The FCC must close a loophole that lets gear from Huawei and other Chinese companies be approved under equipment authorization rules, Commissioner Brendan Carr said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Tuesday. The agency barred equipment by Huawei and ZTE in networks funded by USF. It should clamp down to ensure it’s not used in any U.S. systems, Carr said.
The Texas Public Utility Commission can't decline to fully fund state USF when it disagrees with state policy, rural telco groups argued at Monday's livestreamed argument at the 250th District Court in Travis County. The Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative Inc. (TSTCI) and Texas Telephone Association (TTA) sued the PUC in January because members face reductions in Texas USF (TUSF) support due to the PUC refusing to raise the contribution rate (see 2101260046).
The FCC Wireline Bureau gave Tata Communications limited waiver of rules for revenue reporting years 2020 and 2021, in an order said Thursday. This waives the 12% limited international revenue exemption (LIRE)-qualifying threshold so Tata may "continue to contribute to the Universal Service Fund based solely on its interstate end-user telecommunications revenues." Waiver is limited to "direct USF contribution obligations only" and expires at year-end or the effective date of any new rules revising LIRE on an industrywide basis. Tata won't be exempt from paying indirect USF contributions if its interstate revenue declines to a level that would qualify the company for de minimis status.
The Biden-era FCC has a "seemingly endless list" of issues to be addressed, blogged former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday. The USF contribution factor has spiraled to "an unacceptable rate that now threatens the entire program," Wheeler said, and the FCC under then-President Donald Trump "failed to take any action." Wheeler criticized former Chairman Ajit Pai for waiting until his final days in office to suggest a solution and not acting sooner. A "logical solution," Wheeler said, "would have been to seek congressional help" or expand the contribution base to include broadband. The Trump-era FCC punted on further defining broadband service, he said. The FCC should consider reinstating net neutrality rules if it also wants to reinstate privacy protections for network users, he said, because "returning ISPs to common carrier status ... triggers their responsibility to protect the privacy of their subscribers." It should reconcile with calls to repeal Communications Decency Act Section 230 and the Trump FCC having spent the past few years "assiduously cutting the agency's authority" and "swiftly expanding that authority into previously untouched areas that probably infringe" on First Amendment protections, Wheeler said. The Supreme Court's Chevron doctrine will likely play a role in how the FCC practices administrative law amid speculation that justices appointed by Trump "may seek to overturn the Chevron precedent," Wheeler noted. The Biden FCC should decide whether to work closely with DOJ, as it did during the Obama administration, in reviewing transactions, Wheeler said, because "that cooperation became more of an exception than the rule" under Trump. It will also have to "catch up" on addressing the needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. To achieve anything, Biden must nominate a new commissioner and decide whether to reappoint acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, whose term expired in June 2020, Wheeler said. Pai declined to comment. The FCC didn't respond.
FCC staff approved Otelco's transfer of control request to Future Fiber FinCo., a public notice said Wednesday in docket 20-275. The OK is subject to conditions adopted in the Hargray/ComSouth order because Otelco's subsidiaries receive USF and fixed Connect America Fund Phase II support (see [Re:1805110048]). "The combined operating expenses of each post-consummation company’s rate-of-return affiliates shall be capped at the averaged combined operating expenses of the three calendar years preceding the transactions’ closing date for which the operating expense data are available," the PN said. The cap lasts seven years, less if the rate-of-return affiliates become model-based support companies.
With the USF contribution factor at an all-time high (see 2103020032), reform must be addressed “head-on,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Free State Foundation event Tuesday. The contribution factor has been “spiraling,” he said.
House Commerce Committee members divided on broadband and next-generation 911 language in Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act during Monday's hearing. Republicans indicated they may not support HR-1848 without significant changes. A similar partisan divide was on display last week during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on federal connectivity programs (see 2103170068).
The FCC's recent infusion of money from Congress will likely help millions of students and low-income households stay connected during the pandemic, experts said in recent interviews. They said the commission must overcome longstanding institutional barriers to find a solution to shore up USF financially over the long haul (see 2102010059).
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the FCC requirement Blanca Telephone to repay $6.75 million in USF support. The court previously denied Blanca's petition for a writ of mandamus (see 1801020038). "Blanca was apprised of the relevant law and afforded adequate opportunity to respond to the FCC’s decision, and the FCC was not arbitrary and capricious in its justifications for the debt collection," said a three-judge panel in an order posted on the commission's website Tuesday. Blanca didn't comment.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau published a list Friday of communications equipment and services “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security” of the U.S., as directed by the Secure Networks Act. This equipment can’t be used in networks that receive USF funding. The list bans gear by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology. “The inclusion of these entities on the Covered List extends both to subsidiaries and affiliates of these entities, as well as to ‘telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment,’” the bureau said. The Chinese Embassy and ZTE didn’t comment; Huawei declined comment. The others couldn’t be reached.