Monica Hogan

Report ISPs are deploying broadband to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion," industry told the FCC in comments posted through Monday in docket 19-285 on a notice of inquiry for the 15th annual Communications Act Section 706 report (see 1910230065). Critics said the last report overstated broadband deployment (see 1905290017).

Commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to issue an NPRM in FCC docket 19-308 on eliminating regulations on certain unbundling and resale requirements for ILECs to make parts of their facilities-based networks available to CLECs that want to use the unbundled network elements (UNEs) to sell voice and broadband services (see 1911190009). Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks dissented. The new rules would eliminate most requirements for ILECs to unbundle and resell certain voice-grade and DSL loops except for residential use in certain rural areas. The NPRM proposes a three-year transition.

Potential cost impacts on Lifeline providers and subscribers played into an FCC decision to increase the program's broadband usage standards from 2 GB per month to only 3 GB on Dec. 1, instead of the 8.75 GB that had been outlined in a 2016 Lifeline order, said an order released Wednesday in docket 11-42. In deciding to waive, in part, the new broadband minimum service standards in answer to an industry petition, the FCC found it "reasonable to anticipate that a more than four-fold increase in the minimum usage allowance would require substantially greater network resources, and, in turn, the associated costs would be passed along to resellers and/or end-users," the agency said.

Delay plans to remove CLECs' access to an ILEC's unbundled network elements (UNEs) at regulated prices until more-accurate broadband maps can pinpoint where broadband competition actually exists, a group representing CLECs told the FCC. "You need new maps before you can have new rules,” Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told us. He visited with FCC officials in recent weeks to ask them to withdraw the draft NPRM in docket 19-308 that commissioners are expected to vote on Friday (see 1911150016).

State and federal officials vote this week on policies to advance IP captioned telephone services that offer speech captioning through internet-based communications for use by the deaf or hard of hearing. NARUC members at their conference in San Antonio will consider a resolution that would ask the FCC to adopt service quality standards for all IP CTS providers before migrating to exclusively automated speech recognition (ASR) services (see 1911050040).

A draft FCC Lifeline action would partly grant some industry and other requests for delaying the full impact of changes due Dec. 1 to the program, agency and industry officials told us Friday. The move could be released as state telecom commissioners are meeting in San Antonio, after they asked their federal counterparts at their last meeting to delay such changes. Various industry and other groups made their own requests.

The FCC isn't expected to provide clarity over authority to include or require broadband services as part of its Lifeline program anytime soon, said speakers at an FCBA workshop Thursday on what last month's Mozilla v. FCC net neutrality ruling means.

Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy sought clarification of an FCC rule on rural telehealth, among petitions for reconsiderations posted in docket 17-310 Wednesday. Dunleavy said the new mechanisms for determining cost recovery rates "don't sufficiently acknowledge the logistical and economic challenges to delivering service throughout rural Alaska, nor does it recognize the dramatic differences between our regions and communities." Rule changes would lead to systemic underfunding of telecom needed to deliver healthcare services to hard-to-reach communities, the Republican said. Alaska Communications asked to promptly address all outstanding matters from the telehealth rulemaking. It said the FCC is better positioned than the Universal Service Administrative Co. to timely resolve questions about rural rate determinations. USTelecom has concerns about how the FCC will implement a new median rural rate framework, citing material errors or omissions, and "Alaska requires a different approach to setting a rural rate that is unique." The median rate calculation risks "defunding telehealth services for the neediest rural Alaskans," it said. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition said USAC may have overstated nonrural telehealth expenditures, and the FCC should reconsider major policy changes based on such data. It also warned against deprioritizing funding for nonrural telehealth consortium participants. The North Carolina Telehealth Network Association and Southern Ohio Health Network asked the FCC to modify the definition of rural for the purposes of the program's eligibility.

LOUISVILLE -- Providers competing in broadband and companies that support them are projecting strong demand from consumers, businesses and government, they told Incompas Wednesday. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering recommended letting "every entrant enter this space because there is such a demand," especially rural. He called the push for ubiquitous deployment an issue "of national consensus" when few such issues are to be found. "It's good to be in our business right now."

LOUISVILLE -- Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen wants to partner with fiber-network builders and U.S. manufacturers as the company moves to replace Sprint as the fourth nationwide wireless network and build its 5G infrastructure, he said in a keynote Tuesday at the Incompas Show. "Our best days are ahead of us," Ergen said. "We're not looking in the rear-view mirror."