FCC Tees Up Bids for Off-Campus E-Rate Support; Group Cites Analysis, Survey Data

public notice Monday in docket 13-184. One petition filed June 7 by Microsoft, Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp. and others seeks to use TV white space technology in Charlotte and Halifax counties, Virginia. The other petition filed May 16 by the Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic on behalf of the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado seeks to allow nearby housing authorities to connect to the school system's self-provisioned fiber network. "The petitions request that the Commission allow E-rate subsidized broadband networks to be accessed by students at home for educational purposes, without an obligation on the E-rate applicant to cost allocate the portion of the traffic attributable to off-campus use;" said the PN. Separately, Funds for Learning met with bureau staffers to discuss analysis of funding year 2016 E-rate funding data and responses to a nationwide survey of E-rate applicants. More than 118,000 school and library sites benefited from the E-rate program affecting over 50 million K-12 students and millions of library patrons, said a filing. It said the number of gigabit or faster connections more than doubled in the past year; half of applicants who considered a self-provisioned network believe it lowered their per-megabit pricing; 22 percent expect their broadband internet connection speeds to at least double in the next three years, while just 10 percent expect their speeds to be unchanged; there's broad support for restoring E-rate discounts for phone service; and the vast majority found Universal Service Administrative Co.'s new online E-rate portal "made the application process significantly more difficult and time-consuming."