The Senate passed the Rural Wireless Access Act (S-1621) Thursday under unanimous consent. The bill, which the Senate Commerce Committee cleared in August, would force the FCC to ensure standardized data collection for USF support eligibility (see 1705110060 and 1708020052). "Unless we have accurate information about where the coverage gaps actually are, we cannot put a solution in place that improves the high-speed internet service of consumers in rural areas,” Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Ala., S-1621's lead sponsor, said in a statement. Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said in a statement he hopes Senate passage of S-1621 "guides the FCC to take further steps to help improve the consumer experience, especially in rural areas," including on USF High Cost program funding. A "streamlined, reliable and accurate process for collecting mobile wireless data is critically important to help identify areas [th]at are still unserved and underserved to appropriately target resources to preserve and expand mobile broadband," Berry said.
The USF contribution factor for Q2 will drop from 19.5 percent to 18.4 percent of carriers' U.S. interstate and international (long-distance) telecom end-user revenue, emailed industry consultant Billy Jack Gregg Friday. He said Universal Service Administrative Co. Q2 projection of USF revenue was $12.8 billion, about $66 million less than the previous quarter, which he combined with the previously announced Q2 USF demand projection of $1.97 billion (see 1802010024) to produce the contribution factor estimate. The decline in revenue "continues the downward trend in the USF contribution base, which places upward pressure on the USF assessment factor," he said. "USF revenues for the four quarters ending [in Q2] are $4.55 billion lower than revenues for the four quarters ending [in Q2 2017], an 8.1% decline."
If legislators take action on net neutrality, they should recognize the FCC should be in charge of enforcement rather than the FTC, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn in an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, set to be telecast Saturday. The FCC is capable of quick action on open Internet issues, but the necessary showings to trigger FTC intervention would make relying on that agency cumbersome, she said. “People want action,” Clyburn said. Any legislative solution should have “strong legal footing,” encourage infrastructure investment, and allow for consumer protection “in real time,” Clyburn said. If net neutrality legislation can accomplish all of that without relying on Title II of the Communications Act, she’s willing to consider it, though she said the FCC “got it right” in 2015. Without Title II authority, there could be issues with legal challenges to Connect America Fund policies, Clyburn said. Such challenges could damage the USF, a “deeply unsettling” prospect, she said. Consumers need net neutrality protections because ISPs now offer bundles of services that could incentivize anti-consumer actions, Clyburn said. Companies changing their statements about whether they consider concepts like paid prioritization acceptable is evidence there's a need for strong net neutrality regulation, she said. Proposals by the FCC majority on 5G don’t sufficiently account for the needs of local communities, Clyburn said. She said some jurisdictions might have restrictive siting rules or high rents for carriers, but bad actors are a small portion of the overall landscape. The FCC shouldn’t “regulate on the fringes,” she said. Treating small cells differently “makes all the sense in the world,” but the FCC should work “collaboratively,” she said. Clyburn also took the FCC majority to task over inmate calling, where she said FCC policies are hurting families: “The FCC has not done it’s job.”
The FCC partially granted a Telrite request to extend a temporary waiver of Lifeline USF "recertification and non-usage rules in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands through May 31," citing lingering hurricane disruption. "Because of these compelling and unique circumstances, we find good cause to temporarily waive for 30 days sections 54.405(e)(3), 54.405(e)(4), 54.407(c)(2), and 54.410(f) of the Commission’s rules for all eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) serving Lifeline subscribers residing in Puerto Rico or the USVI," said a Wireline Bureau order Thursday in docket 11-42. Telrite's petition sought a waiver extension until the FCC determines it's in the public interest to be lifted. A PRWireless petition posted Thursday sought an "emergency waiver of the Lifeline recertification rules to prevent loss of critical wireless telephone service by thousands of low‐income inhabitants of Puerto Rico who face severe challenges in the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria."
The FCC offered guidance on the Form 477 and broadband reporting duties of carriers receiving high-cost USF support. The commission in 2016 directed Universal Service Administrative Co. to develop an online system for receiving high-cost carriers' broadband location information and certifications, now called High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB). A Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 10-90 Thursday provided additional guidance and clarifications to carriers on reporting certain details: the "effect of corrected Form 477 data on Connect America Fund-Broadband Loop Support carrier deployment obligations," the "process to demonstrate there are fewer than the required number of locations or that a carrier is fully deployed" and "ongoing HUBB reporting obligations." Major telcos expressed concerns about the process for updating HUBB information, said a USTelecom filing posted Wednesday on a meeting representatives of the group, AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Verizon, Windstream had with FCC and USAC staffers: "We discussed the need to permit providers to make automated updates, including dropping locations, to previously submitted information. The current suggested process of emailing USAC personnel with a detailed explanation for every dropped location who, in turn, will forward that email to FCC staff for their review and approval, is not workable at scale." The officials also discussed approaches to rationalize legacy obligations and USF support with a CAF II broadband auction looming. CenturyLink wasn't able to make certain data changes due to "HUBB portal restrictions," said the telco's filing posted Thursday in docket 14-58. USTelecom and CenturyLink didn't comment Thursday on the PN.
The FCC partially granted an Alaska Telephone Association petition to reconsider a bureau "Map Instructions" public notice while clarifying "Alaska Plan" carriers' map data-filing duties. The Wireline and Wireless bureaus granted the petition about "the required data accuracy standard for the map collection due to be filed in 2018" and extended a March 1 submission deadline until July 1. "We also provide clarification regarding the data to be filed regarding 'community anchor institutions,'" said an order in Thursday's Daily Digest, with map instructions revised "to reflect this relief." It denied the petition otherwise. The 2016 order approving a modified Alaska Plan provided $1.5 billion in USF subsidies over 10 years to maintain, extend and upgrade broadband across remote areas of the state (see 1608310067). Fifteen rate-of-return carriers and eight wireless affiliates opted in, with the goal of providing 10/1 Mbps, but lower speeds were allowed if there were middle-mile network constraints on connecting to the internet backbone. ATA's petition said reporting requirements went beyond collecting data on middle-mile links and also covered last-mile facilities (see 1710120023). The reconsideration order "adjusts mapping requirements to allow" plan participants "to provide important information about broadband infrastructure in Alaska more efficiently," emailed ATA Executive Director Christine O'Connor.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, pressed Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to explain why President Donald Trump's infrastructure legislative proposal doesn't include “direct funding” for broadband projects via “existing programs” like the USF High Cost program and the Rural Utilities Service, during a Thursday Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. Trump’s legislative package, released last month, proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants (see 1802120001). Democrats criticized the proposal for not including dedicated broadband funding (see 1802140052 and 1802140064).
The California Public Utilities Commission sought more time to comply with FCC elimination of a federal Lifeline low-income USF port freeze for voice and broadband services (see 1711160021). With the new rule to take effect March 19, the CPUC asked for an implementation extension until July 15 so it can determine what, if any, changes are needed to the state's LifeLine program, said a waiver petition posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. Also this week, a Telrite emergency petition sought a waiver extension of recertification and other rules for Lifeline subscribers in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands until the Wireline Bureau determines it would be in the public interest to lift the waivers. The Alaska Telephone Association said FCC grant of relief to Lifeline providers in the state from several minimum service duties would give eligible low-income Alaskans living in remote areas "a choice between mobile wireless or fixed service at affordable rates." ATA's reply comments noted NTCA and WTA supported its petition and there was no opposition (see 1712060038). Hawaii's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands commended FCC efforts to address various policy initiatives raised in a recent NPRM, some of which faced much resistance in recent comments (see 1802210045 and 1802220061).
FCC staff gave some E-rate USF participants more time to file invoices beyond a previous extension ending Tuesday, due to Universal Service Administrative Co. processing delays. A "limited waiver" provides relief "to applicants and service providers that: (a) timely requested and received the one-time 120-day extension to invoice for funding year 2016 recurring charges from [USAC]; and (b) are currently awaiting, or recently received, a revised funding commitment decision letter (RFCDL) issued for a post-commitment change request submitted to USAC," said the Wireline Bureau order in docket 02-6 listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Affected E-rate participants now have "120 days from the date of their post-commitment RFCDL" to file invoices, said the bureau, citing "extraordinary circumstances created by technological system issues that delayed USAC’s issuance of post-commitment RFCDLs" for FY 2016. The parties "may not receive their RFCDLs in time to submit accurate invoices" by Tuesday, it said.
Revamp, don’t repeal Alaska USF, urged the telecom industry and Alaska’s attorney general in comments this week in docket R-18-001 at the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. The RCA last month proposed phasing out AUSF by July 31, 2019 (see 1801160014). The Alaska Telephone Association (ATA), Alaska Communications (AC) and the AG office rejected that and pitched alternatives. AUSF surcharges -- 19 percent this year -- “will almost certainly continue to rise,” a lawmaker said. The federal USF contribution factor for Q1 is 19.5 percent.