The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by May 31, replies by June 7, on Blue Casa Telephone's request for a waiver of a biennial audit as a Lifeline eligible telecom carrier, said a public notice Monday in docket 11-42. Blue Casa said in its petition that it was selected to undergo an audit for the 2019 calendar year but is "subject to stringent regulation and supervision" by the California Public Utilities Commission and its designated third-party administrator regarding "eligibility determinations and claim submission." The carrier has "neither the means nor the opportunity to engage in activities that could result in waste or fraud," it said, and the "external cost of undergoing an audit ... would significantly exceed Blue Casa's monthly Lifeline reimbursement from the federal program."
FCC Connected Care Pilot program participants must end their projects by Dec. 31, 2025, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 18-213 (see 2203160031). The bureau said strict compliance of the requirement that projects end within three years of receiving service will "prevent some program participants from conducting a full three year pilot project" if they don't start until the fall. Requests for services are due by Aug. 18 and funding requests are due by Sept. 16, the notice said.
Some changes were made to a draft FCC order and Further NPRM targeting gateway providers and foreign-originated robocalls, in the version adopted by commissioners Thursday, as expected, according to our comparison from the draft (see 2205190023). The order maintained the requirement that gateway providers implement a Stir/Shaken C-level attestation, saying "the benefits will be significant, and the sooner we act, the sooner the public will obtain these benefits." The FNPRM included a TransNexus-sought question about whether to allow third-party Stir/Shaken authentication. An NPRM seeking comment on an Alternative Connect America Cost Model Broadband Coalition proposal to extend the program also included some changes. The notice included a question about whether participating providers should be required to participate in the affordable connectivity program. It also seeks comment on "how to address intergovernmental coordination and eligibility for locations on tribal lands."
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Elite Program Specialists a waiver on behalf of 14 members and 68 member sites in the Louisiana Independent Hospital Network Coalition of rural healthcare program rules to file late funding year 2021 funding requests, said an order Thursday in docket 02-60. The bureau cited "federally declared natural disasters resulting from severe weather conditions" that prevented the providers from timely filing their funding requests. The bureau on its own also waived its competitive bidding rules.
The FCC's third public hearing on consumer broadband labels will be May 25 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 22-2 (see 2204070059). The hearing will include several panels of consumers, experts, digital navigators, disability rights advocates and representatives from federal agencies.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau announced 2022-23 allocations for the national deaf-blind equipment distribution program, iCanConnect, said a public notice Monday in docket 10-210. The bureau set aside $250,000 of the $10 million for national outreach by the Perkins School for the Blind and $150,000 to maintain its centralized database or programs to submit information and generate reimbursement claims. The remaining $9.6 million will be used to reimburse certified programs for "the cost of equipment and authorized related services," the notice said.
The FCC committed nearly $50 million in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support, totaling nearly $4.9 billion so far, said a news release Tuesday (see 2205040045). The new funding includes more than $49 million in commitments from applicants during the first window and more than $1 million from the second application window. It will support 46 schools, seven libraries and two consortiums.
Lumen asked the FCC to reject Aureon's proposed tariff refund plan, after an FCC order requiring the company to submit information needed to calculate refunds to its customers, in comments posted Monday in docket 18-60 (see 2204280038). Lumen said Aureon used actual minutes of use to calculate interstate switched access transport rates that the FCC previously found unlawful and it "continues to overstate its revenue requirement." The FCC "should scrutinize the Aureon revenue requirements supporting the refund access rates to ensure that Aureon has complied with prior commission directive," it said.
NTCA asked the FCC to grant a waiver of the affordable connectivity program's "uniform, rolling 30-day" non-usage period for small providers that offer a fully subsidized plan to tribal households, said a petition posted Friday in docket 21-450. The group also sought a waiver for ACP subscribers that qualified through Lifeline. The rule "requires an automated functionality that many of these entities do not have," NTCA said, asking the FCC to allow small providers serving tribal consumers to abide by emergency broadband benefit program rules on non-usage. AT&T is also seeking a targeted waiver for consumers receiving asymmetric digital subscriber line services (see 2205090056).
The FCC "must adopt a new rate plan quickly" for video relay service funded by the Telecom Relay Service Fund, said ZVRS and Purple Communications CEO Sherri Turpin in a letter posted Thursday in docket 03-123 (see 2111150057). A third extension by six months of the rates that were set to expire in June 2021 "would have a devastating impact" on VRS, Turpin said, adding it would "amount to another rate cut in real terms." The FCC has "significantly cut rates over the past twelve months as a result of unanswered inflation," Turpin said: "The repeated extensions of the 2017 rates that have taken place have only served to create uncertainty for VRS providers and consumers and put providers under increasing pressure to do more with less in order to maintain service."