School Groups Reject New Overbuild Exclusions in E-rate Program

(see 1907020016), in replies posted through Wednesday in docket 13-184. "Texas Carriers paint a very different picture than most rural carriers," said Funds for Learning. "Rather than working to earn business, they ask the FCC to regulate competition away." Texas education associations said the Texas carriers should participate in competitive bidding if they want future E-rate funding, "but the petitioners, instead of proposing bids, would rather propose unnecessary rules that allow them to remain on the sidelines without consequence." E-rate Partners said "the petition limits competitive bidding instead of encouraging it." Incompas said the proposals would significantly distort the competitive bidding process, cause higher prices and delay the application process for schools trying to upgrade their broadband services. Uniti Fiber said the "requested rule changes are unnecessary, do not offer solutions, and would harm the competitive market for E-rate services by installing a thicket of bureaucratic barriers to deploying broadband." Petitioners Central Texas Telephone Cooperative, Peoples Telephone Cooperative and Totelcom Communications said they "seek to eliminate waste, not competition," and characterizations of protectionism "are patently false, unsubstantiated and misunderstand many aspects of the Petitioners' proposal." The carriers encourage a mechanism "to consider and negotiate a reasonable rate to lease existing fiber to avoid duplicative costs and unnecessary overbuilding" in ways that would benefit both USF and schools. NTCA also asked for a rulemaking to reexamine E-rate rules adopted five years ago.