Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, attempted to address concerns that have been expressed about the commission's Lifeline USF proposals to extend low-income support to broadband service and streamline program administration. Mobile voice would continue to be a Lifeline-supported service, but under a draft order it would have to be bundled with broadband after Dec. 1, 2019, she said Wednesday at New America's Open Technology Institute. "To give Lifeline providers time to adjust, we will phase down support for stand-alone mobile voice over a multi-year period. We plan to eliminate the subsidy for stand-alone mobile voice starting on December 1, 2019, although the Commission will examine the market in mid-2019 to determine whether there needs to be an adjustment," she said in prepared remarks. "We believe that three years will be enough time for the market to adapt and for promising technologies to develop, and that by the end of 2019, there will be affordable bundled mobile voice and data plans that meet, and hopefully exceed, Lifeline’s minimum service standards." But if the FCC is wrong, she said, it "has a safety valve by which it can examine how the market has evolved between now and 2019, and preserve a subsidy for stand-alone mobile voice if it’s deemed necessary." Minimum service standards for voice and data are needed to ensure Lifeline users aren't stuck with "second-class service," while ensuring service is still affordable, she said. Sohn also said state commissions will continue to play a "critical role" in Lifeline, despite an optional new path for broadband providers to be certified to receive support nationally. Providers would still be able to go to the states for Lifeline approval state by state. California approval will be necessary to receive a sizable state Lifeline subsidy there, she said. The FCC proposed a Lifeline budget of $2.25 billion, indexed to inflation, which is enough to allow some growth. While the agency expects some growth due to the broadband coverage, "we don't expect it to be precipitous," she said. Sohn said if Lifeline spending reaches 90 percent of the budget, the Wireline Bureau must notify the commission and prepare an analysis of the causes of the spending growth, "followed by Commission action within six months." That creates another "safety valve," Sohn said. Monday, other senior FCC officials used the agency's blog to defend the proposal amid criticism from some carriers and others (see 1603220044).
Ligado's planned LTE network carries potential "serious and negative consequences" for AWS-3 spectrum use, SNR Wireless said Wednesday, urging the FCC to look into such problems before considering the former LightSquared's proposal. In a filing Wednesday in docket 12-340, SNR said Ligado's plans to relinquish its rights to use 1545-1555 MHz and to seek access to the 1675-1680 MHz band (see 1512310016) carry multiple interference issues for AWS-3 licensees like it. The designated entity which has been affiliated with Dish Network said interference issues include that the total amount of energy received at earth stations receiving signals from geostationary operational environmental satellites and polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites in the 1675-1710 MHz band will increase, and the Ligado-commissioned interference analysis doesn't look at the effect of licensed commercial AWS-3 uplink operations in 1695-1710 MHz. And the AWS-3 interference analysis done by the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) didn't look at commercial downlink operations in 1675-1680 MHz, SNR said. The proximity of 1675-1680 MHz commercial downlink operations to 1695-1710 MHz commercial uplink operations heightens the likelihood of AWS-3 base station receiver overload or of out-of-band emissions causing base station interference, SNR said, adding that the FCC and AWS-3 auction bidders didn't contemplate those interference scenarios before the auction. The CSMAC process set up recommended protection distances around meteorological earth stations that commercial AWS-3 operators in the 1695-1710 band had to coordinate within, and Ligado's proposal -- by adding to the interference at federal users' earth stations -- would eat up some of the interference budget AWS-3 licensees have now, SNR said. "Ligado's proposal is therefore flawed because it will be impossible to allocate any interference budget amount to its proposed use without also 'stealing' interference budget from AWS-3 spectrum acquired at auction on the basis of an interference budget allocation that was codified in the FCC's rules." SNR said Ligado's LTE plan makes it tough to reconcile interference federal users see between AWS-3 operations and 1675-1680 MHz base station operations. In a statement Wednesday, Ligado said, "The communications industry routinely addresses spectrum coordination and co-existence issues, resolving them through the FCC process, standards bodies, and discussions between the various stakeholders. The issues raised occur frequently in spectrum discussions -- recent examples include bands affected by AWS-4. We look forward to a public comment process to discuss these types of issues with all affected stakeholders."
A court stayed FCC application of 2013 rate caps to intrastate inmate calling services. The interim 2013 rate caps had applied to interstate ICS rates, but the FCC said they extended to intrastate rates due to an ICS definitional change in a 2015 order. Securus and other ICS providers then asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to extend its previous stay of tougher 2015 rate caps to prevent the FCC from applying the 2013 rate caps to intrastate ICS, pending further judicial review. A three-judge panel of the court agreed Wednesday in a brief ruling shortly after a comment deadline (Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461).
