The Regulatory Commission of Alaska declared an emergency, with the state USF set to dissolve later this month. The 5-0 statement at a partially virtual meeting Wednesday tees up the RCA to expedite rules to extend the looming Alaska USF sunset by three years to June 30, 2026. RCA members convened after receiving comments on last-minute Department of Law (DOL) draft regulations that could allow the extension (see 2305100061 and 2305080035).
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $1.4 million fine against PayG for failing to timely file telecom reporting worksheets with the Universal Service Administrative Co. between 2018 and 2021, said a notice of apparent liability Tuesday. The notice said PayG failed to file and pay on time for the USF, Telecom Relay Service Fund, North American numbering plan and federal regulatory fees.
Texas legislators passed broadband funding and consumer privacy bills before adjourning Monday. Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) has until June 18 to consider many of the bills. "This was a big, important session for rural telecom,” said Texas Telephone Association (TTA) Executive Director Mark Seale in an interview Tuesday.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition urged the FCC to abandon its proposal to establish an online competitive bidding portal for the E-rate program. The group, in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, cited a letter from Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the GAO asking the agency to investigate the FCC's administration of USF programs (see 2305110066). SHLB said there are "other ways to reduce the risk of fraud" in E-rate, per an ex parte filing Friday in docket 21-455, adding the FCC has "already been implementing the GAO's principal recommendation to use data analytics to identify fraud risks."
T-Mobile notified the FCC it decided to receive transitional support under a USF fund supporting mobile and fixed carriers in Puerto Rico (see 2304190063). “T-Mobile is an eligible telecommunications carrier in Puerto Rico and has been receiving Stage 2 mobile support in Puerto Rico,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 18-143: “T-Mobile commits to satisfy the transitional mobile support service obligations and requirements established by the Commission.”
Chris Luna, the person the League of United Latin American Citizens wants President Joe Biden to nominate for the vacant FCC seat, has retired as T-Mobile vice president-legal affairs (see 2305090077), the carrier said.
Liberty Broadband subsidiary GCI Communications agreed to pay $40.24 million to settle allegations it breached the False Claims Act by knowingly inflating its prices and violating FCC competitive bidding rules in connection with its participation in the commission’s Rural Health Care (RHC) program, said DOJ and the FCC in a statement Thursday. Just over $26 million of the settlement amount will be USF restitution payments directly to the FCC under a contemporaneous consent decree with the commission, said the settlement agreement.
Commissioners supported cutting in half the Texas USF surcharge, unanimously without discussion, at a livestreamed Texas Public Utility Commission meeting Thursday. The monthly TUSF fee will drop to 12% from 24% of intrastate telecom revenue on July 1, which is when the commission expects to complete arrearage and interest payments to rural local exchange carriers that it underpaid (see 2305040026). Texas RLEC groups sounded optimistic Thursday they would be repaid.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said during and after a Thursday hearing they’re forming a USF-focused task force to evaluate how to move forward on a comprehensive revamp of the program that may update its contribution factor to include non-wireline entities. Senate Communications members cited several telecom policy matters that intertwine with the push for USF changes, including future funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity fund and restoring the commission’s lapsed spectrum auction authority.
Consumers' Research petitioned the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an en banc review of an opinion denying its challenge of the FCC's USF 2021 Q4 contribution factor, saying the opinion "turned the nondelegation doctrine on its head" and "conflicts with binding precedent." The court denied the group's challenge last week (see 2305040087). "Under the opinion, there is nothing stopping agencies from handing over vast powers to private companies run by industry interest groups," the group said in its petition, filed Wednesday in case 21-3886.