FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a further Lifeline USF query to Universal Service Administrative Co. CEO Chris Henderson Monday. Pai said he appreciated Henderson's answers to previous queries (see 1606080062) about the waste, fraud and abuse that has "riddled" Lifeline since wireless resellers entered the low-income subsidy program. He asked the USAC administrator to answer a series of new questions by Aug. 15. "If American taxpayers are to have faith in the Universal Service Fund, they must know that the Lifeline program only supports actual, eligible subscribers, not phantoms," Pai said in a letter posted on the FCC website.
Nebraska Rural Independent Companies urged a Federal-State Joint Board to recommend the FCC make USF contribution system changes similar to what NRIC has advocated in a state proceeding, said a filing in docket 96-45 on a meeting with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the joint board, and an aide. "NRIC supports implementation of a connections-based contribution mechanism applicable to residential consumers, and continuation of the revenues-based contribution mechanism for business/enterprise and special access at least for a transition period," said an attached summary of the group's state positions. "A connection would be defined as 'a wired line or wireless channel used to provide end users with access to any assessable service.' Assessable service would be defined as 'a service which allows a connection to other networks through inter-network routing as a means to provide the telecommunications.'” In other meetings it summarized, NRIC made the same pitch to Commissioner Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission and Commissioner Ronald Brise of the Florida Public Service Commission, two state members of the board.
NASHVILLE -- An FCC official tried to ease tensions with state commissioners over the federal agency’s controversial Lifeline order, speaking at the 2016 NARUC Summer Committee Meetings. But NARUC Telecommunications Committee Chair Chris Nelson said he continues to believe the order violates the law. State officials raised concerns about the order's implementation in Lifeline sessions Wednesday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau finalized broadband coverage data for a cost model in a new USF mechanism that rate-of-return telcos can opt into to receive Connect America Fund support pursuant to a commission March 31 overhaul (see 1603300065). The bureau concluded a streamlined challenge process for the voluntary Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM), said an order in docket 10-90 listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest. "The Bureau is making the necessary adjustments in A-CAM in order to make final calculations of the offer of model-based support to rate-of-return carriers and will shortly release the Public Notice summarizing offer amounts and associated deployment obligations, which will trigger the 90-day deadline for carriers to indicate their intent to elect model-based support," the order said. "In this proceeding we received 146 comments, containing 273 requests to change reported A-CAM coverage data. Following our review of each filing on its merits, today we grant 80 requests and deny 73 requests. We decline to act on 124 requests that request changes that are administratively infeasible or unnecessary to make. We modify the A-CAM coverage data in the model accordingly, as described more fully" in the rest of the order. The disposition of each request is listed in an appendix.
Plains Internet asked the FCC to designate it as a Lifeline broadband provider (LBP) under the agency's new federal eligible telecom carrier process for the low-income USF support program (see 1604270028). Plains is a facilities-based telecom carrier providing fixed-wireless broadband, VoIP and data services capable of reaching over 293,000 customers, said its petition posted Thursday in docket 11-42. The company seeks LBP approval to serve Lifeline-eligible customers and meets all the statutory and regulatory requirements for such designation, it said. Approval would result in a "higher level of service quality and more competitive pricing and advantageous service options" for low-income consumers, it said, proposing an effective date of Aug. 31.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau admonished Momentum Telecom for not making full and timely contributions to the USF for more than a year. That failure deprived the USF of funds and gave Momentum an advantage over competitors that made timely contributions, said a bureau order Friday in File No.: EB-IHD-15-00018669. The bureau said that starting in September 2013, Momentum failed to make full and timely USF contributions, owing over $100,000 in August 2014, before fully erasing its arrears in October 2015. "An admonishment is appropriate in this case because the relevant statute of limitations has expired for all but a de minimis amount of the USF debt at issue. Nevertheless, Momentum’s habitual late payments to the USF must still be sanctioned," it said. Momentum said the $100,000 debt was due to a single missed invoice and notes it wasn't placed on "red light" status or had its case referred to the U.S. Treasury for debt collection, the order said. The bureau believes the size and duration of the debt warrant some enforcement action, but it didn't issue a fine despite some consideration. Momentum didn't comment Friday.
Fiber proponents urged the FCC to devise a Connect America Fund subsidy auction to encourage deployment of cutting-edge high-speed networks and services, as initial comments on a Further NPRM were posted Thursday and Friday in docket 10-90. Satellite and some wireless interests suggested the rules should encourage broad deployment and industry participation, and traditional telcos seemed fairly sympathetic to that. Regulators in three northeastern states where Verizon declined initial CAF Phase II support asked the commission to ensure or help their states receive their fair share of support through the auction.
NTCA asked the FCC to set a clear implementation schedule for its USF overhaul order transitioning rate-of-return carriers from voice to broadband-oriented support in two mechanisms, including a new option based on a broadband cost model (see 1603300065). The schedule should "enable all reforms (model and non-model) to take effect at approximately the same time to the extent possible, and to provide carriers with sufficient estimates, calculations, and other data in advance of any implementation deadlines to help inform" their upcoming USF support elections, said the rural telco group in a filing Wednesday on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai in docket 10-90; it also met separately with Wireline Bureau officials: "NTCA noted the importance of providing data or analyses that would allow carriers to estimate, if not completely ascertain, the impacts of reforms still being implemented -- specifically: (1) the new operating expense limits; (2) the competitive overlap rule; (3) any new buildout obligations; (4) the budget control as it might apply in 2017, and (5) the new capital investment allowance governing recovery of prospective investments." NTCA continues to believe questions of USF support sufficiency, rural-urban service/rate comparability and intrastate cost recovery need to be addressed in its petition to reconsider/clarify the March 31 FCC order, but it said the most urgent priority is for budget management in the event some carriers elect and then decline model support It's "essential" the model elections be carried out in a way that does "not leave non-model carriers with insufficient support by penalizing those carriers that did not elect the model for the choices of those that expressed initial interest in the model but then 'backed out of' a final election," it said.
The FCC denied Allband Communications Cooperative a further waiver of a rule establishing a presumptive $250 monthly line cap on total high-cost USF support for eligible telecom carriers. The commission gave Allband previous waivers to the rule, which was adopted in a 2011 order overhauling USF mechanisms. "Allband has consistently misapplied our cost allocation rules rendering its cost accounting unreliable," said an FCC order Wednesday adopted unanimously in docket 10-90. "We are therefore unable to determine, at this time, what, if any, support in excess of the $250 cap is justified and in the public interest. Accordingly, we deny Allband’s Further Waiver Request and require that Allband revise its cost accounting practices to be consistent with our rules. Once that has occurred, Allband may submit a new request for a waiver of the $250 cap if its revised cost study incorporating correctly determined costs would result in a need for support in excess of $250 per line. In addition, we deny Allband’s Application for Review of the Wireline Competition Bureau’s July 25, 2012 waiver grant. Allband requested that the Commission extend its July 2012 waiver of the $250 cap until 2026, rather than 2015, and waive the Commission’s benchmarking rule. Allband also made several legal challenges to both rules. We deny Allband’s legal challenges, consistent with the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit." Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O'Rielly issued separate statements attached to Wednesday's order. An Allband representative didn't comment.
Lobbying spending among some wireless heavyweights is up. CTIA lobbying rose in Q2, to $1.96 million, vs. $1.76 million in last year’s Q2. T-Mobile spent more than $2.1 million in Q2, vs. $1.6 million a year ago. T-Mobile typically has spent aggressively on lobbying, and this is the first quarter in many years that it’s broken the $2 million mark in quarterly lobbying spending. An exception is Q2 2008, when T-Mobile recorded $3.29 million.