Telecom and banking groups urged that the FCC adopt proposed modifications to its letter of credit (LOC) rules for Universal Service Fund support recipients. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2407030062). The commission proposed modifying LOC rules for its high-cost programs and Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients.
The USF quarterly contribution factor for Q4 2024 will likely increase from 34.4% to 34.6%, analyst Billy Jack Gregg wrote in an email Saturday (see 2408020048). Gregg said overall projected demand will jump by $6.7 million to $2.114 billion, caused by increases in demand for the rural health and E-rate programs. Gregg also noted that annual revenue in 2023 was the lowest in USF history.
The Senate Appropriations Committee's report on its Financial Services Subcommittee FY 2025 funding bill “urges” that the FCC move forward on revamping the Universal Service Fund. The Senate Appropriations Financial Services bill, which the panel approved Thursday, would increase annual funding for the FCC and FTC for FY25 (see 2408010059). Senate Appropriations said in the report, released Thursday night, that it wants the FCC to “seek public comment this fiscal year on any reform proposals that have been submitted to the commission or otherwise previously considered that would promote the sustainability and viability of [USF] and resolve inequities in the current contribution structure.” The FCC should “act as soon as possible following review of that record to adopt reforms to achieve” revamp objectives, Senate Appropriations said: The commission “should also provide specific recommendations to Congress regarding additional authority it believes it may need to enact any reforms that are found to be prudent, advisable, or necessary.” Members of a congressional working group are grappling with whether the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ July ruling that the FCC's USF contribution factor is unconstitutional will affect their work on a revamp framework (see 2407300053).
Members of the congressional Universal Service Fund revamp working group are considering whether, and how much, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling will affect their rollout of a framework for overhauling the program. The court ruled last week that the FCC's USF contribution factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043). Experts believe lawmakers will likely factor the ruling into the framework, but it could be moot should the U.S. Supreme Court reverse the decision on appeal (see 2407260044). Uncertainty about USF’s future will likely extend the working group’s already lengthy process, lobbyists told us.
Most parts of the FCC’s three-year, $200 million cybersecurity pilot program for schools and libraries will become effective Aug. 29, a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register said. FCC Commissioners approved the program 3-2 in June, with Republicans Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting (see 2406060043). “The Commission seeks to address the apparent needs of schools and libraries for additional support for cybersecurity services and equipment, while evaluating the impact that providing that support would have on the USF,” the notice said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling Wednesday against the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution factor for the first quarter of 2022 will likely have little to no immediate impact on the commission's USF-funded programs and providers contributing to the fund, trade groups and legal experts told us (see 2407240043). It's uncertain how the U.S. Supreme Court would interpret conflicting rulings of the 5th, 6th and 11th circuits. Consumers' Research asked SCOTUS in a supplemental brief filed Thursday (docket 23-456) to grant rehearing as a result of the circuit split.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper possess the best telecom policy credentials among the main contenders to be the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, broadband advocates and other policy observers told us. All the contenders hold broadly similar views to Vice President Kamala Harris on broadband and telecom policy matters, but could bring different perspectives to the ticket, experts said in interviews last week.
Telecom companies argued for more flexible speed testing rules in comments Tuesday at the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Some Nebraska requirements are too challenging, and the state should avoid duplicating FCC-mandated tests, they said. Sometimes the "costs of conducting testing exceed the benefits" of it, Nebraska Rural Independent Companies (RIC) said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 9-7 decision sided with Consumers' Research following an en banc rehearing of the group's challenge of the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution methodology. Calling the contribution factor a "misbegotten tax," the court in a Wednesday ruling in docket 22-60008 held that as a "practical matter," the Universal Service Administrative Co. "sets the USF tax" that's "subject only to FCC's rubber stamp" (see 2406180055). In a statement, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the agency will "pursue all available avenues for review."
Small wireless carrier Smith Bagley urged the FCC to approve a waiver that Carolina West Wireless sought allowing it to receive supplemental high-cost USF support. Carolina West highlights a problem that many small carriers face, Smith Bagley said. “In many sparsely populated areas, new cell towers deliver high-quality voice and data services, both fixed and mobile, to citizens who are among the last in the nation to receive them,” a filing posted this week in docket 09-51 said: “Small wireless carriers like Carolina West are carrying out the task that the FCC, by way of Congress, seeks to complete -- providing rural citizens with advanced voice and data services that are reasonably comparable to those available in urban areas.”