FCC Chairman Ajit Pai condemned rioters who took over the Capitol Wednesday and President Donald Trump’s challenges to the results of the November election, which led to the attack (see 2101080026). Pai also said he won't proceed with an NPRM on Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2101080051), during an appearance on C-SPAN's Communicators posted online Friday. Pai, who's doing a round of appearances before his Jan. 20 departure, also highlighted his push for more openness at the FCC, during a Free State Foundation webinar.
President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) as his pick for commerce secretary and longtime aide Don Graves as deputy secretary, lobbyists told us. The Biden transition team didn’t comment. During Raimondo’s administration, Rhode Island has been one of four states that continued to divert 911 fees, despite FCC admonitions (see 2001070025). She signed a 2018 executive order restricting state contracts to ISPs that follow net neutrality principles (see 1805070029). Biden also nominated U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland as his pick for attorney general (see 2101040070). Garland has been involved in some of the D.C. Circuit’s high-profile telecom and tech cases, including the Tri-County Telephone Association’s challenge against the FCC’s nearly $1 billion USF telecom rebuild program for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 2010150042).
USF is reaching a tipping point, industry experts said in recent interviews. Revenue continues to decline, and the contribution factor is expected to reach a record 31.8% (see 2012150018). As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office, there's some hope among broadband advocates that he will nominate someone to the FCC who brings the political will to tackle USF revisions.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission unanimously adopted rules implementing a 2020 state law requiring interconnected VoIP and wireless to pay into state USF and reducing the surcharge cap to 6% of revenue from 8.5%. The law takes effect Jan. 1. It’s “unnecessary” to explicitly state that the state agency's authority doesn’t extend to VoIP and wireless, other than what's necessary to collect fees, as suggested by the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association (see 2010300036), said the PUC order in docket AR 640.
The New York Public Service Commission will renew state USF two years, said an order released Wednesday in case 15-M-0742. The PSC unanimously adopted a joint settlement that the New York Department of Public Service reached with Verizon, small ILECs and the Public Utility Law Project (see 2011060038). State USF will expire Dec. 31, so the proposal would renew it for two more years from Jan. 1. The proposal “would preserve the administrative framework criteria for eligibility to receive disbursements and the obligations to provide funding that exist under the current” state USF and impose new data reporting requirements on recipients, “including detailed information on competitive wireline alternatives available in their service territories.” In another unanimous order posted in the same docket Wednesday, the PSC conditionally authorized nine small ILECs to recover from state USF revenue they lost due to the final stage of the phased reduction required by the FCC’s 2011 intercarrier compensation order.
IBM settled with the FCC and agreed to return $24.25 million to the USF for violations regarding the E-rate program in New York City and El Paso school districts, a consent decree said Wednesday.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau is cracking down on what it calls overly broad confidentiality requests that ask for confidential treatment of material that needn't be secret, bureau Chief Rosemary Harold said at an FCBA event Friday. She said the bureau started addressing confidentiality requests in an earlier stage of investigations than in the past.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission may weigh state USF contribution changes Dec. 30, a spokesperson said Wednesday. A winter storm forced commissioners to reschedule their planned Tuesday meeting on a proposal in docket OSF 201900316 to change from a revenue-based method to a connections-based mechanism with a 91 cents per line monthly surcharge (see 2011170022).
Q1 USF revenue will be around $10.1 billion, and the contribution factor is projected to reach 31.8%, the FCC said in Tuesday's Daily Digest, as expected (see 2012020052). The Universal Service Administrative Co. projected collection for Connect America at $1.34 billion, E-rate at $611.3 million, Rural Health Care $166.9 million, Lifeline $262.3 million and the Connected Care pilot $8.3 million.
Tech and communications interests were closely monitoring Tuesday talks on a FY 2021 appropriations omnibus package and COVID-19 aid legislation, since they're potential vehicles for a range of telecom policy proposals. Lawmakers have until Friday to reach a deal on omnibus spending; a continuing resolution to fund the federal government expires that evening (see 2012110054).