Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., pressed the FCC Thursday for a detailed accounting of its distribution of money to four broadband programs enacted via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and COVID-19 aid measures. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., meanwhile, led refiling of the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (Fair) Contributions Act.
Federal Universal Service Fund
The FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to fund programs designed to provide universal telecommunications access to all U.S. citizens. All telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their end-user revenues to the Fund, which the FCC allocates for four core programs: 1. Connect America Fund, which subsidizes telecom providers for the increased costs of offering services to customers in rural and remote areas 2. Lifeline, which directly subsidizes low-income households to help pay for the cost of phone and internet service 3. Rural Health Care, which subsidizes health care providers to offer broadband telehealth services that can connect rural patients and providers with specialists located farther away 4. E-Rate, which subsidizes rural and low-income schools and libraries for internet and telecommunications costs The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) administers the USF on behalf of the FCC, but requires Congressional approval for its actions. Many states also operate their own universal service funds, which operate independently from the federal program.
The administrative law judge process at the FCC is “completely broken” and “something you would find in a banana republic,” not the U.S., former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webinar Wednesday. O’Rielly noted review by an ALJ was recently “activated” as part of the review of the Standard/Tegna deal (see 2303100082.)
Inmate calling services providers and consumer advocacy organizations welcomed a draft NPRM and order the FCC will consider during the commissioners' open meeting Thursday that would begin implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act of 2022. Advocates sought some clarifying language in the final item, and ICS providers sought additional language in the draft on how the agency should establish just and reasonable rates.
The NARUC board passed telecom resolutions Wednesday on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and extending FCC spectrum auction authority. The RDOF resolution recommends a referral to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, but that body’s state members told us at NARUC’s meeting this week the joint board hasn’t met in several years. The FCC’s continuing lack of five commissioners could be a big reason, they said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee members from both parties targeted FCC and NTIA implementation of connectivity programs created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and COVID-19 aid measures Tuesday, as expected (see 2212120064), including concerns about deficient data the commission used to develop its new broadband maps. Lawmakers also touched on other telecom policymaking matters they hope Capitol Hill can address during the lame-duck session or in the next Congress. Senate Commerce Committee leaders saw a potential one-week extension of their talks on one lame-duck priority, a compromise spectrum legislative package (see 2212070068), appear via a proposed continuing resolution to fund the federal government past Friday.
States are marching ahead with plans to get as much broadband money as possible through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). NTIA announced planning grant awards to many more states Thursday for broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and digital equity programs. NTIA can and should give states a couple of more months to submit challenges to FCC maps to ensure BEAD money gets allocated properly, CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson said Thursday at the Maine Broadband Summit.
Communications sector officials and lobbyists believe the outcome of the Tuesday midterm election could affect a range of telecom policy priorities, including whether the Senate confirms FCC nominee Gigi Sohn this year, or any other commission Democrats, during the remainder of President Joe Biden’s term. Election results may affect future federal broadband funding initiatives and the direction of a proposed spectrum pipeline in the years ahead, observers told us. Election prognosticators see only a handful of incumbents on the Senate and House Commerce and Judiciary committees facing tight reelection battles despite volatile polling results in recent weeks.
California will shift to a connections-based state USF contribution method and adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) rules for pole attachments, utility commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. Also, the California Public Utilities Commission denied -- at least for now -- eligible telecom carrier designation for Starlink, needed for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support.
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.
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.