Change is coming to Washington, D.C., and to the regulatory landscape after the November auction, said Steve Berry, Competitive Carriers Association president, in a speech Wednesday live-streamed from CCA’s annual meeting in Seattle. Competitive carriers need to be prepared because "lots of changes" are coming, Berry said. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told CCA in a Tuesday keynote he would press for a new mobility fund to pay for wireless buildout in rural areas and for changes to data roaming rules (see 1609200058).
Change is coming to Washington, D.C., and to the regulatory landscape after the November auction, said Steve Berry, Competitive Carriers Association president, in a speech Wednesday live-streamed from CCA’s annual meeting in Seattle. Competitive carriers need to be prepared because "lots of changes" are coming, Berry said. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told CCA in a Tuesday keynote he would press for a new mobility fund to pay for wireless buildout in rural areas and for changes to data roaming rules (see 1609200058).
Lifeline wireless providers plugged their petition for FCC reconsideration and clarification of its order overhauling the USF low-income subsidy program. The commission March 31 approved extending Lifeline funding to broadband service while phasing out stand-alone voice support, shifting the duty to oversee consumer eligibility from carriers to a national verifier, and creating a process for designating national Lifeline broadband providers supplementing the current state-by-state eligible telecom carrier (ETC) process (see 1603310056). The Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners said they looked forward to offering broadband Lifeline service and working with regulators on ways to improve the enrollment process both before and after a national verifier is implemented, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42 by American Broadband & Telecommunications, Blue Jay Wireless, i-wireless, Telrite, Assist Wireless, Easy Wireless, Prepaid Wireless Group and TruConnect. They said the Joint ETCs also are asking the commission to: "modify a minimum service standard formula and adopt a more graduated phase-in" of broadband requirements; complete a Lifeline market report before ending support for stand-alone voice service, given the "continuing value of voice service"; ensure the national verifier can engage in real-time eligibility determinations; and extend streamlined 60-day consideration to all ETC petitions. It opposed some calls of other petitioners, including to ban in-person handset distribution and incentive-based compensation, and to lift a "12-month benefit port freeze for broadband plans."
Lifeline wireless providers plugged their petition for FCC reconsideration and clarification of its order overhauling the USF low-income subsidy program. The commission March 31 approved extending Lifeline funding to broadband service while phasing out stand-alone voice support, shifting the duty to oversee consumer eligibility from carriers to a national verifier, and creating a process for designating national Lifeline broadband providers supplementing the current state-by-state eligible telecom carrier (ETC) process (see 1603310056). The Joint Lifeline ETC Petitioners said they looked forward to offering broadband Lifeline service and working with regulators on ways to improve the enrollment process both before and after a national verifier is implemented, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42 by American Broadband & Telecommunications, Blue Jay Wireless, i-wireless, Telrite, Assist Wireless, Easy Wireless, Prepaid Wireless Group and TruConnect. They said the Joint ETCs also are asking the commission to: "modify a minimum service standard formula and adopt a more graduated phase-in" of broadband requirements; complete a Lifeline market report before ending support for stand-alone voice service, given the "continuing value of voice service"; ensure the national verifier can engage in real-time eligibility determinations; and extend streamlined 60-day consideration to all ETC petitions. It opposed some calls of other petitioners, including to ban in-person handset distribution and incentive-based compensation, and to lift a "12-month benefit port freeze for broadband plans."
Commissioner Mike O'Rielly says the FCC has made strides in resolving his concerns that commissioners faced censorship on pending agency items while Chairman Tom Wheeler and his staff were free to selectively disclose matters. "Thankfully, we've had decent progress toward fixing this one process area," O'Rielly said, responding to our query. However, questions remain about a leak that FCC and congressional Republicans say helped scuttle a bipartisan Lifeline compromise among commissioners March 31, which is being investigated by the agency's inspector general. Responses to a Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act request detail much late congressional lobbying of the FCC on Lifeline.
