FCC commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM on adoption of broadband consumer labels, as directed by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2201260049), during their Thursday meeting. They also approved an order amending the definition of tribal libraries to clarify their eligibility for E-rate, the revocation of China Unicom Americas' Section 214 authority to operate in the U.S., and an order on reconsideration upholding a fine against a Texas company for signal jamming.
Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley (D) told the FCC that SurgePhone may be violating affordable connectivity program rules on consumer protection by giving consumers a tablet for a "$10 connection fee" without providing a receipt or required disclosures. Tents were set up throughout the state, but the company didn't disclose the company's name until Presley asked the representatives after waiting in line, he said in a letter Tuesday. Presley said he's "extremely worried about consumers being snookered by Surge" and asked the FCC to "have Surge cease and desist operations" until an investigation is complete. It's "the wild, Wild West" and an "invitation for waste, fraud, and abuse," Presley told us, saying tents were still being spotted throughout the state on Tuesday. The FCC is "looking into the claims raised in the letter," emailed a spokesperson: "We take any allegations of wrongdoing about this program seriously and will not hesitate to take appropriate action as necessary.” Surge didn't comment.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act "directs the FCC to make sure that all households with women, infants, children, and breastfeeding mothers participating" in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children program and "all households with students participating [in] the free and reduced school lunch program are eligible for support from the Affordable Connectivity Program," emailed a spokesperson Monday. Last week, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington raised concerns about ACP enrollees not being required to include a Social Security number in their application to verify their identity (see 2201210082): "To be clear, these kinds of programs do not require social security numbers," the spokesperson said: The FCC "has made sure that every family participating in [ACP] provides identification like taxpayer identification numbers and driver's licenses. But this is about more than the law, it’s the right thing to do to make sure millions of people across the country are not left in digital darkness."
AT&T Fiber pushed speed, reliability and security in a virtual event Monday announcing advanced speeds, new pricing plans for multi-Gbps and initiatives to address the digital divide. It announced new no-contract 2- and 5-Gbps plans for residential and small-business customers.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order and declaratory ruling on broadband access in multi-tenant environments, said a news release (see 2111220047). “With more than one-third of the U.S. population [living] in apartments, mobile home parks, condominiums, and public housing, it’s time to crack down on practices that lock out broadband competition and consumer choice,” Rosenworcel said. The item would prohibit providers from "entering into graduated revenue sharing agreements or exclusive revenue-sharing agreements with a building owner," require that providers disclose "in plain language" to tenants any existing exclusive marketing arrangements with building owners, and "end a practice that circumvents the FCC’s cable inside wiring rules by clarifying that existing commission rules prohibit sale-and-leaseback arrangements that effectively block access to alternative providers." The FCC sought comment in September. The record "revealed a pattern of new practices that inhibit competition ... and limit opportunities for competitive providers to offer service for apartment, condo and office building unit tenants," Friday's news release said, noting such practices could affect consumer access to the affordable connectivity program. The proposal is "welcome news," said Consumer Reports Senior Policy Council Jonathan Schwantes in a statement, adding it's "time to finally put an end to practices and close loopholes that stifle broadband competition and consumer choice." There are "significant barriers to [MTE] competition," said a Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy letter posted Friday in docket 17-142. SBA recommended conducting an economic analysis examining the impact of prohibiting exclusivity agreements on competition and broadband deployment. Providers should be required to "be more transparent about any agreements."
The FCC made changes to its final order on the affordable connectivity program and NPRM on its outreach grant program released Friday, with Commissioner Brendan Carr partially dissenting and Commissioner Nathan Simington concurring in part (see 2201070060). Carr dissented because the order didn't include safeguards against potential fraud in identity verification. "I worry that by not requiring this information, we are turning a blind eye to fraud already happening while leaving the door open for even more benefits going to ineligible households," Carr said. Simington concurred to "draw attention" to ACP recipients not being required to provide "any portion of their social security number" and to his concern that it's "impossible to prevent a consumer from endlessly enrolling in high-cost plans for which such customer has no intention of paying their share of the bill." Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel thanked Carr and Simington for "their ideas to improve accountability measures," saying she looks forward to "working with federal, state, and local partners to identify ways to ensure that those who are eligible have opportunities to enroll with the broadband provider of their choosing." The order "repeatedly affirms our decision to spend that money in ways that advance our digital equity goals," said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Providers seeking reimbursement for a connected device must include details about the device's market value instead of the proposed applicable wholesale cost. The order clarified that "tablets with cellular calling capabilities" aren't eligible for reimbursement. The program will continue to follow a market value-based approach for reimbursement of connected devices with additional accountability requirements. Universal Service Administrative Co. is required to do quarterly "program integrity reviews." USAC will make data public on household enrollment similar to the tracker used for the national verifier. About 265,000 households are enrolled in ACP, the order said. Few changes were made to the NPRM. It included a question about how to administer a pilot focused on outreach to households in federal public housing assistance programs and other agencies. It asks how the enhanced, up to $75 monthly benefit should be administered to households in high-cost areas.
NTIA faces several challenges as it prepares to administer more than $48 billion dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, panelists said during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday (see 2111240021). It’s “possible” that NTIA will include metrics on latency, said Corning Manager-Federal Government Affairs Jordan Gross. The agency is looking to find metrics, based on the questions it asked in its request for comment due Feb. 4, Gross said.
A draft FCC NPRM on broadband consumer labels like those recommended in 2016 may get pushback from ISPs because the labels would be mandatory for all providers, experts told us (see 2201060057). Consumer advocates said the move is a good starting point and will boost pricing transparency.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks expressed hope Thursday that political leadership at NTIA, with Alan Davidson approved by the Senate to lead the agency, will lead to improved “working relationships” within the federal government. “There are institutional concerns here,” he told a Cooley webinar: “We are all glad for his confirmation.” Starks noted there hasn’t been a Senate-confirmed NTIA chief since May 2019 (see 1905090051). Meanwhile, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., pressed the FCC and NTIA to work together on improving coordination on spectrum (see 2201130050).
FCC draft rules for the $14.2 billion affordable connectivity program were widely welcomed as more consumer protection provisions were included and several ACP changes were made to reflect challenges seen during the emergency broadband benefit program, industry and advocacy groups told us. Some sought minor changes to rules governing participating providers and connected devices. Rules must be finalized by Friday as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.