Treasury’s final rule on broadband projects’ eligibility for the $350 billion in state and local funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act backtracks from earlier proposed restrictions that would have allowed it only in areas without 25/3 Mbps (see 2105100060), the department and telecom lawyers said. The earlier proposed rules got mixed reaction (see 2107160063). The “final rule expands eligible areas for investment by requiring recipients to invest in projects designed to provide service to households and businesses with an identified need for additional broadband infrastructure investment, which would include but not be limited to a lack of broadband service reliably delivering certain speeds,” Treasury said in the final rule submitted to the Federal Register. Potential acceptable “examples of need include lack of access to a connection that reliably meets or exceeds symmetrical 100 Mbps download and upload speeds, lack of affordable access to broadband service, or lack of reliable broadband service.” Treasury added a requirement that recipients participate in the FCC affordable connectivity program or provide access to comparably affordable service (see 2201050043). The final rule “continues to encourage recipients to prioritize support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, nonprofits, and cooperatives.” It maintains language requiring projects to be capable of 100 Mbps symmetrical and 100/20 Mbps where symmetrical isn’t practical due to topography The rule takes effect April 1.
A draft FCC NPRM would require ISPs to disclose certain information to consumers through a broadband label, if approved during the agency's January meeting, said a fact sheet Thursday (see 2201050057). Other drafts include an order updating the E-rate program's rules to ensure tribal libraries' access to the program, an order updating political programming rules, an NPRM updating equipment authorization rules, and an order resolving "pending issues" on white space spectrum.
With enrollment now open for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and the transition from the emergency broadband benefit program underway, some consumer advocacy groups told us they're concerned that EBB-enrolled households could face a bill shock or lose their benefit entirely if required to affirmatively opt in to receive the new benefit. Several questions remain because the FCC hasn't issued rules for the new program and the higher subsidy amount is set to end March 1.
Allow bulk Wi-Fi purchasers to certify to a service provider that its affordable connectivity program discount "has been passed through fully to multiple households" without having to send the households a bill, said Rhode Island nonprofit One Neighborhood Builders in comments posted Tuesday in docket 21-450. The group offers free Wi-Fi to low-income households through the Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network, which leases fiber cables owned by Cox. Allowing OSHEAN to pay for the internet cost without sending users a bill would "make the ACP funds more accessible for unconnected households without burdening small nonprofits and households with additional paperwork," it said. The group said the change could lead to "several hundred households" signing up for ACP. The FCC didn't allow reimbursement during the emergency broadband benefit program in cases where a household "does not pay a fee for the service, either to the provider or a bulk purchaser/aggregator, but the fee is paid by another entity."
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted a request by more than a dozen groups to extend the comment period for its notice of inquiry on a report on the future of USF, said an order Tuesday in docket 21-476 (see 2112220051). The bureau said the record would "benefit from commenters having had the opportunity to further monitor the commission’s implementation of the affordable connectivity program and NTIA’s implementation of broadband programs." Comments are now due by Feb. 17, replies by March 17.
The FCC "has authority to prescribe minimum service standards" in the affordable connectivity program, said an Adtran letter last week in docket 21-450 (see 2112090061). The company disagreed with CTIA that "[no] commenter favoring selective restrictions on eligible households’ right to apply their benefit to the broadband service of their choice explains how such restrictions could be justified under the statute, and indeed no such justification exists." Adtran's reply backed MSS for fixed broadband.
Provider participation in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program is likely to be at a higher level than for the emergency broadband benefit program, we’re told (see 2112090061). Some industry groups said more providers may elect to participate since the new program is designed to be longer term than EBB.
CTA and other commenters told the FCC the $14.2 billion affordable connectivity program (ACP) should make room for the expansion of wireless networks, which will be critical to new generations of connected devices. Commenters also continue to raise implementation concerns as the agency shifts from the $3.1 billion emergency broadband benefit program to the new ACP (see 2112090061). Replies were posted Wednesday and Tuesday in docket 21-450.
GCI Communications sought a waiver of FCC emergency broadband benefit program rules on claims reimbursement, said a petition posted Monday in docket 20-445. GCI "timely uploaded but missed the deadline" to certify claims for October and November, it said. GCI said it also plans to participate in the affordable connectivity program.
Don't require "universal, proactive opt-in" to participate in the affordable connectivity program, a coalition of advocacy groups asked FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a letter posted Thursday in docket 21-450 (see 2112090061). Among the signers were Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the National Consumer Law Center and Public Knowledge. Households transitioning from the emergency broadband benefit program should receive "clear and repeated notice that the program is transitioning" so they can decide whether and how they want to participate in ACP, the groups said, saying the FCC should "immediately" establish an outreach grant program that Congress allowed.