The FCC said two resources were issued to help rural rate-of-return telcos determine their capital investment allowances (CIA) for new broadband-oriented USF support mechanisms. Universal Service Administrative Co. "published illustrative results showing each carrier’s allowance had CIA ... been applied to each carrier’s 2015 investment," said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90 and Monday's Daily Digest. It said USAC also published "a worksheet that allows a carrier to calculate the CIA based on its own inputs. Using this worksheet, a carrier may replicate the illustrative 2015 results, calculate its 2017 allowance, or test alternate investment plans." To help rural telcos decide whether to opt into model-based Connect America Fund subsidy support, the bureau in another public notice said it released a spreadsheet and other information (with links included) about unsubsidized competitors and broadband deployment in incumbent study areas.
Effective dates for numerous new FCC Lifeline rules were set after the Federal Register published a commission item Monday announcing Office of Management and Budget approval of related information collection. Some rules took effect Monday while others will take effect Dec. 2 and Jan. 1, the item said. Davis Wright attorney Danielle Frappier, who represents clients tapping Lifeline funding, told us most of the changes will become effective Dec. 2. She said a Lifeline budget (which the FCC set at $2.25 billion per year going forward) took effect June 23, that carriers can file applications as of Monday to become "Lifeline Broadband Providers" under the agency's new streamlined designation process, and that new recertification rules will take effect Jan. 1. The Wireline Bureau later on Monday issued a public notice in docket 11-42 further outlining the effective dates of particular rules. The Lifeline overhaul order adopted in March extended low-income USF support from voice to broadband service and streamlined program administration in various ways (see 1603310056).
Price-cap telcos disputed FCC justifications of orders requiring carriers to continue to provide voice service in certain high-cost areas on an interim basis without USF subsidy support during a transition to broadband-oriented funding (see 1609070029). The Communications Act requires eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) to provide services "that are supported" by the commission's USF mechanism, said petitioners AT&T and CenturyLink and intervenor USTelecom in a reply brief (in Pacer) Thursday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing their challenges to 2014 and 2015 orders (AT&T, CenturyLink v. FCC, No. 15-1038 and consolidated cases). The FCC argument that it can "force ETCs to provide service in areas 'where they are not supported' (emphasis added) thus conflicts with the statute's text, and the agency's defenses are unpersuasive," the brief said. The commission ignored mandates to ensure "sufficient" support and competitive neutrality, it added.
FCC staff offered guidance to potential Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs) under the agency's new federal streamlined designation process for entities seeking subsidy support under the USF low-income program. All petitions for LBP status must be sent to the Wireline Bureau, which won't accept or address LBP petitions before Federal Register publication of recent Office of Management and Budget approval of revised FCC-ordered information collection, said a bureau public notice Friday in docket 11-42. Although the commission gave the bureau six months to approve LBP applications, parties can qualify for 60-day streamlined treatment in which their requests will be deemed granted if they serve at least 1,000 non-Lifeline voice or broadband customers and have offered broadband services to the public for at least two straight years, the PN said. It also offered guidance to all providers on certain details for implementing minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported broadband service, and on state Lifeline roles. State authority to run their own Lifeline programs isn't affected, and they retain their oversight for the "eligible telecom carrier" relinquishment process for all non-LBP ETCs, said the PN, which clarified "that a provider’s designation as an LBP does not supersede any obligations the provider must fulfill as a result of any other ETC designation it has obtained." Similarly, the LBP process doesn't affect the authority states have exercised over the Lifeline marketplace, it said.
The FCC asked a court to suspend its review of the agency's Lifeline USF overhaul, pending agency resolution of petitions to reconsider its order. When such petitions are filed for an order being challenged in court, "it is a common practice for the reviewing court, on request by the agency or other parties, to hold its review proceeding in abeyance pending agency action on the petitions for reconsideration," said an FCC motion (in Pacer) Thursday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hold in abeyance NARUC v. FCC, Nos. 16-1170 and 16-1219. The commission said the usual court considerations "are especially weighty in this case" because some recon petitions implicate two questions that judicial petitioners plan to raise before the D.C. Circuit: whether the agency should phase down stand-alone voice support and on state authority to designate USF "eligible telecom carriers" (ETCs). State judicial petitioners Thursday made a filing (in Pacer) saying they would oppose the abeyance motion and proposing a briefing schedule and format agreed to by all the parties, "subject, of course, to this Court's ruling" on the motion. The FCC March 31 adopted an order extending Lifeline low-income support to broadband service and streamlining program administration (see 1603310056). NARUC and individual states challenged the decision to create a federal Lifeline broadband provider designation process that bypasses state ETC reviews (see 1606030053 and 1607010057). CTIA, General Communication Inc., Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, NTCA/WTA, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, TracFone and USTelecom petitioned the FCC to reconsider or clarify aspects of its order (see 1608090023).
