FCC staff updated Lifeline minimum service standards and slightly increased its budget, implementing aspects of a 2016 order overhauling the agency's USF low-income broadband/telecom subsidy program. Starting Dec. 1, the Lifeline minimum service standard for fixed broadband speed will be 15/2 Mbps (down/up), as calculated from Form 477 data, with an exception for providers that don't offer any generally available residential fixed broadband packages meeting the standard at a subscriber's residence (those providers must offer at least 4/1 Mbps), said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 11-42. It noted the fixed broadband data-allotment minimum will be 250 GBs per month, as calculated from urban rate survey data. The PN said the 2016 order included an automatic increase in Lifeline's mobile broadband data-allotment minimum to 1 GB per month, while retaining a 3G technology minimum speed standard. The order also included an automatic update of the Lifeline mobile voice minimum to 750 minutes per month on Dec. 1. To incorporate inflation indexing, as required by the order, the Lifeline budget for calendar year 2018 will increase from the current $2.25 billion to $2.279 billion, the PN said.
Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to “move forward” with the Remote Areas Fund (RAF) to “appropriately target limited [USF] support towards the most difficult to serve areas in our states that remain unserved.” The senators told Pai they are “encouraged” by the March Connect America Fund II auction order, which committed to prioritized funding in an RAF auction, to occur one year after the CAF II auction, for states where large telcos declined funding offers (see 1703020029). Many RAF-eligible communities “still lack access to a viable broadband option,” the senators wrote. “We believe the RAF must be structured to reach these extremely high-cost areas throughout rural America.” Tech-neutral rules for RAF “will encourage broad and robust provider participation and will increase the likelihood that these remote areas will be served and deliver the most value per limited resources spent,” the senators said: "Providers, regardless of technology," should be able to "compete to serve unserved or underserved areas that have the greatest need for new broadband deployment.”
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition backed Alaska Communications' request the FCC provide "full funding" for the USF rural healthcare (RHC) subsidy support program (see 1706200049). "Even though the demand for RHC funding has increased substantially in the past year -- exceeding the $400 Million cap -- the Public Notice issued by the Office of Managing Director (OMD) proposes to collect less than $0 for the third quarter of 2017 for the RHC program," said an SHLB filing Friday in docket 96-45. "Without taking public comment or going through a rulemaking proceeding, the Public Notice proposes to change existing policy and to use reserve funds from prior years to cover the RHC demand for the upcoming quarter. This policy change is a dramatic departure from prior practice." Peninsula Community Health Services of Alaska, Ninilchik Traditional Council and Kenaitze Indian Tribe said (here, here, here) the reserve fund shouldn't be used to lower the USF contribution factor in Q3 at the long-term expense of the RHC program. Two other Alaska entities made similar filings recently (see 1706220020). A proposed USF contribution factor of 17.1 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end-user revenue takes effect Tuesday absent FCC action. Meanwhile, the Wireline Bureau Friday waived an invoice filing deadline under the Healthcare Connect Fund for about 50 healthcare providers listed in an order Friday in docket 02-60.
Direct broadcast satellite and cable interests, which clashed over DBS regulatory fees in FY 2015 and 16 (see 1507080013 and 1607060023) are doing so again with the FCC FY 2017 fee proposal, as expected (see 1706050038). wireline interests -- saying they bear a disproportionate regulatory fee burden compared with other industries -- are backing FCC plans for reallocation of Wireline Bureau full-time equivalents (FTE), though the satellite industry is opposing. Comments on the fee proposals were due Thursday, replies July 7. The FCC Received support for its plan to hike the de minimis regulatory fee threshold and pushback on hiking the submarine cable regulatory fee.
Two more Alaska entities asked the FCC not to use a rural healthcare (RHC) reserve fund to reduce the USF contribution factor to 17.1 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end-user revenue. "While using RHC program reserve funds may help lower the contribution factor in the near term, that decision could have negative long-term implications on rural health care services across our country," said a Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services filing Wednesday in docket 96-45. "We urge the FCC to fully fund the RHC program and not to use previously collected RHC reserve funds to reduce the universal service contribution factor. ... We now face having to pay 7.5 percent of our approved FY 2016 application. For many of us, that equals hundreds of thousands of unbudgeted dollars, which in turn means a loss of telemedicine services and layoffs, negatively impacting healthcare in our communities." Chugachmiut, a tribal organization, made an identical filing. Alaska Communications previously made a similar request (see 1706200049). The proposed 17.1 percent contribution factor takes effect Tuesday absent commission action.
President Donald Trump's pledge to include a broadband title in his administration's forthcoming infrastructure legislative proposal shaped Thursday's House Small Business Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittee hearing on rural broadband deployment. Executives testified that a broadband title in infrastructure legislation should work within the framework of existing federal broadband funding programs and aim to expand funding to those programs instead of seeking to create entirely new programs.
An FCC rule to make skilled nursing facilities eligible for USF rural healthcare support took effect Wednesday as a summary was published in the Federal Register. The commission adopted the rule in a June 8 order in docket 02-60 (see 1706080047), which implements a provision of a 2016 Rural Health Care Connectivity Act.
The FCC Wireline Bureau teed up its proposed USF E-rate eligible service list for funding year 2018, with comments due July 21, replies Aug. 7. A public notice Wednesday in docket 13-184 welcomed input on any aspect of the list, and sought comment on two issues: whether further clarification is needed to assist applicants seeking support for on-premise network equipment, and "the category of service that should apply to inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building."
Rural groups urged the FCC to nail down a Connect America Fund Phase II auction "with all due speed" after five years of preparatory work. "Further delay now to rewrite the rules in a manner that may tilt the playing field toward lesser quality networks will not serve the needs of our rural communities and the consumers we serve," said a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 by 33 groups calling themselves Concerned Rural Stakeholders. Hughes Network Systems and Pennsylvania government entities asked the FCC to reconsider decisions in a February order that set bidding weights for the reverse auction of broadband subsidies (see 1704210016 and 1705190044). NTCA, one of the rural stakeholders, separately cited "the negative effects of insufficient" USF support "and the ensuing unpredictable nature of the budget control mechanism on investments" by rural telcos and the rates paid by their consumers. The group urged the FCC "to act upon its pending petition for reconsideration to address such concerns so that the purported goals of USF reform and the mandates of federal law may be achieved," said a filing Monday on the association's meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission should consider penalizing Windstream for phone service lapses, PRC staff said in a Monday reply in case 17-00081-UT. Windstream’s May response to the probe (see 1705220048) failed to alleviate concerns, so the commission should decide "whether and to what extent Windstream should be penalized for failing to provide telephone service in a safe, reliable manner,” staff said. Remedies may include reimbursement of state USF funds, it said. While Windstream said it's resolving problems in certain areas, "it remains that the quality of Windstream's telephone service is still largely lacking,” it said. "Windstream tries to dodge and weave its way around the Order to Show Cause by, for example, claiming that the Commission does not have jurisdiction or that Windstream is in compliance with the rules. … However, the facts show that Windstream should be required to face and answer the concerns regarding Windstream’s telephone service." The telco provided an action plan lacking specifics, staff said. "Windstream is disappointed by the PRC staff’s filing, which speaks in terms of isolated and explainable instances of problems," a spokesman said. "We take very seriously our obligation to provide phone service to our customers in New Mexico, and we are working diligently to resolve any issues that arise."