Industry parties, public interest groups and others offered generally favorable comments and recommendations on FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's action plan for ensuring affordable communications access and other objectives. Wireless, wireline and satellite entities urged various actions and incentives to promote broadband deployment and adoption. A host of civil rights and consumer groups backed inmate calling service reforms and other initiatives.
Seeking faster internet for schools, Arizona Corporation Commissioners voted 5-0 to launch a rulemaking to create a state match of rural broadband funds with funding from the state USF. Commissioner Andy Tobin proposed the fund earlier this week after Gov. Doug Ducey (R) called for more high-speed internet (see 1701100032). Tobin said he wanted to act quickly so the state could apply for federal E-rate Category One funding. At a commission meeting Wednesday, Tobin said 37 percent of Arizona school districts lack broadband of at least 100 kbps per student, and 60 percent of them are in rural and tribal areas. Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Diane Douglas testified in support of the plan, saying it’s another step to narrow the gap between students in rural and urban areas. “We've seen the power of technology and what it can do for education,” she said. The Arizona commission plans a Jan. 30 stakeholder workshop on the proposed broadband fund, then may consider a proposal at commissioners’ Feb. 7 meeting, Tobin said in an interview: “We are working very closely with the governor’s office and the Department of Education.”
FCC staff released a "digital inclusion plan" to follow up on its Lifeline overhaul and other changes to USF telecom subsidy programs. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau offered "strategies and recommendations" to ensure "that the reforms of the last several years -- the establishment of the Connect America Fund, rate-of-return reform, E-rate modernization, and this year’s Lifeline modernization -- are fully realized," said the plan it issued Wednesday. The bureau said the FCC could support "Lifeline aggregation projects," take steps to make the purchase of ISP services "simpler and more transparent," consider using the educational broadband service to provide service to underserved areas, and seek to identify legislation that might promote digital inclusion opportunities. "This plan marks another step in the Commission’s efforts to better understand non-price barriers to digital inclusion and to facilitate existing and forthcoming efforts addressing them," the plan said. It "seeks to promote and highlight digital inclusion initiatives generally and those that leverage the modernized Lifeline program to bring broadband access to more Americans." The plan also "explores how the Bureau can engage consumer groups, community groups, philanthropic organizations, local governments, and corporations to increase broadband adoption and digital literacy among those who remain offline."
The FCC plans a USF webinar Jan. 24 tailored to state and local government officials, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs public notice Tuesday. The 2-3 p.m. EST webinar will provide an overview of how telecom subsidy funds are raised and distributed among the USF Connecting America (high cost), E-rate (schools and libraries), Lifeline (low income) and rural healthcare programs, said the PN, which had further details on registering for the event (a registration link can be copied and pasted if clicking on it doesn't work).
Arizona should tap the state USF to bring broadband to rural students, said Arizona Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin. In a Monday letter in docket RT-00000H-97-0137, Tobin supported Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s call for high-speed internet in rural and tribal areas. Tobin proposed a partnership with the governor, state superintendent and nonprofit EducationSuperHighway to create a state match of rural broadband funds for schools and libraries totaling $8 million to $13 million, the state commission said in a Tuesday news release. Tobin proposed a one-time distribution of $8 million from the Arizona USF to support the state match. The state match could help school districts obtain an estimated $80 million to $100 million in federal E-rate Category One funding, but Arizona must act quickly to meet a likely April deadline to submit funding applications to Universal Service Administrative Co., he said. To make the deadline, the state commission should open an emergency rulemaking, he said. Later this year, the commission should open another rulemaking examining the high-cost portion of the state USF, he said. “There is a real and troubling digital divide when it comes to internet access in our urban and rural areas,” Tobin wrote. “Every student must be afforded the same opportunity to learn, including those who live on tribal lands, in some inner city areas, or in the most remote reaches of the state.” Ducey said in the governor’s State of the State address Monday that “too many students, specifically in our rural areas, and in our tribal nations, are missing out. It’s 2017, but outside of our urban areas, broadband is still spotty. Let’s fix this, by connecting these rural schools to high-speed internet.” The proposed program will be discussed at a commission staff meeting Wednesday at 10 a.m. MST, the commission said.
