Some parties object to the FCC's plan to require use of a Lifeline national verifier in six states without ensuring an electronic interface for carriers and database access to determine low-income consumer eligibility. Lifeline providers and a NARUC official said the NV's lack of an application programming interface and automated access to key databases will complicate eligibility verification, increasing administrative costs, burdening consumers and undermining enrollment.
Wireless carriers rejected legislative changes to Idaho USF, while rural LECs supported action but asked for more data on possible costs. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission asked in docket GNR-T-17-05 for recommendations for a possible legislative fix for state USF to present to the legislature next year (see 1808240017). Carriers disagree "with the premise that there is any need for changes to the funding mechanism for the IUSF in order to maintain the solvency,” said CTIA Director-State Regulatory Affairs Benjamin Aron in a Thursday letter: "Given the modest levels of the current surcharges there is considerable room to increase surcharge levels to offset the diminishing IUSF contribution base.” If the PUC must recommend legislative changes, it should either follow Washington state and support USF exclusively through general revenue using taxpayer funds, or Montana's “model of trusting the sufficiency of federal universal service support and declining to provide additional state funding,” Aron said. The Idaho Telecom Alliance wants legislative changes but said the state should first convene workshops and PUC staff should estimate costs of implementing various models used by neighboring states. Any device or service that connects to the public switched telephone network should be assessed a USF charge, and any carrier of last resort should be supported, the RLEC group said.
Bipartisan interest in federal broadband funding mechanisms and criticism of FCC coverage data collection practices dominated Thursday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on rural broadband, as expected (see 1810030055). The panel also became a forum for Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other committee members to tout broadband-related legislation eyed for potential combination into a package bill (see 1807250056).
Alaska’s revenue-based USF surcharge factor would drop 4.5 points to 14.5 percent under a proposal by Alaska Universal Service Administrative Co., the Regulatory Commission of Alaska said Tuesday. It would be effective Jan. 1, on intrastate telecom services, RCA said. “The surcharge is calculated to allow sufficient funding for the AUSF, including carrier of last resort support, carrier common line support, support for local exchange company switching equipment, state Lifeline support, public interest pay telephone support, and AUSAC’s 2019 operating budget.” The commission sought comment by Nov. 1.
Senate Indian Affairs Committee members focused on what they see as deficiencies in FCC practices for determining broadband coverage on tribal lands, during a Wednesday hearing. The hearing examined a September GAO report that said the FCC overstates broadband availability on tribal lands because it considers service available in a census block if a provider can serve at least one location (see 1809100041). A Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on progress in rural broadband deployments is likely to also touch on tribal governments' concerns. But the panel will largely be an overview of the chamber's work in this Congress on encouraging broadband projects in rural areas and is likely to frame Senate Commerce's approach to that issue in 2019, lawmakers and lobbyists told us.
Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, and the three other members of the state's House delegation urged the FCC Monday to increase funding for the USF high-cost program amid concerns it remains “underfunded” in FY 2019. The FCC committed in March to a $540 million infusion to “help address the funding shortfall” in the program, but there remains a need to “set the budget to meet current demand levels and keep pace with inflation going forward” given the high-cost program's funding has remained level since 2011, the House members wrote Pai: “This lack of funding could lead to a shortfall of nearly $11 million” in Iowa, which “will require providers to postpone or cancel broadband investments, reduce the availability of rural broadband and threaten to increase consumer rates on rural areas.” Pai "received the letter and is reviewing it," an FCC spokesman said.
A 3.5 GHz draft spearheaded by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly would mandate the FCC auction priority access licenses (PALs) on a countywide rather than census-tract basis. The agency would increase license terms of the citizens broadband radio service PALs to 10 years with an expectation of renewal and take other steps designed to make an eventual PAL auction a success. The FCC Tuesday posted draft items for the Oct. 23 commissioners’ meeting (see 1810010027) to address two other wireless proceedings, revise rural telco and some price-cap business data service (BDS) regulation and "modernize" cable rate regulations and broadcast filing requirements.
Telco groups urged the FCC to approve their plan to raise the rural carrier USF budget to at least $2.4 billion for 2018, plus $200 million already committed to the current Alternative Connect America Model Program, said a letter Monday in docket 10-90 from ITTA, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA. "A portion of the budget should be provided to current A-CAM plan participants to enable them to receive support at the level initially offered to them in 2016 (i.e. $200/month per location)." They also proposed an "inflation factor," "baseline funding" that eliminates the need for a support "floor," and no new model-based offers until the existing mechanisms are "sufficiently funded." It's a "collaborative approach to building consensus around a set of shared proposals that, if adopted, will establish predictable USF funding," said Lynn Follansbee, USTelecom vice president-law and policy. "We hope the Commission moves quickly toward finalizing reforms.” Pai said Monday he plans a draft order on model-based RLEC business data services for the Oct. 23 commissioners' meeting (see 1810010027).
Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday the FCC will consider rules at the Oct. 23 commissioners' meeting allowing Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band and revising rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. Those were expected (see 1808310026). The FCC would post the draft items Tuesday, three weeks before the meeting. Also on tap is a draft order to update model-based support for rural telcos, media modernization on cable rate regulation and broadcast filing requirements and items on private land mobile radio (PLMR) services and enforcement.
“We cannot afford to fixate on infrastructure builds alone,” ex-FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Wednesday in livestreamed remarks at the Great Lakes Connect event in Fairlawn, Ohio. USF should continue to support affordability through the Lifeline program in addition to infrastructure, “for ‘if you build it, they will come’ only happens when a person can afford the service,” she said. Connecting fiber alone won’t bridge the digital divide; adoption issues like affordability and relevance must also be addressed, Clyburn said. “But strangling the Lifeline program, the nation’s only means-tested universal service program that addresses the cost of voice and broadband service, and allowing only facilities-based providers to offer Lifeline service … will leave an estimated 70 percent of subscribers who cannot afford communications service today without a viable option tomorrow.” As Clyburn spoke, Lifeline advocates held a small rally outside FCC headquarters opposing the agency's proposal to ban resellers from the program (see 1809260029).