The Wisconsin Public Service Commission awarded about $494,000 in nonprofit access grants to 12 projects, the PSC said Thursday. The winning nonprofits will use the money from Wisconsin USF for projects to make telecom service affordable for low-income households, people with disabilities and residents in high-cost areas, the agency said.
Texas senators passed a state USF bill Wednesday that would direct VoIP providers to contribute to the telecom fund. SB-1710 would also allow the Texas Public Utility Commission to review whether previously rural areas should continue receiving support (see 2304060047). On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed SB-1893, which would ban TikTok on state government devices. Both bills now go to the House.
Carriers got part of what they asked for in response to an FCC Further NPRM proposing to extend USF support to eligible mobile and fixed carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, approved by commissioners 4-0 in October (see 2210270046). The FCC on Wednesday approved a transitional support period of up to 24 months for mobile services. For fixed services, the agency extended the phase-down of frozen support at its current monthly amount until Dec. 31, 2025.
Federal officials highlighted the need for continued stakeholder engagement and strategic investments to ensure broadband deployment efforts funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are implemented efficiently, during an NTCA event Monday. USDA Rural Development Deputy Undersecretary Farah Ahmad also announced the launch of a $20 million broadband technical assistance program to assist rural development projects.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) signed an anti-robocalls bill Wednesday aimed at fighting automated calls and texts. HB-2498 received nearly universal support in the legislature. Also that day, the Montana House concurred with the Senate on a local internet bill (SB-174) that would allow state agencies and political subdivisions to provide funding to private broadband service providers. The bill next needs a signature from Gov. Greg Gianforte (R). The Tennessee Senate voted 33-0 Wednesday to pass a bill that would make changes to broadband laws including raising the state's minimum broadband speed standard to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, from 10/1 Mbps. The House previously passed HB-1211. Meanwhile in Texas, the Senate voted 31-0 Wednesday to pass a bill (SB-1425) that would extend a Sept. 1 sunset on USF support for small telcos until Sept. 1, 2033. On Thursday, the Senate added a bill (SB-1893) that would ban TikTok on state government devices to the local and uncontested calendar, which is reserved for noncontroversial bills. Virginia's TikTok ban bill passed the legislature a second time Wednesday after lawmakers agreed to a slight wording change recommended by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin (see 2303280042). The Missouri House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee voted 13-1 Wednesday to clear HB-492, which would require a pilot program for schools to teach media literacy including for social media content.
Alaska USF’s last distribution would come in January under a tentative schedule presented Wednesday by the Alaska Universal Service Administrative Co. (AUSAC). The company could dissolve soon after, AUSAC Agent Keegan Bernier told commissioners at a livestreamed Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) meeting. AUSAC is preparing for sunset of Alaska USF regulations June 30. The final AUSF remittance would happen in July. AUSAC would distribute $1 million that month and then $77,000 in January before the company wound down. Some are looking for options to renew AUSF before it ends (see 2304110015), but at Wednesday's meeting Commissioner Robert Pickett sounded pessimistic about saving the fund: "We've been told this program essentially is going to be terminated and there are no ... realistic options." Later in the meeting, Pickett predicted "a series of events in which rural LECs are going to have a difficult time and then it will become a political emergency" that could lead to a legislative response. The problem of keeping rural phone rates low "needs a different mechanism that makes sense," he added. Multiple commissioners said they struggled to see how they could classify the looming AUSF sunset as an emergency, a procedural move that would let them expedite making new rules. Chair Keith Kurber and Commissioner Bob Doyle said they first want to see comments due May 5 on repealing AUSF regulations.
Alaska USF’s possible June 30 termination is raising concerns and producing much discussion among industry and consumer advocates in the state. A spokesperson for Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) told us the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) may decide the fate of AUSF, which was established to keep phone rates low in high-cost rural areas. If those dollars go away, “somebody has to pay those costs, and the somebody is most likely going to be those rural ratepayers,” said Alaska Chief Assistant Attorney General Jeff Waller in an interview Friday.
Public advocates objected to AT&T seeking relief of carrier of last resort (COLR) and other obligations last week. Rural counties objected to the carrier’s application earlier that week (see 2304040030). “AT&T seeks wholesale permission to abandon the guarantee of communications services for an unspecified number of its customers in unknowable areas simultaneously, and in bulk,” said the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office. AT&T incorrectly argues that COLR obligations require it to maintain copper, diverting resources from fiber, said PAO: But COLR is technology-neutral. And AT&T’s application breaks with California USF rules, it said. “The Application is so unclear, vague, and factually insufficient that the Commission cannot even begin to determine whether AT&T’s request is in the public interest.” The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) jointly agreed with PAO that the CPUC should reject the AT&T application. “AT&T has failed to clearly identify which customers, and which areas of its service territory would lose COLR protections,” TURN and CforAT said. “The Commission should not make a determination based on a minimal showing of customer impact for such an important fundamental obligation.” AT&T "submitted applications with the CPUC to start the process for an orderly transition from outdated, copper-based telephone services and network to broadband communications networks," an AT&T spokesperson said. "The proceeding should not be delayed because Californians will be disadvantaged if the network modernization is hampered by outdated regulations of legacy telephone service." AT&T is "firmly committed to ensuring all its customers will continue to have access to reliable voice service," the spokesperson added.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks urged Congress to “fully fund” the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program amid its current $3.08 billion shortfall. Lawmakers proposed in a scuttled December spectrum legislative package to use some proceeds from future sales of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and other frequencies to provide the additional rip and replace money (see 2212190069). The Chinese government’s use of spy balloons over the U.S. this year should be “the catalyst for us to eliminate the threat of Chinese government intelligence operations already imbedded in our telecommunications infrastructure once and for all,” Peters and Starks wrote Thursday in a Hill opinion piece. The $3.08 billion shortfall “no doubt is a significant expense. But the cost of failing to secure our networks is orders of magnitude higher.” If “the shortfall goes unaddressed” by July 15, “the FCC will be required to reimburse rip and replace projects at only 40 cents on the dollar,” which “will mean in some cases indefinite delays in securing our networks and the rationing of wireless service across rural America,” Peters and Starks said: “Compounding this issue is the fact that for providers who can’t afford to rip and replace without a higher subsidy, they will lose” USF access, forcing “rural communities to live with a disastrous choice: insecure services ripe for surveillance or no service at all. That is unacceptable.”
Texas senators advanced state USF and video bills. The Commerce Committee on Thursday recommended SB-1710 and SB-2399 for the uncontested calendar, which is a list of noncontroversial bills up for floor vote. SB-1710 would define “’high cost rural area’ to ensure that clearly rural areas of the state continue to receive the USF support they need,” and allow the Texas Public Utility Commission to review whether previously rural areas should continue receiving support, said a bill analysis. It would also clarify that VoIP services must contribute to state USF. SB-2399 would clarify that the PUC should continue to grant operating authority certificates to VoIP providers. The committee reported SB-1425 to the uncontested calendar Wednesday. It would extend a Sept. 1 sunset on USF support for small telcos until Sept. 1, 2033. Also that day, the committee favorably reported SB-1117, but not to the uncontested calendar. Local governments opposed the bill to ensure video franchise fees don’t apply to satellite and streaming TV services (see 2303210043).