FCC staff ruled that eligible telecom carriers must allow Lifeline-eligible customers to apply their low-income USF discounts to stand-alone broadband internet access service (BIAS) if the ETCs offer such service and are subject to USF "high-cost public interest broadband obligations." The clarification renders moot a petition for temporary waiver that was filed by NTCA and WTA, which was dismissed, said an order in docket 11-42 from the Wireline Bureau listed in Monday's Daily Digest. "ETCs that do not have a standalone BIAS offering in areas where they receive high-cost support are not required to create a new standalone Lifeline BIAS offering" under the FCC's March Lifeline overhaul order, the new order said. "Rather, recipients of high-cost support may meet their broadband public interest obligations by offering BIAS as part of a bundle with voice or on a standalone basis, at the carrier’s discretion." But the bureau said if an ETC offers stand-alone broadband in an area where it receives high-cost support, it must allow eligible consumers to apply their Lifeline discount to that service.
News Friday that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., will lead the House Communications Subcommittee (see 1701060001) sparked a range of reactions from industry observers. They foresaw the potential for her to take action on what have often been partisan priorities on net neutrality and municipal broadband. She succeeds Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the new chair of Commerce, and was seen as having the edge among Commerce Republicans for the positions (see 1612300029), with people judging her both knowledgeable and effective but also divisive. The subcommittee overseeing the FTC also got a new head who is known to FCC watchers: Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio. Blackburn, an executive vice chairwoman for the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump, pledged last month the new Congress would get started on net neutrality legislation soon.
Atlanta attorney Carolyn Roddy was added to the Trump transition's FCC landing team, according to its landing team roster, which is updated periodically. Roddy, who has FCC and telecom industry experience, is an adjunct professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School and a board member of the Georgia Technology Authority, which manages delivery of IT services to state and local government agencies and entities.
Sandwich Isles Communications asked the FCC to set aside and reconsider its order imposing $27 million in repayment duties on the company for violations of the USF high-cost program in Hawaii (see 1612060032). The Dec. 5 order should be set aside so parties can address its potential effects on end users at the same time as parties consider a $49.6 million fine the commission proposed for the company in an accompanying notice of apparent liability, said an SIC petition for reconsideration posted Thursday in docket 10-90. "Because of the interrelationship of this Order with the [NAL] issued on the same day, considerations of fundamental due process require that the Commission allow interested parties to comment on the issues and implications of this Petition for Reconsideration in the context of, and at the same time as, the comments due under the NAL." The order also should be set aside because it's "directly contrary to the unrebutted factual evidence submitted by SIC and constitutes administrative action that is arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law," it said. "The lone 'support' for the Commission’s [main] finding is a final audit report prepared by the Universal Service Administrative Company ('USAC'). This report, however, entirely ignored the unrebutted factual evidence submitted by SIC that demonstrates that the $26,320,270 in alleged ['Category 1'] overpayments is wildly overblown." SIC said the FCC never addressed the carrier's findings, confirmed by an independent telecom consulting firm, that the maximum amount of alleged Category 1 overpayments was only $4.1 million. "By ignoring this evidence, the Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously," SIC said. FCC officials had no comment, including aides to Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn, who issued a joint statement Dec. 5 endorsing the order.
Parties offered a jumble of views on possible telecom deregulation in biennial review reply comments posted Tuesday and Wednesday in various dockets, including 16-132. Wireline and wireless telcos and others generally proposed the commission repeal numerous rules in initial comments (see 1612060072). Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly, who will gain the majority under incoming President Donald Trump, have voiced enthusiasm for clearing what they term "regulatory underbrush," raising the profile of the proceeding (see 1612070040 and 1611030042).