The FCC launched its urban rate survey to set "reasonable comparability" benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband services in 2019 in the USF Connect America Fund. Completed surveys are due Aug. 24, after being sent out Wednesday to a sample of fixed service providers identified through December 2017 Form 477 data, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90 in Wednesday's Daily Digest.
The FCC announced a $2.33 billion Lifeline budget for 2019 and updated minimum standards for fixed and mobile broadband services supported by the USF low-income subsidy program, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Wednesday in docket 11-42. Indexing for inflation, the budget for next calendar year was increased from 2018's $2.28 billion. The minimum fixed broadband standards, based on Form 477 and urban rate survey data, take effect Dec. 1. The minimum speed will be 18/2 Mbps, with an exception for providers that don't offer that capability in any generally available residential package to a subscriber's residence (they could offer the highest speed they can, and at least 4/1 Mbps). The minimum fixed broadband data usage will be 1,000 GB per month. Under a 2016 order schedule, the mobile broadband data usage standard was increased to 2 GB per month, while the minimum mobile speed remains at 3G level. Under the 2016 order, the minimum mobile voice service standard will increase to 1,000 minutes per month.
Too many Americans are falling behind on access to high-quality healthcare and the FCC’s proposed USF pilot telehealth program will help (see 1807110053), Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a speech in Jackson, Mississippi, last week, posted Tuesday. Carr noted his mother is a nurse. “If adopted, this new program would target support to connected care deployments that would benefit low-income patients, including those eligible for Medicaid or veterans receiving cost-free medical care,” Carr said. “It would support a limited number of projects over a two- or three-year period with controls in place to measure and verify the benefits, costs, and savings.” Carr noted he has visited U.S. areas where healthcare is an issue, including the Mississippi River Delta.
Congress must do more to encourage rural broadband deployment, House Communications Subcommittee members said at a hearing Tuesday. There was general bipartisan agreement on the need to promote various technological solutions and on certain ongoing legislative efforts to remove deployment barriers. Discord was heard on federal infrastructure spending and municipal broadband.
The FCC denied 21 rural telco petitions to waive a deadline for filing audited financial statements for their annual Form 481 reporting obligations. The requests failed to demonstrate "special circumstances" for waiving their duties as privately held USF eligible telecom carriers, said a Wireline Bureau order in docket 10-90 in Monday's Daily Digest. On its own motion, the bureau granted a limited waiver "such that no support will be recovered from the petitioners in this instance" but said it doesn't intend to grant such waiver petitions going forward. It said eight of the small RLEC petitioners (listed in an appendix) hadn't yet filed the required financial information, and if they don't do so within 120 days of July 13, the Universal Service Administrative Co. is directed to reduce their support pursuant to a rule 54.313(j).
Two FCC information collections will take effect Tuesday after being approved by the Office of Management and Budget for three years, under rules to be published the same day in the Federal Register. The first stems from a 2016 Connect America Fund Alaska Plan order in docket 10-90 to provide $1.5 billion in broadband-oriented USF support cumulatively over 10 years to fixed and mobile providers in high-cost areas of the state served by rate-of-return telcos and their wireless affiliates (see 1608310067). The information collection had to be revised to reflect subsequent reporting orders. The second concerns information collection under a Feb. 22 payphone compensation order to roll back audit, reporting and other rules the agency called outdated (see Notebook at end of 1802220045). An order adopted June 7 (see Notebook at end of 1806070021) in docket 17-169 to take further actions against telephone slamming and cramming practices takes effect Aug. 16 under another rule for Tuesday's FR. Also in Tuesday’s FR, ATSC 3.0 information collection requirement clearance was announced (see 1807160014).
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Utah's revamping USF contributions and New York's convening pole-attachment talks are examples of how states continue to act as “labs of democracy,” even as many jurisdictions reduce their telecom regulation, said Monday NARUC panelists. Telecom authority varies by state and often is limited, but state commissioners said broadband remains top of mind. "I don't make a single decision in telecom" without asking if it will bring faster and more affordable internet, said New York Public Service Commissioner Gregg Sayre.
Rural telco groups pressed the FCC to increase their annual high-cost subsidy support. WTA said a "fully-funded" rate-of-return (RoR) USF budget would start at $2.43 billion in 2018 and gradually increase to $2.975 billion in 2026. "This increase is warranted, in major part, because of the substantial construction and operating cost increases that have occurred during the course of the transformation of the predominately voice and lower-speed broadband network of 2011 into today’s higher and higher-speed broadband network," said WTA's filing posted in docket 10-90 Friday on a meeting with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and an aide. Similar filings were posted on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (here, here, here). GVNW Consulting cited NTCA estimates that $2.55 billion will be needed in 2018, with budget demand growing to about $2.8 billion by 2026, said filings on meetings with all four commissioners (here, here). It also said "the vast majority of comments" opposed using reverse auctions to distribute USF support. In a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, ITTA urged the FCC to "fully fund separate budgets" for the two RoR segments of the high-cost program: the Alternative Connect America Cost Model program and legacy support mechanisms.
Tribal groups and Lifeline providers asked a court to stay FCC tribal Lifeline restrictions, pending judicial review of their challenges to an order in late 2017 (see 1711160021). The FCC decisions to prohibit resellers from receiving enhanced tribal Lifeline support and to narrow the geographic scope of tribal lands will "disconnect eligible low-income Tribal members from phone and broadband service," and were made without meaningful consultation with affected tribes, said the motion (in Pacer) Friday of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority, National Lifeline Association, Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless and Easy Telephone Services, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in NLA v. FCC, No. 18-1026. The Wireline Bureau July 8 denied the parties' request for an administrative stay (see 1807060011). The D.C. Circuit Friday granted (in Pacer) an unopposed revised briefing schedule on underlying petitions challenging the order, with the DOJ/FCC brief due July 23, and petitioners' reply brief due Aug. 20. At the FCC, the NLA backed a Q Link Wireless emergency petition asking the FCC to direct Universal Service Administrative Co. to implement an application programming interface for its Lifeline national verifier of consumer eligibility for the low-income USF subsidy program. Comments are due in August on the petition (see 1807120004 and 1807050046).
The FCC plans a daylong workshop July 31 at the Lac du Flambeau Reservation in Wisconsin to discuss a challenge process on areas initially deemed ineligible for USF in the Mobility Fund Phase II reverse auction. “There will also be presentations on other Commission proceedings and programs of Tribal interest, including overviews of the Universal Service Fund, the Tribal Radio Priority, and the Tribal Engagement Obligation,” the FCC said. “There will be an opportunity for government-to-government consultations with Tribal leaders or their designees in a collaborative and constructive environment.” The workshop starts at 8:30 a.m.