The USF contribution factor will reach a record 26.5% in Q3, up from Q2's 19.6%, emailed consultant Billy Jack Gregg Monday. Q4's was a then-record 25% (see 1909130003).
SpaceX urged the FCC to forbear from requiring an eligible telecom carrier designation for participants in high-cost USF support programs, in reply comments on market competition posted through Friday in docket 20-60. "Requiring broadband providers to secure regulatory authorizations for voice service only serves to frustrate new entrants and stifle competition." Limits on the number radio outlets one company can own in a market “remain necessary to promote diversity, localism, and competition,” said the Future of Music Coalition and musicFIRST Coalition in joint replies on the report. Local content is “a casualty” of consolidation, the music rights groups said. “Loosening current ownership restrictions could potentially provide economic benefit to only a subset of AM/FM broadcasters.” the groups said. NAB noted radio stations face much competition (see 2005280061).
Industry, USF recipients and consumer advocates are exploring new ways to fund USF. Talks began last year and remain in early stages, participants said in interviews. Parties fear the contribution factor, which reached a record high of 25% last fall (see 1909130003), isn't sustainable. Some want to present a unified funding proposal to Congress or the FCC. Most want the matter addressed next year.
Prospects for advancing legislation on allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction involving of spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band have become increasingly doubtful after more than two months in which negotiations were largely in stasis due to Capitol Hill's shift in priority to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers and communications sector officials said in interviews. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., and Democratic backers of C band remain interested in pressing forward. Republicans on the House and Senate Commerce committees believe the time for pursuing legislation has largely passed given FCC moves to advance the auction. Wireless and satellite interests cited concerns with the FCC's order in petitions for reconsideration filed Wednesday (see 2005270031).
The Kentucky Public Service Commission should increase USF payments to Lifeline eligible telecom carriers to provide more data during and after the COVID-19 emergency, said Q Link Wireless and five other ETCs. The ETCs responded Tuesday to a May 11 order in case 2016-00059 seeking comment on temporarily increasing USF compensation in exchange for increased minutes or data during the pandemic (see 2005210042). Several Kentucky ETCs are providing unlimited voice and data free, but services are to expire between May 31 and June 30 unless extended by network operator partners, they said. Over the past 45 days, the Kentucky ETCs had a 35% increase in voice and 37% in data compared with monthly average usage by Lifeline customers, they said.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission extended until Monday the deadline for wireless Lifeline eligible telecom carriers to respond to a May 11 order seeking comments on temporarily increasing USF compensation in exchange for increased minutes or data during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comments were due May 18 but only one ETC responded and others sought extensions, the PSC said Thursday. “The Commission wishes to determine if the current state of emergency has caused Lifeline customers to consume more voice minutes and data than usual, and, if so, whether additional voice minutes and data would provide a public health benefit for the duration of the state of emergency,” said the earlier order.
The National Association of Attorneys General led a letter Thursday with 39 state AGs urging Congress to “ensure that all Americans have home internet connectivity necessary to participate in telemedicine, teleschooling, and telework” as part of future COVID-19 aid legislation. The House-passed Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act includes emergency broadband funding (see 2005130059). House Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., criticized HR-6800 (see 2005210049). “Unless Congress acts quickly, disparities in access to home internet connectivity will exacerbate existing gaps in educational and health outcomes,” the AGs wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other leaders. ISPs’ commitments via the FCC-led Keep Americans Connected pledge (see 2005210033) “are laudable, but they are not sustainable. Ultimately, we need a national solution to enable universal access to broadband internet.” The AGs seek increased USF funding and “flexible” money for state, territorial and local governments to expand broadband access.
Major associations wrote congressional leaders Thursday backing legislation funding replacement of Huawei and ZTE equipment in U.S. networks. Industry questioned the FCC approach on equipment by the two Chinese companies, in comments on how provisions in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act affect supply chain security rules. The March law lacks funding for gear replacement (see 2003130083). Industry representatives told us they hope lawmakers fund it soon.
The California Public Utilities Commission believes providers "should not be expected to choose" during a pandemic "between allocating resources to maintaining their networks at the highest levels of service" and competing for USF support in a reverse auction as complex as that for the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the CPUC emailed us. In March, the CPUC asked for a delay of the auction's start date of 120 days or more. Tuesday, a draft auction procedures notice suggested a weeklong delay of the Phase I auction to Oct. 29 (see 2005190058). "The FCC’s proposal to delay the auction by one week does nothing to allay" CPUC concerns, it said Tuesday. "On top of that, the FCC’s challenge process allows no time for the CPUC to rebut challenges from incumbent providers. CPUC staffers estimate the challenges in California equate to hundreds of thousands of housing units, potentially reducing needed federal broadband dollars for our state by hundreds of millions." When asked about the weeklong delay in the draft public notice, an FCC spokesperson emailed that in seeking comment, the commission expected bidding to start Oct. 22 "but noted additional details and dates would be announced in the procedures public notice. If adopted, the procedures public notice has set Oct. 29 for an auction to begin."
A draft declaratory ruling circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday clarifies that industry can swap out antennas and other infrastructure on towers without delay under the 2012 Spectrum Act. Commissioner Brendan Carr told us Tuesday that despite the early resistance (see 2005110029) some local governments support the infrastructure clarification and the pandemic underscores the need for building infrastructure quickly.