No “good cause” exists to shorten time to respond to a petition related to the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) ending, the California Broadband & Video Association (CalBroadband) said Monday in a filing at the California Public Utilities Commission. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) last week asked the CPUC to pause awarding grants and quickly modify grant rules to ensure service remains affordable after ACP ends (see 2404150062). Since TURN’s proposal “would fundamentally change” the CPUC’s 2022 decision adopting Infrastructure Grant Account rules, parties should have the full 30 days to respond that CPUC rules require, CalBroadband said. The cable association foreshadowed that it will ask the CPUC to deny TURN’s petition and move quickly to grant pending infrastructure grant applications.
The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a May 1 vote on the to-be-filed Spectrum and National Security Act from panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., lobbyists told us. A general notice on the Senate Commerce markup session was online Wednesday night but the committee hadn’t formally announced its agenda. It wasn’t certain Wednesday night whether the Spectrum and National Security Act would actually be part of the meeting. The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. There are five other telecom and tech-focused bills on the docket: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275), Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S-1291), Create AI Act (S-2714) and Future of AI Innovation Act (S-4178).
CTIA and the major wireless carriers urged the FCC to clarify that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act doesn’t apply to robocalls and robotexts from wireless service providers to their subscribers, in reply comments posted Monday in docket 02-278. Consumer and public interest groups argue that providers shouldn’t receive special treatment (see 2404050044). Commissioners approved a Further NPRM in February seeking comment on the wireless provider exemption (see 2402160048).
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg sees little possibility that Congress will continue the affordability connectivity program, he told CNBC Monday as the carrier released Q1 results. House Democrats hope they can force a vote on a bill that would keep the ACP alive (see 2404170066). Vestberg told an analysts' call Verizon is happy with its roll-out of C-band spectrum and offered an update about how the company is using AI to improve efficiency.
Industry and consumer groups have lobbied the FCC in recent days on whether to maintain its proposed language regarding forbearance of Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions for broadband internet access service (BIAS) in its draft order restoring net neutrality rules, according to an analysis of recent ex parte filings in docket 23-320. The FCC in its draft order to be considered Thursday during the commissioners' open meeting tentatively decided to grant ISPs forbearance from Communications Act Section 254(d) requirements, which govern USF contributions (see 2404050068).
Comcast's Now line of prepaid broadband, mobile and streaming services is a reply to fixed wireless' ongoing incursion in home broadband and "a well-considered response" to the looming end of the affordable connectivity program, GlobalData analyst Charles Garrett said Thursday. Comcast announced its Now line this week. Garrett said Now also is a move by Comcast to broaden its addressable market without cannibalizing its existing residential broadband subscriber base. He said Comcast's entry into prepaid wireless faces challenges as the U.S. prepaid marketplace is volatile and shrinking, with Verizon, AT&T and Dish Network losing a combined 547,000 prepaid subs in Q4 2023.
"The sky's the limit" when considering Chinese capabilities for conducting digital attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure, since China switched from focusing on economic and political espionage to a strategy that can only be pre-positioning for attacks, Brandon Wales, executive director of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said Wednesday. Also at a Semafor conference on digital infrastructure, Kathy Grillo, Verizon senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, said the lack of FCC auction authority could have significant ramifications in a handful of years for keeping up with growing data demands. Numerous conference speakers talked about AI’s potential and risks.
Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) lead House sponsor Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told us she's cautiously optimistic ahead of the opening of a discharge petition Thursday to force a floor vote on the measure (H.Res. 1119). HR-6929/S-3565 proposes allocating $7 billion for FY 2024 to the ailing FCC connectivity program. Thursday marks the end of a seven-legislative-day waiting period before Clarke can begin collecting signatures on the petition, which would require backing from at least 218 members before becoming effective (see 2404100075). Republican observers, even those who support giving ACP stopgap money, are skeptical the discharge petition bid will succeed.
Broadband officials and experts Wednesday called for continued pressure to replenish the FCC's affordable connectivity program (see 2404100075). Some panelists during Next Century Cities' bipartisan tech policy conference also urged community leaders to engage with their state broadband offices as NTIA approves states' plans for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and carrier executives warned of challenges from the pending expiration of the affordable connectivity program and negative implications for the broadband access, equity and deployment program, speaking Wednesday at a Competitive Carriers Association conference streamed from Palm Springs, California. Gomez said she supports the proposed 5G Fund, circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last month (see 2403260052), and is focused on concerns raised by CCA and others.