In an order that it ties to the agency's “Delete” proceeding, the FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday extended for a year a waiver pausing the phase-out of Lifeline support for voice-only services and the increase in the Lifeline minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity (see 2307210068). Without the extension, support for services meeting only the voice minimum service standard, which currently stands at $5.25 per month, would be eliminated for most areas on Dec. 1, the bureau said. Without a pause, the minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity would rise from 4.5 GB per month to 29 GB, also starting Dec. 1.

Katie McAuliffe, formerly of the Information Technology Industry Council and Americans for Tax Reform, has joined FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s office as a policy Adviser, said a news release Monday. McAuliffe “will lead coalitions and external affairs work for the FCC,” it said. McAuliffe was the senior director of telecommunications policy at ITIC and worked on “spectrum policy, connectivity, broadband, privacy, antitrust and competition, internet taxes, future of work, and tech/telecom regulatory reform,” the release said. At Americans for Tax Reform, she was the director of federal policy and executive director of Digital Liberty. McAuliffe has a Master of Mass Communications with a telecommunications policy focus from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Arts from Virginia Tech. “Katie is an outstanding addition to our team who brings a wealth of policy experience and a distinguished track record of advocating for pro-growth and pro-innovation policies,” said Carr in the release. “I look forward to drawing on her expertise to support the FCC’s work as we continue our work to deliver great results for the American people.”

NTIA now taking a "lowest cost wins" approach in BEAD doesn't necessarily doom fiber applicants, consultant and former FCC Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey wrote Monday. The June 6 policy notice, which directed states to hold another round of bidding to select the lowest-cost option, doesn't mean fixed wireless applicants will prevail over fiber ones around the U.S., she said. Priority projects still win over non-priority ones, with states determining which projects qualify, Mattey said. There won't be cost comparisons between priority and non-priority projects seeking funding for the same geographic area, she said. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act defined a priority broadband project as one that can meet 100/20 Mbps speeds, easily scale over time and meet the connectivity needs of homes, businesses, 5G and other wireless technologies, she noted. While NTIA has decided that it was wrong to presume that only fiber qualified as a priority broadband project, "it would be equally inappropriate for a state broadband office to make a blanket decision that all fixed wireless applications qualify" as priority, Mattey said.

President Donald Trump attacked AT&T on social media Monday after experiencing problems on a call with faith leaders. AT&T addressed the issue on X, saying, "We've reached out to the White House and are working to quickly understand and assess the situation."

NTIA guidance issued last week concerning final BEAD proposals doesn't provide details about non-deployment issues, but state broadband offices "shouldn't take that bait" and leave out non-deployment plans, wrote Jade Piros de Carvalho of Per Aspera Advisors. She said Friday that while there's an assumption that non-deployment information will be forthcoming from NTIA, state broadband offices that expect to have non-deployment funds available should include plans for that money in their final proposals. She also recommended that they include the provision that if those funds remain in the state's allocation, then it has the right to use them for activities outlined in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

EchoStar is making previously delayed interest payments to holders of company notes. In an SEC filing Friday, EchoStar said it notified the trustees of secured notes that it would make scheduled interest payments, originally due May 30 and June 2, including interest on the defaulted payments. Earlier, EchoStar cited uncertainty around its spectrum licenses due to FCC issues as its reason for not making the scheduled payments (see 2505300001).

The design of the U.S. universal service subsidy regime is inherently flawed and lacks strong oversight, Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Policy Analyst Solveig Singleton wrote this week. Rather than reform, it should be scrapped in favor of a market-centered policy that would better provide universal service at a reasonable price, she said. Existing universal service mechanisms "are unnecessary, price- and market-distortive, wasteful, and unaccountable [and] amount to a regressive and constitutionally inappropriate tax." Singleton said subsidies to high-cost areas "are no longer necessary," since mobile and satellite service have eliminated such areas. USF is also made superfluous by other subsidy programs supporting the deployment of advanced services, she added. Instead, she argued in favor of "voucher-type subsidies for low-income users," as that approach -- funded from general tax revenue -- "would limit distortion of consumers’ and carriers’ decisions." Any subsidies for rural health care and educational institutions should be funded from general revenue as well, she said. "Competitive neutrality would be restored."

Greater use of unlicensed fixed wireless (ULFW) could reduce the number of remaining BEAD-eligible locations by up to 15%, as long as ULFW providers meet technical requirements, according to an analysis Tuesday by New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute. ACLP said NTIA's BEAD restructuring notice, issued earlier this month (see 2506060052), allows ULFW to compete for BEAD grants, while locations served by ULFW are potentially no longer eligible for funding. The resulting reduction in eligible locations varies widely from state to state, the analysis said, with some seeing as much as a 30% decrease and others seeing almost no change. Rural Digital Opportunity Fund defaults, meanwhile, could raise the number of eligible locations by 3%, it added.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez visited Letcher County, Kentucky, in the latest stop on her “First Amendment Tour” series of panel discussions. In a release Wednesday, Gomez said the White House and FCC’s “unprecedented efforts to censor and control speech reach every community, including the coal towns and mountain communities of Eastern Kentucky.” Her message to the state: “Now is the time to stand up and push back against this assault on free expression and remind those in power that the First Amendment is not optional.” Gomez’s Kentucky event was organized by the Center for Rural Strategies, a nonprofit “focused on improving economic and social conditions for rural communities around the world through the creative use of media and communications,” the release said.

President Donald Trump would have issued an order ending collective bargaining for the FCC and numerous other federal agencies even if he didn’t have retaliatory motives, the White House said Monday in filings in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The filings were made in the National Treasury Employees Union’s challenge of Trump’s executive order that removed collective bargaining rights at roughly 40 agencies on national security grounds, affecting two-thirds of the federal workforce (see 2506100045). They included a motion for summary judgment, as well as a response to NTEU's own motion for summary judgment.