The FCC rejected LTD Broadband and Starlink's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form applications Wednesday, citing a "failure to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service." LTD was the largest winning bidder, preliminarily bidding about $1.3 billion to serve 528,088 locations in 15 states (see 2012070039). Starlink's preliminary award was about $885.5 million.
Industry sought improved coordination and transparency through the FCC, USDA and NTIA’s interagency agreement established under the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2020. Some asked the agencies to make the shared information available publicly and to increase reliance on the FCC’s maps when coordinating broadband programs, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 22-251.
The FCC should ensure that regulatory fees “more meaningfully reflect the benefits provided to fee payors,” said NAB in calls Tuesday with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 22-223 Wednesday. The agency should exempt broadcasters from paying for work on aspects of the USF, the filing said. The FCC “has acknowledged that broadcasters do not benefit from the Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF) activities,” NAB said.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission agreed to state USF rules updating rules on calculation and disbursements to eligible telecom carriers. Commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to adopt a staff recommendation to proceed with adopting a CostQuest model, despite apprehension by some telecom groups in docket AR 649 (see 2207200017). Chair Megan Decker said the action recognizes “the continued uncertainty and the stress … on stakeholders that depend on the OUSF” but added she is sure the commission can “arrive at something reasonable” and flexible. The PUC can make “surgical tweaks” later if needed, Decker said at the livestreamed meeting. Commissioner Letha Tawney likes the transparency that using a cost model will provide, she said. The model will assist but won’t be the final word in setting OUSF benchmarks, she said. Commissioner Mark Thompson doesn’t think the PUC is on the wrong path even with outstanding questions, he said.
Nebraska USF (NUSF) accountability needs improvement, said Nebraska Public Service Commission member Crystal Rhoades at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The PSC’s lone Democrat cast the only vote against an order, adopted 4-1, to release a list of qualified bidders for the commission’s reverse auction (docket NUSF-131). With the auction, the PSC seeks to expand 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband using $13 million of redistributed NUSF support. Rhoades said she generally agreed with the proposed order’s recommendations but couldn’t support it because it wasn’t clear to her how evaluations were made, by whom and if they were consistent across applications. “I have a lot of concerns about this agency continuing to issue funding without having concrete processes that are transparent and that are followed every time without exception,” the commissioner said. "We leave ourselves vulnerable to all kinds of gamesmanship.” Rhoades called for overarching changes. “We've got some real process problems and accountability problems with this NUSF fund -- and we have for a long time -- and I think we need to get serious about correcting it."
Incompas asked the FCC to create an additional layer on its forthcoming broadband maps that shows "which areas have received broadband funding for network deployment," said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-476. It could help determine areas that may still need funding and whether adjustments to high-cost programs are necessary "before committing new funding," Incompas said in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. The group also met with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, asking the FCC to include broadband internet access service (BIAS) revenues in the USF contribution base. The Information Technology Industry Council also met with an aide to Carr regarding contribution reform. The group backed refreshing the record in the FCC's contribution methodology proceeding to consider whether BIAS revenue should be assessed.
The Missouri Public Service Commission will continue suspending state USF assessments for the rest of the year, the PSC said Friday. Commissioners agreed 5-0 to the order in docket TO-2019-0346. The USF surcharge will return at a rate of 0.15% Jan. 1, it said. The PSC first suspended the rate Jan. 1, 2020, and the freeze had been set to expire Sept. 30. The commission had considered raising monthly state USF support for voice-only Lifeline services to $24 last year from $18.75 if the FCC stopped paying $5.25, but the FCC paused phasedown until Dec. 1 this year (see 2111050058). Meanwhile, the Wyoming Public Service Commission plans to vote Tuesday on a proposal (docket 90072-49-XO-22) to keep the state USF surcharge at 2.7% for the fiscal year starting July 1, said a Thursday agenda. In an attached May 24 memo, Wyoming USF Manager Melisa Mizel recommended paying monthly distributions of $11,394.70 to All West Communications, Chugwater Telephone, Lumen, Silver Star Telephone and Union Telephone.
The California Public Utilities Commission needn’t delay investigating T-Mobile’s MetroPCS while related litigation is pending at U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the CPUC’s Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) said Thursday in docket I.22-04-005. The CPUC said in April that Metro faces up to $230 million in possible fines for failing to remit California USF payments for prepaid phone service, but Metro asked in May to dismiss the probe due to the pending court case (see 2205190013). The CPUC investigation "seeks only to determine the intrastate surcharges owed by MetroPCS on intrastate communications under the Prepaid Act and in no way seeks to impede the regulation of interstate communications by the FCC,” CPED said. “This issue is separate and distinct from the Federal Litigation." Metro disagreed: "The Commission should not move forward with any portion of the [investigation] until the MetroPCS Litigation concludes."
All companies should receive Oregon USF support “at similar levels based not on the size of the company, but on the characteristics of the areas they serve,” Lumen commented Tuesday in the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s OUSF update docket (AR 649). “Absent a rational basis for any differentiation, there is a risk the rules would be discriminatory under state and federal law.” At least maintain current funding levels if telecom companies “are to continue to offer service to all customers in their territories as carriers of last resort,” Lumen said. The Oregon Telecommunications Association “still has serious reservations” about using a CostQuest model to determine OUSF size, said OTA. Tribal provider Warm Springs Telecommunications (WST) said it tentatively supports the proposed rule but warned a "significant reduction in OUSF would put into jeopardy the efforts the [Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs], through WST, has undertaken to provide quality and affordable services to its Native American population.” The PUC is scheduled to adopt rules at a July 26 meeting.
The Universal Service Fund should be revised and the FCC should consider requiring contributions from tech companies, said a bipartisan group of current and former commissioners on a virtual panel Wednesday hosted by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. The group, including former Chairs William Kennard and Richard Wiley, also discussed the lack of an FCC majority, the digital divide and media ownership.