The FCC announced the pleading cycle on a USF Rural Health Care NPRM that commissioners adopted Dec. 14 along with an order providing some near-term relief from funding restrictions (see 1712140054). Comments are due Feb. 2, replies March 5, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 17-310 Thursday after a summary of the NPRM/order was published in Wednesday's Federal Register. The FCC said Dec. 14 the notice seeks comment on "increasing the RHC Program's $400 million annual cap and creating a prioritization mechanism" if demand exceeds the cap. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said he would be "extremely reluctant" to support an RHC budget increase absent other USF program cuts.
Universal Service Administrative Co.'s board "is fully committed to strengthening oversight and delivery of timely, reliable and secure systems needed to fully administer all aspects" of USF, said Chairman Brian Talbott in a letter the FCC posted Wednesday. He responded to a Dec. 13 letter from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressing concerns about USAC's information technology and security systems and seeking the board's "unqualified commitment" to bolster oversight. Pai said system problems caused delays affecting important FCC deadlines, including for a fully functioning E-rate Productivity Center and the launch of a Lifeline national verifier. USAC's board shares Pai's concerns, Talbott wrote. He said new (see 1712130018) CEO Radha Sekar has "extensive" IT experience and USAC is "actively seeking a qualified Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer" to make improvements. On information security, he said the board pledges USAC, in collaboration with the FCC, "will ensure every effort is made to deliver timely and effective compliance with all applicable rules and requirements" -- including of the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act -- on all projects. "Security compliance will be incorporated into USAC's information systems development and design process to avoid the kinds of pitfalls that historically beset the E-rate Productivity Center and contributed to the recent delay" of the Lifeline national verifier, he wrote.
A court denied a Blanca Telephone petition for a writ of mandamus seeking judicial intervention against FCC orders requiring the company to repay $6.75 million in USF support (see 1712110055). "Mandamus is a drastic remedy that should be invoked only in extraordinary circumstances," said a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an order posted on the commission's website Tuesday (In re: Blanca Telephone Co., No. 17-1451). "Before this court grants this drastic remedy, we must be satisfied, at a minimum, that there is no adequate alternative means for the relief Blanca seeks, that its right to mandamus relief is clear and indisputable, and that issuance of the writ is appropriate. ... [W]e determine that Blanca has not met these requirements." The same panel last week rejected a Blanca motion for an emergency stay opposed by the FCC, which argued the company was seeking relief on grounds it hadn't presented to the agency (see 1712290036). Blanca petitioned the FCC for reconsideration of an order and emergency relief in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 96-45.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected on procedural grounds Blanca Telephone’s pursuit of a stay of an FCC order that the company repay $6.75 million in USF support. The FCC asked the court to reject the petition on procedural ground (see 1712280029). “Because petitioner has not made showings sufficient to obtain a stay pending a ruling on the mandamus petition, we deny the stay motion,” said an order from the court. “The emergency motion for stay is denied, the motions to supplement are granted, and the mandamus petition remains under consideration.”
The FCC told the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals it should reject on procedural grounds a petition by Blanca Telephone seeking a stay of an order that Blanca must repay $6.75 million in USF support "to which it was not entitled." Earlier this month, commissioners upheld an Office of Managing Director decision ordering the repayment (see 1712110055). “Blanca did not request a stay from the FCC before seeking judicial intervention and now seeks a judicial stay on grounds that it never presented to the agency,” the FCC said in a filing with the court. “More fundamentally, Blanca’s stay motion makes no attempt to show that the Order is wrong on the merits or is likely to be overturned upon further review. That stark failure provides a separate and additional basis on which the stay request must be denied.” Blanca didn’t comment.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission set Jan. 17 and Feb. 28 workshops on revamping state USF, in a notice last week. At the first workshop, commission staff “will summarize the issues related to the ongoing viability of the IUSF and potential solutions and outcomes," the PUC said. Afterward, stakeholders have until Jan. 31 to file position papers, it said. The Idaho PUC said it would weigh changes to USF after doubling monthly USF fees in August (see 1708230029).
More than 50 federal and state officials and 200 rural telcos have sent letters in recent weeks to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging action by year-end on additional USF broadband subsidies for RLECs using the Alternative Connect America Model support mechanism, said an ITTA release Thursday. The group said if the commission increases funding up to $200 per month per eligible location in ACAM support, carriers could bring high-speed internet access to more than 70,000 currently unserved and underserved rural residences and businesses.
The FCC gave a waiver to Lifeline eligible telecom carriers affected by delay in launch of a national verifier of consumer eligibility for the low-income USF support program in six states (see 1712010042). The Wireline Bureau temporarily waived "recertification rules in Colorado, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming from January 1, 2018 through the date of the soft launch of the National Verifier for subscribers whose recertification deadlines or 'anniversary dates' would otherwise fall during that time frame," said a public notice in docket 11-42 and Tuesday's Daily Digest. Because the national verifier will reverify consumer eligibility, ETCs in the six states were instructed not to recertify the eligibility of Lifeline consumers with anniversary dates starting in January. "Now that the initial launch of the National Verifier has been delayed, however, those subscribers are at risk, through no fault of their own, of not having completed the recertification process by their anniversary dates," the PN said. The bureau partially granted the Michigan Public Service Commission extension of a waiver from Lifeline eligibility criteria changes through June 30 or the date on which the state aligns its eligibility criteria with the FCC's and updates its database. The PSC sought the waiver through Dec. 31, said an order in the docket.
The FCC released an NPRM and order to review its Rural Health Care Program of USF support and provide some near-term funding relief. Comments will be due 30 days after Federal Register publication, replies 30 days later, said the 84-page text issued Monday in docket 17-310 after being adopted unanimously by commissioners at Thursday's monthly meeting (see 1712140054).
The FCC approved an NPRM seeking comment on possible relaxation or elimination of the national cap on TV station ownership on a 3-2 party-line vote, as expected (see 1712060051). Though Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted with the other Republicans to approve, he said he agreed with the Democrats the FCC doesn’t have authority to alter the cap. Despite that, if the FCC acts to modify the cap after the NPRM, O’Rielly said he will “happily support” Thursday's action: “That is not to suggest my position has changed, but only that I believe in getting to finality and am willing to cast a vote that will allow the commission to take the needed step to get this to court review.”