Dozens supported a proposal the FCC extend the Aug. 3 2.5 GHz rural tribal priority application window deadline (see 2007220021). The agency “declared broadband is needed ‘for every facet of daily life,’” the groups said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-120: “However, less than half of housing units on rural Tribal lands have access to broadband. … Unfortunately, approximately 80% of eligible Tribes will not be able to take advantage of this spectrum unless the FCC extends the deadline.” Access Humboldt, Access Now, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Common Cause, First Nations Development Institute, Free Press, Incompas, Internet Society, Media Alliance, Mobile Beacon, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, National Tribal Telecommunications Association and United Church of Christ were among signers.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau seeks comment by Aug. 4 in docket 10- 213 on tentative conclusions for the 2020 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act biennial report to Congress, which the FCC has to submit by Oct. 8, said a public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The report tentatively finds accessibility and usability of many services and equipment have improved since the 2018 report but “continued gaps in the accessibility of feature phones to people who are blind, and a failure by some providers to make their apps accessible to screen readers,” said the PN.
Consumer and tribal groups asked the FCC to extend the 2.5 GHz rural tribal priority window deadline. Public Knowledge, the National Congress of American Indians, Amerind Risk Management and Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association filed an emergency motion for stay, said a Wednesday release. The pandemic “impacted American Indians and Alaska Natives on Tribal lands harder than any other community in America, a situation further aggravated by the lack of reliable broadband on Tribal lands,” the groups told the FCC: “Unless the Commission extends the Tribal Window, hundreds of eligible Tribal nations will miss this unique opportunity to provide 5G service to their people.” Chairman Ajit Pai told lawmakers in June the commission is watching the window and considering extending it past the Aug. 3 end date (see 2006300084). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel supported giving the tribes more time (see 2004290055). “My feeling from talking to the chairman's office is that it really is under consideration, so we remain hopeful,” PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld told us. One problem is that Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma is the only Capitol Hill Republican to support an extension, Feld said. “We need more Republicans to express support so this doesn't look like it's something partisan,” he said: “We had bipartisan support last year to ask the FCC to give a 180-day window rather than a 90-day window, which the FCC ultimately did, and … we need the same kind of bipartisan showing here.” The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 18-120.
The FCC exceeded its Communications Act authority by changing small satellite operators' (SSO) licenses, arbitrarily not compensating them for giving up C-band spectrum and unlawfully incentivizing other C-band incumbents, said parties challenging the commission's C-band order in a joint opening brief Tuesday (in Pacer, docket 20-1142) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Appellants ABS, Empresa and Hispasat said the FCC created "a novel standard never before applied" when it said it permissibly modified the SSOs' licenses since they will have enough spectrum provide service to existing customers at their current level, even though the SSOs are new entrants. They said the commission didn't provide fair notice to the SSOs about its existing customers standard. Appellant PSSI Global said the Orbit Act prohibits the FCC from auctioning spectrum used for international or global satellite communications. Appellant SES didn't raise any arguments in the joint brief, which echoed PSSI arguments that SES' appeal should be dismissed (see 2007020017). The FCC emailed it "will continue to defend our order on the merits, and we look forward to the C-band auction beginning on December 8."
Facebook and Comcast were the tech and telecom sectors’ top lobbying spenders for Q2, while other entities in those industries reported a mix of increases and decreases. NCTA, Charter and Microsoft earlier reported increases; the Internet Association, NAB and IBM reported decreases (see 2007200062). Facebook said it spent $4.83 million, up more than 17% from the same period in 2019. Comcast had $3.65 million, up more than 14%. Google fell 42% to $1.69 million. Huawei rose 142% to $170,000. Amazon spent $4.38 million, up 9%. AT&T shelled out $3.46 million, a more than 4% increase. Verizon reported $2.53 million, up almost 4%. CTIA was $2.48 million, down almost 5%. Qualcomm spent $1.97 million, up more than 1%. Apple fell 18% to $1.48 million. Dell was little changed at $910,000. CenturyLink spent $570,000, down 40%. USTelecom spent $560,000, up 12%. Twitter laid out $390,000, down 11%. The Competitive Carriers Association was flat at $180,000. The Telecommunications Industry Association fell by half to $50,000.
