Industry, policymakers and consumer advocates are seeking new ways to expand Lifeline enrollment and benefits in response to the public health and economic crisis, we're told. Some advocates are pursuing emergency funding to provide a more robust residential broadband Lifeline benefit to meet the demands of working and learning at home. Stay-at-home orders put restraints on Lifeline promotion and enrollment.
States are directing broadband funds to COVID-19 response, but many others lack that ability, said state commissioners, legislators and broadband officials in recent interviews. The pandemic increased states’ urgency to close broadband gaps and could lead to policy changes, they said.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, N.J., is circulating discussion language to provide $2 billion in “emergency broadband benefit” funding in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill. Some lobbyists we spoke with see the draft as Democrats’ bid to resurrect plans for emergency broadband funding without providing new ammunition to Lifeline critics. Several Democratic lawmakers want future COVID-19 legislation to fund broadband and other infrastructure (see 2003260063). Some groups are urging Congress to use the coming measure to address other communications policy priorities, including media funding (see 2004090066).
Before the first largely online U.S. census began, nonprofits, telecom providers and media companies were heightening efforts to safeguard its integrity and increase participation. Many groups historically vulnerable to undercounting, including rural residents, low-income and homeless populations, and ethnic minorities, overlap with those underserved by broadband, said interviewees earlier this year.
State commissioners should keep watch on telecom to protect consumers during the COVID-19 outbreak, said NARUC President Brandon Presley in a Thursday interview. “Once this crisis is behind us, we’ve got to view broadband service as a national security issue, in the sense of economic security,” he said. “I won’t have much toleration for anybody that comes to tell me that internet is a luxury.”
The COVID-19 pandemic comes as Ajit Pai enters what is likely to be the homestretch of his time as FCC chairman. Pai has sketched out an ambitious agenda for the rest of 2020, but no one knows how long the pandemic will last. Industry officials agree it will likely slow work on at least some items due to refocusing on coronavirus-related orders. The crisis offers Pai a chance to write a new legacy, they said.
House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., told us he’s eyeing attaching a rider to the subcommittee’s FY 2021 appropriations bill aimed at allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Quigley raised concerns about the FCC’s current C-band auction plan during a Wednesday House Appropriations Financial Services hearing on the commission’s FY 2021 budget request. The C-band plan drew criticism from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., during that subpanel’s Tuesday FCC budget hearing (see 2003100022).
At least the three FCC GOP members will approve a public notice on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund procedures at Friday's meeting that would authorize an Oct. 22 auction date for the first phase of the USF program, industry and agency officials said in interviews this week. It's less clear how much pushback it will get from Democratic commissioners. At last month's meeting, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called the fast pace of the RDOF rulemaking, before the FCC had a chance to correct widely disputed broadband mapping data, "an election year bonanza" (see 2001300001).
With FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosting a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for telecom network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 (see 1710030057) and more recent earthquakes (see 2002130056), scheduled witnesses hope the hearing will call attention to Puerto Rico's plight and help the telecom industry strengthen its communications infrastructure. The Wireline Bureau is moving ahead with plans to allocate millions in funding to help such efforts.
With FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosting a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for telecom network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 (see 1710030057) and more recent earthquakes (see 2002130056), scheduled witnesses hope the hearing will call attention to Puerto Rico's plight and help the telecom industry strengthen its communications infrastructure. The Wireline Bureau is moving ahead with plans to allocate millions in funding to help such efforts.