Members of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition met with FCC commissioner aides last week to discuss what they see as major issues with the agency's proposed competitive bidding portal for the federal E-rate program. The group recapped meetings with all three commissioners' offices in a pair of filings posted in docket 21-455. The FCC will vote on the order April 30 (see 2604090065).
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., lead sponsor of the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-2289), told us Monday night he’s “confident” that House leaders will eventually bring the bill back to the floor before this Congress ends, despite their decision to pull it earlier that day once it became clear that not enough Republicans supported its passage (see 2604200064). The House Commerce Committee advanced the measure, which combined language from 22 GOP connectivity permitting bills, on a narrow 26-24 party-line vote in December (see 2512030031).
The FCC is seeking broad comment on the operations of the Universal Service Administrative Co. in a public notice quietly released Wednesday. The notice, by the Wireline Bureau and Office of the Managing Director, seeks comment on “potential reforms to the operations and management” of USAC. Comments are due May 15. The notice asks more than 30 questions.
Communications industry lobbyists told us members of a bipartisan congressional working group eyeing a legislative revamp of the Universal Service Fund are still hoping to produce at least a “discussion draft” of a proposal this year, but cautioned that there’s a diminishing amount of time before lawmakers lose their appetite for seeking consensus ahead of the November elections. Meanwhile, leaders of the House and Senate Communications subcommittees in recent interviews appeared open but muted about using a potential 1996 Telecommunications Act rewrite as a vehicle for revamping USF.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday the agency will hold a series of workshops bringing together “all the affected stakeholders” to discuss IP interconnection. He also said the FCC plans to look closely at every part of the USF. The agency released a notice this week on potential changes to the Universal Service Administrative Co. (see 2604160070).
IRVING, Texas -- While major fiber and cable makers say there will be plenty of supply available for BEAD (see 2603190029), broadband executives speaking Wednesday at the Connected America 2026 conference here were notably more pessimistic. Materials and contractor costs are on the rise, and broadband providers that haven't already been locking down contractors and material for BEAD are behind, Utopia CEO Roger Timmerman said. "There's a shortage out there and a lot of projects coming."
While a U.S. Supreme Court case that could have overturned the USF is no longer an “existential” threat, that doesn’t mean “everything is great in USF land,” Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan said in an interview Thursday. A year ago, Donovan highlighted the concerns that CCA members had (see 2504140039) before SCOTUS decided Consumers’ Research v. FCC, upholding the legality of the USF contribution factor (see 2506270054).
Fiber coverage in the U.S. continues to expand, with fiber providers overbuilding other fiber providers alongside cable operators, CostQuest CEO Jim Stegeman said Wednesday during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. FBA President Gary Bolton said CostQuest data points to roughly 2.1 million broadband serviceable locations (BSL) in the U.S. still being unserved or underserved once BEAD and other federal subsidy programs are done.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau on Tuesday suspended seven people from participating in the agency’s universal service programs. Each was found guilty of crimes related to the E-rate program, the agency said. Among them were Donatus Anyanwu and Donna Woods of Texas, who “knowingly conspired to defraud the E-Rate program of more than $337,000 by using Woods’ position as CEO of a Texas school, Nova Charter School, to select Anyanwu’s company, ADI Engineering, as the school’s E-Rate provider,” the FCC news release said.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders see a strong chance that any revamp of the 1996 Telecommunications Act may need to happen over multiple bills, rather than a single legislative package, because of the breadth of items that could be included. Former Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who was a House Commerce Committee aide when Congress passed the statute, urged lawmakers during a March 26 hearing to consider such a multi-bill approach (see 2603260072).