Monica Hogan

Mobile service isn't a functional substitute for fixed broadband, at least not yet, the Communications Workers of America answered an FCC notice of inquiry (see 1910230065) for its annual report on deployment of advanced telecom services. Comments posted through Tuesday in docket 19-285. "Mobile broadband cannot deliver performance as consistent as wireline services," said CWA. It said "5G technology has the potential to provide high-speed Internet, [but] it is premature to consider it a full substitute for wired broadband today." Just because some users rely on a mobile device to stream video, do online research or seek employment when no fixed broadband alternative is available "does not mean that mobile and fixed services are now suddenly functional equivalents," the Wireless ISP Association said. USTelecom (here) and NCTA (here) back the FCC proposal to retain 25/3 Mbps for fixed download and uploads. CTA wants "the prompt and dependable expansion of next-generation broadband networks" to support the IoT, and calls for widespread deployment of mobile broadband networks. "The possibility that the FCC may consider mobile internet access as part of meeting universal deployment of advanced telecommunications capability is troubling because the capabilities of mobile service do not yet meet those of wired broadband access and many services are subject to data caps, which disproportionately hurt consumers with lower incomes," said the American Library Association. "The record is clear," Public Knowledge, Common Cause and Next Century Cities said: "Mobile and fixed broadband continue to be complementary services and are not substitutes for each other." PK and co-signers want the benchmark increased to 100 Mbps downstream.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the new Precision Agriculture Task Force that America's need for broadband on farms and ranches will only increase, at its first meeting Monday. Farmers and ranchers want to upload huge amounts of data to the cloud, "and that's why broadband is going to be central," he said. Pai said task force insights will be important in advising the FCC on how to spend at least $1 billion of the proposed $9 billion 5G Fund that he announced last week (see 1912040027). He said without such USF support for precision agriculture, there might be no business case for 5G in many rural areas.

Eligible telecom carriers must enhance engagement with tribal communities to address challenges deploying broadband there, Gila River Telecommunications Inc. (GRTI) told the FCC. Comments were posted through Friday in docket 10-90. GRTI said "the time for discussing whether broadband will be delivered to Indian Country must end. The next phase of engagement must focus on the development of concrete plans for each tribal community to gain broadband access." It recommends elevating the Office of Native Affairs and Policy to a separate office independent of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and having it report directly to the chairman and commissioners. GRTI wants ONAP to develop a voluntary process to engage tribal governments and ETCs with service areas including tribal lands that haven't deployed broadband to determine when it makes sense for tribal governments to take an ownership stake in the ETC. The Alaska Rural Coalition asked the FCC to answer its 2011 petition for reconsideration on "unique challenges facing Alaska carriers." It wants the FCC to allow carriers to substitute informal engagement with strategic performance benchmarks, as "formal outreach [hasn't] proven particularly effective." USTelecom has legal concerns about members' First Amendment rights and a current requirement ETCs market their services "in a culturally sensitive manner," which can interfere with effective dialogue. The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority said the tribal engagement process "is currently form over substance." The National Tribal Telecommunications Association wants additional enforcement of the tribal engagement rule.

The FCC should reject its draft order to clarify VoIP symmetry rules before it comes up for a vote at commissioners' Thursday meeting, CenturyLink said, posted Thursday in docket 10-90 on meetings with aides to the four commissioners. It said the draft "cannot be reconciled with precedent or governing law" and isn't supported by the policy justifications. The telco said that "because the draft order would require carriers like AT&T and CenturyLink to distinguish between over-the-top and facilities-based traffic even though there is no way for them to do so reliably, it would fail to achieve the commission's goal" of resolving intercarrier compensation disputes. Teliax said the agency should remove the draft. Teliax argued it fails to address issues raised by comments and other times gives inadequate explanations. Verizon supports the "conclusion that the VoIP Symmetry Rule permits LECs to assess end office switched access charges only if the LEC or its VoIP partner provides a physical connection to the last-mile facilities used to serve an end user, and also supports the finding that this ruling should have retroactive effect."

The FCC plans an NPRM early next year to take recommendations on a 10-year, $9 billion rural 5G Fund proposed Wednesday by Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1912040037). It would replace the Mobility Fund Phase II auction for which the FCC had planned $4.53 billion in USF spending over 10 years. Staff recommended the proposal because of mapping problems, and now seeks an audit of some carriers. One of those companies, Verizon, turned the focus back to the regulator.

The FCC made permanent a five-year budget approach to E-rate category 2 spending for libraries and schools in an order released Tuesday afternoon and OK'd Nov. 20 in docket 13-184. The vote was 5-0, with Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks concurring, as expected (see 1912020046). The order replaces a two-in-five-year budget approach deemed problematic by commenters. Funding floors for small and rural anchor institutions will be increased to $25,000. The new rules take effect in the 2021 funding year, when all E-rate applicants will begin new fixed five-year budget cycles. It extends the five-year pilot through the 2020 funding year. The agency declined to add services to its eligible services list. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said that while he "would have been open to a much more fundamental review of our E-rate budgetary framework" and he disfavors the use of fundamentally flawed expenditure formula, he voted yes to offer applicants "stability and predictability in seeking funds for internal connections." He added he wants to discuss including network security in a future list of eligible services, but doesn't want to open discussions to "vast new laundry lists of permissable expenditures." Rosenworcel is concerned urban libraries will see funding levels cut. "The agency takes steps to strengthen the program by cementing in place essential E.Rate 2.0 reforms" like allowing school districts or library systems as a whole to seek money, she wrote. "I am concerned that the record before us supports a greater per pupil allowance than what is adopted." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sees "work to do. Five years ago, the Commission established a goal of 1 Mbps internet access per student. Unfortunately, 62 percent of school districts still do not meet that standard."

TV stations should drop the use of signal blackouts as negotiation tools, a Phoenix Center panel heard Tuesday. Some sought congressional action, which MVPDs have long requested. Broadcasters declined invitations to participate, the organizers said. NAB said that's because the panel was stacked against its industry.

An item to modernize Category 2 spending in E-rate was deleted from the FCC's circulation list, updated Friday. It was approved 5-0 and Democratic concurrences are possible, an agency official said Monday. The item, which went on circulation last month, is expected to make permanent funding for broadband-related services inside libraries and schools (see 1910290016). "We do hope that it's soon because libraries are planning now" for next year's budgets, and they need the certainty of a rule, said Marijke Visser, American Library Association senior policy advocate, about possible forthcoming release. Visser said in an interview Monday that ALA seeks an increase to libraries' per-square-foot funding levels.

As libraries, schools and nonprofits step up efforts to loan mobile wireless hot spots to those without residential broadband, demand is rising. Long-term, sustainable funding remains a challenge, said those interviewed last week. Anchor institutions offer free hot spot devices and accompanying wireless broadband access for checkouts that can range from a week or two up to a typical school year.

Refocus FCC efforts on shoring up Lifeline affordability and reaching out to all eligible consumers instead of setting up new barriers, stakeholders recommended in interviews this week and last. The FCC last week 3-2 denied a pause on a $2 monthly decrease in support for voice-only, while raising by 50 percent a monthly minimum for broadband to 3 GB (see 1911200015). The previous week, the agency issued a 3-2 order that would curb fraud and abuse, and a Further NPRM asks whether to ban free handsets with new signups (see 1911140064).