Correction: Dish Network won 486 licenses for $6.2 billion through ParkerB.com Wireless. Comcast won 73 blocks and $1.7 billion in licenses through CC Wireless (see 1704130040).

The Rural Utilities Service follows or partially follows leading practices while managing rural broadband grant and loan programs, GAO said in a Thursday report. The office gave RUS high marks for application review procedures, external training and communication, an informative website, the agency’s field representatives and coordination with other federal agencies. RUS has high-level goal and performance metrics for measuring benefits of broadband loans and grants, but they’re not specific to each program, the report said. RUS does risk assessment at the application and project level, but not at the program- or high-level, it said. RUS doesn’t have mapping information, but it’s something the agency is trying to improve, GAO said. RUS monitors projects, but stops when they’re completed, “and is therefore missing information that could be used to improve the selection of grant recipients or the results of grant awards,” GAO said. RUS is organized in a way supporting internal communication, but doesn’t have a centralized system to track loan and grant data. That’s in the works, but the end date is unknown, the report said. RUS usually has external written documentation for recipients, but internal documentation is often outdated, the office said. “GAO recommends that RUS develop program performance goals and measures, conduct program risk assessments, evaluate completed grant projects, establish a timeline for implementing a centralized internal data system, and update written policies and procedures for RUS staff,” the office said. The Agriculture Department agreed with the recommendations, GAO said.

USTelecom sought what could amount to additional deregulation beyond what's in a draft business data services order, while Starry sought the opposite on BDS. The period for lobbying on the item set for an April 20 commissioner vote (see 1704120049) ended Thursday. CEO Jonathan Spalter and others from the association met Monday with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and aide Jay Schwarz, with a filing posted Thursday in docket 05-25 saying "reduction in the FCC’s detailed price setting role proposed in the Order is important, but relatively constrained." The agency seems to be keeping authority to ensure prices for traditional BDS remain just and reasonable, they noted, saying broader relief has benefits and asking the regulator to follow the non-dominance tack from CenturyLink and Frontier Communications. The commission's competitive market test may be too conservative, the executives told Pai and Schwarz. Wi-Fi and wireless broadband access startup Starry, meanwhile, seeks all IP-based BDS providers offering just, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, under Title I Communications Act oversight and Section 706. "Many BDS providers participate in other markets, including retail broadband, mobile wireless, online advertising, video content production and delivery, data storage," wrote the firm started by its CEO Chet Kanojia, who founded the Aereo streaming service that lost to broadcasters a Supreme Court case and shut down. "Because these markets rely on BDS as a critical input into the delivery of the product or service, it is rational for such an integrated BDS provider to exploit its position as the owner of the critical input."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai started what's expected to be a second round of changes in the leadership at the agency (see 1704120063), naming Patrick Webre chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Webre replaces Alison Kutler, a holdover from the Tom Wheeler chairmanship. Webre was most recently at Jenner & Block, but spent nine years in several leadership roles at the FCC, including as an associate chief at CGB, the agency said in a release. “Whether reviewing consumer complaints or developing policies to stop robocalls, CGB works hard to serve the public interest. Patrick’s skill and experience will enable us to continue this important mission,” Pai said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal for a new Office of Economics and Data is a “home run,” said former FCC Chief Economist Tom Hazlett in a Technology Policy Institute blog post. Hazlett said when he held that post in 1991-92, then-Chairman Al Sikes asked him whether every major rulemaking included a formal cost-benefit analysis. “I was underwhelmed,” Hazlett wrote. “I had been influenced by empirical research indicating that policy makers did not change their decisions when confronted with new economic analysis.” In the years since, Hazlett said he changed his perspective. He said his views evolved in 2011 when he wrote a paper on the topic for Resources for the Future. “The FCC, despite engaging in competition policy initiatives that frequently track the concerns of U.S. antitrust agencies, is distinct in flying naked, having no Economic Analysis Group (as does the Department of Justice Antitrust Division) or Bureau of Economics (Federal Trade Commission),” he wrote. Hazlett an economics professor at Clemson University.

It’s unfair to charge voice customers for broadband networks, but not guarantee voice services will be provided, said Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Crystal Rhoades Wednesday. On a webinar hosted by the National Regulatory Research Institute, Rhoades urged a revamp of USF contribution that includes broadband assessments. “We have to stop pretending that voice and broadband are separate things,” she said. “Ignoring the fact that we cannot build the network that we need without the inclusion of an assessment on broadband is almost delusional.” Competitive Carriers Association General Counsel Rebecca Thompson and NTCA Senior Vice President-Policy Mike Romano agreed. Not including broadband in the contribution base is “a disaster waiting to happen,” Romano said. The FCC has been mulling a contribution overhaul for more than 15 years, but politics remains a barrier to action, said ex-Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey, now a consultant. Congress must be convinced it’s not taxing the internet to assess contributions on broadband, she said. But USTelecom Senior Vice President-Law and Policy Jonathan Banks said it’s forward-looking to fund broadband networks rather than voice lines. It’s important to take another look at USF contribution, but first there’s more work to do on the Connect America Fund, he said: “It’s important to keep our eye on the ball of getting current stuff done.”

