The rollout of 5G in the U.S. could mean as many as 3 million jobs, including 50,000 construction jobs per year while deployment is in progress, said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in remarks Monday at a Jackson State University workforce development roundtable, hosted by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Carr said the U.S. needs to get policies right. “This technology is not just about faster download speeds,” he said. Fifth generation “has the potential to increase competition in the broadband market, expand Internet access -- including through new, fixed wireless offerings -- and connect billions of devices. 5G networks could also transform entire industries -- with use cases ranging from self-driving vehicles to new telehealth applications,” he said. Unemployment is low in Mississippi but more could be done, Carr told a Mississippi radio station, and broadband buildout is the top issue facing the FCC. “A tremendous amount of rural communities” have been “left behind,” he said. USF is going to be important in many parts of rural America, he said: “There’s not going to be a private sector business for deploying broadband in a lot of these communities.” Carr said he was in Colorado last week (see 1802150018) and spoke to a broadband provider with more buffalo than people in his service territory.
The FCC revised rules for rural telco consumer broadband-only loop (CBOL) services adopted in a 2016 rate-of-return USF overhaul order. The commission replaced a "surrogate cost method for determining the cost of CBOLs with rules employing existing separations and cost allocation procedures," said a reconsideration order in docket 10-90 in Tuesday's Daily Digest responding to an NTCA petition. It modified a "rule requiring rate-of-return carriers to impute on CBOLs an amount equal to the Access Recovery Charge (ARC) that could have been assessed on a voice or voice/broadband line to better implement our intent to maintain the balance between end user charges and universal service adopted" in a 2011 USF and intercarrier-compensation transformation order. The commission clarified "two matters pertaining to reductions in Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) due to competitive overlap": affecting reduction amounts associated with a "second disaggregation method" and declaring a transition "schedule applies where the CAF BLS subject to competitive overlap is 25 percent or more of total CAF BLS." The various adjustments provide "more certainty and stability for carriers investing for the future, thereby ensuring that all consumers have access to advanced telecommunications and information services," the order said. Senior Vice President Mike Romano said Tuesday NTCA is pleased the FCC acted on the ARC and surrogate-cost issues raised in its petition. "The order represents a few more important steps in addressing the ‘punchlist’ of items flagged in our petition, and we are eager to keep working with the FCC to address the outstanding items on that list to put the high cost mechanisms in a better position to truly deliver on the mission of universal service."
A federal court panel denied Sandwich Isles Communications' request for urgent relief to order the FCC to disburse withheld USF subsidies. "Petitioner has not shown a 'clear and indisputable right' to mandamus relief" under the Supreme Court's 1988 Gulfstream Aerospace precedent, said the order (in Pacer) Friday of Judges Judith Rogers, Thomas Griffith and Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (In re: Sandwich Isles Communications, No. 17-1248). FCC opposition argued it had "ample" legal discretion "to deny subsidies to companies like SIC that engage in fraud, waste, or abuse" in USF (see 1801250018). The FCC also disputed Sandwich Isles' bid to recover more than an estimated $1.9 million in annual costs from a National Exchange Carrier Association pooling mechanism (see 1801190059).
FCC commissioners will hear a presentation on a new national broadband map at their meeting Thursday, said the agenda, which otherwise is the same as a Feb. 1 tentative agenda. To be considered are draft items on proposals and actions for using spectrum above 95 MHz, setting Section 7 rules for timely processing of applications for new technologies or services, resolving USF mobility fund Phase II reconsideration petitions, and eliminating certain broadcast and media paperwork rules and payphone provider audit and reporting duties (see 1802010042).
Colorado Telecommunications Association representatives asked Commissioner Brendan Carr to back FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s order on circulation (see 1801100029) to provide more USF funding to rate-of-return and model-based support companies, CTA recounted Wednesday in docket 10-90. Executive Vice President Peter Kirchhof and others at Monday's meeting sought a "long-term predictable funding solution for rural broadband" and to ensure "broadband funding be scrutinized to avoid overbuilding of existing networks," he wrote. Other attendees besides Carr's aides were David Shipley, Ronny Puckett and Terry Hendrickson, the filing said; the group's website said Shipley is affiliated with Rye Telephone, Puckett with Plains Cooperative Telephone and Hendrickson with Wiggins Telephone Association. The meeting took place in Boulder, Kirchhof emailed us. "We simply shared our thoughts on why the funding is important to our members."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted a "call to action" to improve tribal communications, noting the agency last week revamped a Native Nations Communications Task Force and sought member nominations by March 31. "This latest renewal recognizes the importance of tribal input on commission matters that impact Americans living on tribal lands," Pai told the National Congress of American Indians Thursday. He said the task force will consist of 20 tribal members and 11 senior FCC staffers. He said improving rural broadband, including in tribal areas, is one of his top priorities. "Americans living on tribal lands who lack access to high-speed broadband has been cut in half since I arrived at the commission in 2012," from 68 percent to 35 percent, he said. "The bad news is that that percentage is still over four times higher than for the overall U.S. population," only 8 percent of which lacks "internet access." He noted he called for a "tribal broadband factor" in high-cost USF support to boost tribal funding, as part of a draft NPRM and order, which would give over $500 million more to rural carriers (see 1801160040 and 1802150018). Separately, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the FCC's Lifeline eligibility re-certification process "does not comport with tribal culture" and subscriber abilities, and tribal programs should be used as proxies, in a docket 11-42 filing Wednesday on a meeting representatives had with a Pai aide.
Center for Democracy & Technology adds Maurice Turner, ex-TechCongress congressional fellow on Republican staff of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, as senior technologist, Election Security and Privacy Project ... Freshfields hires Eric Mahr, ex-DOJ Antitrust Division, as partner, antitrust practice, including transaction litigation ... Haug Partners taps Georg Reitboeck, ex-Kenyon & Kenyon, as IP litigation partner.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said USF contributions should assess broadband because subsidies target broadband and the current long-distance voice revenue base is unsustainable. The current approach is much like a game of Jenga, she said at NARUC Wednesday, tracking written remarks: "We keep removing pieces from the base, and keep adding more to the top. Eventually, that tower will come tumbling down." She hopes a federal-state joint board will propose changes, but if not, it could invite new, outside experts to analyze the situation and provide fresh ideas.
A modified Lifeline draft NARUC resolution urging the FCC to continue allowing resellers to receive low-income USF subsidies cleared the telecom committee unanimously Tuesday. The panel added recommendations from a rival draft backing FCC proposals to eliminate stand-alone Lifeline broadband provider designations and reinstate state regulatory authority over eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designations. It also added language to support firming up a $2.25 billion FCC annual Lifeline budget, and it OK'd a nationwide number portability (NNP) draft resolution, but withdrew a draft pole-attachment overlashing draft. The cleared drafts are expected to be approved by NARUC's board Wednesday.
ISPs, wireline, wireless and cable are making major investment in broadband, industry representatives told state commissioners Monday at NARUC's meeting. They faced some tough questions. Carriers are spending totals on broadband that dwarf what was spent on the federal highway system or the race to the moon, said Jonathan Banks, USTelecom senior vice president-law and policy. Wireless carriers are planning for 5G, with the first of several standards released, said Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs.