Pai Meets Governor, Other Officials in Puerto Rico; Rosenworcel Tweets on Visit

Pai's proposal to provide Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with $954 million in USF support to help restore and upgrade hurricane-damaged communications networks, according to Spanish-language tweets by Rossello and others that Pai retweeted (here, here, here, here). Pai also met with the CEO of Claro, Puerto Rico's largest telecom carrier, a company spokeswoman emailed. Pai's broadband plan would add $256 million in new USF support and repurpose existing funding currently directed at the islands, mostly to expand fixed broadband connectivity over the long term and 4G mobile broadband connectivity in the medium term (see 1803060039). Asked about the repurposed funding, an FCC spokesman emailed that "among other differences, the new program would include buildout obligations as well as a competitive process for awarding support for fixed broadband." Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who arrived in Puerto Rico Monday, tweeted Wednesday about conditions and recovery efforts in the Villa Cama neighborhood (here) and at a school in rural Toa Baja (here). Pai was to have met with broadcasters in the evening, said Jean Paul Vissepo, legal adviser with Puerto Rico’s International Broadcasting Corp. Broadcasters are hoping for FCC assistance with restoring service to the island. Broadcasting was the communications service used to disseminate emergency information on Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the extensive damage to broadcast facilities has been under-assessed, Vissepo said.