The FCC library invited manufacturers and vendors to participate in its annual open house April 12 as part of National Library Week, said an agency public notice Tuesday with contact info for interested parties. "Of particular interest are smart phones, eBook readers, tablets, technology kiosks and library-specific applications solutions." The event, a partnership with the FCC Technology Experience Center, showcases how local, state, federal and academic libraries use digital technology "to provide 24/7 cyberspace access" to many devices, it said.
A glut of definitions for “rural” can complicate the process of applying for broadband grants and loans, federal officials acknowledged Monday. "The government doesn't make it easy by having some sort of universal definition," said NTIA External Affairs Director Aimee Meacham, moderating a panel on broadband financing at NTIA’s Digital Northwest regional broadband summit in Seattle (see 1603210049). Carol Mattey, deputy chief of the FCC Wireline Bureau, said: "There's more than 20 definitions of rural in federal funding programs. Even within the universal service funding programs themselves, we have different definitions for one program versus another, and it's very arcane." Keith Adams, Rural Utilities Service assistant administrator, noted differences in the definition of rural among programs at RUS. While “traditional” RUS programs define rural as communities with 5,000 or fewer people, the Farm Bill Broadband Loan Program defines rural as communities with 20,000 people or fewer, he said.
Charter Communications’ purchase of Bright House and Time Warner Cable would give Charter the power to “squelch” content creators and hurt competition, said Free Press, the Future of Music Coalition, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and 19 other public interest groups in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler posted Monday in docket 15-149. “We are dismayed by rumors and reports that the FCC is considering an order to approve this disastrous deal,” the letter said. “This merger serves no one but the companies backing it and should be blocked.” A Charter spokesman told us the cable company has continued “to demonstrate the significant benefits that put these transactions squarely in the public interest.” Charter looks forward to “receiving regulatory approval and bringing these benefits to consumers,“ the spokesman said. If the deal is OK’d, approval should include conditions prohibiting Charter from “continuing to restrict, degrade, and interfere with the use of NVIDIA’s SHIELD TV device and other lawful, non-harmful devices,” Nvidia told an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a meeting Thursday, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday.
The FCC and others opposed inmate calling service provider motions to revise a previous court stay order so that the commission's 2013 interim price caps can't be applied to intrastate ICS rates, pending further judicial review of underlying challenges to a 2015 agency order (Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-461). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed FCC 2015 rate caps of 11 to 22 cents per minute for interstate and intrastate ICS rates (see 1603070055). But the D.C. Circuit didn't stay the 2013 interim caps of 21 and 25 cents/minute on interstate ICS rates nor a 2015 FCC change removing the "interstate" designation from the ICS definition, the FCC said Tuesday. It opposed a motion from Securus (see 1603170040) and subsequently filed motions from Global Tel*Link and Telmate. "Granting such relief would require this Court to expand the limited stay it only recently -- and carefully -- crafted. There is no cause to do so," the FCC said in its opposition. "The Commission’s new rules, by their terms, extended the interim rate caps to intrastate inmate calls in the event the permanent rate caps (but not the amended definition of inmate calling services) were stayed. See 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.6000(j); 64.6030. Two parties sought a stay of the interim rate caps; no party requested a stay of the amended definition. Because the Court declined to stay the interim rate caps, they now apply to intrastate (as well as interstate) calls. That result is entirely reasonable." The Wright Petitioners, which advocate for the phone rights of inmates and their families, filed in support of the FCC. CenturyLink backed the other ICS providers Monday.
The Consumer Video Choice Coalition launched a website to “drive action” on the FCC proposal to change set-top box rules, the CVCC said in a news release Monday. Unlockthebox.com asks readers to contact Congress and the FCC, and outlines the CVCC ‘s arguments in favor of the FCC proposal. “The FCC has the opportunity to let competition unleash innovation in hardware, software and new streaming content,” said Chip Pickering, CEO of Incompas, in the release.
Correction: The date of the FCBA rescheduled CLE on spectrum is March 22.
As speculation mounts that Charter's deals may be OK'd, CEO Tom Rutledge met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler about what the cable ISP said are "public interest benefits" of its buying Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. At the Wednesday meeting, which also included FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and Charter Communications Executive Vice President-Government Affairs Catherine Bohigian, the would-be buyer said it "discussed significant expansion of its residential network to increase broadband and video competition, $2.5 billion investment in building out its network to increase competition in the enterprise market, and the deployment of more than 300,000 out-of-home Wi-Fi access points to increase wireless competition." The filing on the meeting was posted Monday in docket 15-149, where another filing said Bohigian, colleagues at Charter, and representatives of BHN and TWC met Thursday with Owen Kendler, who has been heading the FCC working team overseeing the deals. New Charter’s commitments on broadband service for low-income households, settlement-free interconnection and broadband without usage-based pricing or data caps was discussed, Charter said. Wheeler is reportedly close to circulating an order to OK Charter/TWC/BHN (see 1603160056). A commission spokesman declined to comment Monday.