Hughes Offers USF Plan for Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands Without Auction; PRTC Lobbies FCC
Hughes Network Systems said FCC distribution of new USF support for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands without an auction must contain "clear and unambiguous" criteria for scoring the network "resiliency, cost, timing and performance" of bids considered by…
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a neutral third party. The satellite provider has concerns about distributing "Stage 2" support without an auction, but backed an "objective, non-auction format for this one-time funding allocation" to "expediently restore and expand resilient broadband communications" to the hurricane-struck islands, it said, posting Tuesday in docket 18-143. It responded to a staff request at a Sept. 12 meeting. The company recommended a "rubric, based on the Commission’s four enumerated priorities -- 40 points for price per location; 20 points for network resiliency; 20 points for network deployment timing; and 20 points for network performance." Puerto Rico Telephone Co. urged increasing the Stage 2 budget for fixed service providers and giving the carrier a right of first refusal, it said in meetings its CEO Enrique Ortiz de Montellano and others had with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel, Brendan Carr and aides to all four commissioners. It discussed how to "structure an alternative competitive request for proposal process, if necessary."