The FCC is collecting data from eligible telecom carriers on whether they use equipment or services from Huawei or ZTE, said a public notice Wednesday for docket 18-89. An agency rule bars USF funds for equipment posing a national security threat to the telecom supply chain (see 2002040047). Data includes the type of Huawei or ZTE equipment or services ETCs own or use, purchase and installation costs, and removal and replacement costs. The FCC has proposed reimbursing small rural carriers (see 1906270039). Carriers not designated ETCs may also file, the agency said. Filings are due by April 22. Senate Commerce plans a March 4 hearing on 5G supply chain security (see 2002260028). Three Democratic presidential candidates said in Tuesday night's debate they wouldn't allow Chinese firms to build critical U.S. infrastructure (see 2002260019).
Comments are due March 26, replies April 10, on a population distribution methodology, proposed by GCI Communications and modified by the Alaska Telecom Association, for estimating how many Alaskans receive mobile service within census blocks in remote areas and determining which are eligible for USF support, said an FCC public notice on docket 16-271.
Letter of credit requirements in the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund to help telecom providers rebuild and harden networks are a barrier to small companies' ability to compete for the USF support and are "more onerous" than those in the FCC's new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 2001290018), Critical Hub Networks President Carlo Marazzi and Senior Vice President Karen Larson told Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. That was during Friday's Starks-hosted field hearing in San Juan (see 2002200021), said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-143. Marazzi said none of the territory's three banks is eligible to issue a LOC under the fund's rules. "U.S. banks are generally hesitant to conduct business with entities in Puerto Rico" due to its government debt crisis and recent natural disasters, he added. "Banks typically require cash or securities collateral in order to issue a LOC, which would tie up a significant portion of assets, and such assets may be necessary to meet the FCC's milestone and deployment schedule."
A Kentucky man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the USF E-rate program from 2004 to 2014, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee said Friday. Mark Whitaker helped manage companies owned by co-defendant Chuck Jones and submitted false E-rate certifications at Jones' direction, resulting in about $6.9 million in fraudulent E-rate payments, DOJ said. Sentencing for Whitaker is set for July 23. He faces a maximum three years in prison, one year supervised release and $250,000 in fines. Charges against Jones are pending, the government said.
States are responding to reports Frontier Communications might seek bankruptcy protection in the next month, said commissioners and other officials from five states in Frontier’s territory. All have ongoing or recent probes of the carrier’s service quality. Frontier has a public service “obligation to serve in their home territory, even when it’s unprofitable, even when it’s inconvenient,” said West Virginia Public Service Commission Chairman Charlotte Lane in an interview.
With FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosting a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for telecom network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 (see 1710030057) and more recent earthquakes (see 2002130056), scheduled witnesses hope the hearing will call attention to Puerto Rico's plight and help the telecom industry strengthen its communications infrastructure. The Wireline Bureau is moving ahead with plans to allocate millions in funding to help such efforts.
Delay a scheduled Feb. 25 effective date for a USF Lifeline program rule prohibiting commissions to enrollment agents based on the number of consumers who apply for or are enrolled in the program, TracFone said in comments posted Wednesday in docket 17-287. The low-cost wireless provider supports other requests for a temporary waiver until November. It says it needs more time to identify and test compensation models that would preserve its ability "to encourage higher productivity and efficiency among enrollment representatives without running afoul of the FCC's new prohibition."
The FCC Wireline Bureau is "working on clarifying some ambiguities" in an order on reconsideration on broadband testing requirements for support recipients in USF high-cost programs, officials in the Telecommunications Access Policy Division told FCBA members Wednesday at an event on high-cost USF support. The clarification is meant to help eligible telecommunications carriers in USF programs such as Connect America Fund Phase II or the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund adhere to the different compliance milestones in the different high-cost programs, officials said. The commission voted on the performance measurement rules in October (see 1910220007).
The FCC Wireline Bureau will take comments through March 30, replies until April 29, on several issues remanded to the agency after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld most of the commission's net neutrality order in Mozilla v. FCC (see 1910010018) and later denied petitions for a rehearing (see 2002180054), said a public notice in dockets 17-108, 17-287 and 11-42 Wednesday. The bureau is refreshing the record on how the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order could affect public safety when broadband is classified as a Title I information service; how it affects pole attachment regulation; and what authority the agency has to direct Lifeline USF support to eligible telecommunications carriers (see 1910290002). "The FCC got it wrong when it repealed net neutrality," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Wednesday. That's why the courts sent back key parts of the order, she said, urging the American public to use this comments period as another opportunity to weigh in on net neutrality: "It's time to make noise." Public Knowledge is also encouraging the public to "speak out about the importance of a free and open internet." Senior Policy Counsel Jenna Leventoff also questioned the agency's decision to combine the three separate issues into a single "bureau-level public notice" and provide only 40 days for public comment. Free Press Research Director Derek Turner said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's "zealous efforts to remove broadband providers from any obligations to protect internet users defies what Congress clearly intended for these critical communications services. Without Title II safeguards, we face several potentially harmful consequences to public safety and universal service." FP vowed to continue to fight to restore net neutrality protections after Pai's tenure with the FCC ends. “Since the Restoring Internet Freedom Order was adopted, broadband speeds have increased substantially, fiber deployment has hit an all-time high, and the Internet has remained free and open," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "The attempts by some to engage in the same old tired fearmongering on this issue are likely to ring hollow to more and more Americans.”
Industry supports FCC goals to protect USF from waste, fraud and abuse but wants clearer standards and sufficient due process procedures in proposed suspension and debarment rules, said comments posted through Friday in docket 19-309. "The proposed rules reach a far broader range of conduct than contemplated by the OMB guidelines, potentially punishing many good actors for the sake of expediting penalties against a few bad ones," said CTIA and USTelecom. "Consider alternative measures before initiating suspension or debarment procedures," said America's Communications Association, Incompas and NTCA. Encourage self-governance and consider mitigating factors, they said. Bureaus "should be given delegated authority to grant exceptions" when it serves the public interest, said the Wireless ISP Association. USF participants should be allowed to continue receiving services from a suspended provider for the duration of a contract that existed before the FCC acts, said the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and State E-rate Coordinators' Alliance. Don't apply new rules retroactively, said NCTA. "Grounds for suspension or debarment should only include egregious offenses," said Cellular South. E-Rate Central said the NPRM doesn't discuss "the necessity of coordinating any planned enforcement action, if only on an advisory basis, with appropriate state agencies."