Affordable connectivity program providers will be reimbursed up to $14 for providing the benefit to nontribal households next month, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2403040077). ISPs will also be reimbursed up to $35 for serving tribal households and up to $47 for connected devices.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel emphasized restoration of net neutrality rules to ensure public safety, during a Monday visit to the Santa Clara County, California, Fire Department. The fire department accused Verizon of throttling its service during the Mendocino Complex Fire (see 1808220059). "When firefighters are going into dangerous environments, they want to know that they have an internet that they can count on," Rosenworcel said. Although states like California have "stepped in and built their own net neutrality laws" since the commission's previous rules were repealed, it's "time that we have a national policy of internet openness," Rosenworcel said: "I think in the aftermath of the pandemic, making sure that there's a watchdog for the broadband connections we all count on, is the right thing to do."

The FCC’s net neutrality draft order got state support from California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). Bonta's office said in a statement Friday that it supports “strong federal net neutrality rules that establish a floor of protection across the country.” The AG “especially applauds the draft order for acknowledging the important role states like California play in protecting net neutrality, and for declining to block enforcement of California’s own net neutrality law,” his office said. NASUCA praised the FCC draft for treating broadband as an essential service and leaving room for states. “The FCC correctly recognizes that there is a dual role for the federal government and states in addressing broadband and other essential services," and that classifying broadband internet access service "as Title II will enhance its ability to address public safety,” said Regina Costa, the group's telecom chair, in a Monday statement. NASUCA is glad the FCC declined to preempt California’s law or “all state authority over broadband,” she said. NARUC praised the draft last week (see 2404050068).

FCC commissioners approved a Further NPRM seeking comment on steps the agency can take to assist survivors of domestic violence access safe and affordable connected car services under the Safe Connections Act. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated the proposal in February (see 2402280053). Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication, 60 days for replies, in docket 22-238. "Having access to a car is also a lifeline," Rosenworcel said: "That is why in this rulemaking we propose that survivors should be able to separate lines that connect their cars."

The FCC's digital discrimination rules might inadvertently bar ISPs from offering discounted service to low-income subscribers, Phoenix Center co-founder/Chief Economist George Ford wrote Wednesday for the Yale Journal on Regulation. He said Congress in response needs to drop or rewrite the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Section 60506, which prohibits digital discrimination of broadband access "based on the protected classes limited to income level," including requiring services to be offered on “comparable terms and conditions." Section 60506 seeks to prevent any differentiation in price based on income, so a lower price offered only to lower-income households "could be legitimately argued to be prohibited discriminatory conduct under the FCC’s rules," he said. The affordable connectivity program plans offered today, the low-cost plans offered by ISPs prior to ACP, and the low-cost offerings required by the broadband equity, access and deployment program seem "to constitute a prima facia case of prohibited discrimination under the plain terms of the IIJA and the FCC's rules," he said.

NTIA said it will follow FirstNet’s National Environmental Policy Act procedures on an interim basis and establish 33 categorical exclusions in compliance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations and other related authorities, as it awards funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). NTIA proposed that step a year ago (see 2303290035). The ruling is effective immediately, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. “Following the FirstNet Authority’s procedures will facilitate the IIJA’s large-scale investment in NTIA programs and the need for NTIA to fulfill the mandates of the IIJA in a timely manner, by ensuring NTIA make[s] the most efficient use of time and available funding and resources to fulfill its environmental analysis and decision-making responsibilities,” the notice said.

LTD Broadband’s opening brief is due May 8 in its petition to review the FCC’s rejection of the company's long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support (see 2402070081), said a clerk’s order Friday (docket 24-1017) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC’s respondent brief is due June 24, and LTD’s reply brief July 24, the order said. LTD is challenging the FCC’s Dec. 4 order denying LTD’s application for review of the Wireline Bureau’s decision to reject the company’s application. LTD is asking the D.C. Circuit to hold the order unlawful and set it aside.

Viavi Solutions Friday slammed the deal that has rival Keysight Technologies acquiring Spirent Communications for $1.46 billion in cash. Keysight bid 15% more for Spirent than Viavi did. U.K.-based Spirent provides automated test and assurance solutions for networks. Spirent’s business is "aligned with Keysight’s long-term software-centric solutions strategy,” Keysight said Thursday in announcing the purchase. However, Viavi cited "strategic synergy" between itself and Spirent. Moreover, the two companies' "respective complementary products will help customers address their complex engineering challenges,” Viavi added, saying it “believes that the proposed combination of Keysight and Spirent would further entrench Keysight’s leading position in many product segments, which would limit customer choice.”

More than a dozen state broadband associations asked the FCC for a "rural broadband provider exemption" from its proposed digital discrimination affirmative reporting obligations (see 2403050036). Such obligations would "impose additional costs and burdens without any evidence that rural providers are engaged in practices resulting in discriminatory impacts," the associations said in a filing posted Friday in docket 22-69. The record is "void of any hard data or even soft anecdotal comment to support imposition of additional reporting obligations on rural providers," the coalition said, citing the lack of evidence that smaller or rural providers engage in discriminatory practices.

NTIA accepted Connecticut's digital equity plan, making the state eligible for $18 million in Digital Equity Act capacity grant funding, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said Thursday (see 2403080037). Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development also announced it received NTIA approval of its plan, making nearly $882,000 in funding available. NTIA announced earlier this week it accepted plans from Washington, North Dakota, Montana, Florida, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Hawaii.