Colorado Telecommunications Association representatives asked Commissioner Brendan Carr to back FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s order on circulation (see 1801100029) to provide more USF funding to rate-of-return and model-based support companies, CTA recounted Wednesday in docket 10-90. Executive Vice President Peter Kirchhof and others at Monday's meeting sought a "long-term predictable funding solution for rural broadband" and to ensure "broadband funding be scrutinized to avoid overbuilding of existing networks," he wrote. Other attendees besides Carr's aides were David Shipley, Ronny Puckett and Terry Hendrickson, the filing said; the group's website said Shipley is affiliated with Rye Telephone, Puckett with Plains Cooperative Telephone and Hendrickson with Wiggins Telephone Association. The meeting took place in Boulder, Kirchhof emailed us. "We simply shared our thoughts on why the funding is important to our members."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted a "call to action" to improve tribal communications, noting the agency last week revamped a Native Nations Communications Task Force and sought member nominations by March 31. "This latest renewal recognizes the importance of tribal input on commission matters that impact Americans living on tribal lands," Pai told the National Congress of American Indians Thursday. He said the task force will consist of 20 tribal members and 11 senior FCC staffers. He said improving rural broadband, including in tribal areas, is one of his top priorities. "Americans living on tribal lands who lack access to high-speed broadband has been cut in half since I arrived at the commission in 2012," from 68 percent to 35 percent, he said. "The bad news is that that percentage is still over four times higher than for the overall U.S. population," only 8 percent of which lacks "internet access." He noted he called for a "tribal broadband factor" in high-cost USF support to boost tribal funding, as part of a draft NPRM and order, which would give over $500 million more to rural carriers (see 1801160040 and 1802150018). Separately, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the FCC's Lifeline eligibility re-certification process "does not comport with tribal culture" and subscriber abilities, and tribal programs should be used as proxies, in a docket 11-42 filing Wednesday on a meeting representatives had with a Pai aide.
Center for Democracy & Technology adds Maurice Turner, ex-TechCongress congressional fellow on Republican staff of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, as senior technologist, Election Security and Privacy Project ... Freshfields hires Eric Mahr, ex-DOJ Antitrust Division, as partner, antitrust practice, including transaction litigation ... Haug Partners taps Georg Reitboeck, ex-Kenyon & Kenyon, as IP litigation partner.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said USF contributions should assess broadband because subsidies target broadband and the current long-distance voice revenue base is unsustainable. The current approach is much like a game of Jenga, she said at NARUC Wednesday, tracking written remarks: "We keep removing pieces from the base, and keep adding more to the top. Eventually, that tower will come tumbling down." She hopes a federal-state joint board will propose changes, but if not, it could invite new, outside experts to analyze the situation and provide fresh ideas.
A modified Lifeline draft NARUC resolution urging the FCC to continue allowing resellers to receive low-income USF subsidies cleared the telecom committee unanimously Tuesday. The panel added recommendations from a rival draft backing FCC proposals to eliminate stand-alone Lifeline broadband provider designations and reinstate state regulatory authority over eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designations. It also added language to support firming up a $2.25 billion FCC annual Lifeline budget, and it OK'd a nationwide number portability (NNP) draft resolution, but withdrew a draft pole-attachment overlashing draft. The cleared drafts are expected to be approved by NARUC's board Wednesday.
ISPs, wireline, wireless and cable are making major investment in broadband, industry representatives told state commissioners Monday at NARUC's meeting. They faced some tough questions. Carriers are spending totals on broadband that dwarf what was spent on the federal highway system or the race to the moon, said Jonathan Banks, USTelecom senior vice president-law and policy. Wireless carriers are planning for 5G, with the first of several standards released, said Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs.
President Donald Trump’s infrastructure legislative proposal included its expected focus on streamlining the federal environmental permitting process, including for small-cells deployments, along with state block grants and federal matching funds (see 1801220035, 1802090050 and 1802110001). Communications sector officials and lobbyists bemoaned lack of a dedicated broadband funding allocation in the proposal, released Monday. They told us they are in the beginning phase of negotiations with the White House and Capitol Hill. The White House also released its FY 2019 budget plan, which seeks to zero out public broadcaster federal funding. The FCC's budget would also fall (see 1802120037).
Minnesota said FCC net neutrality repeal doesn't back Charter Communications' case that the state Public Utilities Commission can't regulate fixed, interconnected VoIP like Charter Phone, despite the operator's assertions it does (see 1801110022). The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the FCC "have spoken clearly on this point, stating that 'an interconnected VoIP provider with a capability to track the jurisdictional confines of customer calls would no longer qualify for ... preemption ... and would be subject to state regulation,'" said a Minnesota attorney general filing (in Pacer) Thursday in Charter v. Nancy Lange, No. 17-2290. It was citing a 2008 8th Circuit ruling in MPUC v. FCC (Vonage III) that quoted a 2006 FCC USF contribution order; Lange is the MPUC chair. If the court reaches statutory classification, Minnesota said 1996 Telecom Act changes to the federal Communications Act would be dispositive on the VoIP issue, not the net neutrality order, "which simply reflects that the FCC changed its mind" on broadband classification from a Title II telecom service to a Title I information service. New York recently disputed similar Charter arguments on the FCC order's fallout (see 1801120009). Separately, the Vermont Public Utility Commission ruled VoIP service is a telecom service, but without deciding how it should be regulated. The VPUC remanded the proceeding to a hearing officer for further consideration, said an order Wednesday in docket 7316 (account registration required).
State regulators face competing Lifeline draft resolutions at NARUC's winter meeting on an FCC proposal to target low-income USF subsidies to facilities-based providers (see 1801300023 and 1801300023). A draft resolution to urge the FCC to continue allowing resellers to receive Lifeline funding appears to have more support than a draft that welcomed the proposed shift, some told us Friday, though compromise or postponement of consideration is always possible. Competing Lifeline draft resolutions were pulled from the last meeting (see 1711130035). At the winter meeting, which was to begin Sunday and run through Wednesday, NARUC is also to consider draft telecom resolutions on nationwide number portability and pole-attachment overlashing.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn slammed FCC competition policy but saw two "bright spots" ripe for a bipartisan approach: promoting competition in multiple-tenant environments (MTEs) and lowering pole-attachment barriers to infrastructure deployment. She spoke at an Incompas conference Wednesday where speakers cited pole attachments and the "make ready" process as inhibiting broadband expansion. Despite a "backlash" from incumbents and some policy setbacks, new competitors are driving market improvements and winning the battle for public opinion, including on net neutrality, said Incompas CEO Chip Pickering.