Wireline Bureau Eyes Rate-of-Return Funding, Tribal Broadband Factor, DelNero Says
The FCC is looking to resolve rate-of-return USF funding issues "as quickly as possible," Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero said Thursday at a Practising Law Institute conference. He noted 215 rural telcos electing a new broadband model-based mechanism sought $310 million in annual subsidy support above an FCC budget, and the agency had allocated only an extra $150 million. The bureau is consulting with all the commissioner offices in search of a solution in the near term to make the new rate-of-return USF structures work for as many carriers as possible, he said.
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DelNero said the bureau is working on some other USF issues during the transition to a Republican-run FCC, including its plans to devise a tribal broadband factor for the high-cost program by the end of the year. "Our job is to write the order," he said, "We're working on something. We'll obviously leave it up to the eighth floor as to where it goes from there." Following Republican pressure that the agency refrain from adopting controversial items during the transition, commissioners are looking at what actions they can agree on.
Looking back, DelNero pointed to FCC work updating all the USF programs, which subsidize service to rural high-cost areas (served by both rate-of-return and price-cap carriers), Lifeline low-income consumers, E-rate school and library recipients, and rural healthcare providers. He said all four programs have "pivoted" from a focus on supporting phone service to supporting broadband internet access service. "Making these changes is never easy," given the different interests of stakeholders, he said. "We find all the programs headed in the right direction."
The agency's effort to overhaul business data service regulation is "the elephant in the room," DelNero said. After doing much work, the FCC withdrew a draft BDS order from the agenda for the commissioners' meeting in November due to the Republican transition concerns. The commission "did get something done" in issuing a tariff investigation order to prevent certain incumbent telco BDS "lock-up" practices that were harming competition and preventing migration to Ethernet services, said the staffer. He acknowledged "big reform" hadn't been adopted but said he was proud of the bureau's efforts to provide market analysis and propose solutions. "I'm not sure where that goes, but I hope it's useful at some point to someone," he said.
DelNero wouldn't address his plans as the FCC heads toward Republican control. Asked what he wished he had known before becoming bureau chief, DelNero cited a better appreciation of the sheer volume of work to be done. He said he learned over time to become more selective in his efforts, leaving most of the detailed work to the bureau's career professionals.