The FCC, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) agreed to a second amendment to the nationwide programmatic agreement (NPA) for the collocation of wireless antennas, the Wireless Bureau said Monday. They "agreed to amend the Collocation NPA to eliminate … inconsistency between the Wireless Facilities NPA and the Collocation NPA,” the bureau said. Collocation is excluded from review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act if it doesn’t “expand the boundaries of the current tower site by more than 30 feet in any direction or involve excavation outside these expanded boundaries” provided “the collocation complies with other criteria for exclusion specified in the Collocation NPA,” the bureau said. “Previously, a collocation project that involved any excavation outside of the current tower site would not qualify for the streamlined review process,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. “That conflicted with the streamlined review process that applies when providers are taking down and replacing a wireless structure -- a process that allows for deployment and excavation up to 30 feet outside of the existing site,” Carr said: “Providers increasingly are adding mobile edge computing capability and backup power to tower sites, which often require small site expansions.” The Wireless Infrastructure Association always said the same rules should apply to collocations, but getting the change took years of work, said WIA President Jonathan Adelstein in an interview. “If you want to add 5G equipment, you want to put a backup generator in, you want to put in a mobile edge computing center, you ought to be able to do that under the same 30-feet exemption that you have for drop and swaps,” he said. WIA hopes for quick action on the wireless infrastructure NPRM, approved 3-2 in June (see 2006090060), which seeks comment on amended rules saying a modification doesn’t cause a “substantial change” if it entails excavation or deployments at up to 30 feet outside macro tower compound boundaries, he said. “We’d be able to expand any tower complex in the country … making it immediately ready for quick deployment of 5G,” he said: “It’s not a major, complicated NPRM. It’s pretty straightforward.” The rule changes “all fit together,” he said. The agreement also bodes well for progress on twilight towers, Adelstein said. The FCC sought comment in 2017 on ways 5,000 towers could be made available for collocation of wireless facilities without additional historic review (see 1712140049). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in June he’s working with Carr on twilight towers (see 2006090060). “The agreement accounts for the realities of next-generation site activities and encourages facilitating collocation on existing structures,” said Todd Schlekeway, president of the National Association of Tower Erectors: “It is essential that we as a nation commit to facilitating tower modification without excessive regulatory mandates as a critical means of closing the digital divide and enhancing communications capabilities throughout the country.” The action "will enable industry to optimize deployments and make way for advancements that can enhance the consumer experience and benefit our new 5G economy,” said CTIA Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann. “Streamlined infrastructure policies are critical for competitive carriers to be able to enhance and build out their networks,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association: “Consumers stand to benefit most from clear, efficient policies, and today’s announcement certainly is a step in the right direction toward achieving this important goal.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urged NARUC and state regulators to help lower inmate calling services rates for calls within states, in a letter Monday (see 2007200050). The federal commission is to vote Aug. 6 on whether to cap interstate and international ICS rates (see 2007160072). "Given the alarming evidence of egregiously high intrastate inmate calling rates and the FCC’s lack of jurisdiction here, I am calling on states to exercise their authority and, at long last, address this pressing problem," Pai wrote. He seeks "action on intrastate inmate calling services rates to enable more affordable communications for the incarcerated and their families. Prompt and meaningful state action on intrastate rates will provide much-needed relief to inmates and their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond." Pai noted NARUC opposed FCC action on intrastate rates. “Action to curb the sky-high rates that the families of the incarcerated pay for phone calls to their loved ones is long, long overdue,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel emailed. Other FCC commissioners didn't comment. An FCC spokesperson declined further comment. NARUC, which is holding a conference this week (see 2007200054), didn't comment. The Florida Public Service Commission doesn't have authority to set telecom industry rates, a spokesperson emailed. The Oregon PUC doesn't have any dockets scheduled on ICS rates, its spokesperson emailed. Other states' commissioners didn't comment. CenturyLink and an attorney representing Pay Tel Communications declined to comment, and other lawyers for ICS providers didn't comment. Consumer advocates suggested last week legislation might be necessary on high intrastate ICS rates (see 2007150066). Some tweeted Monday that Pai didn't do enough in the past to safeguard the agency's authority over intrastate ICS rates (see 1701310061).
