The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics said Wednesday they completed their review of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form applications. A public notice in docket 19-126 said 379 support recipients were authorized to receive a total of more than $6 billion in winning bids, covering "just under 3.5 million locations in 48 states and territories." The bureaus also made long-form applications viewable through an application search tool on the agency's auction web page.

Consumer and healthcare organizations encouraged the FCC to use its broadband availability map and affordability programs to expand access and improve maternal health outcomes (see 2311210074). "In order to make sure that women are able to access the health information they need, the commission’s imperative to bridge the digital divide and provide broadband to as many Americans as possible has become increasingly urgent as demand for these services is only growing," the Consumer Technology Association said in reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 23-309. Digital health "may be the solution to lower barriers typically barring women from accessing care they may desire," the group added. The FCC should continue its efforts to expand access to broadband in "rural, low-income, and other particularly vulnerable patient populations," the Virginia Telehealth Network said. "Broadband access can play a role in the improvement of pregnancy-related [maternal and infant] health," said the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health. The group recommended that the FCC's maternal health and broadband platform include a broader range of pregnancy-related health indicators.

The FCC extended a waiver on rules for video relay services funded by the Telecom Relay Services Fund in an order posted Wednesday in docket 03-123 (see 2301100081). The commission increased from 50% to 80% the portion of monthly VRS minutes a communications assistant (CA) may work at home, reduced for 30 days the experience requirement from three years to one year for CAs working at home, and allowed providers for 30 days to contract interpretation services for "up to 30% of their monthly call minutes."

Sorenson on Monday asked the FCC to direct Telecom Relay Fund administrator Rolka Loube to withdraw its monthly data collection request. Rolka Loube requested in a notice that video relay service providers submit monthly information on "expense data with respect to interpreter wages, research and development, numbering, and field staff expenses," Sorenson said in a letter in docket 03-123. The company didn't reject submitting this information on an annual basis as the commission already established but said a monthly collection "will impose a significant burden on Sorenson, and, presumably, on the other VRS providers."

The FCC committed more than $450,000 in additional Emergency Connectivity Fund support Thursday. The new funding will support applications from the third filing window, connecting about 1,000 students, a news release said.

Several industry groups backed a petition from NTCA seeking reconsideration of certain parts of the FCC's order establishing the enhanced alternative Connect America cost model (ACAM) program. Comments were posted Wednesday in docket 10-90 (see 2309180060). The ACAM Broadband Coalition said the modification would align the program's deployment milestones with those in NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program. The South Dakota Telecom Association backed NTCA's request to reconsider how broadband data collection and broadband availability maps are verified, saying its members "have and will continue to spend significant time and resources" on the broadband data collection (BDC) challenge process. Said CTIA: Clarify that enhanced ACAM carriers have "a reasonable amount of time to update their cybersecurity risk management plans" after the National Institute of Standards and Technology updates its cybersecurity framework. The Wireless ISP Association opposed NTCA's petition, saying it "fails to identify any material error, omission or reason warranting reconsideration." The FCC "has well established procedures to determine the accuracy of the presence of would-be unsubsidized competition and the expertise and experience to review, consider, verify, audit and enforce BDC submissions," WISPA said.

The FCC Wireline Bureau on Monday denied a request to extend the comment and reply comment deadlines for the FCC's net neutrality rulemaking. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and Information Technology Industry Council sought an extension (see 2312050073). The groups had "ample notice and time to consider and prepare support for their positions on the issues raised in the NPRM prior to the commission’s official announcement of proposed action," said the bureau order in docket 23-320, noting the FCC informed the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit in April 2021 that it intended to revisit its net neutrality proceeding.

Providers of incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) "have provided sufficient grounds" to justify a partial waiver of the FCC's Jan. 1 deadline to deploy certain forms of advanced telecom relay services, said Pay Tel in a letter posted Monday in docket 23-62 (see 2311300040). The IPCS provider said the industry varies "broadly in size, type of carceral facility served, and available development resources," and most forms of Telecommunications Relay Service "require significant modification for use in carceral settings."

A coalition of consumer advocacy organizations opposed a petition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and Information Technology Industry Council to extend the comment deadline for the FCC's NPRM proposing to reestablish net neutrality rules (see 2312050073). Public Knowledge, the American Library Association, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Center for Rural Strategies, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Demand Progress Education Fund, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Future of Music Coalition, New America’s Open Technology Institute and United Church of Jesus Christ Media Justice Ministry signed the opposition letter. It was posted Friday in docket 23-320. The groups said many of the reasons cited in the petition for a delay "demonstrate why a delay should not be granted," adding that an extension is "especially untoward in light of the circumstances of this proceeding."

The FCC Wireline Bureau extended until Dec. 31, 2024, its waiver of letter of credit (LOC) rules for Connect America Fund Phase II recipients (see 2212120059). The bureau declined to extend the waiver to recipients that "do not meet their 60% deployment obligation" or miss a reporting deadline. "Extending the waiver of LOC requirements to recipients that have met their deployment and reporting obligations would allow recipients to better allocate resources to operate successfully and continue to fulfill their obligations," the bureau said in an order Wednesday in docket 10-90.