ViaSat, WISPA Lobby FCC on Objections to New York State Broadband Plans, Waiver Bid
ViaSat and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association voiced concerns to FCC officials about New York's state broadband plans, which are connected to a waiver bid at the commission. New York filed for an emergency waiver to tap federal Connect…
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America Fund Phase II subsidy support -- currently slated for an FCC reverse auction -- for its own state broadband reverse auction (see 1610130047). Highlighting a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Wheeler and Wireline Bureau officials, a ViaSat and WISPA filing in docket 10-90 said they appreciated New York's broadband commitment, but the state's program "effectively grants a right-of-first-refusal to certain relatively costly technologies, without allowing other technologies that would be more cost-effective to deploy to compete for funds." They said New York's program relegates some technologies to "second tier status, while apparently excluding other technologies altogether -- without regard to the performance capabilities or cost-effectiveness associated with those technologies." A further FCC rulemaking would be a better forum to consider related issues, they said.