Broadcasters, satellite companies and trade groups disagreed how often the FCC should reevaluate its regulatory fee structure and whether the system needs new payers, in reply comments filed by Thursday’s deadline. The agency should “continue to conduct such reviews of the work of its indirect FTEs [full-time equivalents] annually, as well as to identify additional ways that the Commission’s regulatory fee process can be made fairer and remain current,” said a joint reply from state broadcast associations in docket 23-159. “A complex accounting of indirect FTEs is not fair, administrable, or sustainable” and doing such an analysis annually would create administrative burdens and raise fairness concerns, said CTIA.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders are continuing to push for a June confirmation hearing on FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2306010075) but haven't settled on a date, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Ex-nominee Gigi Sohn, meanwhile, directed her ire during a Tuesday Media and Democracy Project event at all levels of news media for not effectively covering her year-plus stalled confirmation process, saying she hopes Gomez and other future FCC candidates don't get the same treatment. Sohn asked President Joe Biden to withdraw her from consideration in March amid continued resistance from a handful of Democrats and uniform GOP opposition (see 2303070082).
Commissioners supported cutting in half the Texas USF surcharge, unanimously without discussion, at a livestreamed Texas Public Utility Commission meeting Thursday. The monthly TUSF fee will drop to 12% from 24% of intrastate telecom revenue on July 1, which is when the commission expects to complete arrearage and interest payments to rural local exchange carriers that it underpaid (see 2305040026). Texas RLEC groups sounded optimistic Thursday they would be repaid.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., said during and after a Thursday hearing they’re forming a USF-focused task force to evaluate how to move forward on a comprehensive revamp of the program that may update its contribution factor to include non-wireline entities. Senate Communications members cited several telecom policy matters that intertwine with the push for USF changes, including future funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity fund and restoring the commission’s lapsed spectrum auction authority.
A possible path to averting Alaska USF’s June 30 termination emerged in comments last week at the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. The Department of Law (DOL) told the RCA it would consider approving an extension on an emergency basis if the commission fixes legal defects with an earlier proposal to extend the AUSF sunset by three years. Meanwhile, telecom companies and public advocates warned of rate increases and degraded service if commissioners allow the fund to die.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., confirmed Thursday he plans a hearing as soon as the second week of May with a primary focus on a potential legislative USF revamp. “My intention is for the focus to be in and around USF” given ongoing work with Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., to “create a working group” to draft a legislative revamp, Lujan told us. “Thus far it feels like there’s bipartisan interest from all sides,” so “I’m hopeful this hearing will bring” the issue onto “the front burner and maybe can act as a catalyst for us all to work together and get things done.” Lujan and former Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., refiled the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (Fair) Contributions Act last month to direct an FCC study of expanding the USF funding pool to include edge providers like Google-owned YouTube and Netflix (see 2303160080). Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., refiled the Reforming Broadband Connectivity Act in late March in a bid to revamp USF's funding mechanism (see 2303280071).
Federal officials highlighted the need for continued stakeholder engagement and strategic investments to ensure broadband deployment efforts funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are implemented efficiently, during an NTCA event Monday. USDA Rural Development Deputy Undersecretary Farah Ahmad also announced the launch of a $20 million broadband technical assistance program to assist rural development projects.
T-Mobile seeks to cloak its "private concern” with a change to California USF “in the language of equity and solicitude for low-income Californians,” the California Public Utilities Commission said Monday at the U.S. District Court of Northern California. T-Mobile and subsidiaries seek a preliminary injunction to stop the CPUC’s October decision to switch to connections-based contribution from taking effect April 1 (see 2302020058). Opposing that motion in case 3:23-cv-00483, the CPUC said T-Mobile lacks standing and fails to show California’s connection-based surcharge violates federal law.
Broadband industry officials Wednesday stressed the need for Congress to take an active role in broadband deployment and adoption efforts, before NTIA's broadband, equity, access, and deployment program and other recent federal investments. Some during a Broadband Breakfast webinar emphasized the role of fiber as states consider their plans and proper vetting of the FCC's new broadband maps.
USTelecom asked Congress to "stay closely engaged" with the Biden administration and states to ensure broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act results in "maximum program effectiveness," in a letter Tuesday. The group is seeking legislation to "help ensure timely infrastructure permitting" and "appropriate oversight" of grant recipients. It also asked that the FCC's affordable connectivity program be made permanent: "While most customers enjoy faster speeds and lower broadband prices, those struggling financially need additional assistance." Congress should work with the FCC to expand the contribution base for the USF, USTelecom added, noting edge providers and platforms are "the greatest beneficiaries of high-speed networks." The group also sought action on public-private cybersecurity partnerships, privacy protections and eliminating the tax on federal broadband grants.