New FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who took office Nov. 4, has yet to have to make a hard or controversial decision, and plenty will follow, but instead has been busy setting a tone for his chairmanship. That started his second day when Wheeler met with staff, promising he would be open to ideas and plans to be the kind of chairman who walks the halls at the commission. The same day he released a lengthy blog post (http://fcc.us/1cCIDhM) offering his broad view on the role the FCC must play in a changing world.
Universal service needs to remain “a pillar upon which the IP evolution is built and sustained,” National Telecommunications Cooperative Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield told new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter Monday (http://bit.ly/1cl1BEP). NTCA mentioned its 2012 petition proposing various “policy paths” that the FCC could pursue as it deals with the IP transition. It’s important to “avoid clinging as a matter of routine or comfort to old rules in the face of changes in technology, competition, and consumer preference,” Bloomfield said -- but it’s also important to have clear “rules of the road.” The “rural call completion epidemic” is a “canary in a coal mine” that shows the risks that can arise without clear rules, she said. The FCC should also work to reduce regulatory uncertainty, she said, and reform the quantile regression analysis-based caps on high-cost USF support that have frozen broadband investment.
Corrections: (1) The changes city-owned Longmont Power & Communications is making to its fiber network — to which it will continue as sole service provider — is to build it out to reach all residents (CD Nov 7 p5). (2) The USF-funded Lifeline program (CD Nov 8 p6) does not pay for any cellphones that participating carriers give to Lifeline subscribers free of charge. (3) Clarification: The FCC Intergovernmental Affairs Committee starts its reauthorized two-year term the date of its first meeting, which will be after Dec. 2 (CD Nov 4 p15).
The FCC should refrain from setting one-size-fits-all requirements for the E-rate program, and use its limited E-rate funds responsibly instead of simply aiming to double the fund’s size, parties said in reply comments.
Stinson Morrison attorney Harvey Reiter will get just seven minutes to persuade Denver appeals court judges that the FCC’s 2011 revamp of the USF and intercarrier compensation rules unlawfully hurt his rural CLEC clients. Asked if that’s enough time, Reiter responded with a hearty laugh. “It is what it is,” he said. Scott McCollough of the Austin firm McCullough Henry has five minutes to convince the court that the FCC abandoned the statutory construct of “user” versus “carrier.” McCullough expects to “be interrupted within the first five seconds,” he told us, erupting into laughter.
The FCC needs to do more to stop the “lingering uncertainty” of quantile regression analysis, a crucial part of the November 2011 USF order, 26 senators wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (http://bit.ly/1gpCSon). Signatories include Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. They called quantile regression analysis “one of the main causes of uncertainty” and said they appreciate the FCC’s efforts to “temporarily relieve” the effects of the analysis. “We remain concerned the reform order is limiting the ability of small rate-of-return carriers to provide rural consumers with the broadband service they need to compete in today’s global economy,” said the letter sent this week. The order is causing declining private sector investment, the letter said. “Both potential borrowers and lenders have indicated hesitation in moving forward with loans for broadband infrastructure improvements due to the uncertainties created by the reform order.” USTelecom posted the letter Tuesday and said it was sent Monday. “As of today, more than 70 senators and representatives have written to the FCC about the QRA, and USTelecom continues to encourage members of Congress to reach out to the commission on this important issue,” said USTelecom in a blog post Tuesday (http://bit.ly/HEQqhp). It noted the letter urged the FCC not to slow Connect America Fund Phase II implementation.
"The current state of connectivity feeds inequality,” said National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling Tuesday at a Washington Post event on the country’s lingering digital divide. That sentiment was shared by every official and educator who took the stage, as they struggled with how to increase broadband connection and adoption among those who lack access, can’t afford it, or say they don’t want it.
Maximizing the benefits of high-speed Internet is “vital” to America, FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn told the National Urban League Wednesday, according to prepared remarks. There’s a “direct link” between access to broadband and access to jobs, and an Urban League report showed that 77 percent of African Americans have used broadband to search for jobs, she said. The adoption gap between African Americans and whites has been reduced nearly 50 percent since 2009, she said. But too many Americans still find themselves “lost behind by the broadband revolution,” with about 100 million people without high-speed Internet at home, she said. “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it is essential.” FCC partnerships with the Urban League have helped jumpstart Connect2Compete to close the broadband adoption gap, and FCC reform of outdated USF rules has made significant new funding available for broadband buildout, she said. Commission efforts to modernize E-rate will further enhance Americans’ access to high-speed Internet, she said. But the challenges of closing the digital divide are “too great for any one person or organization to solve,” she said. “That’s why increased public-private sector collaboration is so important."
Tom Wheeler is getting ready to take command at the FCC next week after being confirmed along with Michael O'Rielly to the commission seats Tuesday night. Wheeler is expected to be sworn in Monday morning, FCC officials said. In the intervening days the administration has to complete paperwork to confirm the appointment, a process that generally takes several days, and will likely finish getting rid of any remaining financial entanglements, said current and former officials. Wheeler is also expected to unveil some of his key staff selections early in the week, officials said.
The FCC is penalizing minority businesses by denying a waiver request from Adak Eagle Enterprises, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council told acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn in a letter Monday. The organization is throwing its weight behind a petition by AEE and its subsidiary Windy City Cellular seeking reconsideration of a rule limiting line support to $250 per month. The companies are “two of few minority-owned telecommunications businesses in the U.S.,” MMTC said. “The Commission should consider ways to support -- rather than penalize minority or women-owned businesses” that enter “a competitive communications ecosystem,” it said. The Wireline and Wireless Bureaus based their denial on “unreasonable” operating expenses, disproportionate executive compensation, and the presence of an alternative carrier on Adak Island. The bureau’s reasoning was flawed, MMTC said: “The bureaus support GCI providing Adak Island with fewer services to a smaller geographic area, and to fewer customers, at more cost to the USF. At the same time, a small, minority-owned business is providing more and better services, including what appears to be the only 911 service, serving a larger geographic area and more customers, all while historically taking less support.” By reversing its denial, the commission will “assist in preserving women- and minority-owned rural communications providers, serving community interests, and reducing destructive and inhibitive regulatory barriers in the communications industry,” MMTC said.