ITTA said it backs aspects of an NTCA petition for FCC reconsideration of a USF order in March updating subsidy mechanisms for rate-of-return telcos (see 1605250068). ITTA lauded the commission for working with industry groups on the USF broadband overhaul and said it's "especially gratified" rural carriers were given the option of receiving support based on a broadband cost model. In "this spirit of ongoing partnership and collaboration," the midsize telco group backed "three discrete issues" raised by NTCA. "ITTA agrees with NTCA that the Commission should clarify its order to ensure a better understanding of where an unsubsidized competitor actually purports to serve before eliminating support in a census block," said its comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. ITTA also echoed NTCA's request that the FCC confirm that, where there is competitive overlap, rural incumbents can choose freely from among the agency's defined formulas for recovering disaggregated costs. And ITTA supported NTCA's call for commission reconsideration of a requirement to impute access recovery charges where carriers can show they "had a certain number of standalone broadband connections when the Connect America Fund -- Intercarrier Compensation (CAF ICC) support baseline was set."
ITTA said it backs aspects of an NTCA petition for FCC reconsideration of a USF order in March updating subsidy mechanisms for rate-of-return telcos (see 1605250068). ITTA lauded the commission for working with industry groups on the USF broadband overhaul and said it's "especially gratified" rural carriers were given the option of receiving support based on a broadband cost model. In "this spirit of ongoing partnership and collaboration," the midsize telco group backed "three discrete issues" raised by NTCA. "ITTA agrees with NTCA that the Commission should clarify its order to ensure a better understanding of where an unsubsidized competitor actually purports to serve before eliminating support in a census block," said its comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. ITTA also echoed NTCA's request that the FCC confirm that, where there is competitive overlap, rural incumbents can choose freely from among the agency's defined formulas for recovering disaggregated costs. And ITTA supported NTCA's call for commission reconsideration of a requirement to impute access recovery charges where carriers can show they "had a certain number of standalone broadband connections when the Connect America Fund -- Intercarrier Compensation (CAF ICC) support baseline was set."
A bipartisan group of 28 senators asked the FCC to update the USF Mobility Fund. “USF should support mobile broadband at a minimum of today’s level to close the coverage gap while preserving existing service,” said the letter dated Monday, led by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. “We ask you to give special attention as you work to establish Phase II of the USF’s Mobility Fund (MF). Given the importance of mobile services today, the MF should be retained and updated to ensure that funding will promote new mobile broadband deployment in unserved rural and agricultural areas and preserve and upgrade mobile broadband where it is currently available. Importantly, the FCC must rely on realistic measurements of network experience on the ground to determine areas to support.” Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry lauded the letter. “USF must provide sufficient and predictable support to preserve and expand mobile broadband networks to meet consumers’ growing demand for wireless services and to ensure high-speed mobile broadband is readily available for subscribers, regardless of location,” Berry said. “As the FCC works to establish Phase II of USF’s Mobility Fund, CCA encourages the Commission to continue to make preserving and expanding mobile broadband in rural areas a top priority. I totally agree with the Senators on the importance of broadband for agriculture connectivity as well as economic, educational, health care, public safety, and social connectivity.”
A bipartisan group of 28 senators asked the FCC to update the USF Mobility Fund. “USF should support mobile broadband at a minimum of today’s level to close the coverage gap while preserving existing service,” said the letter dated Monday, led by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. “We ask you to give special attention as you work to establish Phase II of the USF’s Mobility Fund (MF). Given the importance of mobile services today, the MF should be retained and updated to ensure that funding will promote new mobile broadband deployment in unserved rural and agricultural areas and preserve and upgrade mobile broadband where it is currently available. Importantly, the FCC must rely on realistic measurements of network experience on the ground to determine areas to support.” Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry lauded the letter. “USF must provide sufficient and predictable support to preserve and expand mobile broadband networks to meet consumers’ growing demand for wireless services and to ensure high-speed mobile broadband is readily available for subscribers, regardless of location,” Berry said. “As the FCC works to establish Phase II of USF’s Mobility Fund, CCA encourages the Commission to continue to make preserving and expanding mobile broadband in rural areas a top priority. I totally agree with the Senators on the importance of broadband for agriculture connectivity as well as economic, educational, health care, public safety, and social connectivity.”
A growing cable industry sense of its concerns being ignored by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has raised the likelihood that whatever rules come out of the agency regarding set-top boxes, broadband privacy and business data services almost surely will be met by legal appeals, cable executives and experts tell us. "I think everybody takes for granted that everything is going to end up in court," MCTV President/American Cable Association Chairman Robert Gessner said in an interview Friday.