ITTA and members voiced their views to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and an aide, who spoke at a membership meeting that included executives of Blackfoot Communications, CenturyLink, Cincinnati Bell, Comporium Communications, Consolidated Communications, Consolidated Companies of Nebraska, Great Plains Communications, Hargray Communications, Ritter Communications and TDS Telecom. "Attendees expressed positions consistent with ITTA’s prior advocacy related to the universal service high-cost program budget for rate-of-return carriers; the need for reforms of the universal service contribution methodology; support for stay of the rural call completion rules adopted in April 2018; proposed Commission action related to 8YY originating access charges; and a proposed Commission rule to withhold federal [USF] disbursements to any USF recipient purchasing equipment or services from any communications equipment or service providers identified as posing a national security risk to communications networks or the communications supply chain," said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90.
Comments are due Sept. 4, replies Oct. 1, on an FCC toll-free 8YY call Further NPRM on intercarrier compensation arrangements, under a proposed rule in docket 18-156 scheduled for Tuesday's Federal Register (calendar). The FNPRM released June 8 proposes a three-year transition for 8YY originating end-office and tandem switching and transport charges to bill-and-keep under which carriers don't pay each other. FCC technical amendments in docket 10-90 and in Monday's FR correct errors in rules providing high-cost USF relief from operating-expense restrictions to some tribal-oriented carriers.
USTelecom proposed updated methodology for distributing USF voice subsidies in high-cost and extremely high-cost areas not otherwise supported by Connect America Fund Phase II. The group proposed distributing $105 million in annual high-cost USF funding as the starting budget for the voice support -- equal to $95 million in frozen support currently given to price-cap ILECs and $10 million to account for Alaska Communications support. There would be another $35 million in transition support the first year that would be phased out by year three. USTelecom said it and incumbent telco members previously submitted proposals for how the FCC should support price-cap ILEC voice services for unsubsidized locations not given voice-related USF forbearance relief from eligible telecom carrier (ETC) voice duties in states where they accepted model-based CAF II support offers. This plan "encapsulates those areas but also expands to encompass other high cost areas that will remain unsupported after the CAF II Auction" (scheduled to start July 24), said a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90. "This expansion required a fresh look towards a simple and readily implementable interim proposal." Otherwise, it said, price-cap ILECs will have an "unfunded ETC obligation" where not replaced as ETC.
The Senate is likely to revisit timing of confirmation votes on FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr’s second term during the coming July work period, after last-minute behind-the-scenes politicking led the chamber’s leaders Thursday to scrap approving the nominees under unanimous consent, Capitol Hill officials and communications sector lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., had seen positive signs Thursday that the chamber would be able to clear Carr and Starks that day, in his bid to fast-track the confirmation process for the nominees (see 1806120047 and 1806280059).
Comments are due July 20, replies Aug. 3 on FCC intercarrier compensation proposals to curb access stimulation arbitrage, under an item for Friday's Federal Register (calendar). The commission released an NPRM June 5 in docket 18-155 (see 1806060010). A Monday order in docket 17-310 to immediately boost a USF Rural Health Care Program funding cap 43 percent to $571 million and index it for inflation (see 1806250042) is effective Friday, under another FR item.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) signed a Lifeline bill Monday exempting the federal low-income program from state sales taxes and USF and 911 fees. The legislature passed LD-1746 last week and it takes effect Jan. 1.
Rural telcos pressed the FCC to hike their USF subsidies, encountering less opposition in replies this week than in initial comments on an NPRM in docket 10-90 (see 1805290060 and 1803230025). RLECs said there's broad support for increasing rate-of-return (RoR) high-cost funding beyond a budget set in 2011 and modesty increased above $2 billion. WTA backed "fully funding" the "outdated" budget to meet broadband demand, first to $2.43 billion this year and gradually to $2.975 billion in 2026. It said RoR USF should be a single budget. NTCA cited "consensus" the agency should "right-size" the budget to account for past and future inflation. A group of Nebraska carriers receiving support based on an Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) said increasing their monthly funding from $146 per location to $200 would be a "reasonable balance." The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission backed hiking A-CAM support to $200/location and increasing the overall budget to account for inflation, including for carriers receiving legacy support. GVNW Consulting on behalf of Illinois RLECs (here) and Granite State Telephone (here) urged keeping a "100 percent overlap" requirement for challenging support based on unsubsidized competition, while GeoLinks, a wireless ISP, urged changes. The Broadband Alliance of the Midwest and the Eastern Rural Telecom Association were among the other RLEC parties replying. The National Tribal Telecommunications Association called for easing a rural-growth cap generally and budget controls for tribal carriers, and Gila River Telecommunications pushed a tribal broadband factor. The Wireless ISP Association said it and NCTA had sought rural USF changes, including moving toward auctions for distributing subsidies. "Arrayed against this reasonable, market-based approach are a handful of [RLECs and allies], all with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo," WISPA said. "Broad aspersions are cast on the ability of competing providers to offer new service to unserved areas without any supporting data other than the skewed information produced by the failed challenge process." USTelecom opposed the auction proposals.
Senate GOP leaders are aiming to confirm FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term this week via unanimous consent, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. The committee advanced Starks' nomination on a voice vote. Senate confirmation of Starks this week is seen possible, in line with expectations Thune was aiming to fast-track the nominee (see 1806200055). Starks would succeed former Mignon Clyburn, who left the commission earlier this month (see 1806070041). Starks would have a term ending in 2022, and Carr's additional five-year term would end in 2023.
The FCC extended a deadline from July 2 to Aug. 1 for Alaska Plan middle-mile data filings with maps of fiber and microwave networks used to serve customers with high-cost USF support, said a Wireline Bureau public notice Tuesday in docket 16-271. Separately, comments are due July 26, replies Aug. 10 on a video relay service provider waiver request to serve new users, or those ported from other providers, while verification is pending through a telecom relay services user registration database (see 1806210011), said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs PN in docket 03-123.
The FCC issued an order raising by 43 percent a USF Rural Health Care Program cap to $571 million to account for 20 years of inflation and address a funding shortfall in the face of rising demand. With the unanimous order released Monday in docket 17-310, "the FCC takes swift and long-overdue action to address this critical funding crisis," said Chairman Ajit Pai. He and Commissioner Brendan Carr said other steps would provide longer-term certainty. The agency ordered the budget cap be adjusted annually for inflation, with a process to carry forward unused funds from past funding years for future use. The order is "a first step in a much-needed process to revamp the program to ensure that it is operated in a predictable, sustainable, and accountable manner," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who said "there is much more to do." He also said the order "highlights the need for an overall cap" on USF. He said the FCC should work with other agencies "to determine how our rather narrow telemedicine program works within the larger health care system." He said the FCC doesn't get credit for RHC Program benefits to other agencies. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said: "While injecting more funding into the program is the right call, we need to acknowledge our actions here are no more than a short-term band-aid. If we want this program to truly thrive, it is going to require more long-term care and attention." Pai's draft order (see 1806060057) received votes of all colleagues recently (see 1806140017 and 1806190063).