Three million people, 575,000 square miles of area and 750,000 road miles in the U.S. have no 4G LTE coverage or only coverage from a carrier receiving universal service support, said Jon Wilkins, chief of the Wireless Bureau, as the FCC released numbers Friday, based on Form 477 data. “These are the areas where our analysis shows there is a clear need for an ongoing subsidy to either expand 4G LTE coverage or continue coverage on a subsidized basis.” The FCC is starting to work on a new phase of a mobility fund. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Competitive Carriers Association annual meeting recently (see 1609200058) the release was coming and would show a mobility fund is necessary since too many locations remain unserved by LTE. Wilkins said the data is much improved over what was available to the FCC when it launched the initial mobility fund. “Our analysis shows that just under one and a half million people, approximately 470,000 square miles, and 550,000 miles of road in the U.S. do not have 4G LTE coverage," Wilkins said in a blog post. "We can overlay the actual area coverage data with publicly available data on universal service subsidies to determine at a sub-census block level where 4G LTE service is available only from a provider receiving support -- an indication that continuing support for service in those areas is needed.” It’s a positive development that the Wireless Bureau acknowledges the need to support mobile broadband through the USF, said Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry. As the FCC works toward a new mobility fund, it should “prioritize expanding service nationwide without stranding thousands of rural Americans who rely on service that is currently provided through USF support,” he said. “To meet Congress’s mandate of ‘reasonably comparable services in urban and rural areas,’ seamless wireless service must be available from a consumer’s carrier of choice to reach critical public safety services including 911.” The Form 477 data isn’t the “last word” on service availability, with Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn urging more-accurate and comprehensive measurements using the latest technologies and methods available, he said. “We appreciate the inclusion of a challenge process to make sure that the data used for any final decisions appropriately reflect the real on-the-ground services available to consumers,” he said. “CCA will continue to work with the FCC to ensure mobile broadband is available for all Americans, especially those in rural areas.” The Rural Wireless Association (RWA) applauded the FCC decision to analyze coverage in a census tract beyond the center point. Meanwhile, the USF program needs to continue to support mobile voice, the group said in a news release. “RWA is also pleased that the Bureau has committed to implementing a challenge process to allow service providers to contest coverage determinations,” RWA said. “RWA encourages the Bureau to ensure that this process is robust, and provides all parties (not just very large entities with nearly unlimited technological and personnel resources) sufficient time and opportunity to participate.”
A state commissioner slammed the FCC as the Montana Public Service Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to recertify 26 eligible telecom carriers to receive rural broadband funding from the federal USF. The PSC said in a news release that it expects the decision to bring in about $100 million to the state. “While federal pre-emption has greatly limited the PSC’s regulatory authority over telecoms, we do retain the responsibility for certifying the eligibility of Montana companies for FCC broadband build-out support,” said GOP Commissioner Roger Koopman. “In my opinion, that certification process carries with it the responsibility for ensuring that these funds are spent wisely and in accordance with the law’s intent. The feds have, up until now, totally dropped the ball on the reporting and tracking of these expenditures, making it all the more important for the PSC to step up and do the job, on behalf of both the taxpayer and the beneficiaries of this program.” The FCC strengthened reporting requirements for the coming year, noted Koopman, calling it “a welcomed development after years of complacency and neglect.” NARUC and some states are challenging the new process for designating national Lifeline broadband providers that allows parties to bypass state eligible telecom carrier reviews (see 1606030053 and 1607010057). The FCC declined comment.
New York and FCC officials discussed ways broadband providers could "step into the shoes" of price-cap telcos that declined Connect America Fund Phase II support in various states. "This approach would encourage states to commit their own funds for broadband deployment, minimizing additional burdens on the federal Universal Service Fund and increasing the likelihood of bringing broadband to affected states," said an Empire State Development filing in docket 10-90 on a phone call its representatives and an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) had with an aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Wireline Bureau officials: "It would also provide significant cost efficiencies and financial synergies that cannot be achieved under any of the alternative approaches proposed by the Commission" in a May Further NRPM (see 1605250046). New York and other states have pressed the FCC to keep planned CAF II reverse auction subsidies in the states where price-cap ILECs declined offers of support (see 1605200066 and 1607220057).
An Obama administration official sees a delicate balance in what government policies would best foster both innovation and technology deployment, he said Wednesday during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy economic summit. The U.S. Digital Service would be “really valuable consultants” to the FCC regarding its USF program, said Howard Shelanski, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The FCC offered guidance for small entity compliance with rate-of-return USF rules under a March order overhauling the rural phone subsidy program to support broadband service (see 1603300065). The guide released Tuesday in docket 10-90 "is intended to help small entities -- small businesses, small organizations (non-profits), and small governmental jurisdictions -- comply with the revised rules. ... This Guide is not intended to replace the rules. The Guide is intended to facilitate compliance with the rules."