USTelecom Supports Cox Calls for Changes to FCC E-Rate Order
USTelecom urged the FCC to reconsider parts of its December E-rate order, particularly rules allowing self-provisioning by schools and libraries and the need for additional safeguards to ensure efficient spending in the USF program. USTelecom said it agrees with many of the questions raised about the order by Cox Communications in a March petition for reconsideration. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition defended the order, saying allowing schools and libraries to receive money to lease dark fiber or build their own facilities was a badly needed innovation. The filings were posted in docket 13-184.
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Cox asked that the FCC restrict special construction costs for dark fiber and self-construction projects, including limiting funding to cases where finished services aren't available or capping such support at $200 million yearly. Cox said the agency shouldn't provide additional E-rate support to match state funding. Cox asked the FCC to have Universal Service Administrative Co. “conduct an apples-to-apples comparison of their real costs versus purchasing provider-offered finished services.”
“Existing providers are best situated to provision last-mile broadband services to schools or libraries that are not currently E-Rate connected to a broadband network,” USTelecom said. It said the FCC should “identify and target support to the limited number of schools and libraries that are unable to afford adequate (or any) high-speed broadband connections.”
USTelecom said it had offered the FCC a framework “that could be implemented very quickly and with no disruption to the E-Rate funding cycle.” Under the proposal, schools and libraries, through the use of Form 470, would be able to “self-identify” whether “they believe they do or do not have fiber-based broadband” and are located in a rural area. “These applicants would then be highlighted by the Commission to ensure that the business opportunity that these applicants represent is well known,” the association said.
CenturyLink agreed with Cox “that the rulemaking fell short” and that the FCC should add safeguards in keeping with those adopted in the Healthcare Connect Fund order. Allowing the use of E-rate funds for self-provisioning of service is “a dramatic and controversial change in program policy,” the carrier said. “CenturyLink believes the Commission is mistaken to presume that the Commission has statutory authority to fund dark fiber and self-construction, when the statute authorizes only ‘discounts’ on ‘telecommunications services’ provided by ‘carriers.’”
SHLB countered the arguments. The E-rate order took many “bold steps” to revise the program, the coalition said. Making the changes sought by Cox “would do much to restore the unacceptable status quo existing” before the order was adopted, the group said. It said the cable operator's petition “relies on facts and arguments that were fully considered and rejected by the Commission and do not warrant reconsideration.”
The issues raised by Cox were “thoroughly addressed by the Commission,” the American Library Association said, agreeing with SHLB. “We see no need for the Commission to review its decisions made in the December Order.”