The defeat of 911 funding bills in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Mississippi this year has left those in charge of operating emergency services worried about aging equipment, and wondering how to fund upgrades for next-generation 911 (NG-911), even as they struggle to pay for current-generation systems. The bills were among at least six nationwide that sought additional funding to make up for a decline in 911 fees collected from the dwindling number of landline customers.
U.S. broadband investment, both public and private, has paid off in recent years, with access numbers much improved, but much work on broadband adoption remains, said observers and stakeholders during a congressional briefing Tuesday. The National Urban League Washington Bureau hosted the Capitol Hill event on what future steps may be necessary.
The FCC needs to make continued Lifeline program overhaul a priority, the “Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition” told the agency in a letter Monday. The coalition is comprised of Telrite, Blue Jay Wireless, Global Connection of America and i-wireless. The Lifeline program would benefit from a rule change permitting eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) to retain proof of eligibility for audit purposes, and to “respond to negative media stories that claim an ETC did not require proof of eligibility, the coalition said. ETCs should be required to do a non-commission-based review and approval of all enrollments, the group said. Minimum standards for state eligibility databases would enable real-time enrollment and “guard against denying Lifeline service to eligible consumers,” the group said. The coalition also asked for a safe harbor from enforcement actions for alleged duplicate enrollments for Lifeline subscribers that have been submitted to the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD) or a similar state database. Commission rules don’t define a “duplicate” for purposes of the one-per-household rule, the coalition said. “Despite the lack of clarity regarding duplicate accounts prior to NLAD implementation, the Commission has undertaken a misguided and harmful process of proposing multi-million dollar fines against ETCs for failing to eradicate 100 percent of end-user fraud allegedly perpetrated in the form of intra-company duplicate enrollments in the Lifeline program,” it wrote. “The Commission should establish a safe harbor reflecting a minimum level of due diligence that a Lifeline ETC should employ to screen for duplicates.” A Lifeline provider that has conducted appropriate due diligence to identify duplicates should not be liable for retroactive reimbursements to USF, the coalition said.
The FNPRM on potential quantile regression analysis (QRA) replacements proposes several new mechanisms to more efficiently disburse limited USF money, agency and industry officials told us. A Connect America Fund order on circulation (CD April 8 p1) would eliminate the QRA benchmarks rule, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Wednesday (http://fcc.us/1iq7vHP). The QRA was “well-intentioned” but hasn’t had “the desired effect,” Wheeler wrote. The order also deals with the local rate floor, timing, amounts, and does some “cleanup” on reporting dates, agency and industry officials said.
While AT&T and other telephone companies have been seeking deregulation from states to avoid having to provide costly and increasingly unprofitable landline service (CD March 19 p12), Maine’s primary telco is taking a different tact. FairPoint Communications is asking the Public Utilities Commission for a $67.6 million-a-year public subsidy to continue providing landline. The company is also asking $2-a-month increase for residential and business landline customers.
Spectrum aggregation limits in Canada’s recent 700 MHz auction meant a more competitive auction, with higher prices and competitive carriers winning some of the spectrum, University of Maryland economist Peter Cramton said in comments filed at the FCC on behalf of T-Mobile. “The main lesson from the Canadian 700 MHz auction is that well-crafted spectrum-aggregation limits can succeed in encouraging valuable competition in the mobile industry without sacrificing auction revenues,” Cramton said (http://bit.ly/1gVIerq). “Were the Canadian auction conducted without limits, it seems likely that the regional operators would have been pushed aside by the much stronger Big 3.” Rogers “as a result of a network sharing arrangement between Bell and Telus had the most to lose if it failed to get” the A and B blocks, he said. “Rogers competed aggressively for AB and won in all the major markets paying CD$4.32 per MHz/POP, about twice the overall average auction price of CD$2.32. The C block also commanded a high price.” Like the Canadian market, the U.S. market is highly concentrated, Cramton said. “In the U.S., the Big 2 [carriers] have 67 percent market share and hold roughly 80 percent of the low-band spectrum, which is best-suited to providing coverage within buildings and in more difficult terrain. Were the Big 2 to dominate the 600 MHz auction, competition in the mobile broadband market would be harmed.” Also on spectrum aggregation, Verizon disputed arguments in a T-Mobile white paper, the T-Mobile USF Mobile Model Report (http://bit.ly/1efEsUX). “T-Mobile recently submitted a cost study analyzing deployment costs in rural markets for different types of spectrum,” Verizon said (http://bit.ly/1i85oqI). “That study provides no support for T-Mobile’s claim that it or any other firm is in danger of being ‘foreclosed’ from competing effectively in any market. The economic evidence shows there is no valid basis for the Commission to abandon its longstanding and successful policy of assigning spectrum to those firms that value it most and that will put it to use promptly to serve their customers."
Nearly 200,000 customers of eligible telecom carriers receiving high-cost USF support had rates below the $14 rate floor as of Jan. 2, an FCC Wireline Bureau analysis found (http://bit.ly/1i4EkIY). Of those, about 150,000 were price cap carrier lines, and 50,000 were rate-of-return carrier lines. It’s a decrease from 220,000 lines that had rates exceeding the rate floor on July 1, the analysis showed. The change represents a monthly reduction of about $290,000 in support, the analysis said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., worries about the FCC Wireline Bureau’s plans to hike its rate floor in July. “The rate floor, which is currently set at $14 will rise to over $20 on July 1, 2014,” Pryor said in a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/P1Fo93) to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “Telecommunications providers offering service at rates below this rate floor could risk losing vital universal service support if they do not take action to immediately raise the telephone rates of their customers.” Wheeler acknowledged the concern during a separate Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday, which Pryor did not participate in. The FCC instituted a series of rate floor hikes as part of its November 2011 USF order to prevent what the agency would consider improper USF subsidies. The agency plans to phase in the increase and delay implementation beyond July, Wheeler said. The rate floor is part of the agency’s attempts to phase out excessive subsidies for basic phone service.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler faced lawmakers again Thursday, this time addressing challenges such as rural broadband, tribal consultation and the pressing congressional deadline on the implementation of positive train control (PTC) technology, at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing on the $375.38 million for the FCC that the White House requested in its FY 2015 budget proposal (http://fcc.us/1hNuRs2). Wheeler committed to working with a Senate Republican on larger telecom discussions, as well as the urgency of the PTC implementation deadline -- December 31, 2015.
The FCC defended its request for about $36 million more in funding for FY 2015 compared to current funding. The White House unveiled its proposed 2015 budget in early March and recommended Congress approve $375.38 million for the FCC (http://fcc.us/1hNuRs2). The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee scrutinized the proposed budget during a hearing Tuesday, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Ajit Pai testified on behalf of the agency.