Chairman Ajit Pai dubbed April “infrastructure month” at the FCC, but Commissioner Mignon Clyburn offered an alternate name. “Did you know that it’s ‘Industry Consolidation Month’ at the @FCC?” she tweeted Wednesday. “Tune in April 20 to learn why this agenda fails to put #ConsumersFirst.” Clyburn didn’t offer further comment, but is expected to oppose Pai’s proposed business data service order (see 1704030050) and a proposal to restore the UHF discount (see 1702210027) when commissioners vote next week. The agency didn't comment.

Incompas said business data service competitors will need at least a three-year transition if the FCC changes the BDS regulatory framework as proposed in a draft order tentatively set for an April 20 vote (see 1703300052). The Computer & Communications Industry Association called for a three-year delay in BDS rate hikes. "Carriers need time to adjust their business models to account for the loss of crucial wholesale last-mile inputs used to serve their customers and to build to the extent it is economically feasible," said an Incompas filing posted Wednesday in docket 05-25 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. The record doesn't support the draft's conclusions, particularly "the deficiencies in the competitive market test for DS1 and DS3 services and the blanket finding of competition for transport and Ethernet services," the filing said. "It is extraordinary for an agency to find a market competitive based on a duopoly let alone the mere potential for a duopoly, as is the case here." Incompas called the potential for competition "remote" and said "cable companies' own statements in the record contradict the idea" that they "will be imminent game changers in the market." It cited the importance of tech transitions protections, some of which would be eliminated by the draft BDS order and targeted for elimination by a draft FCC NPRM on wireline infrastructure also eyed for an April 20 vote (see 1704060046). A CCIA filing backed "a three-year delay in the implementation of BDS rate increases" and said the FCC should revise its competitive market test "to adequately consider the real offerings of providers." Granite Telecommunications voiced concern about draft BDS changes to a tech transition interim rule that requires ILECs to provide competitors a reasonable substitute when seeking to discontinue a "TDM-based commercial wholesale platform voice service" used as a wholesale input. The BDS draft "would abruptly end -- without any transition period -- this regulatory backstop without providing any evidence to support the conclusion that doing so would adequately preserve competition," said a Granite filing. "In the interest of compromise, Granite proposes that the Commission maintain the rule for a multi-year period (e.g., until December 31, 2019)." Verizon suggested the FCC allow "companies to adjust to detariffing while preserving existing contracts." Some "contract tariffs refer to or incorporate tariffed terms for special-access services. Some of those contracts do not contemplate detariffing," said a Verizon filing on a meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly warned Wednesday that moving to Next-Generation 911 will be expensive, with cost estimates all over the map. O’Rielly spoke to the NG911 Institute. “Consider a 2011 FCC White Paper that put the total nationwide [public safety answering points] PSAP costs at anywhere between $1.44 billion and $2.68 billion,” O’Rielly said, say written remarks. “Compare that to one done for the State of Oregon at the same time that calculated that state’s ten-year costs at approximately $82 million. Do the math, 50 states plus the U.S. territories times $82 million and it’s over $4 billion.” O’Rielly also backed PSAP consolidation, questioning whether the U.S. needs almost 6,000 PSAPs. O’Rielly earlier made that same point to the FCC Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture (see 1501260063). “Is there a way to design a more efficient overall system that allows for a reduction in the number of current facilities without increasing the risk to public safety?” he asked now. “I suggest that the answer to this is most certainly, yes. In fact, it’s been done in a number of states already and others are in the middle of doing so.” O’Rielly also repeated warnings that too many states are using 911 funds for other purposes (see 1703020060). ”A number of states currently divert monies collected from consumers under the guise of funding 9-1-1 systems and transfer it to either unrelated public safety purposes or, worse yet, totally unconnected functions,” he said. “In some cases, this means a state is deceiving taxpayers by collecting more than is actually needed to fund its 9-1-1 system and redirecting the excess to other spending purposes. Alternatively, and this is actually much more reckless, the diversion of 9-1-1 fees can leave a state’s system shortchanged and potentially unable to fully meet its public safety needs, delaying necessary updates, training, worker retention, and the like.”

Device searches by Customs and Border Protection more than doubled in FY 2016 over the prior fiscal year and are continuing to rise, show agency figures released Tuesday. In the first six months of FY 2017, electronic devices of nearly 15,000 international travelers to the U.S. were searched, and in recent months, the monthly total was higher than that of the year-ago period. CBP said the searches affected less than 0.0008 percent of the nearly 190 million travelers who have come this fiscal year. In FY 2016, electronic devices of more than 19,000 travelers -- representing 0.005 percent of the 391 million travelers -- were searched, while in FY 2015 that number was about 8,500 travelers, or 0.002 percent of 383 million travelers. Privacy and civil liberties groups have criticized the policy and practice (see 1703170019 and 1702210007). In Congress, lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require law enforcement to get a warrant based on probable cause before they could search a U.S. person's device (see 1704050030).