Telecom Groups Ask FCC for RDOF LOC Revisions; Lobbying Continues
Seven telecom groups asked for changes to FCC letter of credit requirements in its draft Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order, they wrote Thursday in docket 19-126. USTelecom, NCTA, NTCA, Incompas, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, WTA and the Wireless…
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!
ISP Association said LOC burdens unite them. They asked for revisions so obligations correspond more closely to risks. "Encouraging robust participation and prudentially managing risks to the fund are both important goals, but should not, and need not, be mutually exclusive," the groups said. The agency declined to comment. USTelecom separately asked the FCC to revise the RDOF item, due for a commissioners' vote Jan. 30 (see 2001150005). Otherwise, current letter of credit requirements "will prevent USTelecom members (and in our view the entire pool of potential bidders) from participating meaningfully in the RDOF auction," USTelecom said in filings posted Thursday in docket 19-126. Under the current draft, letter of credit requirements "scale dramatically and unsustainably," USTelecom said. "Critically, the compounding nature of the requirements would force participants -- ranging from small independent providers to large, publicly-traded companies -- to access more credit than they are capable of accessing." Industry had asked for changes (see 1912190073). USTelecom said the modifications made "are grossly insufficient to match the business reality that potential bidders face." USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter and CEOs including Consolidated Communications' Bob Udell and Windstream' Tony Thomas had meetings Monday with officials including Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, plus Wireline Chief Kris Monteith and other bureau officials. The Wireless ISP Association said the "modest change does not go far enough" and would preclude participation for many small ISPs. WISPA said letters of credit are treated as debt that harm RDOF recipients' ability to borrow.