FCC commissioners voted to move forward with $950 million to help improve and strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was one of five unanimous votes Thursday at the agency's monthly meeting, though commissioners from each party expressed some concerns.
An Oregon Public Utility Commission state USF proceeding on requiring contributions from interconnected VoIP providers probably will move forward in December, a PUC spokesperson emailed Wednesday. Docket AR-615 (see 1811280057) was on hold while Oregon legislators last session weighed a USF bill that ultimately didn’t pass, she said. Wireless and cable opposed the Oregon USF bill to establish a broadband fund and expand the definition of retail telecom service to include wireless and VoIP (see 1904030038). HB-2184 passed the House but not the Senate.
Telecom, fiber and satellite parties interested in expanding their broadband footprints in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands met with aides to FCC commissioners and officials at the agency's Wireline Bureau over the past few weeks to share their concerns over a new wave of awards in the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund in docket 18-143. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued a draft order this month on how the agency will allocate $950 million in USF dollars to providers for rebuilding and strengthening broadband networks in those territories after the devastating hurricanes Maria and Irma hit within a two-week period in 2017 (see 1909050043).
Groups differ over how much broadband deployment data the FCC should collect from providers, in what form, and how others should be able to challenge its accuracy. Comments posted through Tuesday on docket 19-195 weighed in on the agency's plans to update its Form 477 broadband mapping reporting requirements (see 1908210008). Parties mostly agree more granular information is needed to ensure USF dollars are allocated properly in upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions (see 1906280059), but some say holding out for detailed location fabrics that attempt to pinpoint every serviceable structure in the nation could slow the program.
Rural broadband providers want the FCC to update or clarify eligibility requirements for applicants in its upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auctions to award up to $20 billion in USF dollars to companies that can deliver high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved parts of rural America (see 1908010060). In comments posted through Monday on docket 19-126, industry groups differed on whether and how to expand the pool of applicants that could receive the federal funding to deliver high-speed internet service to remote communities.
Make sure small phone carriers with legitimate spikes in incoming calls don't get swept up in a coming FCC order redefining how phone companies are deemed access stimulators, said representatives of rural LECs and other small LECs in interviews last week and in docket 18-155. Chairman Ajit Pai's draft gets a vote Thursday (see 1909050043). The rules would shift financial responsibility for tariffed tandem switching and transport services away from interexchange carriers to the access-stimulating LEC for terminating traffic.
USF E-rate funding should include support for network security equipment and services to protect schools and libraries from cyberattack, NCTA replied, posted Thursday in docket 13-184 on the FCC's proposed eligible services list for category 2 spending updates (see 1909040018). The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said Form 470 should be simplified to give schools more flexibility in requesting support for managed internal broadband services and basic maintenance of internal connections. "All efforts to simplify E-rate application forms and processes and include important adjunct services to minimize cyber threats and limit access to unsafe content in the nation's schools in today's challenging online environment are in the public interest," NRECA said.
Satellite interests want changes to the FCC's proposed $950 million allocation of second-round USF funding to strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, after Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. Award criteria for the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the USVI Funds are flawed, Hughes said in meetings with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, aides to Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Mike O'Rielly, and with Wireless Bureau staff, per docket 18-143 postings Thursday (see here, here and here): Determining satellite isn't resilient technology is incorrect, since if the ground equipment is off island, it's by nature resilient. Hughes said the agency should include in bid evaluation the time it takes to deploy. It urged scoring that would give up to 20 points for 100 percent buildout within two years and fewer or no points for longer. The Coalition to Fund CPR membership, building a satellite-based model for emergency telecom services on the island, said the FCC should include locally based satellite communications facilities in restoration funding. It said funding should include new entrants with new technology, and allowing independent community-based emergency telecom networks to participate. The coalition said membership includes Tech Latina, National Puerto Rican Agenda, Ibero American Action League and Foundation for a Better Puerto Rico. Virgin Islands ISP Broadband VI argued against changing criteria for resiliency and redundancy, saying no data in the record supported doing so, and against applying a point reduction for backup power at customer premises in competing applications going through a brief public comment period. Commissioners vote at their Sept. 26 public meeting (see 1909040073).
Huawei filed at the FCC documents it said show many top U.S. telecom players have ties to China. Commissioners approved a supply chain NPRM 5-0 in April 2018 (see 1804170038). Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said Tuesday the FCC should wrap up work on rules (see 1909170044). "Numerous telecommunications companies have connections with China that are equally or, in many cases, more significant than those of Huawei,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-89. “This information highlights the irrationality and arbitrariness of premising any exclusion of Huawei from the USF program on Huawei’s supposed connections with China.”
A proposal to place an overall spending cap on USF programs "is a direct assault on the FCC's mission of bridging the digital divide," said 30 senators in a letter Thursday to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the letter asks Pai to "discard any plans for setting an overall cap" for USF programs, saying it "would harm broadband deployment, rural health care opportunities, classroom learning, and life-long learning through public libraries by forcing them to compete" for necessary funds. Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen responded that Congress designed the four USF programs "to work in tandem" to address different aspects of the digital divide. The FCC proposal to cap overall USF spending faces opposition (see 1906030059). The agency didn't comment right away. All signing on to the letter were Democrats, except Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a Democratic presidential hopeful who caucuses with the Democrats. Five other hopefuls for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination also signed: Michael Bennet, Colo.; Cory Booker, N.J.; Kamala Harris, Calif.; Amy Klobuchar, Minn.; and Elizabeth Warren, Mass.