The author of Texas’s small-cells law said he never meant to spur regulatory-regime shopping by wireless infrastructure companies. Senate Business and Commerce Committee Chairman Kelly Hancock (R) countered arguments by ExteNet and Crown Castle in a letter to the Public Utility Commission sent the day before commissioners were to discuss a controversial proceeding about PUC authority over wireless network nodes in the right of way (ROW). Commissioners chose not to discuss the wireless item at their Wednesday meeting, but approved two other items on the state USF.
Industry generally urged the FCC to streamline Form 477 data reporting duties for broadband and voice providers and be cautious about adding new requirements, particularly if costly. Many backed moving from twice-a-year to annual filings and resisted collection of more granular data, while a few took contrary views. Comments were posted Tuesday and Wednesday in docket 11-10 on a Further NPRM seeking to make industry data, which is used for USF, more useful while scrapping unnecessary burdens (see 1708030026).
The National Hispanic Media Coalition and other public interest groups urged the FCC to do more to address the communications meltdown in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1710040046). Chairman Ajit Pai, meanwhile, said he appointed a staff task force on hurricane recovery. Addressed to Pai, the letter also was signed by the Center for Media Justice, the Color of Change, Free Press and Public Knowledge.
Rural telcos pressed FCC officials for increased USF support and other changes to the subsidy program. Citing almost $1.5 billion in annual "unmet needs" under an "arbitrary' $2 billion rural carrier cap, the Small Company Coalition asked the FCC to tap over $8 billion in reserves to reduce contributions to the system and address the "shortfall" in funding support for small, rate-of-return carriers, in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90 on meetings with Commissioner Brendan Carr and aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn. The SCC said Universal Service Administrative Co. audits cost about $250 million but led to only $8 million in recovery of questionable funds in 2016. It urged more focus "on demonstrably problematic programs and bad actors" and use of a "materiality" threshold. The group asked for "eliminating overlapping or outdated reporting requirements" and "raising awareness regarding the impact of shrinking" high-cost loop support.
FCC staff released a USF E-rate eligible service list (ESL) for funding year 2018, adopting two proposals it made to clarify language to assist applicants seeking support for on-premise network equipment, and regarding "the category of service that should apply to inside wiring between different schools or libraries sharing a single building." (Category One services support broadband connectivity to schools and libraries; Category Two broadband within schools and libraries.) "We add to the ESL the proposed clarifying note regarding the eligibility of on-premises Network Equipment with both Category One and Category Two functionalities," said a Wireline Bureau order Thursday in docket 13-184. "On-premises Network Equipment that has both Category One and Category Two functionalities is eligible for Category One support if it is necessary to make a Category One broadband service functional." The bureau also clarified that "applicants should classify inside wiring between two schools sharing a single building as Category Two services." It declined other proposals.
Alaska may increase its state USF surcharge factor to 15.8 percent, a 1.6 percentage point increase, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska said in a Wednesday public notice. The change, effective Jan. 1, would mean a $7.90 state USF fee on a $50 monthly billing of intrastate telecom services, the RCA said. The commission sought comments on the proposed increase by Nov. 2. Decreasing revenue from the state USF has led the RCA to consider short-term and long-term changes to the fund (see 1709210038).
The Alaska Telephone Association voiced concern about FCC reporting duties on rural telcos and mobile carriers receiving USF support under an Alaska Plan order (see 1608310067). The commission required participants to provide maps of existing and planned fiber and microwave middle-mile facilities, said an ATA filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-271 on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, and Wireline and Wireless bureau staffers. But recently released agency instructions "require extensive reporting [of] last mile facilities and will be extremely time-consuming and expensive to implement," the filing said. Executive Director Christine O'Connor "expressed concern that without modification, the additional reporting beyond middle-mile facilities will divert significant resources from broadband service and deployment. She asked that participants get access to a "High Cost Universal Broadband" portal ASAP "so they can upload geocoded locations of broadband service where it has already been provided under the Alaska Plan."
NTCA continued to press the FCC to "remedy the shortfalls" in high-cost USF support, initiate a comprehensive budget review by year-end as contemplated by the agency, and, in the meantime, continue to collect the current overall budget amount for the high-cost program. If such collection yields USF contributions "in excess of then-current high cost USF demand," the commission should "use any such additional sums to mitigate the shortfalls in support that are being applied only to smaller rural carriers," said the RLEC group in docket 10-90 on its latest discussion with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai (here) and a meeting with Commissioner Michael O'Rielly and an aide (here). It asked that "any high-cost USF reserves that have not already been expressly allocated" be used "to fill the budget shortfall" near term, and would welcome other potential solutions "to the ongoing support crisis."
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai acted on Puerto Rico in light of the near meltdown in communications because of Hurricane Maria, but some say there’s more the agency can do. Commissioners took about a day to approve an order (see 1710030057) making up to $76.9 million immediately available for the restoration of communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “The FCC’s actions are intended to enable carriers to restore essential communications services as quickly as possible,” said a news release.
E-rate USF subsidies for school and library voice services plunged under an FCC shift to broadband support that includes a four-year phaseout of voice support ordered in 2014, said a Wireline Bureau report in Tuesday's Daily Digest. It said voice discounts were $708 million (34 percent) of $2.1 billion of total E-rate funding in funding year 2014 but dropped to $259 million (10 percent) of $2.5 billion in FY 2016. Applicants seeking voice support dropped from 24,575 in FY 2014 to 18,884 in FY 2016, "though most of the applicants who no longer apply for voice services continue to seek E-rate support for other services," said the report, which stemmed from the 2014 order. "If the Commission takes no further action after the Bureau issues this report, the phasedown will continue until no funding is available for voice services in funding year 2019." NTCA and TDS (see 1703030013) asked the FCC to keep E-rate voice discounts; T-Mobile urged the commission to carefully consider requests to reconsider the voice phaseout (see 1708090044).