Huawei believes the U.S. should “put the evidence out there” to justify recent actions to curb the presence of the Chinese telecom gear vendor’s products on U.S. networks, the company's U.S. Chief Security Officer Andy Purdy said during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators set to telecast this weekend. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday denied Huawei’s challenge to the FCC ban of its equipment from networks funded by the USF (see 2106220053). Commissioners are to vote July 13 on congressionally mandated changes to its system for replacing insecure U.S. network equipment from Huawei and fellow Chinese vendor ZTE (see 2106210062). U.S. restrictions hurt Huawei “pretty badly in terms of our ability to do business” in the country, Purdy said. “Things are not going very well.” If “Huawei has done bad things, show us” so “the whole world can see so that they don’t just need to create incentives” not to buy Huawei products, he said. “There is not such evidence” and there “is no connection” between Huawei and the Chinese government “other than any other company around the world would have.” The U.S. shouldn’t “do things” like the FCC did in using “predictive judgment” to justify its anti-Huawei actions, Purdy said. “That’s not really consistent with the rule of law approach” that federal agencies generally employ.
The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee said Wednesday it’s proposing giving the FCC $388 million and the FTC almost $390 million in a draft FY 2022 appropriations bill it plans to mark up Thursday. This mirrors what President Joe Biden proposed in late May (see 2105280055). FCC funding would be 3.7% above what it got in FY 2021; the FTC’s budget would be 11% higher (see 2012210055). The bill would again bar the FCC from using funding to “modify, amend or change” rules for USF programs. The markup begins 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth; a House Appropriations Committee markup will happen Tuesday. The House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee plans to mark up its FY 2022 Agriculture Department bill 11 a.m. Friday in 2118 Rayburn.
Attempts to revamp a dwindling Texas USF are back to square one after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed a bill to add VoIP providers to the contribution base. Friday's veto of HB-2667 followed a defeat for rural telco associations in state court where they challenged a Public Utility Commission’s decision not to raise the surcharge on consumer bills to fully fund USF (see 2103290060). It may be too late for legislators to override Abbott, and expect a court appeal soon, RLEC association officials said Monday.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association and others are expected to argue at a Tuesday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing that lawmakers should consider network resiliency issues as they decide the contours of connectivity language in upcoming infrastructure spending legislation. Subpanel lawmakers said they intend to look at how to move forward on a to-be-refiled version of the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (see 2102160067) and other resiliency-centric bills. The partly virtual hearing begins at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell.
CTA raised concerns as FCC commissioners approved 4-0 Thursday an NPRM and notice of inquiry that would further clamp down on gear from companies deemed to pose a security risk in U.S. networks. Commissioners said several questions were added since a draft of the item circulated, as expected (see 2106090063).
Congressional Democrats are pressing harder for President Joe Biden to name a permanent FCC chair and a fifth commissioner, citing the need for a majority to act on changes to net neutrality rules and other priorities unlikely to garner GOP support. Lawmakers remain publicly hopeful the administration will soon announce its FCC nominees. Privately, Senate Democrats in recent days told the White House their patience on FCC nomination delays has evaporated, aides said.
A fee on Georgia landline bills will decline to 3.75% from 6% July 1, the Georgia Public Service Commission said Tuesday. Commissioners voted unanimously to reduce the state’s USF fee due to a sunsetting law that required carriers to align intrastate long-distance call charges with interstate charges over 10 years.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission set a USF hearing later this month on the fund administrator’s Tuesday motion to double the contribution factor on an interim basis. The hearing is June 24 at 8:30 a.m. CDT, said a Tuesday notice in docket OSF 201900036. Oklahoma USF Administrator Brandy Wreath’s motion seeks to increase the revenue-based factor to 12.73% from 6.28% after commissioners punted on a plan to change the contribution method to connections-based contribution (see 2105110045). Wreath supports “the idea that a connections based methodology, in addition to eliminating the problems resulting from the continued decline in assessable revenue, will be a more reasonable and fair way to collect assessments for OUSF,” per his testimony. The OCC will “continue efforts to reach a final order” in the contribution overhaul docket (OSF 201900316), and staff will withdraw the interim request if the commission agrees to a per-line method, said Wreath.
Rural healthcare providers want to begin participating in the FCC Connected Care Program, which is expected to get commissioners' approval on Thursday, agency and industry officials said in interviews last week. The $100 million, three-year pilot will help boost access to healthcare, experts said.
The Q3 USF contribution factor is 31.8%, confirmed the FCC Office of Managing Director Thursday.