The law doesn’t support charging tech companies regulatory fees for the benefits they receive from unlicensed devices operating in the TV white spaces, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld in calls with aides to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week, said filings posted Thursday in docket 21-190. NAB argues the FCC should expand the payer base for reg fees. Microsoft and other companies “at best” benefit from white spaces indirectly through third-party networks and third-party devices, said Feld. “This benefit is far too attenuated to pass constitutional muster, and nothing in the RAY BAUM’s Act supports assessing fees for such an indirect benefit.” If the FCC did use that benefit as a reason to charge fees, it would have to do the same to broadcaster-owned over-the-top services such as Hulu and Paramount+, Feld said. “These entities, and any commercial broadcast licensee that streams internet content, enjoy a similar benefit from Project Airband as Microsoft in being able to reach new rural customers.” The issue would be "better resolved as part of the USF contribution reform discussions rather than as part of this proceeding,” Feld said.
Cable operators need to be vigilant about threats of being overbuilt as tens of billions of federal dollars are poised to be directed toward broadband projects in coming years, said cable lawyer Tom Cohen of Kelley Drye Wednesday at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2021. The broadband infrastructure funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, if passed, would take a year or so to be implemented and could start flowing in 2022 (see 2110120038), he said. That could give incumbents time to get ahead of competition and also think about what unserved areas nearby that could be grabbed, he said.
A Thursday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing showed there is bipartisan support for a “strong telehealth initiative” that the Commerce and Health committees could together advance to the Senate floor this year, said subpanel Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in an interview. Lawmakers noted interest in advancing the Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act (HR-708/S-168) and Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512), among other telehealth measures. Lujan and others also used the hearing as a venue to promote the need for further broadband money and air grievances about President Joe Biden’s delay in announcing nominees to the FCC and NTIA.
FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been “very aggressive” working with other countries to reach agreements on robocall enforcement, and the Enforcement Bureau is paying more attention to accessibility issues, a virtual FCBA CLE heard Wednesday. Such agreements “come up routinely,” when the agency meets with foreign regulators, said her aide David Strickland. “A lot of these robocalls are coming from overseas.”
Tower companies view 5G as just getting started, with years of big spending by carriers ahead, panelists told the Wireless Infrastructure Association conference Wednesday, streamed from Orlando. CEOs said their work didn’t slow during the pandemic.
House Communications Subcommittee Republicans used a Wednesday hearing ostensibly aimed at highlighting bipartisan cooperation on a dozen communications bills to criticize subpanel Democrats’ legislative and oversight process. Democrats appeared interested in moving at least some of the dozen bills before year's end, including the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378). Republicans’ targets for criticism, as expected (see 2110050072), included the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) and a pending reconciliation package, both in legislative limbo.
Witnesses praise a dozen communications-focused bills set to be the focus of a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing, in written testimony. The subpanel intends the dozen bills, including the Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501) and Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378), to highlight bipartisan cooperation on the House Commerce Committee, lobbyists said. At least one witness backs the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) and parts of the Democratic-sought budget reconciliation package, which could inject talk of the fracas over the timeline for considering those measures into the hearing, lobbyists said.
A petition challenging the FCC USF Q4 contribution factor is likely to fail on procedural grounds but may be part of a bigger challenge to dismantle USF entirely, legal experts said in recent interviews (see 2110010062). Some said it may be an effort to force a reevaluation of the nondelegation doctrine that prohibits Congress from delegating legislative powers to executive branch agencies.
NARUC changed its Nov. 7-10 annual meeting to a partially virtual event. The Louisville event was originally in person only (see 2108120069). “We decided to have a hybrid meeting based on information we have received from members and others in the regulatory community” indicating “concerns about traveling,” a NARUC spokesperson emailed Monday. “To ensure that more members and stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in the meeting, we felt it would be best to move to a hybrid format.” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will join a Nov. 10 panel about USF contribution, the spokesperson said. Carr will participate virtually, his aide said. All general sessions and some others, including the USF panel, are to be streamed, the NARUC spokesperson said.
The USF Q4 contribution factor is “illegal and should be rejected,” said Consumers' Research as it asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the FCC approval (see 2109100069), said a petition in its challenge (both in Pacer, No. 21-3886). The approval “exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority,” the group said. Congress' "standardless delegation" to the FCC to raise and spend money for USF violated the Constitution because "the revenues raised ... are taxes," it said. The group said the Universal Service Administrative Co., which administers USF programs, is a private company and the appointment of its board directors by the FCC chair violates the Constitution's appointments clause if it's determined that USAC isn't a private entity. The group also said the FCC failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking and Federal Register Act's publication requirements. The agency didn’t comment.