The Universal Service Administrative Co. projects it will spend $55.57 million during the first quarter of 2022, including $30.37 million to support individual USF programs and $25.2 million in administrative costs, it said in a report posted Tuesday in docket 06-122. It budgeted $15.3 million for high cost programs, $15.18 million for Lifeline, $5.94 million for rural healthcare, $18.98 million for E-rate, and $170,000 for the Connected Care pilot. The budgets include direct and administrative costs.
With a full complement of FCC commissioners possible soon, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service state members told us they’re looking forward to reconvening with the federal side. At NARUC’s Sunday through Nov. 10 hybrid meeting, state regulators plan to discuss possible changes to the USF contribution mechanism and consider a resolution to support energy utilities expanding broadband. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is to speak on a Wednesday NARUC panel on USF contribution with consultant Carol Mattey and AT&T and NCTA officials (agenda).
The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Digital Inclusion Alliance and MediaJustice asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday to grant their motion to intervene in support of the FCC in Consumers' Research's challenge of the USF Q4 contribution factor (see 2110050056). The groups said in docket 21-3886 their interests "will be adversely affected if the petitioners prevail." The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition also asked to intervene in support of the FCC. If successful, the petition "would do great harm to the interests and goals of SHLB and its members," the group said.
The California Public Utilities Commission seeks comment by Nov. 30 on a staff recommendation to switch to connections-based state USF contribution, Administrative Law Judge Hazlyn Fortune ruled Friday in docket R.21-03-002. Fortune's schedule includes replies due Dec. 15, a hearing Feb. 7-11 and a proposed decision in April. "Staff recommends that a flat, single-end user surcharge be adopted,” which would be more equitable and stable than the existing revenue-based approach, the report said. This would combine a multitude of public purpose program (PPP) charges into one per-access line surcharge that would be applied equally to all customer classes and service types, it said. Staff estimated the surcharge would be $1.11 monthly for all customers, based on a forecast $738 million budget for the state's PPPs in FY 2022-23. It proposed declaring an access line "means a 'telephone line' as defined in Public Utilities Code section 233 and is associated with one assigned California phone number, and shall include, but is not limited to, a 'wireline communications service line,' a 'wireless communications service line,” and a 'Voice over Internet Protocol service line.'" Staff doesn't object to giving carriers six months to implement the mechanism, it said. Big wireless carriers raised concerns in April about a connections method (see 2104060029).
California agencies are advancing on broadband action items from the state’s multibillion-dollar effort to increase access, the California Broadband Council was told its final 2021 virtual meeting. The council is seeking to do more to sign up consumers for the emergency broadband benefit (EBB), said Chair Amy Tong. Much work must be done to implement recent $6 billion broadband funding and California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) revamp laws, said California Public Utilities Commission Assistant General Counsel Helen Mickiewicz on an FCBA webinar later Wednesday.
Collecting regulatory fees from tech companies and users of unlicensed spectrum would be a huge task, outside FCC authority, and hamper broadband adoption, said trade associations and others in comments posted to docket 21-190 by Thursday’s deadline. Comments about establishing a small satellite regulatory fee also had multiple calls in the commercial space sector for creating new fee categories for other types of space operations.
Telcos’ Texas USF lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission “is precisely the type of suit that sovereign immunity is designed to prevent,” said the PUC and the Texas attorney general office in a Thursday brief at the Texas Appeals Court for the 3rd Judicial District in Austin. Appellants seek to control how the PUC exercises discretionary authority from the legislature, effectively asking the court “to compel the PUC to nearly double the assessment rate imposed on Texans to fund the TUSF,” they said in a brief provided by plaintiff Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative. The state appellees asked the court to affirm a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the rural LECs' complaint about the PUC not fully funding state USF (see 2106210048). TSTCI is reviewing the brief, CEO Weldon Gray said Thursday.
Commissioner Brendan Carr urged the FCC Tuesday to “immediately start the process” of adding China-based DJI, which has more than half the U.S. drone market, to the agency’s covered list. “The need for quick FCC action on this is very clear,” he told a virtual program sponsored by China Tech Threat. “What we’re seeing … is the potential for Huawei on wings.”
The law doesn’t support charging tech companies regulatory fees for the benefits they receive from unlicensed devices operating in the TV white spaces, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld in calls with aides to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week, said filings posted Thursday in docket 21-190. NAB argues the FCC should expand the payer base for reg fees. Microsoft and other companies “at best” benefit from white spaces indirectly through third-party networks and third-party devices, said Feld. “This benefit is far too attenuated to pass constitutional muster, and nothing in the RAY BAUM’s Act supports assessing fees for such an indirect benefit.” If the FCC did use that benefit as a reason to charge fees, it would have to do the same to broadcaster-owned over-the-top services such as Hulu and Paramount+, Feld said. “These entities, and any commercial broadcast licensee that streams internet content, enjoy a similar benefit from Project Airband as Microsoft in being able to reach new rural customers.” The issue would be "better resolved as part of the USF contribution reform discussions rather than as part of this proceeding,” Feld said.
Cable operators need to be vigilant about threats of being overbuilt as tens of billions of federal dollars are poised to be directed toward broadband projects in coming years, said cable lawyer Tom Cohen of Kelley Drye Wednesday at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2021. The broadband infrastructure funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, if passed, would take a year or so to be implemented and could start flowing in 2022 (see 2110120038), he said. That could give incumbents time to get ahead of competition and also think about what unserved areas nearby that could be grabbed, he said.