Senators probed ISP industry officials on what all largely agreed was inaccurate broadband mapping and USF support mechanisms that some officials contended don't meet consumer needs. They argued during a Thursday Communications Subcommittee USF hearing that the FCC’s support programs are biased in favor of wireline providers and aren't as technology neutral as they should be. No officials representing the FCC or other government agencies testified, and FCC spokespeople didn't comment.
The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga hopes to "work with the FCC to resolve" a problem that led the Wireline Bureau to remove the Tennessee utility's rural broadband experiment from further funding consideration, an EPB spokeswoman told us Wednesday: "It seems that wires got crossed in terms of deadline expectations." The bureau denied an EPB petition for a waiver and extension of a June 2, 2015, deadline to provide proof that it had been designated as a USF "eligible telecom carrier" for all rural areas covered by its broadband experiment, which had been provisionally selected to receive $710,147 in commission funding (see 1602020034). An agency spokesman didn't comment.
The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee is to hear from Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn at a Friday meeting of the committee, according to an agenda. Other scheduled speakers include Alison Kutler, acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and three of her deputy chiefs. Among the topics of later staff presentations are "Robocalls and Federal Debt Collection: New TCPA Amendment," a "CGB Outreach and Consumer Update," an "Incentive Auction Update," and sessions on a Lifeline USF recommendation and the new fcc.gov site.
From regulatory reform to incentives to help justify the total cost of ownership of a network, rural broadband advocates came to the launch of the House's bipartisan Rural Broadband Caucus Wednesday with a litany of suggestions. "As much as we want to advance rural broadband, if you don't have a government program [to] support the deployment and maintenance, people aren't going to deploy it," said Sarah Tyree, CoBank vice president-government affairs. The caucus' focus was expected (see 1602020057).
The FCC gave Lifeline providers 120 more days to transition to an Oklahoma map that limits the scope of enhanced tribal support in the state under the low-income USF program. The Wireline Bureau moved the implementation date to June 8 to address concerns a Feb. 9 deadline would preclude eligible telecom carriers from giving consumers adequate advance notice of the change, said an order in docket 11-42 released Tuesday and listed in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Lifeline providers usually receive $9.25 per low-income subscriber in monthly support, but they receive $34.25 per low-income subscriber under the enhanced tribal monthly support.
The USF contribution factor for carriers could drop in Q2 to 17.6 percent of interstate and international telecom revenue, but it could be higher if industry revenue declines continue, said industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg in an email update Monday. The Q1 factor is 18.2 percent (see 1512110040), which Gregg accurately estimated once Universal Service Administrative Co. came out with revenue projections (see 1512040003). USAC Monday projected USF demand for Q2 would be $2.211 billion, down $65.5 million, Gregg said. "Out of period adjustments ... accounted for almost all" of the demand decrease, he said. Revenue in the contribution base last year totaled $60.5 billion, "the lowest annual revenues" in USF history, and Q1 revenue was $14.929 billion, "the lowest quarterly revenues" in USF history, he said. "If revenues for the second quarter of 2016 are the same as revenues for the first quarter, the USF assessment factor will decrease to 17.6%. However, if the trend of declining quarterly revenues continues, the USF assessment factor for the second quarter will be higher than 17.6%." He said USAC revenue projections for Q2 are due in early March.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission opened a proceeding to investigate the Kentucky USF (KUSF), the PSC said. In an order issued Monday, the PSC said the investigation was prompted by a "rapid depletion" of the fund, which is in danger of being exhausted by April. The commission will review the need and mechanism for maintaining the fund's solvency while the larger investigation is underway, it said. That investigation will examine whether to continue the KUSF, how and to what extent it should be funded if it's continued, the past and projected distributions from the KUSF that have created the current situation, and how such distributions should be made in the future. To maintain KUSF's solvency in the short term, the PSC estimates the monthly per-line assessment will need to be increased on an interim basis from 8 cents to 14 cents or the monthly Lifeline subsidy will need to be reduced to about $2 from $3.50. The PSC said a decision on which measure to take must be made quickly and set a Feb. 22 deadline for the parties to comment on the proposal to raise the monthly fee or reduce the subsidy. Public comments on the interim fee increase or subsidy reduction are also due Feb. 22, it said. After comments are reviewed, the PSC will issue an interim order with an interim decision.
“Broadband" differs from "advanced telecommunications capability" but is key to an ATC statutory mandate, the FCC said in a Broadband Progress Report it released Friday after approving it Thursday (see 1601280064). The report said for simplicity’s sake, the commission sometimes used the term “broadband” to refer to “advanced telecommunications capability” in past inquiries on whether ATC was being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion to all Americans pursuant to Section 706 of the 1996 Telecom Act. But it said “advanced telecommunications capability” is a statutorily defined term that differs from “broadband” as it’s used in other contexts. “Thus, in this Inquiry, we do not equate the term 'broadband' with the statutory term 'advanced telecommunications capability,' but we do necessarily consider the availability of various broadband services that contribute to advanced telecommunications capability in our analysis under the statute,” it said. The report cited various data for why the FCC said ATC isn’t being deployed “broadly enough and quickly enough” to meet the Section 706 mandate. It said one in 10 Americans lacks 25/3 Mbps (download/upload) broadband availability, and ATC deployment disparities persist between urban areas and rural and tribal areas. It elaborated on why the FCC believes both mobile and fixed broadband availability are necessary under the statutory mandate. It said there are various marketing, usage and adoption differences that dispel the notion that current fixed and mobile broadband services give consumers the same or substitutable services. “On the contrary, they are distinct services with complementary strengths and weaknesses, distinguishable in capability, pricing, and in the utility they provide consumers,” it said. The report said the FCC couldn’t yet define adequate mobile broadband speed or service standards, and it noted the FCC may consider different mobile and fixed speed benchmarks. The report said there are “many and varied” barriers to ATC deployment, and cited past and ongoing FCC efforts on rural broadband, E-rate and Lifeline USF modernization, and other matters. It said if consumers’ personal information can be protected, that could spur broadband service, investment and deployment, consistent with the 1996 act’s goals. Consumer groups are pushing the FCC to issue an NPRM opening a broadband privacy rulemaking (see 1601190077).
A group seeking changes to rural healthcare USF received more opposition than support for its FCC petition to open a new rulemaking, in reply comments posted Friday and Monday in docket 02-60. Alaska Communications, CenturyLink and NTCA expressed resistance to the rulemaking petition filed by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition. Although the SHLB filed a reply supporting its petition, and the Salvation Army’s Alaska Division and Utah Education Network sought certain changes, the latter two didn't voice clear-cut support for the petition. Initial comments were divided (see 1601150060).
The FCC approved a report saying broadband isn't being rolled out broadly enough or quickly enough to meet a statutory deployment mandate. The commission action at its Thursday meeting wasn't a surprise after Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft report with a negative finding (see 1601070059). Democratic colleagues supported the report and its conclusion, with one backing an even higher broadband standard, but one Republican dissented and the other concurred while faulting the FCC for failing to bring about more broadband deployment. Key House Republicans and major wireline and wireless telco groups were among those criticizing the report, with USTelecom calling it “not believable.”