The FCC Wireline Bureau extended its waiver of Lifeline recertification and reverification requirements for subscribers residing on tribal lands through Jan. 31, said an order Friday in docket 11-42 (see 2209160042). The bureau also extended the waiver to Lifeline subscribers on tribal lands that are also participating in the affordable connectivity program.
The FCC Wireline Bureau waived provisions of the E-rate, Emergency Connectivity Fund, Rural Health Care, COVID-19 Telehealth, Lifeline, and Affordable Connectivity Program rules for participants and USF contributors in Puerto Rico due to damage from Hurricane Fiona, said an order Thursday. The order includes extensions for E-rate, Rural Health Care and ECF deadlines, waivers of document retention rules for records destroyed by Hurricane Fiona, and increased flexibility for service substitutions. It also waives Lifeline non-usage, recertification and reverification requirements and ACP recertification and de-enrollment requirements for subscribers in Puerto Rico. “Given the damage caused by Hurricane Fiona to Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, strict compliance with these rules would be impracticable and would risk harm” to subscribers, the order said. The order also waives some USF requirements for affected contributors. “The extensive damage to property and facilities caused by Hurricane Fiona has rendered many providers unable to serve the Affected Disaster Areas.” The FCC disaster information reporting system showed 26.4% of cellsites down Thursday, and 703,576 wireline subscribers without service, compared with 741,451 Wednesday. The report shows five FM stations and four AM stations still out of service and no public safety access points down.
To close the digital literacy gap and maximize federal dollars for increasing broadband access, programs and institutions need to focus on local solutions, existing community programs, and community anchor institutions like libraries, said numerous panelists at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s virtual Digital Skills Gap Symposium and Town Hall Thursday. The symposium is intended to help inform the CEDC’s efforts to create a national plan and toolkit for digital upskilling in connection with the Digital Equity Act, said CEDC Chair Heather Gate.
Former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will keynote the Communications Equity and Diversity Council Digital Skills Gap Symposium and Town Hall Thursday (see 2209120046), said an agenda released Tuesday. The event is to “examine the issues and challenges that states and localities face in addressing the need for greater adoption of digital skills training,” the agenda said. The event also will include a town hall discussion and a panel on efforts to increase broadband access such as the Digital Equity Act and the Affordable Connectivity Program.
The FCC will release a notice of funding opportunity “in the coming months” for organizations seeking funding through the affordable connectivity program’s outreach grant program, said Derik Goatson, Office of Native Affairs Policy legal adviser, during a Consumer Action webinar Tuesday (see 2208050023). The grant program’s review process will “prioritize applicants who target underserved low-income households and communities with low ACP enrollment rates,” Goatson said, noting “many of these communities are often tribal communities.”
Wireless provider Smith Bagley sought a three-month extension of its Lifeline waivers for Indian country, through Dec. 22. “Subscribers in the Navajo Nation continue to face unique circumstances that are a barrier to complying with the Lifeline and [affordable connectivity program] documentation rules,” Smith Bagley said in a filing posted Friday in docket 11-42: “The conditions that were present when the Commission granted the last waiver in June 2022 have not changed, as customers on Tribal lands are still suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, while contending with the lack of Internet and mail service and other challenges associated with living in remote Tribal areas.”
The FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) and the Media Bureau will host a Digital Skills Gap Symposium and Town Hall starting at noon Sept. 22, said a public notice Monday. The virtual event is intended to “examine the issues and challenges that states and localities face in addressing the need for greater adoption of digital skills training,” the PN said. The symposium will include a panel discussion on the “Digital Equity Act (DEA), the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and other efforts to address access to broadband,” the PN said. The event will also feature a town hall discussion on “how to build the case for equity and diversity as the foundation for eliminating America’s digital skills gap” and other topics related to providing access to digital skills training.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for more action to "safeguard" affordable connectivity program funding following Thursday's Office of Inspector General memorandum identifying fraudulent enrollment (see 2209080036). "I have not been alone in expressing concern," Carr said Friday: “Whatever we are doing to deter this type of fraud is not working."
The FCC Office of Inspector General warned providers against fraudulently enrolling households in the affordable connectivity program based on a benefit qualifying person (BQP) in a memorandum Thursday. The office identified 12 BQPs that were used more than 100 times to enroll households each, collecting "more than $1.4 million in connection with those enrollments alone." In one case, the office identified three providers that claimed more than $365,000 from more than 1,000 enrollments based on a single BQP. "Providers who continue to seek program support each month after failing to properly train and monitor their sales agents’ enrollment activity will be held accountable," said Inspector General David Hunt. The Universal Service Administrative Co. has "development work" underway on the national verifier regarding ACP enrollment to "prevent multiple households from enrolling" with the same BQP, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 21-450. USAC also "instituted a process for holding payments to limit the amount of potentially improper payments disbursed" and is de-enrolling households that enrolled in ACP using the same BQP.
The FCC's rules for its affordable connectivity outreach grant program are effective Nov. 7, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. Rules for an ACP pilot program to boost enrollment among federal public housing recipients are effective Tuesday. Commissioners approved the items in August (see 2208050023).