General Communications (GCI) proposed revised LTE performance commitments to go along with the Alaska Plan that it and others are urging the FCC to adopt for wireless and rate-of-return wireline carrier broadband USF support in the state. While some aspects remain preliminary and subject to refinement, the proposals reflect "a commitment to move all fiber-backhaul areas, and the substantial majority of microwave-backhaul population, to LTE within ten years," GCI said in a filing Wednesday in docket 10-90. "Moreover, GCI will be implementing LTE-over-satellite to approximately half of the population served by satellite backhaul, and will be moving at least 3,000 POPs from satellite backhaul to microwave." GCI is targeting 2 Mbps downlink speeds and 800 kbps uplink speeds for the vast majority of LTE-served POPs. It urged the FCC to adopt the Alaska Plan rules and approve carrier performance plans in the same order "if at all possible." The filing also answered FCC staff questions about GCI's methodology for determining which Alaska census blocks are "served" by AT&T or Verizon LTE systems and which wouldn't be eligible for future support. Alaska Communications, the state's price-cap telco, recently objected to the Alaska Telephone Association's wireless USF proposal, saying it would provide $1 billion over 10 years to competitors, much of it a "windfall" underwriting "GCI's unregulated middle-mile monopoly" (see 1604190012).
A magistrate judge recommended against dismissing Charter’s challenge of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission order asserting state authority over interconnected VoIP services. The report and recommendation (in Pacer) by U.S. Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer isn't an order or judgment, and parties may object to the recommendation within 14 days. The U.S. District Court in Minnesota can issue an order 14 days after objections and responses are filed.
Facebook spent $2.78 million on lobbying spending in Q1, about 14 percent more than what it spent in the same period last year, while Oracle increased outlays for lobbying the federal government for Q1, spending $1.72 million. Both companies lobbied on similar issues, including cybersecurity and intellectual property as well as on House (HR-699) and Senate (S-356) legislation focused on updating the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) (see 1604140010), which the technology industry strongly favors.
Rural carrier broadband contributed $24.2 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015, about two-thirds of which benefited urban areas, said a Hudson Institute study released Wednesday on the economic impact of rural telcos, as defined by the 1996 Telecom Act. Rural carriers were responsible for 69,600 jobs -- through direct employment and employment generated by the goods and services they bought -- and rural broadband supported more than $100 billion in e-commerce, said the study authored by Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Hanns Kuttner and commissioned by the Foundation for Rural Service, a nonprofit created by NTCA.
Alaska Communications knocked an Alaska Telephone Association wireless USF proposal to the FCC, saying it provides a windfall for competitors -- and General Communications (GCI) in particular -- without clearly addressing middle-mile connectivity needs in rural Alaska. ATA's proposal for keeping annual USF support for rate-of-return wireline telcos in the state at $55 million for 10 years, subject to reasonable broadband deployment expectations, was appropriate, said an Alaska Communications (ACS) filing in docket 10-90. The price-cap telco said the rate-of-return plan is consistent with its own Connect America Fund Phase II proposal for the state's price-cap areas. But ACS objected to ATA's "extraordinary" proposal to expand annual USF support for wireless competitive eligible telecommunications carriers in the state to $100 million for 10 years. The telco called the billion-dollar proposal a "CETC enrichment plan" that would not ensure connectivity to remote areas, including 188 Alaskan Bush communities. "ATA does not endorse a specific proposal for closing Alaska’s middle mile gap, with defined deployment milestones and enforceable performance standards for capacity, speed, latency, and -- most important of all -- service affordability (as the Commission adopted for the rest of the nation)," ACS said. It said much of the $1 billion would "underwrite GCI's unregulated middle-mile monopoly," thus harming competition. The telco said the FCC should address ATA's proposals for wireless and rate-of-return carriers separately. If the CETC support is increased, ACS said, the FCC should attach safeguards, including "reasonable non-discriminatory access obligations, affiliate transaction rules, and cost-based pricing requirements, to ensure adequate and quality broadband service sufficient to meet current and project demand." GCI Senior Counsel Chris Nierman emailed in response Tuesday: “All of the providers supporting the Alaska Plan have demonstrated its need and benefits to consumers. Alaska’s unique circumstances require an integrated plan to address the challenges for Alaska. Just as the FCC saw fit to provide stability for non-contiguous price cap carriers like ACS, a similar approach is appropriate for Alaska’s other providers.” ATA didn't comment, but its representatives last week discussed its planned "Alaska Infrastructure Fund" with Wireline Bureau officials, said a Monday filing that included detailed proposed revisions to the FCC's recently updated rate-of-return USF rules (see 1603300065).
