The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday rejected a request from Big Bend Telephone Co. seeking review of a decision of the Universal Service Administrative Co., saying USAC "properly sought recovery" of USF high-cost support “based on the company’s failure to comply with the Commission’s rules.” The Texas wireline provider appealed the USAC decision during the 2012-14 audit review period. “We direct USAC to proceed with the recovery of more than $5.5 million in improperly paid support,” the bureau said. A USAC review identified 13 findings of noncompliance in the period, the order noted.
Smith Bagley Chairman Kevin Frawley met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to discuss changes to USF, including the company's proposal to allow wireless carriers to use legacy high-cost support to “rapidly construct 5G” within their eligible telecom carrier service areas. Frawley “described the longstanding and ongoing challenges in constructing, operating, and maintaining mobile wireless network infrastructure on remote Tribal lands, including challenges in upgrading to 5G due to the extreme expense of extending fiber to all of [Smith Bagley's] towers,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32.
NASHVILLE -- State broadband officers said Wednesday that the best thing the Commerce Department and NTIA can do for them in the forthcoming BEAD guidance is allow states to be fast and flexible in how they get broadband infrastructure deployed. At the Fiber Broadband Association's annual trade show and conference, state officials expressed concerns that delays could chill ISPs' interest.
A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is expected in a matter of weeks in the Consumers' Research case challenging the USF contribution factor and the USF generally, even as SCOTUS wades through numerous emergency petitions from the Trump administration, industry experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. USF likely needs an overhaul, they added, but that could be difficult if the FCC loses at SCOTUS, which typically issues several high-profile decisions in June.
Making cloud services pay into the USF would increase the price of the services, drive down adoption and negatively affect the economy, according to a new study from the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The study was written by Raul Katz, director-business strategy research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia Business School and funded by Amazon Web Services. Ruiz discussed the results Tuesday on a webcast with Trevor Wagener, CCIA's research center director and chief economist.
NASHVILLE -- BEAD deployment activity will necessitate permitting reform at the federal, state and local levels, C Spire Vice President-Government Relations Chris Champion said Tuesday at the Fiber Broadband Association's annual conference and trade show. Agencies are aware “they are about to be bombarded” with applications, he said. Those permitting reforms must be paired with appropriations that allow agencies to staff up to handle applications, he said. Numerous other speakers echoed the call for permitting reform.
The FCC Wireline Bureau announced Thursday the interim required locations lists for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund, and the Connect U.S. Virgin Islands Fund. The release is tied to the FCC’s shifting carriers from reporting USF high-cost program data using latitude/longitude/address information to reporting deployment using fabric locations IDs, the bureau said. The FCC previously committed to releasing an interim required locations list this month for RDOF carriers using the latest version of the “fabric.”
Industry attorneys expect USF reform and think BEAD efforts will soon speed up, they said in a webinar Thursday hosted by Incompas CEO Chip Pickering. The panel also discussed convergence between wired and wireless broadband and the movement of power away from the FCC in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings against agency authority. “From Incompas’ perspective ... we think a lot will shift to Congress, to the administration and to the states,” said Pickering.
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- FCC officials speaking Saturday at the FCBA's annual seminar expressed confidence that the agency will regain spectrum auction authority. Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission expects at least one auction, AWS-3, within the next year and is taking steps to ensure it can support that auction, such as preparing necessary IT, he said. Commissioner Nathan Simington said Congress sees midband spectrum as a priority, so a significant auction should be teed up by year-end.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington wants to reassign staff at the Media Bureau, “slash” the USF and streamline FCC licensing, he said in a column in The Daily Caller Friday, co-authored with new Chief of Staff Gavin Wax. The FCC “is a prime candidate for [Department of Government Efficiency]-style reform,” they said in the column.