The FCC is doing what it can to improve the USF while waiting for Congress to reshape how the programs work more generally (see 2602180080), Commissioner Olivia Trusty told an NTCA conference Monday. Removing regulatory barriers is important to reach the hardest areas to serve, as is “embracing new technologies” where they make sense, she said. Rural areas also need resiliency and security as much as urban markets do, she added.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told us Monday that there’s still no clear timeline for a final estimate of federal funding needed to complete next-generation 911 technology upgrades. However, he voiced more optimism during a National Emergency Number Association event earlier in the day.

Public Knowledge, the Center for Rural Strategies and the Communications Workers of America had an emphatic message for the FCC on whether the agency should set a date for the end of the IP transition -- “We. Are. Not. Ready.” Other filers also picked up that theme in reply comments on an October NPRM, which were due Friday in docket 25-304 (see 2602200046). The NPRM seeks a path forward to move the industry away from time-division multiplexing (TDM) interconnection to all-IP connections.