Oklahoma sought bids for support services for state USF for schools and libraries. The Oklahoma USF administrator will consider proposals for a one-year contract that would start Feb. 14 and could be renewed up to five times, said a request for proposals Thursday. The administrator seeks “a partner to provide education, training, and support services to ensure that the OUSF Administrator, public schools and libraries in Oklahoma are receiving necessary support, and therefore E-rate funding, as a means assisting in the management of costs to the OUSF,” said the RFP. “It is critical to Oklahoma schools and libraries that the OUSF Administrator is versed in the Federal E-rate program and that the OUSF process does not run counter to the Category 1 process.” Proposals are due Feb. 4.
The shutdown is having immediate FCC consequences in the form of delayed filing deadlines and shuttered websites. It could also ripple out to delay expected rule changes for 2019, industry officials told us this week. Since staff isn’t available, expected early-2019 policy decisions on kidvid and rate regulation, court cases and progress of deals such as T-Mobile buying Sprint are considered likely to be delayed.
Lifeline subscribership has "shrunk" almost 30 percent under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and is set to drop at least another 30 percent "on his watch," said Kelley Drye attorney John Heitmann on a New America Open Technology Institute panel Wednesday. Representing Lifeline providers, he said Pai commission actions and proposals undercut enrollment and providers.
The Utah Public Service Commission wants comment on increasing the state USF surcharge by 24 cents to 60 cents per connection, effective May 1, said a Monday notice in docket 18-999-15. Comments are due Feb. 6, replies Feb. 20. The PSC had expected distribution changes would necessitate an increase (see 1901030023).
There are ways to move forward on policymaking to improve broadband deployments as the new Congress begins, federal and communications sector officials said Tuesday during a Next Century Cities-led event. Officials highlighted the potential for compromise as a contrast to the rancor over the ongoing partial government shutdown. They also noted policy disagreements. Later, the conference heard about spectrum (see 1901150043).
Ending California surcharges on text-message revenue for state USF and other public purpose programs isn’t supported by the record and would be “an error of both fact and law,” said the Center for Accessible Technology, Greenlining Institute and The Utility Reform Network in comments posted Monday in docket R17-06-023 at the California Public Utilities Commission. Commissioners may vote Jan. 31 on ending surcharges after an FCC order persuaded state commissioners not to pull back an earlier proposal to affirm text messaging is subject to the surcharges (see 1812170029). The new proposal doesn’t analyze the FCC ruling “in detail, nor does it explain how the FCC’s actions directly impact the Commission’s decades-long practice of collecting this surcharge,” the consumer groups said. All the CPUC needs to do is address the impact of the FCC ruling, commented the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. “It is not necessary or reasonable ... to address or analyze state laws relating primarily to the Commission’s general authority and to public purpose program requirements.”
The halt in regular FCC operations isn't having a large impact on communications law firms and most clients yet, said attorneys who continue to draft pleadings, provide advice, handle litigation and do other work. But if the shuttering lasts an extended period, it will cause delays and backlogs that increasingly have negative fallout on matters large and small, rippling through industry, they said this week.
Software & Information Industry Association Senior Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy tells us he plans to retire from SIIA after a transition and will help find a successor; he plans to teach and do research at Georgetown University on areas including artificial intelligence/ethics and privacy ... TwinLogic names Greg Barnes, ex-Digital Media Association, principal, and Ali Fulling, ex-House Commerce Committee, policy coordinator ... Nielsen appoints George Callard, from The Weather Channel, chief legal officer, succeeding Eric Dale, resigning ... Cooley adds Charlie Winckworth, partner-intellectual property, from Hogan Lovells.
The Utah Public Service Commission sought an updated estimate on how recent changes to state USF distribution affect the next change to the contribution surcharge July 1. The Division of Public Utilities, which previously estimated a potential increase, should file the update by Feb. 6, said a Thursday PSC notice in docket 18-999-15. The PSC must act by May 1 to change the surcharge July 1, it said. Utah staff had expected distribution changes would necessitate an increase to the state’s 36 cents per connection fee (see 1810100042).
Thirteen more rural telcos serving tribal lands are eligible for FCC relief from USF operational expense restrictions, beyond the five carriers identified in April and Mescalero Apache Telecom, whose petition for reconsideration was granted Monday (see 1901020033). The 13 are eligible for opex relief under an April order establishing certain broadband limits, "even though they were not affected by the previous opex cap," said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90. The newly identified carriers are Atlas Telephone, Beggs Telephone, Bixby Telephone, Cherokee Telephone, Cheyenne River Sioux, Lavaca Telephone, Oklatel Communications, Sacred Wind Communications, San Carlos Apache, Shidler Telephone, Tohono O'odham Utility, Totah Communications and Wyandotte Telephone. Sacred Wind petitioned the FCC to reconsider a 90 percent 10/1 Mbps broadband deployment limit (carriers eligible for relief have to be under that threshold), or, if the limit is retained, to find that Sacred Wind was eligible for relief. That petition was "rendered moot" by the PN, said a commission spokesperson Thursday, before the FCC shut down most operations. A Sacred Wind representative didn't comment. Pine Telephone, Terral Telephone, Gila River Telecommunications, Fort Mojave Telecommunications and Saddleback Communications were also listed in the PN. They were the five carriers identified in April as eligible for relief.