The Utah Public Service Commission refused to reconsider its decision not to relieve Lumen’s CenturyLink of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations. In March, the Utah PSC denied CenturyLink’s original petition in docket 23-049-01 (see 2403180034). On April 11, CenturyLink sought rehearing. But the agency’s three commissioners decided Monday they were right the first time. "CenturyLink has not effectively marshaled the evidence in its Petition and thus has not carried its burden of persuasion,” the commission said. “The errors of fact and law it claims support the exemption largely ignore the persuasive opposing evidence and misconstrue our reasoning.” The Utah PSC added, “While a day may come when CenturyLink is relieved of its COLR obligations, based on the present record, CenturyLink has not carried its burden herein to eliminate this fundamental obligation of the incumbent carrier.” The company didn't "meaningfully contradict or even attempt to explain" the error of the PSC's finding that the carrier provided incomplete evidence showing effective competition, the commission said: CenturyLink didn't show there are functionally equivalent, substitutable and reasonably available alternatives at comparable prices and quality. And the commission disagreed that wholesale broadband can be considered functionally equivalent because it receives funding from Utah USF (UUSF). "The plain language of" Utah Code Section 54-8b-3 "provides no basis for concluding that the wholesale broadband services addressed in the UUSF statute constitute a telecommunications service that is functionally equivalent to, or substitutable for, CenturyLink’s stand-alone voice service." In addition, the record “shows that satellite and broadband services typically only provide voice service as an add-on at an additional cost,” the PSC said. The company’s promise that it will continue serving existing customers doesn’t save the petition for COLR relief, the commission added: "Utah’s population is rapidly growing,” and granting relief “could eliminate the option for customers to have a basic residential voice line if they relocated.” The company can seek Utah Supreme Court review within 30 days. Lumen declined to comment Tuesday.
The Nebraska Universal Service Fund has had “steady and predictable” remittances since adopting a connections-based contribution mechanism, NUSF Director Cullen Robbins said at a Nebraska Public Service Commission hearing Tuesday, so changes aren't needed. The PSC partly moved away from a revenue-based NUSF contribution in 2018 and expanded the policy in 2021(see 2105110045). The NUSF has a $134 million balance, Robbins said. He noted that the commission is considering a change that would use high-cost support more for operating expenses like maintaining networks as opposed to capital expenses for deployments. One possible benefit is that the fund balance wouldn’t build up as much because support could be paid out monthly, the NUSF director said. At another meeting earlier in the day, Nebraska PSC commissioners voted 5-0 to approve an order issuing the 2024 schedule and application materials for the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program. ISPs may apply for NBBP grants from June 17 through July 8. Under the program, $20 million is available annually for deploying networks capable of at least 100 Mbps symmetrical speeds in unserved and underserved areas. “NBBP has proven to be an effective way to get broadband to unserved and underserved areas of the state, and we are eager to begin the fourth cycle of this program,” Commission Chair Dan Watermeier said in a news release.
A possible shakeup of Vermont's universal service passed the legislature Thursday. The House concurred with the Senate’s amendment to HB-657. Rather than the current 2% revenue-based state Universal Service Fund mechanism, the bill would assess 72 cents monthly per retail access line, including VoIP and postpaid wireless (see 2404030046. Also, the bill would add the 988 mental health hotline to a list of what state USF may support and repeal Vermont taxes on telephone personal property and alternative telephone gross revenue. However, the Senate removed a proposed fee structure for communications facilities using state right of way that was in the version originally passed by the House. Instead, the Senate amendment orders a Transportation secretary study on the subject, due Oct. 15, 2025. Gov. Phil Scott (R) must sign the bill before it can become law.
House Republicans pushed back during a Friday Communications Subcommittee field hearing in Bakersfield, California, against calls for Congress to allocate stopgap funding to the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program and the rollout of NTIA’s $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment program. ACP supporters believe they made progress last week toward securing a path that keeps the program funded in FY 2024 despite proposals attaching funding to the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) failing in the Senate (see 2405100046).
The Universal Service Administrative Co. owes Data Research Corp. (DRC) $9.9 million, plus interest, for broadband services it provided more than 20 years ago to the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE) under the federal E-rate program, DRC's complaint Wednesday alleges (docket 3:24-cv-01211) in U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico in San Juan.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission temporarily increased the state USF surcharge for the state Lifeline program to 18 cents per access line (see 2309190078). An order Wednesday said the surcharge will remain "for the pendency of this proceeding or until further order by the commission." The PSC will initiate a review of the state fund in March, the order said.
A new bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other senators to attach stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and additional money for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to the FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405070083) faces resistance from chamber leaders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other leaders are skeptical about including nongermane language in the FAA package. A previous proposal to attach ACP money drew opposition during a Tuesday night “hotline” that Senate leaders ran to gauge lawmakers’ support for amendments in the package.
The Universal Service Administrative Co's. (USAC) role in administering the FCC's Universal Service Fund programs "is purely administrative," the FCC told the U.S. Supreme Court in response to Consumers' Research's challenge of how the commission determines quarterly contribution factors (see 2401100044). USAC "must comply with detailed regulations issued by the FCC" and "helps the FCC compute the amount of each quarterly payment" carriers must contribute, the agency said in an opposition brief filed in docket 23-456.
CTIA President Meredith Baker said that policymakers must reverse course to change how spectrum is allocated in the U.S., moving away from too much focus on unlicensed and not enough on full-power licensed spectrum. The U.S. has allocated three times as much unlicensed spectrum as licensed, she said during a CTIA 5G Summit Monday. Baker noted the national spectrum strategy's focus on the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands. “The studies of these bands have to start immediately and examine all options,” she said.
Top Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) backers Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Thursday they plan to press forward with an amendment to the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act that would appropriate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the ailing FCC broadband program (see 2405010055) despite opposition from Senate leaders. ACP stopgap funding advocates used a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing that day to implore that Congress act while critics raised objections about what they said was a lack of clear information about the program's efficacy.