Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urged the White House to support reauthorization of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, in comments posted Friday on the Broadband Opportunity Council’s (BBOC) request for comment on broadband availability and deployment issues. A group of House Democrats led by House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a separate filing to “modernize” regulations for the Rural Utility Service’s Telecom Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program to “better facilitate high-speed rural broadband deployment.” BBOC, which the White House created March 23 to spur broadband investment and adoption (see 1503230064), sought comment on ways the federal government can modernize “outdated regulations,” identify regulatory barriers to broadband deployment and promote broadband adoption.
Friday was a “red letter day” for consumers, innovators and those who build networks, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Consumer Advisory Committee Friday, as February net neutrality rules formally took effect (see 1506120036). Wheeler said, “There have never been rules this extensive and this flexible going forward in existence.” The CAC received a briefing on the role it will play in helping shape how the rules are enforced.
AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon expressed concerns about a possible FCC requirement that telecom carriers providing Lifeline-supported service retain sensitive consumer documentation that's submitted to demonstrate eligibility for the USF program. The large telcos said the FCC shouldn't move forward with the proposal or should consider it further in a Lifeline NPRM the FCC is planning to vote on along with a Lifeline order at its June 18 meeting. Meanwhile, wireless Lifeline providers and others continue to lobby the FCC, backing the possible expansion of traditional Lifeline voice support to broadband access.
The Competitive Carriers Association supports Lifeline overhaul, teed up for a vote at next week’s FCC meeting (see 1505280037), but not at the expense of other USF programs, CCA officials said in a series of meetings at the agency. CCA members participate in the program, it said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. “CCA and its members support efforts to restructure the Lifeline program to meet today’s most pressing communications needs, including providing low-income consumers affordable access to broadband, as long as the Commission does not abandon support for voice services -- especially in rural areas -- and these changes are not made at the expense of other USF programs.” Some CCA members serving rural communities are concerned about uncertainty on available high-cost universal service support “for operating, upgrading, and expanding wireless networks in rural areas,” CCA said. This support is key to “facilitating investment, which promotes competition and broadens the number of providers who can offer services through the Lifeline program,” the association said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied American Teleconferencing Services' request for review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision and a waiver. "USAC acted properly when it rejected ATS’ late-filed second revised 2012 FCC Form 499-A," said an order released Tuesday. "ATS has failed to demonstrate that good cause exists to justify waiver of the revision filing deadline for its second revised 2012 Form 499-A." Industry contributors to USF mechanisms are required to file Form 499-A by April 1 each year reporting their prior year's revenue, among other things. Parties that make mistakes in their forms have until March 31 of the subsequent year to file a revision, but ATS didn't realize a mistake in a revision to its 2012 filing until past the deadline in 2013, filing a second revision in August 2013 that was rejected by USAC. The bureau said it found that the ATS claim of financial hardship didn't warrant waiver of the deadline because it "does not rise to the order of magnitude" that petitioners in precedent cited by ATS would have faced without a waiver.
The FCC suspended Oscar Enrique Perez-Zumaeta from participating in Lifeline activities, after he was convicted of money laundering in connection with fraudulent claims against the Lifeline USF program, said an Enforcement Bureau letter released Monday. Perez-Zumaeta owned and managed PSPS Sales, a California entity that recruited low-income people to apply for Lifeline-supported phone service through Icon Telecom, the bureau said. Icon pleaded guilty to knowingly making a false statement to the Universal Service Administrative Co. about fraudulent Lifeline claims, the letter said. "According to court records, you were charged with directing PSPS workers to enroll fictitious customers and falsify Lifeline recertification forms for use in Icon’s fraudulent scheme," the letter said to Perez-Zumaeta. "On November 7, 2014, you pled guilty to one count of money laundering for depositing a $52,390.00 check from Icon into a PSPS bank account, despite knowing that more than $10,000.00 of those funds was the result of criminal fraud against the Commission." Under FCC rules, the conviction requires the bureau to suspend Perez-Zumaeta from participating in any activities involving Lifeline, the letter said.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler juggles a contentious, complicated and not always visible relationship with GOP-controlled Capitol Hill in executing his agenda, said lawmakers and former FCC chairmen in interviews. More than 20 months into the Wheeler chairmanship, lawmakers from both parties praised Wheeler’s ability to face intense congressional oversight and cultivate relationships outside of the hearing room. Partisan undercurrents affected how some Republicans and Democrats perceive the 69-year-old Wheeler, an Obama administration appointee and former Obama campaign fundraiser, following explosively political debate on net neutrality.
Rural telco groups outlined a "two-path" framework agreement to revamp rate-of-return USF mechanisms that they believe gives the FCC a jump-start in its drive to modernize the $2 billion high-cost voice subsidy program for the broadband era. Rural carrier representatives submitted their proposals Wednesday for creating a voluntary model-based approach and revising existing USF mechanisms to support stand-alone broadband, while noting there were some areas where disagreements remained and FCC guidance was needed (see 1506030052).
Rural telco groups working to develop an industry plan to overhaul rate-of-return USF have reached agreement on a basic "two-path" framework and "major elements" but are still trying to narrow their differences, according to an ITTA ex parte filing Wednesday and an industry official with another group. The FCC had set Wednesday as the deadline for the telco groups to hammer out an industry accord.
AT&T voluntarily committed to file periodic reports to the FCC to verify that it isn't using Connect America Fund USF subsidies to support new broadband service enabled by its proposed takeover of DirecTV, said an AT&T ex parte letter posted Tuesday in docket 14-90. AT&T noted it was so confident of deal-related savings and synergies that it already had committed to expand and enhance high-speed Internet service to 15 million customer locations, mostly in areas where it currently doesn't offer broadband access, the filing said. AT&T said it wouldn't use CAF support to pay for these deployments, though it would use those funds to go beyond the 15 million-location commitment. "To allow the Commission to monitor AT&T’s broadband deployment, AT&T will voluntarily commit to submit to the Commission, for four years following the date the merger closes, periodic progress reports on the status of its broadband deployment commitment," the filing said. "These reports will verify that locations built to fulfill AT&T’s merger commitment are not funded with CAF. AT&T will submit its first progress report within six months after the merger’s closing. Thereafter, AT&T will submit a progress report 90 days after each anniversary of the merger’s closing." Meanwhile, Comptel met with FCC officials Friday about their concerns with the AT&T/DirecTV deal, said an ex parte filing also posted Tuesday. Comptel backed transaction conditions proposed by Cox and the American Cable Association to prevent AT&T/DirecTV from entering into programming contracts with "unreasonable volume discounts" that disadvantage competitors or from using its influence with programmers to interfere with the rates, terms and conditions they offer to competitors. Comptel also said it backed interconnection conditions proposed by Cogent and others, and said the FCC should bar AT&T/DirecTV "from charging terminating access fees or using broadband data caps" in a way that would harm the development and availability of online video programming.