The Universal Service Administrative Co. projects $1.9 billion will be available from past years to carry forward into funding year 2016 for the Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism, which funds E-Rate USF discounts, USAC CEO Chris Henderson told the FCC in a letter Monday filed in docket 02-6. Of that amount, $1.36 billion is from funding years 2013 and before, $355 million is from funding year 2014 and $188 million is from funding year 2015, Henderson said.
USF support should be directed toward the services most demanded by consumers, CTIA said in a filing at the FCC in docket 11-42. CTIA representatives met with various FCC officials, the filing said. CTIA said wireless is the largest industry contributor to the federal fund. “In most cases, consumers are migrating towards mobile wireless services to meet communication, educational and occupational needs,” the group said.
Comments are due Jan. 19, replies Feb. 4 on a petition from FairPoint Communications seeking to collect USF and intercarrier compensation (ICC) transition revenue that the telco said is being improperly withheld, said the FCC Wireline Bureau in a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. “FairPoint asks the Commission to declare that [the National Exchange Carrier Association] should (1) correct its Eligible Recovery calculations under Section 51.917 of the Commission’s rules, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015; (2) restore the funding that NECA has been subtracting under an erroneous interpretation of the Commission’s rules; and (3) to the extent necessary, refile its access tariffs for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 to effectuate the correct calculations.” FairPoint is seeking to recover $4.2 million in annual USF-ICC revenue that it previously collected from local switching support (see 1512110070).
NTCA clarified Thursday it believes the FCC can adopt a single order relatively soon to set the rules for giving rural rate-of-return carriers the option of receiving USF support based on a broadband cost model, fix a "stand-alone broadband problem," and adopt some other changes to legacy mechanisms. NTCA believes a second, later order would be needed, but not to nail down further model details; instead, it believes the FCC can make technical refinements to the model as it implements the first order -- including by conducting a "challenge process" to RLEC high-cost areas -- and addresses other issues, NTCA Senior Vice President-Policy Mike Romano told us Thursday. Romano was reacting to a Communications Daily story that said NTCA had proposed a "two-step path" for adopting a rate-of return model-based support option (see 1512160060). He acknowledged there was a "semantics" issue in how different phases and actions could be described. NTCA does believe the FCC should take more time to adopt an order on its proposed "bifurcated approach" to updating legacy rate-of-return USF support that would be available for RLECs not opting for model-based support, Romano said. NTCA believes a Further NPRM would be helpful on the bifurcated approach, but isn't necessary on the model, he said.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested the agency isn't holding off on regulatory actions while its net neutrality and broadband reclassification order is being litigated in court. Asked by a reporter Thursday about such possible delays, Wheeler said, "No, we think that we're on strong grounds in the court." Speaking at the agency's press conference, he said FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and agency attorney Jacob Lewis "did exemplary jobs" at the Dec. 4 oral argument in the case. He said he listened to an audio recording of the argument and is "confident that the open Internet rules have a good future ahead of them." Wheeler also said he hopes the FCC can approve a Lifeline USF modernization order early next year. The agency has proposed to extend Lifeline low-income support to broadband and to revamp program administration. Asked if he was open to making permanent the net neutrality order's temporary small-business exemption from broadband provider enhanced disclosure rules, which the FCC just extended by one year, Wheeler said: "Let's base it on facts, rather than on suppositions; so let's see what we get in terms of the data." At their news conference, Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly criticized the FCC's one-year extension order on both substantive and process grounds. Pai said there wasn't evidence in the record to justify imposing the enhanced rules on small broadband providers.
The FCC gave incumbent telcos relief from “obsolete” phone regulations while preserving others it said are needed to protect consumers and competition. The commission approved an order at Thursday’s meeting granting several USTelecom requests that the agency forbear from requiring ILECs to meet certain requirements on wholesale network access (including to some conduits), stand-alone residential long-distance service, and “enhanced services.” But it denied ILECs relief from duties to provide voice service in certain rural areas, safeguards for “enterprise” stand-alone long-distance service, and a prohibition against “contract tariffs” for business data services in some areas.
The FCC Wireline Bureau received generally good marks on its productivity from communications industry representatives we interviewed for this Communications Daily Special Report, even amid gradually declining budgets and staff sizes at the agency overall (see 1512150011). The bureau is seen by most as working hard to generate a large number of regulatory actions on a wide array of complex and contentious issues, with progress in addressing some backlogs. “I can’t think of any specific areas where the Wireline Competition Bureau is lagging,” said Micah Caldwell, ITTA vice president-regulatory affairs. Caldwell was the only person interviewed for this article willing to be cited by name; the rest either requested anonymity or declined to comment altogether on the bureau’s output and performance.
Rural telcos are taking different tactical approaches as the FCC looks to overhaul rate-of-return USF subsidies for the broadband era. NTCA this week suggested a two-step path for giving rate-of-return carriers the option of receiving high-cost funding support based on a broadband cost model. The small-carrier RLEC group said the FCC could “adopt the concept of a model-based support option in relatively short order” that defines "key parameters" -- along with a standalone-broadband fix and other changes -- while taking more time to fine-tune the model. But ITTA, representing midsize carriers, said the FCC should soon approve a model-based mechanism in one order.
The partisan divide on net neutrality complicates congressional funding of the FCC and has made the annual task of appropriating much harder over the past several years, veteran appropriators of both parties on Capitol Hill told us in recent conversations. The appropriations process for the agency is now intensely political, they said, citing the very different perceptions among Republicans and Democrats of the agency and its missions.
The FCC solicited comments on a petition for rulemaking from the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) and others seeking to revise the agency's rural healthcare USF program. Initial comments are due Jan. 14, replies Jan. 29, a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 02-06 said Tuesday. The program needs to be modernized to "address disparities in health[care] availability and health outcomes between rural and non-rural areas," said a recent joint filing by SHLB and several regional telehealth organizations (see 1512080051). The groups proposed an increase in the discount percentage in the Healthcare Connect Fund for rural healthcare providers, the establishment of mechanisms for short-term relief if program demand exceeds the set cap, and an expanded definition of the word "rural."