FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly walked back accusations that the U.S. Virgin Islands diverted 911 fees in 2017, in a letter to U.S. Virgin Islands legislator Donna Frett-Gregory Wednesday. O’Rielly said in a July letter (see 1907180030) to the governor that because over $1.2 million in 911 fees were diverted in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 he wouldn’t back additional USF funds for USVI without changes to how 911 fees were handled there. “[T]aking all the facts into consideration, it does not appear that 9-1-1 fees collected by the USVI were diverted for calendar year 2017,” O’Rielly conceded, praising Frett-Gregory’s willingness to consider legislative changes to 911 fee collection. He said additional staff review showed the Virgin Islands’ 2018 filings didn’t provide a complete picture of how the fees were collected and allocated. “I appreciate the opportunity to clear-up this situation,” O’Rielly said. “I expect that the USVI will remain in compliance with the non-diversionary provisions contained in U.S. federal law,” he said.
Groups representing schools and libraries want the FCC to future-proof E-rate funding that supports indoor connections for schools and libraries, they said in comments posted to docket 13-184 through Wednesday on the program's category 2 modernization and eligible services list. Per-pupil funding for E-rate category 2 should be increased from $125 to $250 or more, the Education and Libraries Networks Coalition said: "As schools, school districts and libraries integrate more digital resources, it will only continue to drive increased demand for bandwidth and internal connections." It wants the USF program to establish a fixed five-year budget cycle for category 2 spending to replace the current rolling budget focused on individual applicants. It supports a transition to school-district-wide and library-system-wide budgets but said private and independent schools should be able to apply on their own. Funds for Learning said schools and libraries should be able to self-determine what data infrastructure components they need, and none should be determined ineligible. It also said in separate comments it wants to eliminate E-rate category 2 subcategories, which can be confusing to program participants. The American Library Association said it supports making funding eligible for content filtering and more robust network security.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order on the eighth floor Wednesday to direct $950 million in a second round of USF funding to strengthen broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, after Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 (see 1805290028). The commissioners will vote on the draft order at the agency's Sept. 26 public meeting, the FCC said Wednesday (see 1909040073). The agency has collected public input for over a year on the Uniendo a Puerto Rico and Connect USVI funds in docket 18-143 (see 1805180075).
The FCC will start the long-awaited 3.5 GHz auction June 25, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday in a blog on the agenda for the Sept. 25 commissioners’ meeting. The FCC will also take up USF funding for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1909040028), a proposal to update intercarrier compensation rules and a media modernization Further NPRM, among other items.
The USF contribution factor for Q4 will rise from 24.4 percent to 25.1 percent, the highest in the history of the USF, consultant Billy Jack Gregg emailed Friday. He said the Universal Service Administration Co. projected revenue of $11 billion for the quarter, about $466 million lower than the previous quarter, and the lowest quarterly revenue ever. Quarterly demand was projected at $2 billion. The FCC announced the last quarterly contribution factor in mid-June in docket 96-45 (see 1906130014).
Comments are due Sept. 30, replies Oct. 15 on a National Exchange Carrier Association-proposed USF-related formula on high-cost loop support, said the FCC Wireline Bureau in Friday's Daily Digest and on docket 05-337. The formula helps determine average USF payments, and if OK'd takes effect Jan. 1 for all of 2020. NECA submitted the plan earlier in the week.
Broaden the definition of healthcare providers, allow funding for remote monitoring and medical body area network devices (MBAN), and make the program available in a wide geographic area. Those are among recommendations for the FCC pilot USF pilot to support connected care for the poor and veterans. Comments posted through Friday docket 18-213 for the three-year, $100 million program (see 1907100073).
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Andrew Place shares stakeholder worries from initial comments to the FCC NPRM on capping the USF at $11.42 billion. The “hard cap” could reduce "needed support for the continuous deployment of broadband access networks and services," he replied in docket 06-122, on his behalf and not the PUC's. It could "create an artificial and unnecessary competition for funding resources between the constituent programs," he said. Place noted the FCC's plan came without "finalizing its long-standing proceeding on the reform of the federal USF contribution base and methodology in conjunction with the corresponding referral to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service." Other replies posted earlier this week raised similar points (see 1908270053).
State regulators found much to like in what little they know about coming FCC Lifeline changes, when we surveyed all NARUC Telecom Committee members this and last week. All respondents are happy their federal counterparts appear poised to clarify states can continue being the ones to decide whether telecom providers can be designated as eligible for the USF program for the poor. Many like the idea of the Universal Service Administrative Co. sharing more information. An FCC "backgrounder" given to news media said that would boost "transparency with states to improve oversight of the Lifeline program, including by directing USAC to share information regarding suspicious activity with state officials."
The FCC Wireline Bureau wants nominations by Oct. 28 to replace six Universal Service Administration Co. board members, it said in docket 97-21 and Wednesday's Daily Digest. Board members will serve a three-year term. Current members are Robert Bocher, consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, representing libraries eligible for USF discounts; Beth Choroser, Comcast vice president-regulatory affairs, representing cable operators; Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, representing schools eligible for USF discounts; Matt Gerst, CTIA director-regulatory affairs, representing commercial radio service providers; former Tennessee Deputy Attorney General Cynthia Kinser, representing state consumer advocates; and Joel Lubin, a consultant for AT&T, representing ILECs.