The Wyoming Business Council should "immediately release" coverage maps for broadband network projects funded by Cares Act grants and "halt any funding for projects that will result in subsidized overbuilding," said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a letter to Gov. Mark Gordon (R) Wednesday. Local fiber and cable-based broadband providers raised concerns about the duplication of networks in already-serviced areas. O'Rielly said such duplication would "artificially impair the value of" FCC USF subsidies, because at least one of the grants will allegedly overbuild a recipient of Connect America Fund Phase II auction funding. Gordon's office didn't comment Monday.
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Backers and some critics of Ajit Pai agreed he was a particularly effective FCC chairman, leaving behind a legacy of major accomplishments and changes. Pai announced Monday he will step down on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 (see 2011300020). Supporters said his scorecard includes enacting policies that accelerated broadband deployment and steering the agency through the pandemic.
Rules barring USF recipients from using equipment suppliers that were deemed national security risks should be “technology neutral,” asked the Telecommunications Industry Association in calls last week with aides to FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr, per filings posted Wednesday in docket 18-89. “Follow this time-honored technology neutral approach in determining what equipment and services can be used by U.S. providers to replace at-risk equipment.” Some language in the FCC’s draft item “could be read as promoting certain solutions over others,” TIA said.
FCC creation of the 5G Fund for Rural America -- which puts USF dollars in support of 5G deployment (see 2010270034) -- takes effect Dec. 28, says Wednesday’s Federal Register.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied ZTE’s petition for reconsideration of the bureau’s June 30 order designating the Chinese telecom equipment maker as a threat to U.S. national security. The order, which also covers Huawei, bars both companies from participating in the USF (see 2007160051). Huawei also sought reversal (see 2007310048). The FCC denied ZTE’s argument that the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act and the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) limit “authority to implement a prohibition on USF support for ZTE equipment. ZTE has previously raised this argument and we find no grounds on which to reconsider it here.” The company “does not dispute critical facts underlying” the ban, “and those uncontroverted facts, standing alone, are enough to sustain” it, the bureau said. It reviewed “the totality of the evidence, which included legal and political analysis from Congress and the Executive Branch, Chinese law experts, as well as evidence of security threats provided by allied intelligence services and outside cybersecurity experts.” The bureau “determined that either directly [through] the application of the Chinese National Intelligence Law, or indirectly through the application of political pressure, Chinese companies like ZTE are required to cooperate with intelligence agencies by providing customer information and network traffic information.” It said ZTE “has substantial ties to the Chinese government and its military” apparatus. “We continue to find that vulnerabilities and cybersecurity risks plague ZTE equipment,” the bureau said. It “also took into account ZTE’s record of knowingly violating U.S. law, obstructing U.S. investigations, and making false statements to U.S. authorities even after entering a guilty plea for violating U.S. trade sanctions.” The gearmaker didn’t comment. The denial is “another important step in our ongoing efforts to protect U.S. communications networks from security risks,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He noted plans for commissioners to vote Dec. 10 on rules (see 2011190059) to help U.S. telecom companies replace suspect network equipment proposed in HR-4998. “Now it is more vital than ever that Congress appropriate funds so that our communications networks are protected from vendors that threaten our national security,” Pai said. Lawmakers are pushing to allocate $1.6 billion-$1.8 billion (see 2009140062).
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., urged the FCC Monday help U.S. telecom companies replace suspect network equipment, including those entities that qualify for funding proposed in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998). Lawmakers are working to appropriate $1.6 billion-$1.8 billion to implement the law (see 2009140062). "Some small and rural communications providers would not otherwise be able to afford these upgrades,” Pallone and Walden wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Support for HR-4998 funding is "bipartisan and bicameral. ... In the meantime, carriers are moving forward to remove their suspect equipment and need guidance." The lawmakers want the FCC list equipment and software that would be eligible for reimbursement and reassure companies they won't jeopardize eligibility for that funding if they buy replacements now. Pai “strongly agrees with the letter’s goal of ensuring that our nation’s communications networks are secure,” an FCC spokesperson emailed. The commission "has taken significant action to protect against threats to our communications networks, including prohibiting” use of USF money “to purchase or support equipment or services from companies posing a national security threat.” The spokesperson noted Pai’s plans for a Dec. 10 vote on an order to set up a reimbursement program (see 2011190059). Competitive Carriers Association CEO Steve Berry wants the agency to begin noncontroversial steps to help companies that qualify for the money.
The FCC released the three draft items Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing for the Dec. 10 meeting (see 2011180065). The meeting will be headlined by a report and order implementing the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, with an NPRM on equipment certification rules and an order on ATSC 3.0 datacasting. Industry officials said it's unclear whether FCC Democrats will consider any of the drafts controversial or major items that should be left for next year under the new commission.
FCC members agreed 5-0 to seek comment on revised internet-based telecom relay service rules, expanding the TRS fund contribution base for internet-based TRS of video relay service and IP relay service. Only Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly had statements on the NPRM, which they didn’t read at Wednesday's meeting. O’Rielly said the agency doesn’t go far enough. The NPRM hasn’t been controversial, with no filings since it circulated three weeks ago. Democrats, who will control the agenda next year, had no statements.
Senate Commerce Committee GOP leaders are eyeing a vote to advance FCC nominee Nathan Simington to the full chamber amid likely uniform Democratic opposition and lingering uncertainties about whether there’s unanimous GOP support. FCC Republicans, meanwhile, sidestepped questions about whether they will cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition, given objections from President Donald Trump. Chairman Ajit Pai announced a national-security-heavy agenda Wednesday for commissioners' Dec. 10 meeting but avoided saying he’s acquiescing to Democrats’ calls for him to stop work on major items (see 2011180065).
The Nebraska Public Service Commission will mull changing state USF contribution in a Jan. 6 hearing at 10 a.m., members decided 4-0 Tuesday. One member was excused. The state commission is weighing a proposal in docket NUSF-119 to extend its connections-based mechanism to business and government services. Big carriers oppose that change (see 2009020032). The Oklahoma Corporation Commission could vote next week on changing state USF contribution from a revenue-based method to a connections-based mechanism with a 91 cents per line monthly surcharge (see 2008110047). An administrative law judge last month recommended changing to connections. Commissioners, scheduled to hold a hearing on exceptions to the ALJ recommendation next Tuesday, “might vote at the end of the hearing, or take the matter under advisement,” an OCC spokesperson emailed Monday. CTIA complained Oct. 30 that the ALJ barely discussed its views, including that the connections method may violate state or federal law and hurt poor or unemployed people (see 2008170054). AT&T, CTIA and the Oklahoma AG “place an outsized emphasis on potential changes to amounts contributed by customer classes and completely ignore the record concerning growing inequities under the current revenue-based methodology,” the OUSF administrator responded, posted Nov. 10. Meanwhile, in Texas last week, the Public Utility Commission again urged the legislature to deal with state USF, despite concerns by state lawmakers, small telcos and others that the fund may become insolvent without PUC action before the legislature meets in 2021 (see 2010160052). Texans paid more than $2.7 billion into TUSF over the past 10 years, so the commission “was reluctant, in the midst of a pandemic and economic downturn, to further burden the Texans who pay into the fund,” Executive Director John Paul Urban responded to four Texas House members who raised concerns. The PUC didn’t consider increasing the surcharge until funds nearly ran out because telecom companies who pay into TUSF didn’t “provide any insight into the drastic declines in reviews that abruptly occurred,” Urban said. “When Commission staff estimated the fee needed to support all the requested TUSF subsidies, they had to account for the downward trends in revenue and a depleting fund balance. These trends continue to worsen and the fund balance continues to deplete.”