Jonathan Make

USF stakeholders should make more improvements to broadband mapping, especially before the FCC begins awarding some $20 billion over about 10 years in the next version of its USF high-cost fund. That's the consensus in Q&A with us at a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition panel (see 9:45 a.m.) Thursday and from audience members. Stakeholders targeted telcos, which some said don't always know down to a small-geographic level what areas they serve with internet service, and the FCC. The commission has been improving its mapping, working with others in the federal government including the Rural Utilities Service, said RUS Assistant Administrator-Telecom Programs Chad Parker.

Areas of wide agreement among C-band users, satellite operators and other stakeholders are emerging, and with them issues that need resolution before the FCC acts or through an eventual order, experts and a policymaker said Tuesday. All agree that some frequencies will be repurposed for 5G, said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "There is a broad consensus on at least a couple of points," said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden: Spectrum will be repurposed, content delivery using the satellite band should be protected, and "end users should be held harmless."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld much of the FCC reclassifying broadband service as a Title I Communications Act information service, with some exceptions including on pre-emption for states' own regulations. The ruling also included a partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld much of the FCC reclassifying broadband service as a Title I Communications Act information service, with some exceptions including on pre-emption for states' own regulations. The ruling also included a partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams and concurring opinions from Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins. Our earlier bulletin incorrectly described the FCC's newest rules as on Title II.

FCC Commissioners differed along party lines about the strength of the agency's relationship with local government. Republican members noted areas of commonality and work the regulator has done with municipal and other non-federal counterparts. Democrats said the agency needs to improve. The commissioners were answering our questions at a news conference after their monthly meeting Thursday.

TAMPA -- Public, educational and governmental access programmers should get creative in how they raise money and in other parts of their operations, amid revenue and other challenges, NATOA was told Wednesday. There's declining cable revenue in many localities, as the number of traditional pay-TV subscribers shrinks and cable ISPs focus more on broadband, plus uncertainty about what regulators including the FCC might do next. To seek alternative ways of getting money means turning to concepts in other sectors: branding, fundraising, working with IRS-deemed 501(c)(3) affiliates, getting corporate and other sponsorships, and asking people to make donations.

TAMPA -- Local telecom officials and their legal representatives are wary of future federal moves to encroach on their authority. They identified a wide gulf between their need for oversight of and compensation from providers and FCC actions this year and last, plus expected future agency deregulation. In interviews this week on the sidelines of their annual conference, NATOA board members and others had much criticism for the agency.

TAMPA -- Localities can get better 5G outcomes by proactively engaging with a wide array of stakeholders to get consistent and uniform policies, recommend NATOA panelists. Part of whether such smart city, fast broadband and digital divide narrowing technology succeeds and in an aesthetically palatable way depends on how far ahead communities plan for fifth-generation technology, industry representatives said Monday. Other suggestions included having published standards and encouraging collocating equipment including small cells with utilities and other carriers.

TAMPA -- Municipal relations with carriers are generally better than with the FCC, some local representatives told us Monday. A lawyer for localities and a consultant to them criticized the FCC for tensions. A cable and telecom official from a Washington suburb and a NATOA board member who's a utility-company lawyer said they're getting along OK with wireless-service providers.

A backer of an alternative plan to free up some C band for 5G and from satellite use is speaking with programmers about that proposal, heard an America's Communications Association video interview by ACA CEO Matt Polka released Friday. It's "no big surprise" those who would have to move, such as with ACA "members, had a lot of questions about how this as going to work, and was this going to be as reliable a delivery service," said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. "Ultimately, they understood the value." Allies of the ACA, Charter Communications and Competitive Carriers Association recommendation to use fiber in place of the satellite spectrum to deliver programming have been having "numerous conversions with programmers, both large and small, sort of a goodwill tour of education," he added. "A lot of the concerns we’ve heard have been just misperceptions." Maybe "our plan wasn't clear enough," and the concerns are being addressed, Lieberman said. "We’re in the process of putting together a supplement to our filing" at the FCC. Liberman has spoken with broadcast and with cable programmers, he told us Friday. "Everybody wants 5G, and I think people also want certainty, so I think the FCC is really trying to get this done as soon as possible," said Charter Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Colleen King. "Programmers have been using the C band for decades," so it takes "some warming up to get to" understand the ACA, Charter and CCA plan, even at her own company's video business, she said. "If we are going to give up this great resource we have, you want to make sure it’s fairly available to everybody" via FCC auction, King said. This plan gives CCA members "a fair shot at getting that spectrum," said CCA General Counsel Alexi Maltas. The C-Band Alliance would provide as much as 300 MHz of spectrum for 5G, less than the ACA consortium seeks. NAB isn't "aware of a single programmer that has endorsed the ACA proposal," a spokesperson emailed. "If that constitutes ‘warming up’" to the plan, he added, "we’re afraid to ask what cooling off looks like.” The CBA, FCC and NCTA declined to comment.