A Senate Republican appropriator questioned how the FCC handled its recent rate of return USF overhaul and is pressing for inquiries, he told NTCA members Tuesday. Scores of NTCA members flew to Washington this week for a meeting and to lobby congressional offices Tuesday.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai asked Universal Service Administrative Co. for help in fighting waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline USF support program since wireless resellers started participating heavily in 2009. The commission's investigation of Total Call Mobile "revealed much about the dubious practices of the industry," he said in a Monday letter to USAC CEO Chris Henderson. The FCC recently proposed a $51 million fine against Total Call in a notice of apparent liability (see 1604080032). Pai said the investigation showed, for example, that Total Call's sales agents "repeatedly registered duplicate subscribers to the addresses of local homeless shelters and used fake Social Security numbers to register duplicate subscribers." The FCC learned Total Call "was not alone" in some of the practices, he said. Pai asked USAC to give his office by May 2 certain pieces of information on each of the four Lifeline wireless resellers named by Total Call sales agents, along with USAC actions, among other things.
NTCA officials suggested rural telcos should receive additional high-cost USF support in order to achieve sustainable broadband service and equitable treatment under FCC subsidy programs. Speaking at the group's policy conference Monday, the officials said Lifeline and E-rate USF programs received substantial funding hikes and were indexed for inflation, unlike rate-of-return high-cost USF support, which only has increased a little and isn't indexed. NTCA members -- about 500 of whom were in attendance -- will lobby congressional offices this week on the issue, they said.
ViaSat pressed the FCC to devise "technologically neutral" USF reverse auctions that permit all technologies to compete for broadband subsidies on an equal playing field. ViaSat advocates "a straightforward design for the upcoming Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auctions that would award funds to the bidder that can offer qualifying service with the lowest required subsidy, thereby encouraging broad participation and facilitating efficient outcomes," said a company filing in docket 10-90 Thursday. "ViaSat opposes proposals that would unduly complicate the CAF II reverse auctions by awarding 'points' to certain bidders based on subjective criteria -- particularly as those proposals tend to favor particular technologies over others in heavy-handed fashion." It said the March 14 letter from the Utilities Telecom Council and other rural electric and telco associations responding to a Dec. 29 Hughes Network Systems (HNS) submission underscores the problem of points-based plans. "The Associations and HNS both advocate complex schemes that would create opportunities for gaming the funding process and marginalizing particular technologies -- including, in the case of the Associations’ proposal, marginalizing satellite broadband," ViaSat said. It said the proposals would: (1) delay initial funding selections and spark numerous challenges to them, (2) favor certain technologies over others without regard to quality or cost efficiency, (3) inflate funding requirements, leading to increased contribution burdens for consumers and/or a “funding gap” that leaves many unserved households without broadband access, and (4) at best, delay the availability of service to those households. ViaSat disputed association arguments that satellite service is incapable of providing high-quality broadband service.
The FCC should address issues that arose during the first phase of the USF mobility fund before launching phase II, the Rural Wireless Association said in a letter to the commission. “There is a continued need to support mobile communications services in rural areas,” RWA said. “Mobile voice and broadband services are critical to public safety communications and economic development, and can help address problems such as the ‘digital divide’ and ‘homework gap’ that are present in rural America. For these reasons, it is critical that the Commission craft and implement a dedicated mobility support mechanism that will provide specific, predictable, and sufficient support to both advance and sustain the availability of mobile services in high-cost areas.” The FCC should start by looking at Mobility Fund Phase I and “carefully consider what did and did not work,” RWA said. The record shows that only $67 million in Mobility Fund Phase I (MFI) funding has been disbursed, and more than $70 million was returned to the FCC, the group said. “RWA recommends that the Commission staff solicit feedback on MFI before diving headfirst into a Phase II mechanism that risks replicating unpredictable processes,” the letter said. RWA also said FCC data on broadband deployment needs to be improved. The group called on the FCC to address problems caused by the incompatibility of CDMA and GSM networks, in the filing posted in docket 10-208.