State Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service members asked the FCC to expand the contribution base for federal USF programs to include a fee on broadband internet access service, filing in docket 96-45 Tuesday. Commissioners Chris Nelson of South Dakota, Sally Talberg of Michigan and Stephen Bloom of Oregon recommend "a connections-based assessment on residential services and an expanded revenues-based assessment on business services." Having different contribution methodologies for residential and business services is "equitable and nondiscriminatory," they said. Under a new contribution mechanism, the FCC would assess fees on businesses that use virtual private network services, video conferencing, web conferencing, unified communications and business wireless broadband access services. For residential customers, a separate fee should be assessed for voice and broadband connections, they proposed. "A connections-based mechanism will provide stability for the Commission, administrative efficiency for carriers, and transparency for customers." About 50 percent of USF support would come from residential connections, and an initial surcharge for wireline, wireless and broadband would be 55 to 60 cents per connection, they suggested. The state commissioners recommend the FCC establish a firm budget for each of the four USF programs "with those budgets not growing any more than the Consumer Price Index for any given year." They want the FCC to "take specific steps to assure the continued viability of state universal service mechanisms promoted by Congress." It's "up to the FCC to determine what to do with the State Members’ recommendation," emailed South Dakota's Nelson (R), the joint board's state chair. "It became clear to the State Members that it was not going to be possible to get a recommendation from the full joint board, so we moved forward with this release of our work product." The other state Joint Board members didn't comment right away. The contribution factor for this quarter is a record 25 percent (see 1909130003). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel this summer asked the states to raise their concerns about needed action on revisions to the USF contribution mechanism and not wait for an FCC rulemaking (see 1907110020). Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who chairs the Joint Board, opposes a fee on broadband access or use (see 1906250011). His office didn't comment now. "The filing is very interesting, and we are looking at it closely," said Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen.
Just banning Huawei and other Chinese equipment makers will have limited effect in making 5G networks more secure, said former FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson at the Hudson Institute. “China has engaged in some if its most significant and successful attacks not through Chinese infrastructure.” Others warned Tuesday 5G means additional risks.
Verizon resisted allowing the use of Oklahoma USF money for broadband, in comments posted Thursday at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in docket 201800066-PUD. “Using the OUSF to support broadband would raise potential legal concerns over assessing intrastate services to fund interstate information services over which the Commission has no regulatory authority,” the carrier said. “And before the Legislature even considers expanding the OUSF to fund broadband, it should wait until the FCC fully implements its [Connect America Fund] and revised Lifeline programs, as well as the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, all of which are intended to support broadband deployment and adoption in states including Oklahoma.” A better idea would be to use appropriated state general funds for broadband, like New York and Massachusetts did, Verizon said. Increasing state Lifeline contributions from 2 cents per month per subscriber to $10 per month in areas that don’t qualify for federal enhanced support, and $1 per month per subscriber in tribal areas that do qualify, could “substantially increase the size of OUSF,” so the Oklahoma agency should first study the possible fiscal impact, Verizon said.
The FCC authorized more than $61.8 million in USF support for its sixth round Connect America Fund auctions. Providers in California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming will begin receiving funds later this month to help expand broadband access to nearly 22,000 unserved homes and businesses, said Thursday's public notice on docket 10-90.
A USTelecom executive and a former FCC adviser debated net neutrality and a recent decision from the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court on The Communicators scheduled to be televised this weekend on C-SPAN and available online Friday. Patrick Halley, USTelecom senior vice president-advocacy and regulatory, and Gigi Sohn, a former aide to then-Chairman Tom Wheeler, discussed Chevron, Brand X, state vs. federal jurisdiction over broadband, and other details. Halley noted that the court ruled the FCC was within its discretion to regulate broadband as an information service, and while the court said the FCC can't expressly pre-empt state laws on the matter, "it would be an over-reach to say states can write their own laws," especially as much of internet use is interstate, not intrastate. Sohn suggested the FCC has abdicated its authority to regulate the broadband market: "The court was really clear: If an agency lacks authority, it can't then tell a state it can't regulate." Sohn was not suggesting states would have an easy time, but nor will industry, in determining when states can regulate over issues of net neutrality: "It will be case by case. It won't be a slam dunk." With the recent court decision, states will test the boundaries, she said, "and to me that argues for a federal law." Halley "completely" agreed with the need for a federal law, and said the sides likely agree on the concept of net neutrality as well. "The best answer for all of this is a federal, modern national framework that provides the net neutrality protection" that most consumers and businesses want. When it comes to one of the issues that the court remanded to the FCC, on how it will regulate broadband in the USF Lifeline program, the court said only that the agency did not sufficiently address the matter in its arguments, Halley said, not that it lacks such authority. Last week, the court upheld most of a 2017 FCC net neutrality repeal but remanded several matters to the FCC for clarification (see 1910010018).