The final version of the FCC’s secure network ruling, approved 5-0 Thursday (see 2007160051), is largely the same as the draft but addresses in more detail Huawei objections. In another change reflected in the final order, after the draft was circulated, the FCC barred Huawei and ZTE from participating in the USF (see 2006300078). “Huawei contends that the 2019 Supply Chain Order ‘cannot fulfill any obligation imposed by the Secure Networks Act’ because the FCC lacked authority to adopt it and the Order was otherwise arbitrary and capricious and violated the Administrative Procedure Act and Constitutional due process protections,” said a new footnote: “As the Commission has explained, the FCC was created in part to protect the national defense, and the 2019 Supply Chain Order is consistent with that objective and a reasonable exercise of the Commission’s authority under section 254 of the Communications Act to ensure ‘quality service’ and protect the ‘public interest’ by safeguarding the integrity of the telecommunications supply chain and communications networks.” The order now noted that “nothing in the Secure Networks Act restricts the Commission from using its other available statutory authority to prohibit the use of USF funds for a wider range of equipment or services than is required by section 3(a)” of the act.
NCTA asked the FCC for an expedited declaratory ruling clarifying pole owners must bear "proportionate and equitable" replacement costs, posted Friday in docket 17-84. NCTA asked for expedited pole access dispute resolution in unserved areas. Lack of an equitable utility pole replacement cost process holds broadband providers back when demands from COVID-19 compel them to move forward, NCTA blogged Friday. The American Public Power Association "stance remains that one-size-fits-all, model pole attachment regulations are unworkable for public power utilities," a spokesperson emailed. The group opposes "any effort to weaken or gut the exemption for public power utilities from federal pole attachment regulations." Cable operators face regulatory challenges that could increase costs and delay rural broadband deployment, Charter blogged Tuesday. Cable wants the FCC to eliminate eligible telecom carrier requirements (see 2006300010). "If we are successful in the auction, the result could be an expedited, multi-billion-dollar build-out" of its broadband network to millions of people, Charter said. The cabler could add an estimated $9.3 billion to the value of its footprint if it places winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I bids for some 2.2 million locations at the edge of its network, New Street's Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Friday. "They would likely rather double down on the pace of footprint expansion than cede it to a competitor." Analysis of eligible census blocks "suggests the expansion opportunity may be even bigger" for other cable companies, the analyst added. The FCC plans to award up to $16 billion from Phase I (see 2001300001).
The FCC’s broadband mapping order, approved Thursday, increases allowable distance between facilities for fiber and cable, per final text posted Friday. The FCC proposed in the draft a maximum distance of 6,600 route feet between the node to the end point for everything. It sticks with that buffer for DSL but increases it to 12,000 feet for cable connections and 196,000 feet for fiber to the premises technologies. The change was expected (see 2007140060) after industry objected. As indicated Thursday, a proposed wireless infrastructure reporting requirement was moved to a Further NPRM. “We seek to refresh the record and seek further comment on collecting infrastructure information as part of the Digital Opportunity Data Collection,” the final FNPRM said: “Such information could help Commission staff independently verify the accuracy of provider coverage propagation models and maps submitted by mobile wireless service providers.” A staff report on problems in since-scuttled Mobility Fund Phase II “concluded that collecting such infrastructure data could help accurately verify mobile broadband coverage,” the FCC said: “Infrastructure data could advance the Broadband DATA Act’s requirement that we verify the accuracy and reliability of submitted coverage data.”