The Oregon Public Utility Commission unanimously adopted rules implementing a 2020 state law requiring interconnected VoIP and wireless to pay into state USF and reducing the surcharge cap to 6% of revenue from 8.5%. The law takes effect Jan. 1. It’s “unnecessary” to explicitly state that the state agency's authority doesn’t extend to VoIP and wireless, other than what's necessary to collect fees, as suggested by the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association (see 2010300036), said the PUC order in docket AR 640.
The New York Public Service Commission will renew state USF two years, said an order released Wednesday in case 15-M-0742. The PSC unanimously adopted a joint settlement that the New York Department of Public Service reached with Verizon, small ILECs and the Public Utility Law Project (see 2011060038). State USF will expire Dec. 31, so the proposal would renew it for two more years from Jan. 1. The proposal “would preserve the administrative framework criteria for eligibility to receive disbursements and the obligations to provide funding that exist under the current” state USF and impose new data reporting requirements on recipients, “including detailed information on competitive wireline alternatives available in their service territories.” In another unanimous order posted in the same docket Wednesday, the PSC conditionally authorized nine small ILECs to recover from state USF revenue they lost due to the final stage of the phased reduction required by the FCC’s 2011 intercarrier compensation order.
IBM settled with the FCC and agreed to return $24.25 million to the USF for violations regarding the E-rate program in New York City and El Paso school districts, a consent decree said Wednesday.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau is cracking down on what it calls overly broad confidentiality requests that ask for confidential treatment of material that needn't be secret, bureau Chief Rosemary Harold said at an FCBA event Friday. She said the bureau started addressing confidentiality requests in an earlier stage of investigations than in the past.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission may weigh state USF contribution changes Dec. 30, a spokesperson said Wednesday. A winter storm forced commissioners to reschedule their planned Tuesday meeting on a proposal in docket OSF 201900316 to change from a revenue-based method to a connections-based mechanism with a 91 cents per line monthly surcharge (see 2011170022).
Q1 USF revenue will be around $10.1 billion, and the contribution factor is projected to reach 31.8%, the FCC said in Tuesday's Daily Digest, as expected (see 2012020052). The Universal Service Administrative Co. projected collection for Connect America at $1.34 billion, E-rate at $611.3 million, Rural Health Care $166.9 million, Lifeline $262.3 million and the Connected Care pilot $8.3 million.
Tech and communications interests were closely monitoring Tuesday talks on a FY 2021 appropriations omnibus package and COVID-19 aid legislation, since they're potential vehicles for a range of telecom policy proposals. Lawmakers have until Friday to reach a deal on omnibus spending; a continuing resolution to fund the federal government expires that evening (see 2012110054).
Hospitals and rural clinics in Michigan and Wisconsin are seeking a waiver for their analog business lines during FY 2019 and FY 2020 due to Universal Service Administrative Co.'s "failure to use common sense in the creation of rational rates" for the healthcare connect fund program, said USF Consultants President Michael O'Connor.
Huawei asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear its case seeking to overturn the FCC ban on rural eligible telecom carriers using USF programs to buy equipment from the Chinese firm. Huawei filed the case a year ago (see 1912050050). The FCC’s order approved Thursday (see 2012100054) “leaves no doubt that Huawei’s petition is ripe,” said a filing (in Pacer) posted Friday in docket 19-60896: The order “confirms that only judicial review can relieve Huawei from enforcement of the USF rule.” Protecting national security is a “lame excuse” to oppress certain Chinese enterprises, said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday, responding to the FCC’s order approval. “Huawei has built more than 1,500 networks in more than 170 countries and regions,” with no “network security incidents,” she said. “No country has been able to come up with evidence to prove Huawei products have back doors, including the United States, whom we've challenged many times to present evidence.” China urges the U.S. to “stop its arbitrary use” of national security as a pretense for its “unjustified crackdown on certain Chinese enterprises,” she said.
The FCC voted 5-0 Thursday, as expected (see 2012080070), to put in place a system to replace insecure equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks. Commissioners agreed the FCC still has work to do. Congress hasn't funded a program to pay for the equipment removed. The Rural Wireless Association noted that the order doesn’t require carriers to replace equipment until replacement is funded.