As the FCC presses on with the Lifeline national verifier rollout, some state officials continue to voice concerns about incomplete access to state databases and other issues. Other state commissioners told us they haven’t heard any complaints, though one said his agency might not get any even amid problems. The NV is midway through a state-by-state launch and is designed to make signup and reverification more automatic. Those on the front lines see growing pains and worry the poor could be incorrectly excluded from the approximately $1 billion annual federal program (see 1907080009).
A declaratory ruling prohibiting charging higher 911 fees for VoIP subscribers than for legacy phone services circulated on the 8th floor Wednesday. It would resolve jurisdiction issues over such fees, says the FCC draft Friday on docket 19-44. Also released for the Oct. 25 meeting were a draft cable TV effective competition order for parts of Massachusetts and Hawaii, the 800 MHz rebanding draft order, a draft NPRM for removing broadcast antenna siting rules that don’t appear to have ever been successfully used, a draft order on measuring broadband performance of Connect America Fund recipients and a draft order regarding telecom tariffs (see 1910030061).
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission seeks comments on state USF, including data on implementing a broadband program and expanding rural fast-web services, said a Wednesday order in docket 19-00046-UT. The commission also sought recommendations for changes to the fund's structure, size or purpose. Comments are due Oct. 31, replies Nov. 14.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., asked GAO Thursday to evaluate “the communications failures and restoration efforts” after Hurricane Maria affected Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017. The FCC Public Safety Bureau issued recommendations last year to improve its response to the active 2017 hurricane season, including “increased engagement” with critical infrastructure players, and more backhaul provider participation in the carriers’ wireless resiliency cooperative framework (WRCF). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the report (see 1808240052). “Communications network failures in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were deeply detrimental to their residents, and may have even caused additional deaths in Puerto Rico,” Pallone wrote GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. “To prevent similar failures in the future, it is critical that we understand what happened during the hurricane and its aftermath, and what could be improved.” The review should examine FCC response to the communications failures, including whether it differed “from the agency's response to hurricanes that hit the U.S. mainland,” and how it's “tracking” the disbursement of enhanced USF support for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to help them recover (see 1805290028), Pallone said. He wants to know how the FCC disaster information reporting system can be “a more meaningful source of information." Pallone asked GAO to review whether there were problems with the WRCF (see 1905090045). “The FCC’s response to Hurricanes Maria and Irma was unprecedented,” a spokesperson said, citing the increased USF funding and commissioners' unanimous approval last week of $950 million (see 1909270025). “The FCC will continue to work with” federal and local officials “to connect everyone in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with digital opportunity and strengthen the resilience of the islands’ communications networks.”
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly renewed calls to prohibit E-rate funds to schools and libraries that receive broadband service from one provider when another has already received USF dollars at the same location. "It's awful enough when the government subsidizes network builds in areas where the private sector can or does provide service, but it's a separate layer of hell when E-rate money goes to an area already being subsidized by the FCC," O'Rielly told an FCBA USF seminar. O'Rielly has corresponded with school superintendents and consortium leaders in Texas and Arizona about their plans to build self-provisioned wide-area networks that would overbuild a local incumbent's fiber facilities. "I have never been presented with credible evidence that E-Rate funded overbuilding has been anything other than wasteful for the USF," he said, citing "copious evidence of bidding matrices designed to favor a particular outcome and schools buying far more bandwidth than they use or need."