Don’t cap the overall budget for the various USF programs or alter the USF funding mechanism, asked many replies, worried about prioritizing funds over one another. At least one reply favored halting the fund’s growth at 2018 levels. Replies posted through Tuesday in FCC docket 06-122.
2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., proposed $150 billion of grants and “technical assistance” for broadband deployments as part of a larger “Green New Deal” platform his campaign released Thursday. Six other 2020 Democratic candidates have proposed substantial broadband funding plans, including an $85 billion plan from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (see 1908070070). Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed $80 billion in broadband funding and requiring “Big Tech companies to pay into" USF as part of a rural economic policy plan Wednesday (see 1908210055), hours before he said he's suspending his campaign. Sanders said his proposed funding will go to “municipalities and states to build publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband networks. This communications infrastructure will ensure first responders and communities are ready to deal with the worst climate emergencies.” Sanders’ platform also calls for requiring all public housing to include “high-speed” broadband access and for broadband projects to be eligible for an interagency Commerce Department-led “targeted economic development funding to ensure job creation in the same communities that will feel the impact of the [platform] most.”
2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee proposed requiring “Big Tech companies to pay into" USF as part of a rural economic policy plan Wednesday. “Big Tech companies have benefited from USF-financed broadband networks but have not been legally obligated to pay into the fund.” Democratic FCC members have been pushing the commission to advance discussions on USF contribution revisions (see 1907110020). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly don’t support including a fee on broadband access or usage in the USF contribution factor (see 1906250011). Adding major tech companies to the USF contribution pool will help fund “massive new investments in rural broadband connectivity,” said the plan. Inslee proposes $80 billion in direct federal broadband deployment funding, including $5 billion in “subsidies to low-income rural Americans to make sure internet is affordable even in these hard-to-serve areas.” Five other Democratic presidential candidates have proposed substantial broadband funding plans. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts seeks $85 billion, while South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg wants $80 billion (see 1908070070). Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York proposed $60 billion, and former Vice President Joe Biden seeks $20 billion. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has plans for $1 trillion in overall infrastructure funding, including rural broadband. Inslee backed increased funding for the USF E-rate program, additional funding for local 911 call center upgrades in association with FirstNet and “billions” of dollars “to guarantee that every tribal nation has access to quality internet.” He'd only appoint "FCC commissioners that support” restoring the commission’s rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules, noting his support for the Washington state law that restored protections there (see 1802280027).
Comments are due Sept. 20, replies Oct. 21, on an FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund proposed rulemaking, in docket 19-126 and for Wednesday's Federal Register. RDOF would allot at least $20.4 billion in USF subsidies to expand high-speed broadband access to unserved and underserved rural areas (see 1907230061).
Those representing schools and libraries endorsed an FCC plan to update its rules on USF E-rate category 2 spending to make permanent a pilot program that was to expire at the year-end, and asked that it move to a districtwide vs. a building-level budget approach, add to its list of eligible services and lessen filing burdens for applicants, in comments to docket 13-184 posted through Monday (see 1907090074).
The FCC circulated a proposed "administrative clean-up" order and Further NPRM to address "serious and persistent" problems with waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline program, said agency officials Monday. If adopted, the new order would prohibit participating carriers from enrolling subscribers unless a national verifier database identifies the customer as living or the customer produces documentation demonstrating both identity and status as living. It would also prohibit telecom carriers from paying commissions to employees or sales agents based on the number of consumers who apply for Lifeline, and would require employees and sales agents to register with the Universal Service Administrative Co. before accessing any program databases.
Comments or oppositions are due Sept. 16, replies Oct. 1 to a Network Communications International petition for forbearance from USF contributions for its interstate and international inmate calling services (see 1908140055), said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Friday in docket 19-232.
NARUC, CTIA and consumer advocacy groups asked the FCC to postpone plans to change minimum service requirements for Lifeline until it can review a market study that's underway. That's per replies posted through Friday to docket 11-42. NARUC at the most recent meeting of state telecom commissioners asked the federal regulator to postpone such changes (see 1907230040).
Networks Communications International sought FCC forbearance from a requirement to provide USF contributions for its interstate and international inmate calling services, in a petition posted Wednesday in docket 17-232. The company said a significant number of customers of ICS providers are otherwise eligible for USF assistance, leading to "the absurd result of USF-eligible recipients actually contributing to the very programs from which they receive services."
The FCC Wireline Bureau designated Sunset Digital an eligible telecom carrier in high-cost areas in Tennessee and Virginia, limited to participation in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction if the company makes a winning bid and is found authorized for USF support. The bureau also waived a requirement Sunset submit proof of its ETC designation by Feb. 25, 2019, to participate because waiver "will serve the interests of low-income consumers," said in an order Tuesday on docket 09-197.