House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., said during a Wednesday USTelecom event he wants renewed pushes to restore the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority and enact a broadband permitting revamp legislative package to be among the subpanel’s top priorities in the next Congress. Broadband executives likewise named Capitol Hill action on broadband permitting legislation as their top congressional priority once Republicans have control of both chambers in January. The officials also noted interest in lawmakers’ work on a potential USF revamp.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The NARUC Telecom Committee on Monday cleared draft resolutions on phone number conservation, the Universal Service Fund and utility coordination on broadband deployment. A USF panel that day described how reform could happen with Republicans controlling the FCC and Congress next year. Also, the affordable connectivity program (ACP) could return in 2025 despite Washington’s partisan climate, said Sanford Williams, deputy chief of staff for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, during a collocated National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) meeting. State utility regulators are holding their annual meeting here this week.
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform president, and James Erwin, executive director-ATF subsidiary Digital Liberty, led a Tuesday letter with 24 other mostly conservative-leaning leaders urging that congressional lawmakers “oppose any attempts to impose new taxes on broadband service, including by assessing broadband for contributions to the Universal Service Fund.” A bipartisan congressional working group has been eyeing a potential USF revamp, while Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wants Congress to make the program subject to the federal appropriations process (see 2403060090). “While USF faces fiscal challenges, these should ideally be addressed through distribution reform,” Norquist and the other leaders said in the letter, which we obtained before its public release. “If the contribution base for USF is expanded to include mass-market broadband providers, it will be American households that foot the bill to keep this program on life support.”
Digital First Project Executive Director Nathan Leamer on Wednesday said whoever chairs the FCC during the next administration should take on a more forceful role in advocating for Congress to renew the commission’s lapsed spectrum auction authority. Leamer, who served as an aide to former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, said during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webcast that whichever party wins the White House Nov. 5 will reexamine broadband affordability issues. He believes the FCC will have to brace for the impact of potential federal court rulings striking down its recent orders reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II service and instituting anti-digital discrimination rules.
Congressional Democratic leaders remain intent on attaching funding to restore the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program to a year-end legislative package (see 2409170066). Some lawmakers acknowledge the push faces long odds in what’s likely to be a fraught lame-duck session. Some ACP boosters believe Capitol Hill’s lame-duck dynamics could change depending on the outcome of the Nov. 5 election. GOP lawmakers aren’t enthusiastic about attaching ACP money to a legislative vehicle this year, in part citing their longstanding demand for a major overhaul of the program in conjunction with additional funding.
With Congress back for a three-week sprint before Election Day, Competitive Carriers Association CEO Tim Donovan remains convinced lawmakers will fully fund a program that removes unsecure gear from U.S. networks. In an interview, Donovan also said he expects at least some groups will seek reconsideration of the FCC’s recent order creating a 5G Fund.
Maurine and Matthew Molak filed a petition Thursday seeking review of a July FCC order that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2407180024), in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Molaks previously sought reconsideration of the July order, which three public interest groups and T-Mobile opposed last week (see 2408280029).
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, latched on to a new Government Accountability Office report about the Universal Service Administrative Company’s handling of the Universal Service Fund to criticize the program’s spending and repeat his call for Congress to make USF subject to the federal appropriations process (see 2403060090). Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, meanwhile, told us earlier this month that Congress must prioritize a legislative fix for the USF contribution mechanism after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' recent ruling that the current funding factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez hasn’t expressed an opinion on edge providers contributing to the Universal Service Fund (see 2408190056). She has expressed interest in the work of the bicameral, bipartisan USF working group, which includes the concept of assessing digital advertising services and enterprise-oriented data services, such as cloud services.
ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.