The California Public Utilities Commission won’t shorten time to respond to consumer advocates’ petition to modify state LifeLine rules in light of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) ending. Comments will be due May 23, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Robyn Purchia ruled Tuesday. The California Broadband & Video Association (CalBroadband) had opposed fast comments on multiple petitions by The Utility Reform Network and the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office (see 2404240063, 2404230020 and 2404150062). “We are persuaded by the due process concerns raised by CalBroadband,” said Purchia said in docket R.20-02-008.
Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)?
The Affordable Connectivity Program was a recently expired subsidy for low-income households to lower the cost of purchasing broadband internet and connected devices. The program was signed into law as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the FCC up until June 1, 2024, due to expiration of the ACP’s funding.
Will the ACP Return?
Congress continues to debate restoring ACP funding, with immediate next steps likely to come from the Senate Commerce Committee or Congressional discussions on revising the Universal Service Fund.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a lead GOP co-sponsor of the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565), confirmed Wednesday he will push hard for an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding to keep the ailing FCC broadband program running through the end of the fiscal year. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935).
Policymakers, industry officials and broadband experts emphasized the demand for additional rural broadband deployment and affordability programs during an NTCA policy conference Wednesday in Washington. With uncertainty looming around the FCC's affordable connectivity program, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks urged Congress to replenish the program and keep rural communities connected (see 2405010055).
The Senate Commerce Committee will likely advance an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act during a Wednesday executive session with unanimous support from the panel’s 14 Democratic members, but lobbyists will watch closely how many Republicans don’t openly object to the measure as a means of determining its viability. The spectrum bill, led by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction mandate through Sept. 30, 2029. The measure proposes using future license sales revenue to repay a proposed loan to the commission to fund the affordable connectivity program in FY 2024 and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2404250061).
Tuesday marks the last day that eligible households enrolled in the affordable connectivity program will receive full funding, Miriam Montgomery, chief of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, noted during a National Association of Telecommunication Officers and Advisors webinar on Monday. The webinar also included an update on the national broadband map.
HOT SPRINGS, Virginia -- Restoring the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority is a major priority of the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Communications & Technology Subcommittee, Democratic and Republican staffers said Saturday at the FCBA annual retreat here. John Lin, House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican senior counsel, said while Republicans would consider discussing continuing the affordable connectivity program, changes to it must come first. Speakers also covered next steps for the cyber trust mark and interagency relations on spectrum conflicts.
The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that denied preliminary injunction against the California Public Utilities Commission shifting to a per line surcharge for the state Universal Service Fund. T-Mobile’s Assurance Wireless had argued that the state must align with the FCC’s revenue-based method for federal USF. But on March 31 last year, the U.S. District Court for Northern California decided not to block the CPUC’s April 1 change. The 9th Circuit heard arguments on an appeal in October (see 2310170042). "The carriers have failed to show a likelihood of success on their claim that the access line rule is 'inconsistent with' the FCC rule,” Judge Ryan Nelson wrote in Friday’s opinion, which Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Eugene Siler joined (case 23-15490). The court referred to the Communications Act's Section 254(f), which prohibits USF rules that are "inconsistent" with FCC rules. Inconsistent doesn’t mean different, Nelson wrote. "The access line rule differs from the FCC’s rule funding interstate universal service programs. But the carriers have not shown that it burdens those programs, and they have thus failed to show that they are likely to succeed on their claim that it is inconsistent with those rules." Also, the court rejected T-Mobile’s claim that the surcharge rule is preempted because it's inequitable and discriminatory. "The carriers argue that they are harmed more than local exchange carriers,” but the CPUC rule treats all telecom technologies “the same and, if anything, is more equitable than the prior rule, under which most of the surcharges came only from ever-dwindling landline services,” Nelson said. The CPUC’s "course correction" is "a fair response to a real problem,” he added. “In a world of ever-evolving telecommunications technologies, competitive neutrality must allow some play in the joints. To hold otherwise would hamstring California’s ability to satisfy its statutory mandate of providing universal service." T-Mobile also argued the change was discriminatory because the CPUC rule treats providers who get federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) support differently from those in the state LifeLine program. But the court found differences between the programs and noted that companies in ACP have the option of joining LifeLine. The decision "affirms that the CPUC's surcharge rule is consistent with federal law," said a commission spokesperson. "The CPUC will continue to utilize the surcharge to ensure consumers have safe, reliable, affordable, and universal access to telecommunications services." T-Mobile didn’t immediately comment.
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and four other Senate Democrat caucus members wrote CTIA President Meredith Baker and NCTA CEO Michael Powell Friday urging their member companies to voluntarily cover a $16-per-household affordable connectivity program subsidy shortfall for participants in May. The FCC indicated earlier this month that the remaining ACP funds will be enough to pay only $14 of the usual $30 subsidy per participating household in May (see 2404100082). Committing to closing the $16-per-household shortfall “would help maintain subscribers in May, who might otherwise leave the program when faced with even the smallest price increase, while Congress continues to work on a legislative solution to this problem,” the Democrats said in a letter to Baker and Powell. “With both the Senate and House of Representatives in sessions for four weeks in May, this extra time would give lawmakers a critical window to work on and pass a legislative solution. Additionally, if Congress is able to extend the ACP, it would be devastating for ACP households that drop internet service during the period of lapsed funding, forcing them to re-enroll in the ACP, a process that can require significant time and expense.” Pro-ACP lawmakers are eyeing several potential vehicles for providing ACP with stopgap funding for FY 2024, including a proposed $5 billion loan via the draft Spectrum and National Security Act. The Senate Commerce Committee is set to mark up the measure Wednesday (see 2404250061).
T-Mobile is considering how to use its growing fiber footprint to further bolster its Home Internet base, CEO Mike Sievert said on a call with investors late Thursday. T-Mobile earlier in the day unveiled a joint venture with infrastructure investor EQT (see 2404250047).