Monica Hogan

A drop-down menu option in the USF E-rate funding application labeled ISP service "has caused consistent confusion for applicants," as some without a tech background didn't realize they wouldn't receive support for network transport costs, the EducationSuperHighway commented in FCC docket 13-184, posted Friday. ESH recommends eliminating that option from form 470 and replacing it with one that reads internet service (with or without transport). CenturyLink said even applicants' consultants have difficulty navigating the E-rate program. It recommends applicants specify whether they seek internet access or WAN connectivity, and suggests removing a requirement to specify circuit quantity for circuit-based services. "USTelecom members support any and all efforts to ensure that processes facilitate ease of compliance with the rules and are intuitive and easy to understand," the association said. It wants a new drop-down option so schools and libraries can include location addresses directly on the 470 so bidding providers save time. The State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance wants drop-down menu terms and phrases to match those used by E-rate, such as in its eligible services list, and asks that the form eliminate any excess boxes that could inadvertently lead to funding denials if they're not checked because instructions are unclear. Replies are due Nov. 15.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wants the FCC to "reckon with how rolling back regulations and not requiring back up power have made it harder" to communicate in natural disasters such as the recent California wildfires. She tweeted Friday that "phones are not working. It's time for the FCC to start investigating."

The FCC Wireline Bureau is "more narrowly" tailoring penalties for its broadband performance testing program to recognize past performance in carriers that fall out of compliance at the end of their USF Connect America Fund support terms, said an order to docket 10-90 posted Thursday. It will withhold support when a carrier is unable to demonstrate compliance at the end of the support term "only for the amount of time since the carrier's network performance was last compliant." It clarified that if a carrier "was not in compliance with our performance measures for five quarters of testing but comes into compliance before or during end-of-term testing," Universal Service Administrative Co. wouldn't recover any of the CAF support. But if the carrier never comes into compliance during the test period, USAC will withhold the appropriate amount for the entire term. The order differs from its draft by reconsidering a requirement for carriers to meet CAF performance test obligations even when customers chosen at random for testing haven't bought service offerings at the CAF-required speeds. Industry sought the changes (see 1910220007) and commissioners approved the order at their meeting Friday.

More should be done to promote broadband competition, reported Jonathan Sallet, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior fellow, on broadband for the 2020s. He said Wednesday states should repeal laws that restrict localities from broadband deployment or Congress should pre-empt them. Federal funding designed to avoid overbuilding ISP networks confuse well-being of competitors with consumers, he said: Those most likely having limited broadband competition are rural, or with median household incomes below $60,000. Sallet cited the National Digital Inclusion Alliance showing pockets of high-poverty neighborhoods in Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo, Dallas and Dayton where incumbent telecoms hadn't deployed fiber. Proposed Lifeline changes to eliminate mobile resellers would effectively end Lifeline broadband access for millions, the report said. Sallet instead recommends schools and libraries be allowed to provide Lifeline, too. Such competition could increase once the national verifier is fully implemented, Sallet suggested. "An even more efficient mechanism would make Lifeline enrollment automatic when people are enrolled in a qualifying federal program." The 150-page footnoted document acknowledged a persistent problem of areas unserved by broadband, saying the executive branch should establish an Office of Broadband Coordination for Tribal Lands.

A new draft FCC order on updating E-rate would finalize a five-year-spending approach for category 2 equipment and services inside anchor institutions, agency officials told us. The Wireline Bureau draft circulated Oct. 18. Without a yes vote, the spending pilot sunsets in 2020, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The FCC took comment this summer in docket 13-184, and filings widely supported moving to a districtwide funding approach to give localities more flexibility to direct resources where most needed; commenters also sought a larger funding floor for rural institutions to incentivize more of them to apply (see 1908190008). A vote is expected before schools and libraries submit proposals for the next funding year. The Enforcement Bureau also drafted an order on circulation about an unresolved market dispute between Verizon and Wide Band filed in June. The FCC doesn't comment on pending enforcement matters.

The FCC released drafts of rules Tuesday to modernize unbundling and resale requirements for LECs, update suspension and debarment rules for telecom relay services programs, and modify cost recovery rules for IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS), a form of TRS. Commissioners tentatively will vote at their Nov. 19 meeting (see 1910280054). Deregulating what incumbents must provide rival telecoms would include transition periods.

Stakeholders are debating how Lifeline is regulated after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded to the FCC rules on its authority to make broadband eligible for the program. That ruling came in partly upholding the agency's 2018 net neutrality order reclassifying broadband as a Title I information service (see 1910010018). The 2-1 court decision points up uncertainty with Lifeline, stakeholders agreed in interviews this month.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said Friday he doesn't support a recent recommendation to include an assessment on broadband usage to help support USF programs. Earlier this month, state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service asked the FCC in docket 96-45 to expand its contribution base to include a fee on internet access service (see 1910150045). "We're at a crossroads," O'Rielly said during commissioners' Friday meeting. He said the board would meet again when some of the state members suggest other ideas to address the contribution base. "It's difficult to find common ground," O'Rielly told us in Q&A. Many say the contribution factor is growing unsustainably (see 1909130003).

C Spire seeks an opportunity in the next few years to deliver a multistate or national health-based service via the web or smartphone app rather than reliant on its broadband or wireless infrastructure, said Hu Meena, CEO of Mississippi-based telecom provider C Spire. C Spire has a partnership with the University of Mississippi Medical Center to deliver certain routine medical services via smartphone. For its national service, the company would likely need to negotiate state-by-state licensing, and the project isn't that far along, Meena said in an interview Monday. Several years ago, the carrier participated in a UMMC diabetes monitoring trial (see 1807180040).

A notice of inquiry for the FCC's annual broadband deployment report was adopted 3-2 Oct. 4 and posted Wednesday afternoon. Comments are due Nov. 22, replies Dec. 9, in docket 19-285. The NOI circulated in July (see 1908090012) and concerns were raised about incorrect data. Now, Democratic commissioners' concerns focused on lack of better data collection methods. The FCC proposed to maintain 25/3 Mbps as the metric for fixed broadband and will take comment on whether another approach is justified.