With panels on some of the major telecom concerns, NARUC’s upcoming winter committee meetings will offer some robust discussion, commissioners told us in interviews Thursday. The telecom committee panels Feb. 14-17 coincide with some active proceedings at the FCC, as well, NARUC members said, with topics including Lifeline, carrier of last resort (COLR) and enabling competition in a broadband world, the agenda shows. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai is expected to speak at a general session about the commission pre-empting state laws on municipal broadband, net neutrality and inmate calling.
The FCC provided a more detailed breakdown of the FY 2017 administration budget request that described the specific agency needs in terms of IT and HQ relocation. The 141-page document laid out why it saw the need for its $358.29 million budget request, a total that included $16.87 million for agency HQ relocation or restacking and including information beyond what the administration initially made available Tuesday (see 1602090067).
The Telecom Act ushered in Internet innovation and growth even though it didn’t fully anticipate market developments, said some who helped draft the legislation that became law 20 years ago. Congress didn’t get all the details right, but the 1996 act created a strong competitive framework that was flexible enough to undergird huge investment in communications networks and Internet applications, panelists said at a Tuesday discussion hosted by the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy.
The FCC would reduce rural telcos’ rate of return from 11.25 percent to 9.75 percent over six years under a USTelecom and NTCA proposal to revamp USF mechanisms for broadband coverage. The groups also proposed broadband buildout obligations requiring RLECs to reach up to 80 percent of unserved locations over five years and a screen for phasing out USF support in high-cost areas where unsubsidized competitors reach 85 percent of locations, said a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90. It summarized a meeting last week with senior FCC officials, including Chairman Tom Wheeler. NTCA, WTA and individual RLECs made separate filings citing concerns and offering proposals. Wheeler is said to be interested in circulating a draft order soon (see 1602040055).
A court granted the request of Assist Wireless and others to dismiss their challenge to an FCC Oklahoma map decision that will restrict the scope of areas where carriers are eligible for enhanced tribal Lifeline USF support. The brief order Friday of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissing Assist Wireless v. FCC (No. 15-1324) came days after the FCC gave Lifeline providers a 120-day extension -- from Feb. 9 to June 8 -- on implementing the map's tribal-related boundaries (see 1602030027), which itself came days after Assist Wireless filed its dismissal motion (see 1601290066).
CenturyLink and USTelecom sought to back AT&T's challenge to FCC decisions declining to remove price-cap telco "eligible telecom carrier" obligations to offer voice service in high-cost areas where they no longer receive USF subsidies under a broadband-oriented Connect America Fund (see 1601110036). "The result is an unfunded mandate," CenturyLink said in a Thursday motion for leave to intervene filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing the case (AT&T v. FCC, No. 16-1002). USTelecom's motion said AT&T is challenging an FCC order issued in response to a USTelecom forbearance petition (see 1512170052). Meanwhile, Bruce Kushnick of the New Networks Institute said the FCC based much of its USTelecom forbearance order "on biased and manipulated information or else major facts were totally ignored." In a filing posted Thursday in docket 14-192, the institute asked the commission to investigate "the data used in this and every related FCC order." Kushnick alleged major telcos have manipulated their accounting to gain regulatory advantages (see 1512230049).
IDT Telecom received somewhat more support than opposition to its bid for an FCC rulemaking aimed at expanding the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund’s revenue base to include the intrastate revenue of industry contributors (see 1512210029). IDT’s petition got support from a coalition of consumer groups that advocate for the rights of the deaf and hard of hearing, and from some industry parties, including two video relay service (VRS) providers. But a VoIP industry group opposed the petition and an incumbent telco group said the FCC shouldn't make changes to the TRS Fund’s contribution at this time. The initial comments of parties were posted in docket 03-123 Thursday and Friday. The FCC currently assesses industry interstate and international telecom end-user revenue to pay for the TRS Fund.
The FCC's Democratic majority renewed its support for extending Lifeline USF subsidies to broadband service to low-income consumers as part of a broader restructuring of the program. Opening a meeting of the agency's Consumer Advisory Committee, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler also continued to push for fomenting more competition in the cable set-top box market and continued to count down to the March 29 incentive auction. "We are 54 days away from the world's first incentive auction, not that anybody is keeping track," he quipped.
Sprint is committed to demonstrating that its Lifeline customers are fully qualified for the USF program, Sprint representatives told FCC Wireline Bureau officials during a meeting. Sprint also is updating its analysis of the impact of a minimum service standard for Lifeline broadband service, said the filing in docket 10-90. “Sprint remains deeply concerned that Commission adoption of a minimum standard for Lifeline broadband service may well necessitate an out-of-pocket end user charge," the carrier said. "Lifeline customers are extremely cash-constrained (the average household income for an Assurance Wireless customer is approximately $14,000 per year); thus, even a seemingly modest monthly fee may prove to be an insurmountable barrier to subscription,” Sprint said.
FCC talks with rural telcos over potential USF restructuring have intensified, industry filings this week indicate. USTelecom and NTCA executives have had a number of recent meetings with senior FCC officials, including Chairman Tom Wheeler, to discuss proposals to update rate-of-return USF mechanisms and related concerns, said filings for the groups in docket 10-90. Wheeler appears interested in circulating a draft order soon, informed sources told us Thursday. An FCC spokesman had no comment.