Alaska would shift to connections-based contribution for state USF under a joint proposal by many of the state’s local exchange carriers. The Alaska attorney general’s regulatory affairs and public advocacy (RAPA) section urged the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Monday to adopt the Friday-filed plan, which would push back an imminent sunset of the Alaska USF (AUSF) by three years to June 30, 2026. “By that time, the focus of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the proposal.
A Consumers' Research brief is due Dec. 27 at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in its Oct. 6 petition for review of the FCC's USF 2022 Q4 contribution factor on grounds that it's illegal and should be rejected, said a memorandum Thursday (docket 22-13315). The petition argued that the contribution factor exceeds the commission's statutory authority under the delegation doctrine and is considered a tax. Consumers' Research filed multiple objections with the FCC on its proposed quarterly contribution factors and previously filed petitions for review before the 5th and 6th U.S. Circuit courts on behalf of itself and several individuals.
California commissioners won’t vote Thursday on a connections-based mechanism for state USF contributions. Seeking further review, California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds delayed until Oct. 20 a draft to assess state public purpose program fees based on a carrier’s number of access lines (see 2209230031), showed the Thursday meeting’s hold list, as revised Tuesday. The CPUC withdrew a state LifeLine item from the meeting Monday (see 2210040037). Commissioners still plan to vote Thursday on an item setting eligibility criteria and administrative processes for a pilot $1 million digital divide grant program for community-based organizations (Resolution T-17770). Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma withdrew the LifeLine item, Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Wang emailed the docket R.20-02-008 service list Wednesday. "Further deliberation is underway."
The FCC should act now to ensure the Universal Service Fund remains sustainable once programs funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are fully implemented, panelists said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Some disagreed about whether the FCC should expand the contribution base to include broadband internet access service (BIAS) or wait for Congressional action.
Oklahoma USF (OUSF) stakeholders agreed to a $1.85 per-connection surcharge, said a settlement filed Monday at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (docket OSF2022-000045). With $82.5 million in contributions expected to be needed for OUSF in funding year 2022-23, plus a $20.5 million deficit balance, the state would have needed to assess a nearly 21% surcharge under the previous revenue-based mechanism, it said. Payments should start Dec. 15 based on the number of connections of each contributing provider Oct. 31, it said. The agreement included OUSF Administrator Mark Argenbright, the Oklahoma attorney general's office, CTIA, Cox, Windstream, Consolidated Communications and Atlas Telephone. Oklahoma implemented connections-based contribution last November.
The California Public Utilities Commission won’t vote Thursday on a state LifeLine proposed decision (PD) that raised concerns for carriers. The CPUC withdrew the item from this week’s meeting, a hold list showed Monday, after the agency twice delayed scheduled votes (see 2209150032). Verizon asked the CPUC last month to withdraw or substantially change the proposal in docket R.20-02-008 to reduce California LifeLine subsidies when total federal monthly support applied to a LifeLine plan is more than $9.25 (see 2209090047). “It's most likely that the Commission had some changes or additions to the PD that are going to take a little bit of time to write, or that are substantive enough that it makes sense to issue a new PD,” emailed Paul Goodman, Center for Accessible Technology legal counsel. The CPUC didn’t comment. CPUC members still plan to vote Thursday on a draft to assess state USF fees based on a carrier’s number of access lines (see 2209230031).
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska will wait for an Oct. 5 proposal from a collection of local exchange carriers before deciding whether to allow Alaska USF to sunset in June, commissioners said in a brief videoconference meeting Wednesday (see 2208240061). The proposal was announced in a notice of consensus submitted to the RCA Tuesday, which didn’t include details but said the plan would extend the AUSF sunset date to June 30, 2026, adjust AUSF distributions “to reallocate support to remote areas,” and “adopt a simple, flat, per-connection rate” for contributions “for sustainability.” By 2026, “the impacts of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the notice. The LEC entities behind the notice include Alaska Communications Systems Group, the Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition and Yukon Telephone. The Office of Alaska Attorney General’s Regulatory Affairs & Public Advocacy Section also supports the proposal “even though the consensus proposal differs from RAPA’s proposal and some points made in RAPA comments,” said a filing from RAPA. “My sense is that when you can get a multitude of people on the same sheet of music, it does perk one’s ears up,” said RCA Chairman Keith Kurber. Commissioner Jan Wilson said the Oct. 5 submission should include an explanation of why continuing the AUSF is in the public interest. “If you’re going to be given other people's money you need to build a record that demonstrates that you need, not just want other people’s money.” Commissioner Robert Pickett had been ready to vote to close the proceeding and allow the AUSF to sunset prior to the submission of the notice of consensus, he said. Under the current law, the RCA doesn’t appear to have any authority over broadband, Pickett said, saying he’s also unsure there’s enough time to create the package of new AUSF rules the notice proposes before the 2023 sunset. “We’re almost too late,” Pickett said. “We don’t really have a whole lot of time to do much of anything.”
Some winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction winners asked the FCC to reject or hold in abeyance SpaceX's application for review of its long-form application (see 2208100050). Viasat, which opposes SpaceX's bid, asked the FCC to open a new docket and allow "meaningful public comment," saying the company "bid well beyond its capabilities," in opposition comments posted Tuesday in docket 19-126. Others asked the FCC to do the same with LTD Broadband's request about its rejected application.
Don’t misuse Maine USF to pay for a pole attachments database, a state senator and the cable industry told the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The PUC received mixed reviews by Friday’s deadline, in comments on a staff proposal to split the system’s costs 60-40 between pole owners and attachers, with the attachers and telephone pole owner Consolidated Communications able to recover the cost through state USF.
The California Public Utilities Commission should fine T-Mobile’s MetroPCS $10 million for insufficiently responding to a Sept. 27, 2021, data request in violation of CPUC rules, the agency’s Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) said in a Thursday brief in docket I.22-04-005. The CPUC said in April that Metro faces up to $230 million in possible fines for failing to remit California USF payments for prepaid phone service, but Metro asked in May to dismiss the probe due to the pending court case (see 2207220067). "CPED has an absolute right to investigate MetroPCS’s compliance with the Prepaid Act and receive full, complete, and good faith responses to its data requests,” CPED said Thursday. "The Commission should find that MetroPCS’s failure to respond to the data requests denies the Commission the ability to conduct its investigation and enforcement by intentionally withholding information from CPED staff." The CPUC also should require the company to fully respond, CPED said. The company disagreed it should be penalized, in a separate brief Thursday. "MetroPCS’s reasonable, diligent, and good-faith conduct does not establish a violation of the Public Utilities Code or any Commission rule,” it said. "MetroPCS cannot be subject to a finding of liability (much less penalties) because CPED failed to comply with its obligations to timely advise MetroPCS of its purported concerns about the sufficiency of MetroPCS’s Response, thereby depriving MetroPCS of the opportunity to provide additional documents or to further explain its responses to individual CPED requests (many of which assumed incorrect facts and used vague terminology)." There was no material harm to consumers, property or the regulatory process, Metro added.