OK Smith Bagley’s request for a six-month extension on Lifeline verification waivers for providers serving the Navajo Nation, asked Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Chairman Arvin Trujillo in a letter to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel posted Monday in docket 11-42. Navajos are five times as likely as “the average American” to contract and die from COVID-19 and the Navajo Nation has instituted curfews, occupancy limits and other “drastic steps” to slow the disease’s spread, they wrote. The FCC Lifeline usage requirement is a concern, because many Navajos lack consistent access to electricity, they said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the National Lifeline Association's petition for a writ of mandamus (in Pacer) for FCC Lifeline minimum service standards in case 20-1460 (see 2101130061). The court cited "insufficient evidence of irreparable harm" Monday. The decision was disappointing, NaLA said, but it's "optimistic that the FCC, under new leadership and with a renewed focus on ensuring affordable access to broadband services for Lifeline-eligible subscribers, will finally address the problems created by an [MSS] rule and formula that fails to consider affordability," emailed John Heitmann of Kelley Drye.
Foster participation rather than create new obstacles to adoption for the USF Lifeline program that subsidizes low-income telecom users, industry, public interest and consumer groups pressed the FCC in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 17-287. The FCC is considering sweeping changes in attempts to curb waste, fraud and abuse, but stakeholders fear the agency is overstepping (see 1911210035).
Three Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls proposed or restated plans Friday to guarantee universal broadband access and other tech and telecom priorities. Many of the leading Democratic candidates have proposed multibillion-dollar funding for broadband deployments, with a special focus on increasing service to rural consumers (see 1909040061). Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wants to ensure “every American household will have affordable, high-speed internet by the end of his first term” if he's elected president. “Our tax dollars built the internet and access to it should be a public good for all, not another price gouging profit machine for Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon,” he said in the plan. He would “instruct the FCC to regulate broadband internet rates” and “work with Congress to codify net neutrality protections into law to prevent a future FCC from repealing them once again” as it did in rescission of 2015 rules. Sanders committed to “appoint members of the FCC who will use [Communications Act] Title II authority to promote competition, choice, and affordability for broadband service.” He would establish “a dedicated, accelerated last-mile fund through the Department of Agriculture’s [Rural Utilities Service] to provide capital funding to connect all remote rural households and businesses and upgrade outdated technology and infrastructure, prioritizing funding for existing co-ops and small rural utilities.” Sanders also wants to pre-empt all state-level laws “that limit or bar” municipal broadband. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., “will work to codify strong net neutrality principles and make immediate progress in her first 100 days by using federal contracting requirements to encourage broadband providers to honor net neutrality principles and promote a free and open internet,” her campaign blogged. Klobuchar would also “push for” legislation similar to her Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act (S-189) “to require companies to notify users within 72 hours when their data has been breached and offer meaningful remedies for people whose data has been compromised.” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also wants to “guarantee access to broadband.” He would “close the digital divide once and for all by making unprecedented federal investment for broadband in rural areas and Indian Country, updating and increasing flexibility in existing federal programs to better serve rural needs, automatically enrolling low-income families into the FCC Lifeline program, investing in rural cooperatives, and passing his Community Broadband Act to push back on efforts by [ISPs] to restrict or prohibit municipal and cooperatively-owned broadband that could lower costs and improve access” (see 1703280022). Free Press Policy Manager Dana Floberg lauded the Sanders and Klobuchar plans.
A draft FCC Lifeline action would partly grant some industry and other requests for delaying the full impact of changes due Dec. 1 to the program, agency and industry officials told us Friday. The move could be released as state telecom commissioners are meeting in San Antonio, after they asked their federal counterparts at their last meeting to delay such changes. Various industry and other groups made their own requests.
State regulators found much to like in what little they know about coming FCC Lifeline changes, when we surveyed all NARUC Telecom Committee members this and last week. All respondents are happy their federal counterparts appear poised to clarify states can continue being the ones to decide whether telecom providers can be designated as eligible for the USF program for the poor. Many like the idea of the Universal Service Administrative Co. sharing more information. An FCC "backgrounder" given to news media said that would boost "transparency with states to improve oversight of the Lifeline program, including by directing USAC to share information regarding suspicious activity with state officials."
The Florida Public Service Commission sought four-month waiver of FCC Lifeline recertification and non-usage rules for Floridians affected by Hurricane Michael. Rules require subscribers to recertify eligibility every 12 months and use their phone service for 30 consecutive days, or risk de-enrollment. The PSC estimated 21,000 Lifeline subscribers reside in affected counties. The agency’s petition in docket 11-42 seeks waiver to Feb. 10.
A report shows mobile virtual network operators "are an integral part of the wireless market," undermining a "largely discredited" FCC proposal to exclude resellers from participating in Lifeline, TracFone filed, posted Tuesday in docket 11-42. It asked that an attached report by Duke University economics professor Michelle Connolly, a former FCC chief economist, be included in Lifeline dockets. The report was underwritten by T-Mobile. TracFone called attention to a Connolly statement: "Higher income households tend to have subscriptions to both fixed broadband and wireless telephony/broadband, while younger adults, non-whites, and lower-income households are more likely to exclusively use wireless telephony/broadband to connect to the internet." TracFone said, "Many of those lower-income households are Lifeline-eligible and obtain their voice telephony and internet access service through the federal Lifeline program." It said the report illustrates why the prior FCC's minimum service standards need to be revisited "or at least applied in a flexible manner such that Lifeline consumers, rather than the Commission, determine how best to use" their service. It noted its broadband and voice "units" proposal. The National Lifeline Association and two tribes challenging FCC Lifeline tribal restrictions, including a ban on resellers receiving enhanced support, disputed commission allegations they inaccurately described comments from Smith Bagley, a facilities-based provider (here, here, in Pacer). U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judges Judith Rogers, Thomas Griffith and Raymond Randolph are to hear oral argument Oct. 25 on National Lifeline Association v. FCC, (in Pacer) No. 18-1026: Rogers is a Democratic appointee; Griffith and Randolph are Republican appointees. A panel of three Democratic appointees stayed the FCC restrictions (see 1808100027).
The FCC approved a declaratory ruling and order designed to speed the deployment of small cells and 5G across the U.S. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, whose vote had been in doubt (see 1809200007), partially dissented and partially concurred Wednesday.
Oral argument was set for Oct. 25 on challenges to FCC Lifeline tribal limitations, said a brief order (in Pacer) of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday in National Lifeline Association v. FCC, No. 18-1026. A D.C. Circuit motions panel Aug. 10 stayed the FCC restrictions on enhanced tribal support in the low-income USF subsidy program (see 1808100027).