Sandwich Isles Blasts FCC Handling of Its USF Treatment, Hawaii License Review
Sandwich Isles Communications (SIC) alleged FCC "procedural irregularities" and questioned agency motives since it subjected the carrier to $77 million in USF repayment duties and proposed fines for violations and apparent violations of the high-cost program in Hawaii Dec. 5…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
(see 1612060032). The commission recently sought comment on a Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Home Lands request for guidance on whether an exclusive DHHL license held by the company violates a Communications Act mandate for the FCC to remove telecom market entry barriers. "The putative licensing issue raised in the February 6 Public Notice was not mentioned in either of the substantive orders issued" Dec. 5, SIC replied in docket 10-90 Thursday: "One of the two public notices specified in the Notice of Apparent Liability ('NAL') was not issued until a few days AFTER the February 6 Public Notice. And, in the unseemly haste to issue the DHHL 'request', the Public Notice truncates the DHHL submission to make it appear that the issue is extremely narrow and the outcome self-evident." SIC complained the comment period was too short and its request for an extension was ignored. "There is reason for SIC to be concerned that the Commission may be, at best, uninterested in the merits of any aspect of this matter, that it regards the outcome of the proceedings as a foregone conclusion, and that its sole purpose is to force SIC to discontinue its service to the HHL so as to allow the ILECs to cherry pick the urbanized areas of the HHL without interference from an [eligible telecom carrier] such as SIC," the company wrote. Supplementing comments of its parent Waimana Enterprises (see 1702280063), SIC said its license doesn't preclude competition in the HHL and criticized how the FCC framed the issue. The agency declined comment Friday.