runs the risk of harming over eight million Lifeline households and millions more eligible veterans, older Americans, and households with school-aged children,” said Olivia Wein, National Consumer Law Center attorney, in a release Wednesday highlighting NCLC comments filed with many other groups. The FCC plan "to restrict and reduce Lifeline services will cut off whole communities from these necessary connections," commented the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, urging rejection of "proposals to radically disrupt the Lifeline program."
The rollout of 5G in the U.S. could mean as many as 3 million jobs, including 50,000 construction jobs per year while deployment is in progress, said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in remarks Monday at a Jackson State University workforce development roundtable, hosted by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Carr said the U.S. needs to get policies right. “This technology is not just about faster download speeds,” he said. Fifth generation “has the potential to increase competition in the broadband market, expand Internet access -- including through new, fixed wireless offerings -- and connect billions of devices. 5G networks could also transform entire industries -- with use cases ranging from self-driving vehicles to new telehealth applications,” he said. Unemployment is low in Mississippi but more could be done, Carr told a Mississippi radio station, and broadband buildout is the top issue facing the FCC. “A tremendous amount of rural communities” have been “left behind,” he said. USF is going to be important in many parts of rural America, he said: “There’s not going to be a private sector business for deploying broadband in a lot of these communities.” Carr said he was in Colorado last week (see 1802150018) and spoke to a broadband provider with more buffalo than people in his service territory.
The FCC revised rules for rural telco consumer broadband-only loop (CBOL) services adopted in a 2016 rate-of-return USF overhaul order. The commission replaced a "surrogate cost method for determining the cost of CBOLs with rules employing existing separations and cost allocation procedures," said a reconsideration order in docket 10-90 in Tuesday's Daily Digest responding to an NTCA petition. It modified a "rule requiring rate-of-return carriers to impute on CBOLs an amount equal to the Access Recovery Charge (ARC) that could have been assessed on a voice or voice/broadband line to better implement our intent to maintain the balance between end user charges and universal service adopted" in a 2011 USF and intercarrier-compensation transformation order. The commission clarified "two matters pertaining to reductions in Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) due to competitive overlap": affecting reduction amounts associated with a "second disaggregation method" and declaring a transition "schedule applies where the CAF BLS subject to competitive overlap is 25 percent or more of total CAF BLS." The various adjustments provide "more certainty and stability for carriers investing for the future, thereby ensuring that all consumers have access to advanced telecommunications and information services," the order said. Senior Vice President Mike Romano said Tuesday NTCA is pleased the FCC acted on the ARC and surrogate-cost issues raised in its petition. "The order represents a few more important steps in addressing the ‘punchlist’ of items flagged in our petition, and we are eager to keep working with the FCC to address the outstanding items on that list to put the high cost mechanisms in a better position to truly deliver on the mission of universal service."
A federal court panel denied Sandwich Isles Communications' request for urgent relief to order the FCC to disburse withheld USF subsidies. "Petitioner has not shown a 'clear and indisputable right' to mandamus relief" under the Supreme Court's 1988 Gulfstream Aerospace precedent, said the order (in Pacer) Friday of Judges Judith Rogers, Thomas Griffith and Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (In re: Sandwich Isles Communications, No. 17-1248). FCC opposition argued it had "ample" legal discretion "to deny subsidies to companies like SIC that engage in fraud, waste, or abuse" in USF (see 1801250018). The FCC also disputed Sandwich Isles' bid to recover more than an estimated $1.9 million in annual costs from a National Exchange Carrier Association pooling mechanism (see 1801190059).
FCC commissioners will hear a presentation on a new national broadband map at their meeting Thursday, said the agenda, which otherwise is the same as a Feb. 1 tentative agenda. To be considered are draft items on proposals and actions for using spectrum above 95 MHz, setting Section 7 rules for timely processing of applications for new technologies or services, resolving USF mobility fund Phase II reconsideration petitions, and eliminating certain broadcast and media paperwork rules and payphone provider audit and reporting duties (see 1802010042).