Supporters of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn have gotten indications the Biden administration wants to renominate her in January, but there’s been no definitive word this will happen amid uncertain internal Senate dynamics. That lack of clarity in part stems from Senate leaders not yet being able to guarantee Sohn would get as swift a confirmation process as the White House and others want, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. The Senate failed to hold any floor votes on Sohn before the chamber left town just before Christmas, and it won’t return until just before the 118th Congress gavels in Tuesday. Sohn’s 2022 confirmation process stalled in March after the Commerce Committee tied 14-14 on advancing her to the floor (see 2203030070). Biden first nominated her in October 2021 (see 2110260076).

California will shift to a connections-based state USF contribution method and adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) rules for pole attachments, utility commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. Also, the California Public Utilities Commission denied -- at least for now -- eligible telecom carrier designation for Starlink, needed for federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support.

Alaska would shift to connections-based contribution for state USF under a joint proposal by many of the state’s local exchange carriers. The Alaska attorney general’s regulatory affairs and public advocacy (RAPA) section urged the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Monday to adopt the Friday-filed plan, which would push back an imminent sunset of the Alaska USF (AUSF) by three years to June 30, 2026. “By that time, the focus of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the proposal.

CTIA stood alone fighting to keep revenue-based contribution for California USF, in comments last week at the California Public Utilities Commission. CPUC members plan to vote Oct. 6 on a proposed decision to assess state public purpose program (PPP) fees based on a carrier’s number of access lines (see 2209060048). The wireless industry continued to staunchly oppose the change, but wireline and cable companies instead sought more implementation time and wording changes.

Additional money to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program and a short-term extension of the FCC’s expiring spectrum auction authority both remain under consideration as additions to a planned continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past Sept. 30, but talks remain highly fluid, lawmakers and lobbyists told us last week. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other committee leaders left open the possibility of a short-term auction authority renewal as a stopgap, telling us they hadn’t reached a deal during the August recess on a broader spectrum legislative package.

The FCC won’t include funds for indirect full-time equivalents connected with aspects of the USF in calculating broadcaster regulatory fees but rejected many other broadcast proposals for reduced fees, said the FY2022 regulatory fees order and notice of inquiry released Friday. Radio stations that faced a 13% reg fee increase from 2021 will instead have an increase of 7% or 8%, broadcast industry officials said. Commissioners adopted the order unanimously Thursday. “Regulatory fees are not based on a precise allocation of specific employees with certain work assignments each year and instead are based on a higher-level approach,” said the order. Regulatory fees must be collected before the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year.

The FCC rejected LTD Broadband and Starlink's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form applications Wednesday, citing a "failure to demonstrate that the providers could deliver the promised service." LTD was the largest winning bidder, preliminarily bidding about $1.3 billion to serve 528,088 locations in 15 states (see 2012070039). Starlink's preliminary award was about $885.5 million.

Industry sought improved coordination and transparency through the FCC, USDA and NTIA’s interagency agreement established under the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act of 2020. Some asked the agencies to make the shared information available publicly and to increase reliance on the FCC’s maps when coordinating broadband programs, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 22-251.

The Universal Service Fund should be revised and the FCC should consider requiring contributions from tech companies, said a bipartisan group of current and former commissioners on a virtual panel Wednesday hosted by the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. The group, including former Chairs William Kennard and Richard Wiley, also discussed the lack of an FCC majority, the digital divide and media ownership.

The biggest apparent policy cut in the FCC’s wireless resiliency rules released Wednesday (see 2207060070) overrules objections by the Competitive Carriers Association and NTCA that the rules shouldn’t apply to small providers. The order creates the mandatory disaster response initiative (MDRI), replacing the industry’s wireless voluntary network resiliency cooperative framework.