Texas legislators' attempt to stabilize state USF is nearing the finish. The Senate Rural Affairs Committee voted 8-0 Tuesday for HB-2667 to expand the TUSF contribution base to include VoIP providers, while redefining high-cost areas. RLECs had sued the Public Utility Commission for not acting to prevent insolvency (see 2103290060).
Oklahoma’s USF administrator will extend temporary emergency funding for increased bandwidth at schools, libraries and healthcare facilities through Sept. 30, Oklahoma Corporation Commission Public Utility Division Director Brandy Wreath wrote stakeholders Monday. The COVID-19 support was to end June 30, after earlier extensions (see 2007290055).
Nebraska's Public Service Commission voted 4-1 to expand the state USF’s connections-based method for residential services to now include business and government lines. At another Tuesday meeting, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission delayed shifting to a per-line monthly surcharge from a revenue-based mechanism.
The Texas House passed a state USF bill to expand the contribution base to include VoIP. The House voted 127-21 Tuesday for an amended HB-2667. The bill and a Senate version in that chamber’s Commerce Committee (SB-1246) are meant to stabilize a Texas USF that’s running out of cash (see 2103290060). The House voted 138-7 the same day for a bill (HB-1505) to update pole attachment rules for broadband deployment on poles owned by electric cooperatives. A similar measure (SB-1283) is in the Senate Transportation Committee. Monday, the House voted 125-21 for a constitutional amendment (HJR-2) creating two state funds, administered by the Texas Water Development Board, to support projects that enhance reliability and resiliency of utilities and broadband providers. The Senate has an identical bill (SJR-62) in the Commerce Committee.
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Hargray's transfer of control request to Cable One, said a public notice Friday. It's subject to conditions adopted in the Hargray/ComSouth order because some of Hargray's subsidiaries receive cost-based USF and alternative Connect America cost model I support (see 1805110048).
Don’t adopt state USF connections-based contribution, the Voice on the Net Coalition replied Friday in California Public Utilities Commission docket R.21-03-002. “Though imperfect, the revenue-based model is consistent with the current federal structure, complies with existing California law and, unlike the per-line model, will not cause disruptions to any group of ratepayers or changes to the accounting and billing systems of contributing service providers.” Big wireless carrier comments warned against the change, while some wireline companies and consumer advocates supported connections (see 2104060029).
A Pennsylvania bill meant to spur broadband by waiving Public Utility Commission ILEC rules “is not full deregulation,” stressed sponsor and Senate Communications Committee Chair Kristin Phillips-Hill (R) at a livestreamed meeting. The panel voted 7-3 for SB-341 and the same for SB-442 ordering an inventory of state-owned broadband assets. Also Tuesday and in California, a Senate panel supported a bill to increase PUC authority to check if state video franchisees are deploying enough broadband.
Lunex Telecom agreed to pay a $216,000 civil penalty as part of a consent decree for failing to file USF worksheets and customer proprietary network information certifications, an FCC Enforcement Bureau order said Friday. Lunex is also required to develop a compliance plan and file reports with the commission until the consent decree expires in 60 months.
In an interview scheduled to air Saturday on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wouldn't say whether he supports acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel being nominated as the permanent chair. "I'm not sure my endorsement of a Democrat chair would help or hurt them at this point, so I'll refrain from weighing in on that," Carr said, "but it's been great having her reach across party lines and compromise." Carr said President Joe Biden's infrastructure package ignores the "billions of dollars that we already have in the pipeline to further close the digital divide." The FCC should be allowed time to disburse existing funds before additional funds are approved, he said (see 2104080059). The challenge is coordinating those efforts because "money at this point is not the problem," and it comes down to administering existing programs, Carr said. The commission's current broadband maps are also "outdated," he said, and "we can't take $100 billion without knowing where there is still a problem." Efforts to create broadband price regulation could disincentivize private investment, Carr said: "There's nothing that's going to scare those dollars away more quickly than the threat of rate regulation." There could be a lot of common ground on net neutrality if rate regulation is taken off the table, he said: "I'm still hopeful we can have an objective conversation." California's net neutrality law is "pretty remarkable," he said, and "an example of the real harms that come from those extreme approaches." Another pressing challenge is addressing the "spiraling" USF contribution factor, Carr said (see 2103230032). "I think that's an issue that is going to demand the attention of Congress in pretty short order." He also said the FCC made the "right call" in freeing up prime spectrum, and he's "very worried that there could be some backsliding with respect to those initiatives." Carr said he's still "very much open and interested" in Communications Decency Act Section 230 reform, citing Twitter's decision to block former President Donald Trump (see 2103300074). "The reasons that they articulated for kicking the president off the platform didn't really seem to line up with the actual tweets that they were referencing."
Groups representing smaller carriers emphasized the importance of giving carriers with fewer than 2 million subscribers priority as the FCC establishes rules to pay for ripping and replacing network gear from Chinese vendors. Huawei protested any requirement that equipment be removed from networks and said the program should be voluntary. The FCC should be aware that a global shortage of chipsets (see 2104120057) could complicate replacement, USTelecom warned. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 18-89.